Soul Identity (23 page)

We climbed the building’s stairs. Instead of a door, a curtain hung across the entry to the restaurant. Bhanu drew it aside, and we walked into a small dining hall.

A man came out of the back kitchen, wiping his hands. “
Julay
!”

“Are you open and serving food?” I asked.

He nodded his head and led us to a table. “I bring you menu.” He came back a minute later with a menu. “The cook only has vegetarian dishes. No meat tonight. Very sorry, sir.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Can you bring us four bowls of
thukpa
?”

“No
thukpa
tonight, sir.”

“So what do you have?”

“We have fried
momos
, sir,” he said. “Nothing else.”

I sighed. “Okay, bring them on.”

“How many would you like, sir?”

I looked at Bhanu. “How many can you eat?”

“
Momos
?” He pulled a face. “Not very many.”

“Twelve
momos
,” I told the waiter.

He shook his head. “We only have eight. I bring them all.”

“
Char chai lie yay
,” Sheela told him. She smiled at me. “Every restaurant in
India
has tea.”

Val stretched and pulled her shawl tight around her. “So what did you think of the trip?” she asked me.

“It was a bit spooky finding young Feret’s picture up there,” I said.

She shuddered. “I used to like Andre—a lot. I can’t believe he blackmailed a bunch of lonely Buddhist monks.”

“I hope Lama Tinless doesn’t get in trouble with Mr. Feret’s monks,” Sheela said.

The waiter brought the
momos,
and we devoured them.

“They’re not so bad when you’re really hungry,” Bhanu said.

We walked back to our hotel and climbed the stairs to our rooms. I figured out how to ignite the gas heater while Val arranged the bed, and we quickly undressed and got under the covers.

Val snuggled into my arms. “Did those
momos
give you any energy?”

Hmm. “Can it even be done at these elevations?”

“People live here, Scott. I’m sure it’s possible.”

“Not many people, though. Maybe the locals have problems.”

She kissed me, and that warmed me up all over. “We’re both scientists,” she said. “Let’s do some research.”

I woke up at
four with a headache that felt like needles lancing my eyes and jabbing into the depths of my brain. I sat up and held my head in my hands and winced at the pain.

I squinted and tried to focus on the heater’s dancing flames. My mouth was dry, and I reached over Val to grab the water bottle.

“Save some for me,” Val murmured. She sat up and took a few swallows. “What’s happening to the heater?” she asked.

I looked at the now sputtering flame. It flickered out, and the room went dark.

I heard Val set the bottle down. “Are we out of fuel?” she asked.

I got up and rocked the tank. It felt at least half full. “There’s plenty left,” I said. “I’ll try to light it again.”

I pressed the gas button and heard the hiss of propane. I punched the igniter and saw its spark. But no ignition. Even after five or six tries.

“Try a match,” Val suggested.

I grabbed one from the table and struck it on the box side. The match flared brightly for a second but went out right after. Same results with the next match. And the next.

“I guess we’ll sleep without heat,” I said. I lay down, but my head still pounded, and I sat back up. I found myself panting. “I can’t seem to catch my breath,” I said.

“Me either. I guess we’re not high altitude people. We need more oxygen.”

“Like that match.” I lay there and tried to think. “Wait—the match didn’t light because there’s no oxygen. The heater used it all up.” I struggled to think. “We need to get oxygen right now.” I tried to stand, but my legs buckled, and I fell to the floor. I crawled to the window.

“It’s stuck,” Val said. We both pushed, but couldn’t open it.

“The door,” I said. I crawled over to it, fumbled with the latch, and pushed it open. Fresh, cold air lashed our bodies, and we stood up and sucked it in. Our headaches quickly faded.

I went back to the table and struck a match. It flared up and continued to burn brightly. I ignited the heater and examined the window.

“I left it open a crack,” Val said. “I’m sure of it.”

I nodded. “But now it’s jammed shut.” I got up close to the window and peered directly upward. I saw a wooden wedge stuck in the frame.

I showed Val the wedge. “Who would do that?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Let’s check on Bhanu and Sheela.” I headed for the door.

“You might want to put these on first.” Val tossed me my boxers.

I slipped them on and went into the hall. Bhanu and Sheela were staying across from us; I knocked on the door, but got no answer.

“Where could they be?” Val asked. She had thrown on my t-shirt.

“I don’t know. They’re not answering.” I rattled the handle again.

“Kick in the door,” she said. “Hurry!”

I backed up and planted the sole of my foot against the wooden door. I tested my footing, and then drew back and gave the door a solid kick.

A panel broke free. I pushed it out of the way, reached in, and unlocked the deadbolt.

“Bhanu? Sheela? Are you there?” Val called.

A snore from the bed. Bhanu and Sheela were sound asleep, arms wrapped around each other.

“Their heater is fine,” Val whispered. She pointed to the dancing blue flames.

I saw a shadow move outside the window, so I grabbed Val’s arm. “Get down,” I hissed.

We dropped to the floor. I peeked around the bottom of the bed, and could see the top of a ladder moving along the bottom of the window frame.

“What’s out there?” Val whispered.

“Somebody climbing a ladder,” I whispered back.

A couple seconds later I saw the head, then the red-robed torso of the monk who collected our donations in Lamayuru.

“It’s that first monk we saw at the
gompa
,” I hissed.

The monk reached into the room and undid the latch holding the window open. He pushed the window closed, cupped his hands on the glass, and peered inside while I kept still. Then he reached into his robe, pulled out a wooden wedge, and jammed it high in the seam between the window frame and the window. He tapped on it with his fist.

“He just sealed the room,” I whispered. “They’re really trying to kill us.”

The monk climbed down, and a few seconds later the ladder slid away. We ran to the window and watched the monk shove the ladder into the back of a small van. The van drove down the hill and made a left on the road toward Lamayuru.

We shook Bhanu and Sheela awake and told them what happened. Their eyes grew wide when I showed them the wedge in their window frame.

“Let’s leave before they come back.” Sheela said.

“There’s nowhere to go.” Val said. “This town is closed until morning.”

We decided to get up and pack. Then we sat in the lobby and waited for the staff to come to work. We took turns dozing and keeping watch.

The hotel staff arrived at six. Bhanu and Sheela went to the dining room while Val and I settled the bill.

Bhanu grinned at us when we came to the table. “Guess what they’re serving for breakfast,” he said.

“Eggs and toast?” I asked.

“Nope.
Momos
.”

“Great.”

We spent a few minutes in silence, watching the glaciers out the window after we took off from Leh. Then Val grabbed my hand. “It’s good to be with you—alive,” she said.

I squeezed back. “Tinless said something that seemed to hit you pretty hard,” I said.

She was silent for a minute. Then she sighed and turned away from the window. “He said that we have the knowledge, but we don’t help our members figure out what it all means.”

I frowned. “Isn’t that the way the system was designed?”

She nodded. “And for me, it’s good this way. But what if somebody came along and offered a mix of the science and religion all wrapped up in a single, neat package?”

“You’re thinking of that blog we found about WorldWideSouls, aren’t you?” I asked.

“I am.”

I thought about what she said. “So that’s how Feret is building WorldWideSouls—he’s telling people what to do with their bridges.”

“Yes, and that would be fine if he wasn’t a fake,” she said. “Scott, Andre is very powerful and very charismatic. It’s easy to get yourself sucked into following him. No wonder WorldWideSouls is growing.”

Something was bothering me. “He sucked you in too, didn’t he?”

She turned back to the window for a minute. Then she faced me. “He did, but I don’t want to talk about it now.”

I had to respect her privacy. So I changed the subject.

“Maybe Bob can help us a bit more,” I said.

She raised her eyebrows.

“Last week he told me that he needed more than belief,” I said. “He needed the meaning behind it. I’m guessing that his church has already been approached by WorldWideSouls. Bob should be able to find out more about what they’re up to.”

She nodded. “Good idea. What will we do?”

I sighed. “Figure out what Feret is planning before it’s too late.”

We flew through New Dehli. Eventually we landed in
Hyderabad
. Bhanu drove us to the front of the Soul Identity building.

I checked the time: three p.m. in
Hyderabad
and five thirty a.m. in
Sterling
. “We have a radio check in a half hour.”

“Good, we’ve got time to eat,” Val said. “That airplane bag of spicy nuts didn’t hold me very long.” She turned to Bhanu. “Where can we find some
momos
?”

He laughed. “Nowhere, if we’re lucky. How about a chicken tikka pizza?”

“That sounds great,” I said.

Back in the communications room I entered the fifth encryption code. Bob, Archie, George, and Sue were all waiting on the air.

“Did you find Tinless Tiksey?” Archie asked.

Tinless was in danger from Feret’s monks, so we needed to protect him as long as possible.

“We found him,” I said. “But he claimed to know nothing.”

“Did you pressure him?” Archie asked.

We were in no rush to share what we learned. I glanced at Val and hoped she agreed. “We did,” I said, “but he wasn’t sharing.”

Time to change the subject. “George and Sue, did you get a picture of Feret’s eyes?” I asked.

“No, but we have quite the adventure to share,” George said. “Picture this—after our Monday meeting with Mr. Feret, we sneak into his office closet when he leaves the building.”

“We were hoping to get the photo when he came back,” Sue said.

“We sit there for a long time,” George said. “A couple hours at least. Finally Mr. Feret returns, but again we miss our photo opportunity.”

“The batteries had died. George had forgotten to turn off the camera,” Sue said.

“Anyway,” George said, “Mr. Feret works at his desk, and I’m thinking that we’re stuck all afternoon. We try to get comfortable—I move some boxes and end up spilling some old paperwork. The papers go everywhere.”

“And what did you find?” Val asked.

“Nothing at all,” he said.

Val looked at me and sighed.

“But get this,” George said. “Next thing we know, Brian walks into the office.”

“Archie’s Brian?” I asked.

“The one and only,” he said. “Our coffee joke man.”

“What did they talk about?” Val asked.

“We don’t know,” George said. “Their voices are muffled. But they talk for over a half hour, then Brian and Mr. Feret leave together.”

“George told me this yesterday,” Archie said. “This morning I checked with our travel team—Brian booked a personal trip to
Venice
for a long weekend. He flew back to
Boston
last night.”

“So you’ll see him in a couple of hours,” I said.

“I will,” Archie said. “Though I do not plan to say anything to him about this matter.”

That seemed wise. No need to tip our hand.

“Did you find out anything about WorldWideSouls?” I asked.

We could hear Archie sigh over the radio. “No, Scott. Nothing new.”

Time to get Bob to dig in for us, like Val and I had discussed. “Bob,” I said, “I’m sorry for bringing this up over the radio, but we could really use your help.”

“Anything, sir,” he replied. “What can I do for you?”

“You told me about this group in
Baltimore
that you belong to.”

A long pause. “What about it?” he asked.

“Were they approached by WorldWideSouls?”

A longer pause. “Yes.”

“Did they join WorldWideSouls?”

“I think so.”

This was like pulling teeth. “Bob, these are the bad guys,” I said. “They’re trying to hurt Soul Identity.”

“I know, sir.” Bob’s voice was full of fear.

“Can you help us find out what’s going on?” I asked. “It means you’ll have to get to
Baltimore
quickly.”

We could hear Archie talking softly to Bob in the background.

“Okay, I’ll do it,” Bob finally said. “I’d like to take
Elizabeth
so it won’t look suspicious. We can talk to them about our wedding plans.”

“We need you to find out why everybody’s going to
Venice
, and what’s supposed to happen there,” I said.

“We’ll leave this evening,” he said.

“Hey, one more thing,” George said. “I talked to my old buddy again. He’s saying that Soul Identity is corrupt and is in need of brand new leadership. He says that I’d understand it all in a couple days.”

“On Saturday in
Venice
?” I asked.

“No, he hints it’ll all make sense by Friday. In
Sterling
.” George paused for a moment, then said, “Mr. Morgan, do we stay in
Venice
, or do we return to
Sterling
?”

“I think you and Sue should stay in
Venice
.” Archie’s voice sounded urgent. “You must find out as much as you can.”

“Yes, sir,” George said.

“We’ve got one more day in
Hyderabad
,” I said. “We’ll dig into the actual code to see if there’s anything we’re missing.”

We shut down the equipment and left the building. Bhanu and Sheela were sleeping in their car.

Val rapped on the windshield. “You want us to take a cab back to the hotel?” she asked.

Bhanu rubbed his eyes. “No, we’ll drop you off,” he said. “But let’s start late tomorrow.”

 
“We’ll meet you in the office at noon,” Val said.