“Kadmus bent it backwards until it broke.”
“You’ll have to have it rebroken and set when we get you to a hospital.” She sat back on her heels. “Anything else? You mentioned burns?”
“Five. Breasts and thighs. I can do that myself. Do you have salve?”
Catherine handed her antiseptic salve. “If you can handle it, I’d just as soon you do. I’m getting angry. I want to go back to the palace and see how much Kadmus can take before he—” She stopped and fought for control. “But that would be stupid, and we’re not going to give him any chance of getting his hands on you again.” She dug into the backpack again. “There are always nutrition bars in these backpacks. I think we need them.”
“Perhaps we should save them in case—”
“Now. You’ve gone through hell, and you need to stoke up.” Catherine found a bar and handed it to Erin. “There are several.” She made a face. “Evidently, my pilot, Caudell, wasn’t at all sure of the best-case scenario for which I was hoping. Finished with the salve?”
“Yes.” She handed the tube back to Catherine. “It feels very cooling.”
“Only the best for the Company. Of course, only the CIA would put you into a position where you might need meds.” Catherine had been trying to avoid looking at the vicious burns Erin was treating. It made her too furious. “Before you eat that bar, bundle up in that cold-weather gear I gave you. You need to layer quickly.”
Erin picked up one of the garments. “They appear so thin…”
“Space-age and high-tech and wonderfully efficient. The sleeping bags fold down to the size of a woman’s small purse.”
“Kind of James Bond stuff?”
“If James Bond ever got himself into a situation like this. He was always too slick. But I have to be able to move without freezing my ass off, and Venable always has a way to make sure I move. You should be careful to keep that shoulder as warm as possible. Dislocations are particularly susceptible to frostbite.” She laid out the two sleeping bags. “We should sleep as much as possible during the day while the temperature is higher. Even with high-tech gear, it will be hard to fight off the cold enough to sleep once the temp plummets.”
“When do you think we’ll be able to try to get off the mountain?”
“Maybe a day or two. I’ll go out tonight and scout out what’s happening in Kadmus’s kingdom. But we’ll play it by ear.” She looked at her. “But you’re the one who knew about the village and this cave. You may be able to tell me more than this map they gave me.”
“I knew about the village because I heard Kadmus talking about it.”
“And this cave?”
“Someone told me about it.”
Catherine’s brows rose. “When it’s been lost for decades? Were you familiar with this mountain before Kadmus brought you here?”
“No. The closest I’ve ever come is the village on Milchang, the next mountain. I did a story on their herd of goats—”
“Then how did you know about this cave? Who told you?”
“Does it make any difference? I knew, and we’re here. Isn’t that enough?”
Catherine looked at her with frustration. It was clear Erin didn’t want to reveal her source. “It would be enough if I could be sure that what you said was true about this place being forgotten for all that time. It wasn’t forgotten by the person who told you about it. I don’t want Kadmus to be able to tap into the same source.”
She shook her head. “He won’t be able to do that.”
“I hope not.” Catherine sat down and leaned back against the stone wall. She was suddenly bone tired. She had been going on sheer adrenaline for too long, and now that there was a break in the action, strength was beginning to ebb away from her. “To help you, I have to know everything, Erin. It’s dangerous to keep me in the dark.”
“I know it’s not fair,” Erin said quietly. “I’m sorry, Catherine. There are things I can’t talk about.”
“I’m sorry, too.” She paused. “Who is Cameron?”
Erin stiffened. “Cameron?”
“You asked me if it was Cameron who sent me when I showed up at your room at the palace. And that was the name you screamed just now when you were in pain.”
“Did I?” She shook her head. “I didn’t even realize it. I must trust you very much to have done that. I suppose it was an automatic—”
“I accept that. But I know you remember asking me if Cameron sent me to get you away from Kadmus.”
“Yes, I remember doing that.”
“So who is Cameron?”
She didn’t answer.
“Another blank wall?” Catherine asked wearily. “Okay, but you’re making things more difficult than they have to be.”
“You’re wrong. Difficult or not, my refusal to tell you about Cameron is exactly what it has to be. It can’t be any other way.”
“Then I’ll have to work around it.” She bit into her nutrition bar. “But if I find that your silence is putting me at a disadvantage, I’m not going to be pleased.” She changed the subject. “You’ve spent years here in Tibet. Can you think of anyone here who might be willing to help us?”
“No one I’d permit to do it. A day before you came, a boy from a village on the next mountain came to try to rescue me. I’d helped some of his distant family members at the earthquake site. So brave … so young.” She tried to steady her voice. “Kadmus shot him. His body is still in the courtyard below my window. I won’t let that happen again. I’m on my own.” She suddenly smiled. “No, I’m not on my own. I have you, Catherine.”
“Yes, you have me. But under the circumstances, it might be better if you have a few more people in your corner.”
“Better for you, too,” Erin said, troubled. “You wanted so much to get home to your son.”
“I’ll still get home to him. It will just be a little later.” She finished her bar. “And it’s not as if he’s not being well taken care of. I have a friend, Hu Chang, who is extraordinary, and Luke adores him. My son probably isn’t even missing me.”
“A son always misses his mother.”
Catherine shrugged. “We have a rather guarded relationship. We were separated for nine years. There are a lot of bridges to mend.”
“But not guarded on your part.” Erin was studying her face. “You love him very much.”
“To the last beat of my heart.” She tilted her head. “What about you? I scanned your dossier but I saw no mention of immediate family. No children?”
She shook her head. “My parents are dead. I was married when I was in college. It was all sex and rock concerts and pot. But when we came down off the high, we found out that we wanted different things.”
Catherine suddenly chuckled. “It sounds weird to hear you talk about pot and sex. I was led to believe that you were some kind of Mother Teresa icon.”
“Not willingly.” She grimaced. “Look, all I did was what anyone else would do when faced with a catastrophe like Qinghai.”
“But not everyone did do what you did,” Catherine said. “You went beyond any reasonable limits.”
“I was there,” she said simply. “It had to be done. I knew some of the people in those villages. You would have done the same.”
“Perhaps. What happened after pot, sex, and rock and roll?”
“Charlie wanted to be a stockbroker, and I wanted to become a journalist and wander the world. We parted ways, and after a few years, I ended up in Tibet.” She smiled. “Sometimes I wish there had been a child, but I wasn’t prepared to be a parent anyway. It took me a long while to learn responsibility. How about you?”
“I wanted a child. I’d been alone all my life, and I wanted desperately to have someone of my own. Then when Luke was born, I knew that it wasn’t about what I wanted. It was what was best for him.”
“Your husband?”
“He was CIA, much older than me, a real good guy. He was shot by the same criminal who kidnapped my son.”
“And kept
him for nine years?” Erin asked softly. “And you never stopped looking for him?”
“Not for a minute, not for a second.” Catherine took out her phone and pulled up the map of the mountain she’d already stored. “There doesn’t seem to be more than one very perilous road down this mountain, which links it to the next mountain in the range. Do you know of any other road? Do you remember Kadmus mentioning one?”
Erin shook her head.
“Then we need your mysterious source who told you about this cave to step up to the plate.”
“Sorry,” Erin said gravely. “I can’t promise that either.”
“I know you can’t. We’re hardly accessible for advice or anything else.” She knelt and wriggled into her sleeping bag. “Don’t worry, I’ll think of something.”
“We could always parachute off the mountain. You seem to have everything else in that backpack.”
“Actually, that’s not too out of the question.” Catherine thought about it. “The Internet can give you directions to do anything. I’d have to see about the process you have to use to make—”
“I was joking.”
“I know, but some of the best ideas come out of the blue.” She smiled. “Would you jump off this mountain if I asked you, Erin?”
“Yes, why not? I promised you I’d do anything you told me to do.”
She meant it. Catherine was amazed and touched. “That was in a situation of immediate peril and emergency. I’m not perfect. I’ll do my best, but I believe you should draw the line somewhere.”
Erin shook her head. “You deserve to have my trust. You risked your life to come get me out of that hellhole. I might question. I might suggest. But in the end, I’ll do what you want me to do.” She sighed. “Though parachuting off the mountain may be a stretch.”
“I’ll see what I can do about avoiding it. With that shoulder, it could prove extremely painful.” She pulled the zipper of her sleeping bag up to her throat. “Crawl into your sleeping bag and try to nap. Don’t worry, I’ll hear anyone if they come down the path toward the cave.”
“CIA training?”
“Partly. Partly pure instinct. I’ve had to sleep with one eye open since I left the cradle.”
“Have you?” Erin was pulling up the zipper and settling as comfortably as she could. She closed her eyes. “Sad…”
“Life.”
“Not all life is sad.”
“Not if we try to help each other make it better.” Catherine waited a moment, then asked softly, “Who is Cameron?”
Even half-asleep, the question caused Erin to tense. “Not fair, Catherine.”
“I told you that I wasn’t perfect. Who is Cameron?”
“I’m going to sleep now.”
And Catherine would not try to keep her awake. Erin had suffered too long, and the escape had put her on the edge of exhaustion. Catherine had felt obligated to try to break through the silence that might be dangerous for both of them, but she would not pursue it. She had done what a good CIA agent would do. Now she would do what a decent human being would do.
“Sleep well, Erin.”
* * *
“Where the hell are you, Hu Chang?” Venable asked testily when Hu Chang answered the phone.
“Do you not know? You’ve been having me followed for some days.”
“Of course, I have,” he said bluntly. “You’ve always been the key to controlling Catherine. I couldn’t just let you wander around.”
“I’m disappointed.” He glanced at Tashdon, the pilot in the cockpit seat next to him, but the man was tactfully ignoring his conversation. “I thought I might have some small importance of my own. Since my self-love is seriously damaged, I believe I’m going to hang up.”
“Where are you? Dammit, I haven’t been able to trace you since you left the Golden Palace.”
“Because I didn’t wish your man to tail me. The situation has become very delicate, and I won’t have you sticking your far-from-subtle fingers in the mix. I only answered your call to make sure you knew that I will make myself available if you have any information I can use. Do you?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Good-bye.”
“Wait. Where are you?”
“At the moment, I’m in a helicopter flying over Kham Province in Tibet. That would make me approximately halfway to my destination.”
“Daksha.”
“Perhaps. I repeat, good-bye, Venable.” He hung up, and his gaze shifted out the cockpit window at the blinding brilliance of the snow-covered mountains.
“Hu Chang?”
He didn’t look behind him. “I thought you would be too curious not to eavesdrop. However, you should have exercised restraint considering the risk to life and limb I’ve taken in inviting you to be my guest.”
“I was curious, Hu Chang.”
He got to his feet. “Then I suppose I might as well come back there and decide if I’ll answer your questions, Luke.”
* * *
Cameron.
Darkness.
Cameron.
Swirling intensity.
Cameron!
“Good God, you’re a determined woman.” A man’s deep voice, half-impatient, half-amused. “I really didn’t want to do this, but it seems I have no choice.”
Cameron.
“I heard you. Now open your eyes and say hello properly.”
Catherine slowly opened her eyes.
No cave. No sleeping bag.
No cold.
A room furnished with rich Persian rugs, leather chairs, books …
A fire burning in a huge fireplace.
And a man in jeans and close-fitting black shirt standing before that fireplace, his body outlined by the flames. She couldn’t make out his features but they were framed by close-cut dark hair, and she got an impression of symmetry.
Beautiful, she thought drowsily.
Power.
Electricity.
Grace.
Energy.
All beautiful …
“Thank you.” He stepped forward, and she could see his face. “I think you’re beautiful, too, Catherine.” His brilliant blue eyes were glittering with humor, his lips curved in a smile, and his entire expression was alive with exuberant vitality. “But I don’t think either one of us prefers to rely on that particular asset.” He sat down in the leather armchair and stretched his legs out before him. “However, I admit I’ve been enjoying watching you since you entered into my life. You’re like a wonderful symphony with exquisite passages of pure serenity, then magnificent crashing drama.” He made a face. “Unfortunately, I seem to have become fascinated by you.”
Crazy, she thought hazily. All this was crazy.
“Not crazy,” he said. “Like almost everything else, it has a perfectly sane basis if you accept certain parameters.”
She closed her eyes. “I’m dreaming. I’m in the cave and sleeping. I will now wake up.” She opened her eyes.
No cave.
Fire, warmth, beauty. And that man was still here.
He shook his head. “I set the rules, Catherine. You called me, and I came. But you have to play my game. I didn’t really want to contact you. I thought it would be much better to work through Erin.” He chuckled. “But you wouldn’t stop, and I couldn’t resist you.”
“I called you?”
He nodded. “Richard Cameron, at your service. You were curious, and you thought that I was someone you should know about. So you kept turning it over and over in your mind, and you wouldn’t let me go.”
“Bullshit.”
“No, true.” He added softly, “Actually, I could have resisted you, but I didn’t want to. I thought it might be worth it to me to get to know you. You evidently thought the same, though not for the same reason. I’m delighted to meet you, Catherine Ling.”
“Cameron.” She tried to think, tried to reason. “A hallucination brought on by stress and my desire to—”
“Wrong. Take a step outside the
box, Catherine. You’ve done it before.”
She was silent. Something was strange here that had nothing to do with dreams, and stress had never made her lose her mental balance. What else could it be? She went over the possibilities and came up with an answer. “Mental telepathy. We’ve been experimenting with it, and so have the Russians, Chinese, and half a dozen other countries. But if it’s mental telepathy, then you’ve brought it to a highly sophisticated level.”
“You have no idea. Very good, Catherine.”
“Two years ago, I was present at the testing of a young Italian girl who was the pride of the CIA think tank. They brought twenty-two agents to Rome to test her and teach us how to handle a possible mental infiltration. It turned out that she could read the minds of several of the agents, but I wasn’t one of them. And she couldn’t read those other agents from a distance of more than a football field. I take it that you’re not that close?”
“Correct.”
“And there have to be elements of hypnotic suggestion for you to have set up a scenario like this.”
“I wanted you to feel welcome. You’re accepting this better than I hoped.”
“I’m not accepting fact, only possibility. I know that mental telepathy has been tested and exists. It’s rare, but I’ve seen the experiments. But I also grew up on the streets of Hong Kong, where a belief in angels and devils is a way of life.”
“And which do you think I am?”
“You tell me.” She thought about it. “I think Erin believes you mean her well. She thought you might rescue her.” She was sifting through everything, trying to put the entire picture together. “Are you the ‘friend’ who asked Hu Chang to go after Erin?”
“I told him that it would please me. I left the decision to him.”
“Why didn’t you go after her yourself?”
“I couldn’t allow myself to do it.” He shrugged. “There are certain rules I have to go by.”
“Hu Chang said that you were the most dangerous man either one of us would ever meet. Why the hell couldn’t you go after Erin?”
“Rules.”
“But your rules didn’t keep you from sending Hu Chang out to do the dirty work.”