‘We’re done.’
‘And we can go back home to our little girl?’
She grinned. ‘Yeah, we can. God, I hope she hasn’t missed us too much.’
‘She’ll probably have had such a good time with Holly that she’ll have forgotten who we are.’
‘That’s what I’m worried about!’ Nina addressed Amaanat. ‘Thank you. Thank you so much for letting me see this.’
‘It was my honour,’ replied the elderly monk. ‘And I know that our secret will be safe with you. We all do. Is that not true, Rudra?’ The younger man, who was re-wrapping the Crucible, still appeared dubious but agreed reluctantly. ‘Good. Then we shall…’
He trailed off, seeing the other monks looking around in confusion. A noise became audible, a thudding chop echoing from the surrounding mountains.
Growing louder.
Jayesh threw away his cigarette and snatched out his gun. ‘Helicopter!’ he warned—
Another sound, a flat clatter of boots on rock — and a man leapt down from above the cave mouth to slam the Gurkha to the cold ground.
An automatic weapon crackled, a three-round burst of bullets smacking into the snow at Eddie and Nina’s feet. They looked up — to see that the gun was now locked on to them.
12
Ropes uncoiled and dropped snake-like to the ledge. Eleven more men abseiled down them, unslinging Kalashnikovs. A startled monk raised a hand as if to ward them off — only to earn himself a harsh blow from the butt of an attacker’s rifle. He fell, clutching his bleeding temple. The mercury canister he had been holding rolled over the cliff to land heavily on the lower ledge.
The staccato pounding of the helicopter’s rotors became a roar as the aircraft rounded the mountain, an Mi-2 sweeping past before banking away. A second, larger aircraft lumbered over a ridge on the mountainside above, then dropped into the valley to follow it.
‘What the hell?’ Nina gasped, raising her hands. The attackers appeared to be Nepalese, ranging from their early twenties to late thirties. Several wore equipment webbing bearing grenades.
Eddie was paying more attention to their firearms. All were Kalashnikov variants, but of several different types — ageing AK-47s, the marginally more modern AKM, a single AK-74, a Chinese-made clone, even one that he couldn’t identify specifically but which was probably a knock-off from India or North Korea. That told him the intruders were mercenaries, but not an established group; they would otherwise have obtained their weapons from a single source, and made sure they could use the same ammunition. The AK-74’s user would be stuck if he ran out of bullets, as his rifle used a smaller-calibre ammo than the others.
If they weren’t used to working as a team, that could be to his advantage…
Not yet, though. They had their prisoners covered. ‘Jayesh! You okay?’ he called as he brought up his own hands in surrender.
The Gurkha groaned as two mercs dragged him to his feet. Another collected his pistol. ‘Yeah. But lost my gun.’
Amaanat called out in Nepalese: a plea for there to be no more violence. Rudra appeared about to defy him, but a much sharper instruction from the abbot forced him to abandon any retaliation. The attackers rounded everyone up to stand near the cave mouth.
The man who had fired at Nina and Eddie quickly and expertly roped down from his perch. He was wearing new, expensive cold-weather gear and carrying a compact FN P90 sub-machine gun that looked as fresh from the box as his clothing. The newcomer pulled a scarf from his face to reveal olive-skinned Caucasian features. ‘You are Nina Wilde,’ he said to the American. It was not a question; he had known that he would find her here.
‘Yeah,’ she replied, cautious. ‘And you are?’
He did not reply, instead giving Eddie an appraising look before issuing an order. ‘Search him. And him,’ he added, indicating Jayesh.
Both were rapidly patted down. ‘No gun,’ one man reported, stepping back. Eddie and his friend exchanged the briefest of knowing glances… but then the mercenary frowned, feeling a crease on the back of Jayesh’s coat. He shoved the Gurkha on to his front and yanked the kukri from its concealed scabbard. Another man gave it an admiring look, then took the blade and slid it into his own belt.
‘How did you know I was here?’ Nina demanded, trying to conceal her rising fear.
‘We watched you through a telescope,’ the man replied. His accent was Greek.
‘I meant here in Nepal.’ Again he did not answer.
‘What do you want of us?’ asked Amaanat, head bowed in supplication.
‘I want the Crucible,’ the Greek told him.
Nina was shocked — how could he possibly know about it? — but Rudra’s response was outrage, aimed not at the intruders but at her. ‘You told them!’ he yelled. ‘You betray us!’
A gunman clubbed the monk with his rifle and sent him sprawling into the snow. ‘You do not need to hurt anyone!’ protested the abbot. ‘We will not resist you.’
‘Very wise,’ said the Greek. He watched as Rudra rose painfully to his knees, then turned back to Nina. ‘The Crucible. Where is it?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said.
‘No?’ He brought up the P90 — and aimed it at Eddie’s chest. ‘Does this help you remember?’
‘Please!’ cried Amaanat. ‘We do not want violence.’
‘Then where is the Crucible?’
The old man sagged in defeat. ‘There.’ He pointed at the cloth-wrapped object. Rudra objected, but another rifle blow knocked him back to the ground.
One of the mercenaries collected the Crucible and brought it to his leader, who carefully peeled away the protective layers, reacting with a confirmatory nod when he saw what was inside. ‘He knew what to expect,’ Nina whispered to Eddie.
‘Hmm?’
‘The Crucible. He already knew what it looked like before he saw it. He had more information about it than I did.’
‘Not enough to find it without you,’ he replied.
The Crucible was covered once more. The Greek turned to Amaanat. ‘And the second Crucible? The big one?’
It was the abbot’s turn to be taken aback. ‘How could you know about that?’
‘Just tell me where it is.’
Rudra’s only objection this time was a look of despair. Amaanat hesitated, then indicated the cave. ‘Inside. There is a passage at the back.’
The Greek nodded. ‘We will search it,’ he said to two of his men, before ordering the rest to watch the captives. The crystal vessel was carefully placed on the ground, then the little group entered the tunnel. To Nina’s shock, the Greek had a Geiger counter of his own. Not only did he know about the Crucible; he was also aware of the nature of the Midas Cave itself.
‘What’re we gonna do?’ she hissed.
Eddie eyed the remaining gunmen. They didn’t appear a particularly close-knit team, and he could tell from the way some held their fingers on their guns’ triggers even when there was no immediate threat that their training was basic at best. Jayesh had reached the same conclusion, his eyes flicking towards the man nearest to him. The Yorkshireman at once saw why; the merc was so inattentive or amateurish that he had unwittingly pointed his AK-74 at one of his comrades as he turned to watch the Greek depart. ‘We’ve got a chance, but we’ll need a distraction,’ he whispered.
‘Anything in mind?’
Both helicopters were now flying a broad, lazy orbit above the valley. Eddie watched the larger one, confirming a detail he had glimpsed earlier, then brought his attention back to the guards. ‘Yeah, but there’s nothing we can do right now. If they come to get the big Crucible, though…’ Nina had no idea what he meant, but a scowl and jab of the gun from a guard when he realised they were talking deterred her from asking any further questions.