‘OK,’ he whispered. ‘I’ll tell you what you want to know.’
Zhu didn’t respond but held the pistol level, waiting for him to continue.
‘There’s a monastery a few hours from here, over the mountain,’ Luca said, his voice a rambling, continuous flow. ‘The boy is being held there by the monks.’
‘It is as I thought,’ Zhu said. ‘Do you know the way to the monastery from here?’
Luca looked across at Bill’s face. He was frozen still, his eyes screwed shut. His lips were moving in silent prayer.
‘I know the way.’
‘Then I don’t need you both,’ Zhu said, and his hand suddenly jerked upwards. There was a deafening crack and Bill was flung back behind them on to the snow. He lay flat, arms stretched out behind his head, and remained perfectly still.
Luca stared, his mind reeling, stunned by the noise of the explosion. It resonated through every fibre of his body, deafening him. A thin spray of blood was wet upon his face and he stared in mute horror at the empty space where Bill had just been.
Suddenly his whole body began to shake, horror rising up from his chest in choking, gasping waves. His mind felt numb, detached from what he had just witnessed by complete disbelief. It wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t possible that Bill could be dead. He turned, his eyes passing over the prostrate form in the snow behind him. A patch of black blood was fanning out from under the head.
Luca was dimly aware of the other soldiers moving behind him. They had turned their heads away from the scene, staring silently up to the far mountain as if trying not to register what they saw.
‘We leave at first light,’ Zhu commanded, his voice matter-of-fact as he addressed the men. ‘We will get the Westerner to lead us there. When we reach the monastery, it is imperative that the boy is taken alive.’
Zhu stared down at Luca’s grief-stricken face.
‘And take his boots. That should ensure he doesn’t try to leave us during the night.’
With that he turned back towards his own tent. The remaining soldiers slowly dispersed, one of them running a knife down the laces of Luca’s boot and pulling them from his feet so that he stood in his socks in the snow. Despite the icy cold, he didn’t even notice.
In only a few moments he was alone with the body of his friend. Finally the tears came. He wept in choked bursts, his right hand clutching on to Bill’s chest as he felt the body heat slowly drain away.
He had no idea how much time had passed before he was lifted to his feet. He felt his arm being pulled over the big soldier’s wide back as he was helped across the open patch of snow to a tent.
Chen gently lowered him inside, pulling his own sleeping bag across Luca’s legs. Without a word, Luca curled up into the foetal position, eyes staring blankly at the dark wall of the tent.
Chen straightened up, inhaling the cold night air. He stared at the far line of mountains. The peaks seemed to trail seamlessly into the night. It was the dark before dawn and an eerie calm presided over the world. He let his hand pass over the breast pocket of his jacket and the photos of his family inside. He tried to picture his son’s smiling face, but could see only the faint silhouette of the Westerner lying dead in the snow.
He had always been told that the boy’s capture was their only mission, but when they reached the monastery at daybreak tomorrow, what was really going to happen?
Chen inhaled again, feeling the freezing air sear his lungs. He shut his eyes and tried harder to visualise his own boy.
Deep inside, he already knew what Zhu was planning.
Chapter 54
Two heavy climbing boots landed on Luca’s chest. He reached up slowly, running his fingers over the worn canvas and hard, rubberised soles. From somewhere in the back of his mind, he recognised them as his own.
Through the triangular opening of the tent door, he saw the broad-set face of the same Chinese soldier who had beaten him.
‘Get up,’ the soldier whispered, his eyes anxious.
Luca dragged himself upright, his bruised body leaden and unresponsive. He stared at the soldier from puffy, black-ringed eyes, the whole left side of his face swollen and distorted. His mouth hung open, dry blood splattered across his lips as he just sat there, his mind reeling with confusion.
The soldier reached forward with one arm and dragged Luca closer to the opening.
‘Get boots on,’ he said, keeping his voice low.
Luca reached down automatically, pulling the tongue of the boots wide and jamming them on over his iced up socks. Without laces, the boots flapped open as he crawled outside into the cold night air.
The soldier was standing in front of him, Bill’s rucksack in his hands. A few coils from a climbing rope poked out from the half-closed top.
‘Go!’ he breathed, pointing to the snow gulley. ‘Dawn one hour. You leave now.’
Luca blinked, trying to wake himself up. Could this be some kind of trick? He looked past the soldier towards the other tents but the entire campsite was still. They were alone. The numbness that had paralysed him for so long, driving every thought from his mind, seemed to finally thaw, replaced by an overwhelming desire to escape. With a sudden jerk of his arm, he snatched his rucksack from the soldier’s grasp and turned to leave. Then he suddenly stopped.
A few feet ahead of him, Bill’s body lay in the snow. His arms were still outstretched and his face angled towards Luca. For a moment, Luca stared, transfixed. Bill’s eyes were dull and glassy. His face looked different, like a carbon copy of the original. It was as if the real Bill had gone, leaving only a likeness behind.
‘He dead,’ Chen whispered, shaking Luca’s shoulder. ‘But you have chance for living.’
Luca tore his gaze away, staring direct into Chen’s eyes.
‘How do you live with such horror?’ he asked.
Not waiting for an answer, he turned and sprinted forward without looking back, every ache and bruise forgotten as he powered his way up through the deep snow.
Chen watched the Westerner’s outline fade to grey before disappearing into the shadow of the overhanging cliff. He turned, walking back to the campsite with his head held low. Pulling one of the collapsible shovels from the ground, he dug it in the ground and began shovelling snow over Bill’s frozen body.
Without completely understanding the Westerner’s last words, he had gathered their meaning.
There was only one hour left till dawn. Very soon Zhu would order the raid on the monastery. Right now, he couldn’t afford to think.
‘Shara!’
Luca’s shout drifted out across the black rocks. He stopped, listening for the slightest sound.
‘Shara!’
Looking up, he saw the first flecks of dawn rising over the eastern sweep of mountains, bathing the sky in long, blood-red streaks. As each minute passed the light grew in strength, seeping across the sky and burning off the night’s gloom.
Luca stared from one rock to the next, desperately trying to make sense of the landscape. Everything looked so damn’ similar.
‘Shara!’
From somewhere to his left, he heard a muffled echo. It was closer to the cliff edge than he had been looking. Sprinting forward, he leaped over a few boulders in his way then changed direction as he heard the noise again. It was clearer now. It could only be Shara.
Luca bellowed her name as he frantically scanned the ground. Finally, he saw it.