"What happened after the fog came in?"

"A lot of confusion," said Shuko. "They had no idea what was going on. They seemed disoriented and completely unaware. You heard the animal howling, as did I, but just before the mist dissipated, I heard two sounds that could only have been people getting knocked out."

"You're sure about that?"

"Absolutely." Shuko pulled back the hood of the ghillie suit so she could lay down the parabolic microphone. "This thing is state-of-the-art technology. And I'm pretty good at identifying sounds like that."

Nezuma pondered this for a moment. "Once the fog rolled in, I couldn't see anything. The way it came, though, seemed rather bizarre. I thought it was a natural occurrence, but now I'm not so sure."

"You think they had a fog machine?"

"I don't know. What I do know is Kennichi and Creed are now missing from the glen where they were a few moments ago. Their gear is also missing. The whole thing seems rather strange to me."

"Looks like a s.n.a.t.c.h job," Shuko said.

Nezuma smiled. "That," he said, "is exactly what it looks like to me, too."

"You think someone beat us to the punch?"

Nezuma undid his hood and let it back so fresh air could circulate on his skin. "Possibly. But I don't know who."

"Your Yakuza friends," Shuko said.

Nezuma spit. "They're not friends, Shuko-you know that. As far as I'm concerned, they're idiots. And they certainly don't have the ability to pull off something like this in such an isolated area. It would require far too much planning and technical skill to bring it off successfully. Plus, they would need an intimate knowledge of this area."

"They don't have that knowledge."

"No," Nezuma said. "They don't."

"Which leaves us with what-two possibilities?" Shuko said.

Nezuma nodded. "A party we might know about or a party we have no idea about."

"I doubt we'll figure it out here."

"True. What did you hear before the mist came down?"

"The woman said something about the waterfall."

Nezuma sat up. "What did she say?"

"Something about it looking honeycombed. That she saw something while she was inside it."

"Interesting." Nezuma glanced at the waterfall. It fell from a soaring height, probably close to two hundred feet. It was a pure wall of water falling over rocks that had probably been there for hundreds of thousands of years.

"What are you thinking?" Shuko asked.

He glanced at Shuko, who was already pulling off her ghillie suit. "I am considering the possibility that Creed is actually a bit smarter than I recognized early on. That perhaps she did indeed see something when she was in the waterfall."

"The entrance to the caves?"

"Very possibly." Nezuma rolled his suit up and stowed it in his backpack. "Let's get going."

Shuko followed him down the side of the cliff. They'd positioned themselves there earlier after Nezuma had declared it one of the few areas from which they could comfortably observe the glen without fear of someone coming up behind them.

The trail down was steep, with bits of shale and gravel coming loose with every step. Nezuma and Shuko adjusted their footwork accordingly, using their body weight to slow their descent so they wouldn't accidentally fall.

At the bottom, they paused, squatting by the trail leading up. Nezuma used hand signals to let Shuko know they should wait to see if anyone was around and reacted to their walk down from the cliff.

But after ten minutes of nothing but natural noises, Nezuma signaled it was time to move. He drew out his own gun, a smaller Heckler & Koch UMP that he could fire comfortably with one hand.

Shuko came behind him, cradling the heavier H&K. The bullets in her gun were much more powerful than Nezuma's. They moved to the glen. Nezuma approached first with Shuko braced by a tall pine scanning the area in case of an ambush.

Nezuma knelt where the camp fire had been only forty minutes before. The ground was damp and there remained only a patch of burned gra.s.s where there had been stones, logs and char from the fire.

He frowned. What could so utterly erase the presence of people in such a brief span of time?

Even the pine needles that Kennichi and Creed had used to make themselves more comfortable had been scattered around. In fact, he realized, someone coming through this glen would be hard-pressed to prove that there had been anyone camping there recently.

Nezuma shook his head. There was no way on earth this could have been carried out by anyone he knew of.

He turned and waved Shuko in. It went against his better judgment to bring his cover fire in, but he wanted her to see what they were dealing with.

Shuko knelt and brushed her hands along the ground. Nezuma knew she was looking for sign-tracks left by Kennichi and Creed and possibly by whatever had grabbed them almost an hour before.

"There's nothing here," she whispered. "We saw them, clear as day, and we saw them vanish. But there's nothing here that would prove they even existed."

Nezuma nodded. That's what he was afraid of. He nodded to the waterfall. "Let's get in there."

Shuko stood and they moved to the pond. But rather than strip down, Nezuma and Shuko split up and each took a side, scanning the entire area.

Nezuma caught water spray in his face and he brushed it away, still alert for any possible indication that the mist and what it contained was coming back. He bent low and looked behind the waterfall as much as he could. But given its position, doing so was almost impossible.

He saw Shuko coming back. "Any luck?"

She shook her head. "It's too difficult getting a glimpse at it. I think we need to actually get into the water."

"I agree," Nezuma said.

Shuko hefted her G-36. "I'll get the dry bag."

Nezuma turned back to the waterfall. What was it about this that had produced such an odd occurrence? And if this really was the entrance to some sort of hidden monastery, then how did they access it?

Shuko returned and Nezuma slid his UMP into the bag. Shuko closed the zipper and then secured the overlap that would protect the guns from exposure to water. Shuko's would fire anyway even when submerged, but Nezuma wasn't sure about the performance of his UMP after being dunked. He didn't want to take any chances.

Shuko strapped her pack on again and hefted the dry bag, as well. From her belt, she drew out her knife and stepped into the water.

Nezuma also drew out his black-bladed tanto knife. At twelve inches, it was a wicked-looking blade capable of penetrating a car door or slicing a free-hanging rope in half. Nezuma had used this particular weapon numerous times to great effect.

He strode into the water, vaguely aware of how cold it was. If Annja Creed could withstand the water, then he was going to, as well. There would be no way he'd ever succ.u.mb to it when the American woman had already demonstrated her ability to withstand its temperatures.

They approached the waterfall.

"Shall I take point?" Shuko asked.

Nezuma looked at her. She'd dropped saying "master." It was another sign she was becoming complacent about their relationship. He shook his head. "No. I'll go up first."

He ducked under the falls and shuddered as the cold torrent hit him like a sack of bricks. The water came up to his thighs and he slogged through it, reaching the flat stone ledge where he'd seen Creed standing and doing some imitation of meditation.

Nezuma stood on it and looked up into the raging water. It blinded him for a moment until he adjusted his head position so the water hit only parts of his head and face, leaving his eyes alone.

About a hundred feet above him, he could see the dark outline of something oval. And above that, more similar-shaped entrances. That must be it.

He leaned out of the falls and saw Shuko. "It's here."

She came under with him and looked where he pointed. She nodded and had to shout over the roar of the water. "But how do we reach it?"

Nezuma shook his head. "I don't know."

Shuko moved toward the back of the waterfall and pressed her hands against the smooth slabs that ran from high overhead to the floor of the pond below. Nezuma watched her work with her eyes closed and smiled. She was truly a gifted woman and an apt pupil.

It would be a shame to kill her, he decided.

"Master."

He smiled. "Yes?"

"I think we can scale the wall."

Nezuma pursed his lips. "Are you sure? We don't have the gear necessary for that and the challenge of the water rushing over us."

"We've got enough rope. I can try it first and secure anchor points. You can climb up next."

Nezuma looked up. It was a long way to go. Any misstep would cost them their lives. The thought of departing this plane of existence without having recovered the dorje dorje did not sit well with Nezuma. "I don't know," he said. did not sit well with Nezuma. "I don't know," he said.

"It's the only way."

She was right. Nezuma could see no other way to access the caves above. They would have to climb.

"All right, but go slowly. I don't want anything to happen to you."

She smiled, looking like a beautiful mess as the water splashed down on her. "I'll be fine."

Nezuma tried to move out of her way. He'd still have to stay under the freezing water while she climbed so he could try to spot her in case something bad happened. He knew honestly, though, that if she fell, there'd be little chance of his catching her or otherwise saving her life.

Shuko must have known that, too. But the knowledge that she could die had never stopped her before, and Nezuma could see it wasn't about to give her pause now.

She slid her pack off and rummaged through the top pocket, drawing out a length of twisted nylon-and-hemp rope noted for its ability to withstand high weights and harsh conditions.

Nezuma frowned. This certainly qualified as harsh.

Shuko looped the rope around herself and then drew out a few anchors that she stowed on her belt. She looked at Nezuma.

"I don't know if I'll find anyplace to put these. Hammering them in could potentially alert whoever might be there."

Nezuma nodded. "Understood. Just do the best you can to show me how to follow your lead."

"Your life is in my hands," Shuko said smiling.

Nezuma grinned. "Try not to let that power go to your head."

Shuko gave him a quick peck on the lips and then felt her way to the back of the waterfall again. Nezuma watched as she found two footholds and then looked up, reaching for places to put her hands or fingers.

Nezuma had seen her climb enough times to know that if anyone was capable of scaling the back side of a waterfall, it was Shuko. Her name meant "claw," after all.

And if the universe willed it, they'd soon be in to those caves with the dorje dorje at long last in sight. at long last in sight.

32.

Annja's head throbbed much the same way her shoulder did-as if someone were using her to pound out a drumbeat over and over again. Her eyes popped open and she moaned as she tried to sit up but found she couldn't.

Ken was already awake and he smiled at her. She noticed that he was bound in strange ropes and started to say something about it when she finally realized they were both gagged.

She glanced around the room. They were on a stone floor. The walls were plain except for torches embedded in the rock and a tapestry that hung nearby featuring hundreds of small but angry-looking deities.

Annja followed Ken's eyes as he pointed out that they were not alone. The room was filled with about a dozen monks dressed in dark-brown-and-blue kimono robes and split-skirt hakama hakama that had been tied around their legs. They wore simple slippers, but what made them look ominous were the spears and swords they all carried. that had been tied around their legs. They wore simple slippers, but what made them look ominous were the spears and swords they all carried.

A pair of hands found Annja's ropes, and the tightness disappeared, followed by a renewed sense of pain as the throbbing increased in her shoulder and head. The hands also cut away her gag, and Annja spit it out on the floor.

She looked up and saw a face she thought she recognized. It was the strange monk who had fought the schoolgirl a.s.sa.s.sins in Osaka. But this time, he wasn't smiling. His face looked severe and the baldness of his head did little to make him look jolly.

He said a few words in j.a.panese to her, but Annja just shook her head. He noted and then cleared his throat. "I thought perhaps you might speak j.a.panese considering who you're with and what you are looking for."

"Sorry, no," she said.

"No matter."

Annja glanced at Ken, who was still trussed up. She looked back at the monk. "What about my friend?"

He smiled. "We have to be sure that he won't try to kill us when we cut him free. We know that he is exceptionally skilled in martial arts."

Annja looked at Ken, who nodded once. "He'll be fine," Annja said.