“I know,” Luke said gravely. “How do you do, Ms. Sullivan?”
“Pretty well, thanks to your mother,” Erin said. “I’m very glad to meet you, Luke.” She took a bite of the bar. “Though I didn’t expect to see you here.” She glanced at Catherine. “And I’m sure Catherine didn’t either. She told me she had to get back to you. But it seems you didn’t wait for her.”
“I have to be here for her.” He met Catherine’s eyes. “Don’t I?”
“That’s what you tell me. But it has to go both ways, Luke.”
He shook his head. “You took me away from Rakovac and killed him. You don’t owe me anything.” He got to his feet and stored his sleeping bag in his backpack. “I saw Hu Chang go out with Cameron. May I go find them?”
“As long as you stay within sight.” She held up her hand. “Okay, I’d worry. I’m trying to accept that you—” She shook her head. “Give me a break.”
A faint smile touched his lips. “I won’t go far.” The next moment, he’d left the hut.
Catherine immediately followed him and opened the door.
She couldn’t help it if she was insulting his independence. She wasn’t going to let him go out in the dark with Kadmus somewhere near without knowing he would be able to make contact with Hu Chang.
It was still dark, but it had stopped snowing, and she could see Cameron and Hu Chang standing, talking, fifty yards or so down the road. Luke would reach them within a few minutes.
She shut the door and turned to see Erin watching her.
“He seems to be a nice boy.” Erin turned and was quickly dressing. “But, God, I’m sorry that he’s here. I wasn’t functioning too well when Cameron brought us here last night, but it still came as a shock. I can see that you’re devastated. Who’s responsible for his being here?”
“Hu Chang. Cameron. Luke, himself.” Catherine went across the room and turned off the stove. “And maybe me, too. I can’t sort it all out right now. I just have to concentrate on getting him out of here and on his way to the U.S.”
“If Cameron had any responsibility for bringing him, he’ll make it right.”
“He didn’t exactly bring him, he just didn’t stop him from coming.” She paused. “And he promised that nothing would happen to him.”
“You see? Everything will be all right.” She grabbed her jacket. “Cameron always keeps his promises.”
“I can’t say I have the same degree of confidence in him.”
“And you think I’m a little nuts because I do.”
“I don’t understand it.”
“I did something I wasn’t supposed to do.” Her hand went to the lotus on her necklace. “He did what he could to fix it.” She released the necklace and carefully thrust her arms into the jacket. “And he sent you, didn’t he?”
“So he tells me,” she said. “I suppose you wouldn’t care to say what terrible thing you did that you’d deserve that kind of punishment?”
“It wasn’t terrible, it was careless.” She pulled her parka over her hair. “But the result was the same.” She moved toward the door. “But it’s over now, and I have to get over it, too. It will take a long time, but I’ll do it. I won’t let Kadmus win.”
It wasn’t over, Catherine thought, and Erin was intelligent enough to know it. But she wasn’t going to discourage her any more than she had to by arguing with her. She was glad Erin was managing to keep her spirits up after that hell of a day they’d gone through yesterday. She followed Erin to the door. “No, he won’t win. Let’s get down to that plateau and get out of here.”
* * *
“I assume you’re going to tell me what is wrong.” Hu Chang’s gaze was focused on the twisting path leading down to the plateau. “I do not read minds, but you’re not a man to need company on an early-morning stroll.”
“But you’re always entertaining, Hu Chang.” Cameron smiled. “I enjoyed you enormously during your stay with me.”
“What is wrong?” he repeated.
“I got word late last night that Kadmus had virtually abandoned the hot-springs road and was taking his men on the road leading across the mountain.” He paused. “They’re only a few hours away from the plateau now.”
“How close is the helicopter?”
“Too close to Kadmus’s ETA.”
“Can you divert it?”
“Yes, but that would only extend the danger. Our best bet is to get Erin on that helicopter and away from Kadmus.”
“You told me that he would still never give up the search.”
“And he won’t, but it will be a new playing field, and it will give me time to try to persuade the committee that I’m right, and they’re wrong.”
“What are the chances?” Hu Chang asked. “Can you do a little mental manipulation with them?”
“No,” he said curtly. “That wouldn’t be honorable. I made promises when I became Guardian. Besides, they think they’re doing what they should for the good of the organization. They’re all supersmart and claim they have a long-range view. I’m the rebel. I’ll just have to contact a few members who are leaning my way and see what I can do.”
“Catherine will want to know that there’s a threat.”
“I’m sure she will. You tell her. I’m heading out now. I’ll tell the pilot to touch down and pick you all up. I want you on board and away from the mountain in two minutes flat. I don’t think I can manage any more time than that.”
“Time? What—” He stopped as he saw Luke coming toward them from the hut. “Catherine’s going to hate this for him. She would have preferred a smooth, safe exit.”
“I know. I promised her I’d keep him safe.” He smiled and waved at Luke. “And he will be safe as long as you don’t take longer than those two minutes.” He turned and started down the road. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Where is he going?” Luke had reached Hu Chang and was staring after Cameron. He called, “Cameron?”
Cameron looked over his shoulder and smiled. “I’ll see you later. Take care of Catherine, Luke.”
The next moment, he had disappeared around the curve.
“Hu Chang?” Luke was frowning. “Where is he going?”
“He did not communicate his exact destination, but I believe it had something to do with our departure. So I think that we should follow his example and start down the mountain.” He looked at the hut and saw Catherine and Erin coming toward them. “And with all due speed.”
* * *
“So much for Cameron’s keeping Luke safe, Hu Chang,” Catherine said as she strode quickly down the mountain. “Kadmus appears on the horizon, and he takes off.”
“Kadmus is not on the horizon yet. Cameron said it would be very close.”
“But he didn’t want to take a chance of an encounter.”
“He did not discuss his plans with me. He just said to get everyone on that helicopter in two minutes.” He gazed at Erin, who had moved ahead of them with Luke. “She appears better. And she asked no questions about Cameron.”
“She trusts him. No matter what he does, she sure it’s the right thing. I can’t—” She stopped, her head lifting. “What’s that?”
He listened. “Vehicles. It appears that Kadmus may be closer than we thought.”
“We can’t be sure. These mountains echo like crazy. I made that mistake when Erin and I were in the hot springs.” She gnawed at her lower lip. “But if we go forward, we could run into Kadmus’s men if they get to the plateau before the helicopter.”
“Cameron said that it would be close, but we would have the edge and get there first.”
“And we should just trust his judgment?”
“Do you have the facts to make your own? Cameron knows these mountains.”
And, according to Hu Chang, he was accustomed to fighting in them.
Hu Chang gazed at her. “No time for hesitation. Go back, or trust Cameron and go forward?”
The sound of Kadmus’s vehicles sounded aggressively loud in the clear mountain air.
She muttered a curse, and her pace quickened. “Trust Cameron.”
* * *
“There’s the plateau.” Brasden gestured up ahead. The first gray of dawn breaking was lighting the sky. “But we’ve still heard no electronic communication. No radio transmissions at all. If a helicopter is coming in, the pilot is too far out for us to detect.”
“Or he’s on complete radio silence,” Kadmus said. “We’ll camp out for a while and see which is true.” He gazed thoughtfully up at the footpath leading up and north from the plateau. Then he looked back at the cavalcade of jeeps behind him. The second vehicle was the one carrying the soldiers with the missile launchers. “And then we’ll do a little more exploring. How long until we reach the plateau?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
“See if we can get it down to ten.”
* * *
“Four minutes, Cameron,” Tashdon said. “I told you I’d be right on time, sir.”
“Kadmus will be able to hear your approach in another two minutes. You’re going to be busy. You brought a copilot?”
“Ralph Martin. I’ve used him before.”
“No mistakes. They’re going to be throwing big stuff at you, but you just obey instructions.” He paused. “All instructions.”
Silence. “I don’t like it, sir.”
“You don’t have to like it. Just do it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Cameron broke away.
He didn’t have to glance up the trail to know that Hu Chang would be bringing Erin, Catherine, and Luke down to the plateau within a few minutes. They should be rounding the curve at the same time as the helicopter landed.
He reached into his backpack and brought out his case containing the dissembled parts of his Springfield. A minute later, he had assembled it. The he grabbed his AK-47 and started climbing up the rocks and boulders bordering the trail.
Two minutes.
* * *
“There’s the helicopter,” Erin said over her shoulder as she moved around the curve. “He should be landing any—Oh, shit.”
Catherine could see what she meant. Kadmus’s caravan of jeeps and trucks was barreling up the hill toward the plateau. They should reach it in minutes. She caught a glimpse of a missile being loaded. “Stop. Luke, come back and—”
“Move, Catherine!”
Cameron. Where the hell—
A bullet exploded from the boulders above the plateau!
She saw the driver of the third jeep in the caravan careen off the road and over the edge of the cliff.
“Run.” She streaked down the hill toward the plateau.
Another three shots.
The tires on Kadmus’s jeep blew an instant later. Brasden and Kadmus jumped from the vehicle to the road.
The helicopter touched down.
“Hu Chang?” she gasped.
“Here.” He had already passed her and grabbed Erin. “Cameron said two minutes. Get on board.”
The door of the helicopter opened, and a man in uniform was lifting Erin on board.
Another shot from the rocks, and the driver of the fourth jeep in the caravan slumped over the steering wheel. But the other soldiers were pouring out of the vehicles and tearing up the road toward the plateau on foot.
“Get that son of a bitching sniper.” Brasden’s harsh voice. “And I want that missile loaded and off
now.
”
“Catherine.” Luke was suddenly beside her, taking her arm and jerking her toward the helicopter. “Get on board. Hurry.”
But Cameron was alone up there with all those soldiers crawling over the rocks like scorpions. And the missile had to be disabled. She had only her Luger, but she could go down and get the rifle from that disabled jeep and—
“You get on board,” she told Luke. “I’ll be right—”
But Luke was not leaving her, and she had to get him on board and out of here. She turned and dashed toward the helicopter at a dead run. The next instant, they both dove into the copter.
“Lift off, Tashdon,” Hu Chang ordered the uniformed pilot who had opened the door. “Now.”
“Not yet.” Catherine got to her feet. “That missile. Cameron needs help.” She headed for the door. “Get everyone out of here, Hu Chang. I’ll go take care of that missile and make sure they don’t get—”
“No. Take off, Martin.” The pilot, Tashdon, was behind her, tone regretful. “I’m sorry, ma’am. Cameron gave very definite orders.”
Pain.
Darkness.
* * *
The copter moved jerkily off the plateau.
Good, he’d managed to distract Kadmus’s troops and given them the time they needed, Cameron thought. Now to get rid of those missiles.
He aimed carefully.
The first shot took out the soldier loading the missile.
The second shot took out the other soldier.
The third shot hit the gas tank.
The jeep and missiles exploded!
No more missiles.
He glanced at the helicopter. It was still within range of a good shot. More distraction needed. He took his AK-47 and sprayed the oncoming soldiers who had reached the lower boulders below him.
Then he started moving higher on the rocks, deliberately showing himself.
Shouts.
Bullets.
But they were both in his direction, not the helicopter.
Another glance showed the helicopter out of range.
He ducked back behind the boulders and kept on climbing.
* * *
“
Kill
that son of a bitch!” Kadmus shouted.
He could feel the heat of the flames from the exploded missile singeing his back as he ran toward the plateau.
Gone.
Erin Sullivan whisked away from him by Catherine Ling. Rage was tearing through him. He had been so close, and she had still managed to make a fool of him.
No, it hadn’t been Ling by herself. The man who’d done this damage was still on the mountain. He’d caught a glimpse of him only minutes ago. He’d squeeze his throat until—
Control the anger.
This could be the man he’d been searching for. It’s what he’d been suspecting, and the way he’d decimated his men added credence to the suspicions. Now he had to capture him to confirm it.
“Find him,” he called to Brasden. “But keep him alive. Do you hear me? I
need
him.”
“I hear you.” Brasden was starting up the boulders. “And if I can’t get my hands on him right away, I may still get him. I took a photo with my phone when we got a glimpse of him a minute ago.”
Clever. He wouldn’t have thought Brasden would be that clever. “Don’t rely on a damn photo. Get him now.”