The Gods' Gambit (39 page)

Irina shrugged. “We had to decide where they might have
brought you. The central chamber was the logical option.”

“Thank you for coming for me,” said James.

“You’d have done the same … Right … done,” she said
finishing up with the dressing of Lao’s wound.

“How much time before the charges go off?” James asked her.

Irina looked at her watch. “Fourteen and a half minutes.”

James took a last look at the tablet’s display.

“Run!” he said.

* * *

The blast came soon after their flashlights illuminated the
opening at the end of the tunnel. They felt as though the whole mountain shook.
Dust and stone started to fall down from the tunnel’s vaulted archway. They
ran, manoeuvring between the bigger pieces.

“Don’t stop,” shouted James when they came out. “We must get
further away from the rocks.” By which he meant the towering cliffs in which
the opening of the tunnel gaped.

Night was about to fall, the clear sky had already lost its
brightness. They were still running when the earth beneath their feet cracked.
A mighty underground rumbling echoed off the surrounding stillness. A hill
about five hundred meters from where they were suddenly began to sink. Several
other hills that formed a range with the first one followed its movement down.
Huge pieces of rock crashed downwards, rolling and clashing with each other
chaotically. Above the area that the hill range had occupied seconds ago an
enormous dark cloud erupted. A tiny object appeared out of the cloud like a
shooting star. A roaring of aircraft engines could be heard before the sound
and the craft itself diminished and then disappeared into the distance.

“Ha, that fuel did a good job,” Lao exclaimed, astonished by
the scale of the destruction.

“This can’t only be because of those containers. The blast
must have ignited something else as well. Their armory maybe,” said Irina.

The following moments of silence were broken by a crackling
sound coming from their portable wirelesses. James answered the calling. It was
Sonam.

“We are fine. We lost Lino. How are you?” asked James.

“The girls are shaken but they’re holding up… I am sorry
about Lino,” said Sonam, and after a moment he added, “We did it, Mister
Whiteway.”

“Yes,” James glanced to the sky in the direction where the
small aircraft had disappeared. “We did it.”

A tropical island beach, undisclosed location

The white house with a large wooden veranda extending in
front of it was built on the only rising ground in sight. It huddled amongst
dense tropical vegetation overlooking the light-blue water of the lagoon and
the sandy beach that was about fifty meters away.

The French windows between the veranda and the reception
room were wide open. Lao and lama Tenzin, engaged in relaxed conversation, sat
on a big angle sofa upholstered in a sea-blue material. On the coffee table
next to them were a steaming tea set and a plate of biscuits.

The sound of an approaching car came to them from the rear
of the house where the only dirt lane leading to that secluded place ended.
They concluded the conversation and stared into the long corridor leading from
the reception room to the entrance door.

Irina opened the door, took off her sunglasses and walked
in. She was dressed in white – narrow trousers highlighting her muscular
thighs, and a blouse with short sleeves. She exchanged greetings with the two
men and then asked Lao how his arm was healing.

“Lama Tenzin gave me a good medicine for it,” said Lao.

Irina looked outside. She pointed to the roof of a pavilion
built among trees and bushes not far from the edge of the veranda. “Is he
there?”

“Since early morning. As usual,” responded Lao.

“I’ll talk to him,” said Irina, and she walked out through
the open French windows. Both men looked as she climbed down the steps of the
veranda and disappeared into the greenery.

“Rinpoche, I don’t understand your carelessness,” said Lao,
obviously picking up the conversation from the point they had stopped at when
Irina arrived. “James hardly says a word. Most of the time he stares at the
ocean.”

“Staring at the ocean is a good meditation,” said lama
Tenzin.

“You know what I mean. He’ll meet no women in this wild
place. Moreover, he doesn’t even want to utter a word on that subject.”

Lama Tenzin stayed silent, looking outside as though he was
waiting for something to happen. “May be he doesn’t need to meet new women,” he
said after a short while.

Lao looked at him puzzled. “You don’t mean … Irina?” More
disagreement than wondering could be detected in his voice. “There’s nothing
like that. She considers him a friend but nothing more. She told us that she’s
going back to her country. On the other hand, James is totally absorbed in his
grief for Elizabeth.”

“You are a family man. You should have a better
understanding of that, better than an old monk like me,” said lama Tenzin, smiling.

“With all respect to you, Rinpoche. I think you take the
desirable for the  real,” disagreed Lao.

“We must rely more on our intuition and faith,” said lama
Tenzin cryptically, and looked through the window again.

In that moment, James and Irina came out of the bushes
surrounding the pavilion and started to walk along the path to the beach. Irina
turned round and waved to them. Lama Tenzin waved back.

“Look outside, right now. What do your senses tell you?”
asked lama Tenzin.

Lao did what he was told.

The sky was predominantly clear except for several clusters
of small, fluffy, snow-white clouds. The sun had passed one-third of its daily
journey. A light breeze brought coolness to the air. The tropical forest was
buzzing with the sounds of hidden wildlife. On the mowed meadow in front of the
veranda there were two pelicans standing still, pressed against each other. The
birds had turned their heads towards the smooth surface of the lagoon, where in
the far distance a small fishing boat with a square white sail floated.

“Everything looks … perfect,” said Lao.

“Exactly. Now, let’s have one more cup of tea,” said lama
Tenzin.

THE END