"You said Tsing's men will take them to the airfield?"

"Yes."

"Is there a back entrance to the hotel they might opt to use instead of the front?"

"There is," Tuk said. "But it leads only to an alley too small for a car to travel down. If they want to use a car to transport Annja Creed and her friend, they will need to come out the front entrance."

The man grunted. "They'll wait, then, until very late. When there's a skeleton crew on duty in the lobby. That way they'll be able to pa.s.s without too much interest in what they're doing."

"That is my guess, as well," Tuk said. "I will stay with them all the way."

"Good. I need to look a little bit further into this strange woman you spoke of just now. I want to know more about her and who she really is."

"May I ask what your feeling is about her?"

"I'm not sure yet. But it may be a.s.sumed that she is no mere servant girl. She is obviously positioned close to Tsing for some reason. But for what, I don't know."

"She scared me. And I've never felt fear like that."

"You did well," the man said on the phone. "You acquitted yourself admirably and performed excellently. I'm very pleased with the results of your reconnaissance. Now I must decide what to do about this new wrinkle."

"I do not envy you."

"Just continue to make certain that Annja Creed stays safe. If Tsing lives up to his word, then all should be fine. But I want you around just in case."

"And if it appears that Burton and Kurtz mean them harm?"

The man paused for the slightest moment. "I don't wish to tell you how to handle that situation if you are not comfortable with it. However, my primary concern is that Annja Creed remains safe. As such, any steps you think wise to ensure that may be taken."

Tuk grunted. "Understood." He calmly fingered the folded kukri in his pocket. Dispatching Burton and Kurtz would please him.

"Don't be in a hurry to exact vengeance on those who have wronged you, my friend. Act only if the situation calls for it. But if you must act, then do it swiftly and boldly. You must strike first and be without restraint in order to win the day."

"I will."

"Keep me informed of any developments." The line disconnected and Tuk was once more alone in the darkness.

A stiff breeze blew out of the northwest and circled around his body. Tuk thought about what he'd heard in the penthouse and marveled. Even he knew of the legend of Shangri-La. It was supposed to be a mystical place of untold beauty and wondrous lands. The people who lived there were supposedly a master race of supremely intelligent and wise, peaceful people who knew the secrets of the universe.

But did such a place really exist?

It seemed too incredible to be real. And yet, here was the most powerful criminal in Katmandu telling Annja Creed and her friend Mike that he firmly believed it did exist. And here was an apparently famous adventurer and a learned man saying they believed the same.

If they thought the legends true, then Tuk supposed all that remained was to find out if it truly did exist.

He wondered what it would be like to discover such a land. With so much of his own past steeped in doubt and question, Tuk found the idea of seeing a place like Shangri-La a tempting diversion.

Perhaps when he was done working for the man on the telephone, he would try to find the place on his own. He didn't have to become a farmer. He could wander the countryside and find his own path. And there was no telling where it might lead.

Nepal, after all, was a land of legends and myths. The swirling mix of religions and peoples made for all sorts of craziness. Tuk grinned as he thought about the creatures said to exist outside the boundaries of civilization.

The yeti still walked according to legends he heard told by traders who came down to Katmandu from up north. Tuk wasn't sure what to make of that particular story, but he had enough memory of being outside the city to know there were many parts of the country that seemed to defy the modern age. Who knew what existed in the crevices of the vast mountain ranges that jutted out of the earth?

Anything seemed possible, he decided, when standing in the middle of the night in the shadows of the hotel.

Tuk frowned. This wasn't like him. Seeing that woman upstairs had shaken him. He recognized that the fear had welled up from the bottom reaches of his soul. He'd never felt this before and the fact that he did now shook his confidence.

It was not good for what he was tasked with doing.

Tuk only hoped that he would not run into the woman again. He knew she would rend him from head to toe with those lethal fingernails.

He shuddered in the dark as another breeze blew over him. Judging from the position of the stars overhead, the hours had pa.s.sed quickly.

Tuk leaned back and stretched himself like a cat. He heard several pops and felt his muscles lengthen as he flexed this way and that. A sudden urge in his bladder made him adjust himself and then urinate in the corner.

But always, he kept his eyes on the entrance of the hotel.

His vigilance was rewarded shortly after three o'clock in the morning. He saw a sudden movement and then Burton and Kurtz each emerged from the lobby. Burton had the woman and Kurtz walked with Mike.

A black car rolled up and Burton eased Annja into the backseat. Kurtz slid Mike into the backseat and then got himself in, as well. Burton walked around and opened the front pa.s.senger side. He took a quick glance around and then slid into the car.

Tuk stepped out and over to the motorbike rack nearby. In seconds, he'd freed one of the small bikes and started the engine just as Burton's car pulled out of the hotel driveway.

Tuk let them get ahead by two blocks before following.

He glanced back at the hotel and couldn't help but feel like someone was still watching him.

He frowned and turned his attention back to the car. They drove at a leisurely pace. There seemed no sense of urgency.

Tuk, as much as he despised Tsing, felt fairly certain that he didn't mean Annja and Mike harm. He merely wanted them handled in such a way so as to prove that he was in absolute command of things. And certainly drugging them and positioning them in the plane would convey such a message.

Tuk wondered if Mike even had the map they'd spoken of with him. They would need it, after all, if they were going to fly and try to locate Shangri-La.

The car turned right and then followed the main road out toward the airfield. Tuk recognized the area and knew they were getting closer to the plane. He would have to make sure they didn't spot him as they rolled inside the airfield perimeter.

Half a mile farther on, Tuk saw the taillights flash red as they braked and then turned left into the entryway. He eased the motorbike over to the side of the road and waited.

From his vantage point, Tuk could make out the car rolling toward a small airplane like the kind that ferried mountaineers all over the country.

Burton got out of the car first and checked their surroundings. Then he waved for Kurtz to exit the car. Together, they got Annja and Mike into the airplane. When they'd finished, Burton walked over to the trunk and removed several bags and stowed them in the plane, as well. When that was done, both he and Kurtz got back in the car and drove away.

Tuk rolled himself back into the shadows and let them drive past. He waited until he felt certain they were gone.

Then Tuk headed toward the plane, an idea already forming in his mind.

7.

Annja woke up as the first rays of sunlight needled their way through the c.o.c.kpit window of the de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft and roused her from the foggy drug-induced sleep. She looked around, realized where she was and then nudged Mike, who sat in the pilot's seat.

He groaned and then reached up to stretch his hands, b.u.mping them instead on the roof of the c.o.c.kpit.

"Careful," Annja said. "It's cramped in here."

Mike's eyes fluttered open. "What the h.e.l.l?"

Annja grinned. "Apparently, Tsing wants to make sure we get started finding Shangri-La right away."

"I guess." Mike looked around. "The plane's a little large for what we need, but I guess it'll do."

"Can you fly this thing?" Annja asked.

Mike nodded. "Got my pilot's license about five years back. When I knew I'd be spending more time in this part of the world, it seemed like a good idea to have it. The more you can be self-reliant over here, the better off you are."

"Would have been better if you were financially self-reliant, too," Annja said.

Mike blanched. "Yeah, all right, I know I deserved that one. I'm sorry, Annja, all right? Really I am. I had no idea that Tsing was pulling my strings like this. As far as I knew, it was a simple loan."

"That has now turned into something else entirely."

"Apparently so."

Annja looked him over. She could see that Mike was not happy about having to work with Tsing. At the same time, she could see his sense of adventure exerting itself across his face. Mike's eyes ran over the instrument panel and he switched on the two turboprop engines. Instantly, the propeller blades started to turn.

"We're really going?" Annja asked.

Mike nodded. "We've got no choice in the matter. Tsing made it perfectly clear what would happen if we refused. And for my part, I may as well see whether this map is legitimate or not. After all of the trouble it's managed to get me into, I owe it to myself-and you-to see it through."

Annja looked around. Behind her, she could see several bags. "Looks like they gave us a bunch of supplies."

Mike grunted. "It's the least they could do." He smacked his lips. "But I could do with a bottle of water. Any chance they packed a cooler back there?"

Annja felt around and found one. She pulled out a cold bottle of water for herself and one for Mike. "Cheers."

Mike polished off the water quickly. "All right, let's get this thing airborne and see what we can find out there."

"What about the map?" she asked.

Mike eyed her. "What about it?"

"You have it with you?"

Mike tapped the side of his head. "Everything I need is stored safely inside the old cranium."

"You're joking," Annja said.

Mike laughed. "Actually, I am. I had the map on me the entire time."

"What if they'd taken it from you?"

Mike shrugged. "You heard Tsing. He can't go out in the daylight with that skin condition of his. Maybe he's a vampire or something."

"Stop it," Annja said, laughing.

Mike reached into a pocket of his cargo pants and pulled out a folded-up piece of paper. He handed it to Annja. "Check it out."

Annja unfolded the map and frowned. "Most of the explorers who searched for Shangri-La thought it was either close to Bhutan or over near the western border."

"They were wrong," Mike said. "According to the map, the real location lies smack-dab in the middle of the country, closer to the Tibetan border."

"You're sure about this, huh?"

"As much as I can be." Mike opened up the throttle some and the plane began to move. "Now I'd better make sure we have clearance to take off or else we'll never make it out of here."

Annja pulled her headset on and listened as he keyed his microphone and spoke to the air traffic control tower. In a short time, they had clearance and Mike urged the plane down the runway and then into the skies over Katmandu.

Annja looked out of her window as Mike took the plane into a steep climb to gain alt.i.tude and then settled on a course heading northwest.

"We'll vector around and then head for Jomsom. That's the closest airfield in the part of the country we're looking for."

"And from there? It looks like we're going to Mustang," Annja said, looking at the map.

Mike nodded. "The map says that Shangri-La lies somewhere in that area. It's probably nestled in between some of the mountains up there. Once we're beyond Pokhara, we'll be flying into the canyon of the Kali Gandaki River. It's an amazing sight. The Annapurna range flanks us on one side and Dhaulagiri sits on the other. The mountains effectively sandwich the area, making it difficult to gain entrance to most of the upper reaches of that part of Nepal."

"Are you sure buzzing that region with this plane is such a good idea?" Annja asked.

Mike glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"It's Mustang. I don't think I have to give you a refresher course in history, do I? The CIA used to use the region as a staging ground for Tibetan Khampa guerrillas who used to cross over the border and hara.s.s the Chinese soldiers stationed in Tibet."

"Yeah, but that was back in the sixties and seventies. That's all in the past."

"We also happen to be flying the kind of plane that is used for parachute infiltration of special-operations troops. The Chinese might get a little nervous about us buzzing the joint."

Mike sighed. "We're sort of limited in terms of our options here, Annja. From Jomsom, most people continue either on foot or horseback to reach the area we want to fly to. But for us, that would take too long. And we would have the perspective we need from the air to see down and into the mountain valleys. We have to be airborne or else we may as well be searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack."

Annja frowned. Something didn't feel right about using the plane to search, but Mike was correct. Without their eyes in the sky, they'd have no chance of spotting anything.

"I understand that you're concerned about our safety. I am, too. And we've also got the weather to contend with up here. Annapurna throws up some ferocious winds and Dhaulagiri is no slouch, either. We take an updraft or wind shear the wrong way and we're toast."

Annja looked at him. "You're not doing much to instill me with confidence in your flying abilities, pal."