Deep Sea One (11 page)

"Welcome to Deep Sea One, Sergeant Fernandez," Purdue chimed, as he entered the room in haste. "Now does everyone have everything? We have already wasted enough time waiting out this bloody . . ." he looked out from the window and noticed for the first time that the fury had subsided, ". . . storm?"

"Yah, no, that ended rather abruptly," Nina noted.

"Strange. It showed up out of nowhere. Our weather computers showed no sign of any atmospheric turbulence whatsoever, and suddenly we were in the throes of it. Now it seems to have disappeared of its own accord," Purdue said.

"Almost as if it had a mind of its own," Sam gave his two cents.

"Spooky," Calisto mumbled through her last bit of protein bar.

Nina flashed her eyes at the strangely laid-back bodyguard.

"So you are a sergeant?" Sam asked.

"No, I
was
a sergeant, but Mr. Purdue insists on addressing me as such, so I'll pretend I don't mind," Calisto replied. It was her first serious remark since they had met her. Purdue stared at her for a moment, amazed that she voiced her dislike for the title in his company.

"You are quite fearless, Calisto. I thought your rank would give you a sense of authority and respect, does it not?" he said, as he packed the artifacts in an airtight box and placed it in his carryon bag.

"It reminds me of my mistakes, Mr. Purdue. That is all. You may address me as you please while I am in your employ," she reassured him with a nod and what might be construed as a half-assed smile.

"Very well, Sergeant Fernandez," Purdue reiterated his preference, "I am sure no matter what your rank, that you will do an equally splendid job at protecting our interests."

"And our asses," Sam added by himself. As Purdue and Nina left the room, Sam stepped back chivalrously for Calisto to pass. She looked behind him, examining his rear end and smiled, "Now that is an ass worth protecting."

Sam was left surprised—and smiling.

The trip to Nepal was well-planned by Mr. Eickhart and his associates. Purdue's Jet Ranger carried himself, Nina, Sam and Calisto to his private jet, which was awaiting them at Benningvale Airstrip just off Haddington in the remote countryside. Gary would travel with them to the Nepalese airfield secured by Eickhart from where they would travel to Nepalgunj by train. From there the party would continue on according to the clues Nina would interpret to find the supposed shrine in the mountain.

Nina had been harboring some deep concerns about any misinterpretation of the book's texts. Deep inside her she felt inept, even to a meager degree, afraid that she could fail at translating the scripts correctly. It placed a lot of stress on her performance, but she dared not voice her worry to anyone, not now, not even to Sam. What if she could not direct them to the correct area? Now, for the first time in her life Nina felt a bit out of her depth. She had great knowledge of dialects, basic linguistics and history, both contemporary and ancient. Her skill at recognizing symbols from old empires never failed her, yet she knew that she had now become the compass of the entire group and should she misinterpret even one equation or translate a single word erroneously, she would be in trouble. All she had to comfort her in her abilities was her strong common sense, her powers of deduction, which would support her near-perfect aptitude for figuring out the abstruse. Her eyes found the dark bodyguard who sat opposite her.

Calisto was quiet and absent. She stared from the helicopter window as if she was pushing distance between her past and her present with every mile that removed her from Scotland. It was surreal to her, that within mere days from being shot at and detained by Purdue's people, she was now employed, fed, comfortable and on her way to a sacred place deep in the Himalayas to find the location of one of the biggest legends in the world and be immersed in its glory. She found it wonderful and weird how one petty pursuit of burglary could bring her to this, and in so quick a stretch of time. Not a week ago she was in dire straits, in a position she could never tell anyone of, least of all the people on this helicopter.

Sam watched the two women while Purdue and Gary talked. It was odd for him to imagine Purdue having a leisurely couch-bound afternoon in the lounge, but, as the conversation went, apparently that was exactly how he liked spending the few days of the World Cup. It was positively unbelievable to see the billionaire as a sports fan. Sam would not be surprised if Purdue owned a few teams to get his fix. He would not put anything above him. Sam thought himself extremely fortunate. He thought of his friend, Paddy, and his intended move to MI6. He missed Bruich and wondered what havoc the cat had been wreaking in his house while Paddy was at work.

Nina looked disheartened, but he could not tell for sure. Now and then she would pretend to look out the opposite window to look at him, but he pretended he did not notice. Sam was just relieved that the feisty and emotional Dr. Gould spoke to him again. She was beautiful and smart with a lovely substance of character he really admired. In the bright light of the window her hair looked like velvet and her skin soft. Sam almost forgot that he was on the biggest expedition of his career. What amount of coverage Purdue would give him, he was unsure of, but it was worth the trip in every way.

He looked at the solemn expression of the new bodyguard and wondered what she was made of. Purdue did not simply grab anyone off the street to be his watchdog and he did not buy the whole sergeant thing either. There was more to her, Sam thought, than some rank she had abandoned for reasons unknown. With her hair tied tightly in a long braid she looked stern and merciless, every bone of her skull etching shadows in her face and temples. Sam found her crudely attractive and for a moment he wondered how many scars her body boasted, but then he uttered a deep sigh to make it go away and prevent him from an awkward position in the company of two ladies.

The Jet Ranger dipped from the influence of the air pocket and suddenly Nina, Sam and Calisto were alert and looking about.

"Sorry about that!" Purdue cried out from the copilot seat while Gary only sniggered with the throttle between his knees. He looked out from his side window and pointed downward for Purdue and his passengers to find the airstrip drawing a uniform line on the earth beneath them. Soon they would cross the borders of continents and countries to peek into the ancient past that cradled the mysteries of legend—of the knife that shanked a Nazarene and with that, took into it the brute power of gods.

☼

Chapter 15

After two days of continuous flying and occasional breaks to refuel and enjoy proper meals, the party arrived in Nepal, specifically Lumbini. It was an alien and beautiful world of temples, lying in the embrace of the Himalayan paradise sought out by explorers and tourists from all over the world. Exhausted, the five travelers stumbled from the jet before it was taxied back to the hidden hangar in the canopy of woodlands outside the town.

"I think a few hours of rest would be in order," Nina suggested, hoping that Purdue had the same idea.

"From your lips, darling," Calisto sighed, wincing at the discomfort of her bag's strap eating into her shoulder.

"What do you have in there, sergeant?" Sam chuckled. "An RPG?"

She laughed with him. But she laughed in such a manner as to suggest that Mr. Cleave was not far off in his assumption. Calisto looked at Nina and winked, leaving the historian to giggle in amusement at Sam's sudden realization, which subsequently removed his smile.

"Come on, everyone! Time is money. A night's rest here in the birthplace of the Buddha should do us all wonders, I think," Purdue called out, as he walked to their waiting car. It was a 4
×
4 with a canopy of tarp and iron bars, but the bed of the truck was lavishly laid out with ample cushioning and straps to secure the passengers comfortably.

"Fucking Purdue, thinks of everything, doesn't he?" Nina nudged Sam as they examined the back of the vehicle.

"Aye," Sam replied, with an impressed nod and reached for his dwindling pack of cigarettes to mark the occasion. Nina gasped. Her big eyes reminded him of the request not to smoke around her and he promptly replaced the pack before it even came out of his pocket. He hung his head in disappointment and gestured with his arm for her to step onto the back of the truck. Gary joined them while Purdue sat in front with his guide, Jodh, who was driving. Calisto kept an eye on her employer from the back, sitting against the small window that divided the cab from the back. Her hand remained firmly in her bag, grasping something inside as they drove to their accommodations on the edge of town. Sam found himself spellbound by her hidden hand, but she ignored him in lieu of staying vigilant.

Calisto watched Jodh intently. She had received no intel on him subsequent to their arrival a few minutes ago. That made him a marked man in her eyes, until she was told differently. One positive trait of her paranoia was that she never got caught off-guard by betrayal, because she normally found every single person she encountered threatening in some degree.

Jodh did not look like a typical guide from Nepal. He was young and attractive, in his thirties. From what she could hear he spoke perfect English and wielded an impressive vocabulary. Even his choice of clothing was modern in the milieu of this country—jeans and Caterpillars, Ray Bans and a sports watch.

"What are you holding in there, sergeant?" Sam suddenly asked, drawing both Nina and Gary's attention to Calisto.

"How curious are you about that, Mr. journalist?" she asked in her teasing husky voice.

Nina scoffed at her flirting. Sam withdrew a little. He did not want Nina to think he was interested in the new female any more than he should be, but Gary did not hide his wide smile. The pilot peeked at her hand, "Is that a gun you are handling there?"

Calisto slowly pulled her hand free, revealing a palm full of jelly beans, which she shoved into her mouth.

Gary sank back, disappointed.

The town passed behind them as they drove and the party looked out the back at the beautiful architecture of several temples and statues, which towered a few stories into the air. It was late afternoon and the pale sun still managed to ignite a golden glimmer on the domes and windows of the ancient religious buildings.

In the wake of their vehicle they saw the triangular magnificence of the sloping bronze shrine on the side of the road, its walls white and marble-like under the miniature awnings of golden design. Among the meager traffic were donkey carts and bicycles leisurely making their way in all directions, peacefully unaware of time. As they turned in another direction, driving carefully at a snail's pace, a breathtaking monument came into view in the distance. The World Peace Pagoda reminded Sam of the Taj Mahal, but it was simpler and whiter than snow. It squatted like a puff of whipped cream slopped onto the ground, almost luminous white with a majestic dome rounding it perfectly overhead.

From the back of the truck they marveled quietly at the beauty of Lumbini, as if saying anything would stain the moment with words, meaningless in comparison to the atmosphere the buildings exuded in their souls. Just before they reached their hotel they passed a massive statue of the seated Buddha, cast in bronze, maybe gold. Its face evoked calm in all who beheld it, the hands of the figure rested on its lap.

"No wonder Buddhists are so relaxed," Sam noted. "Look at that bloke, smirking where he sits, watching over the anthill of scuttling humans."

That bloke?
Nina sighed. "Do you have any culture in you, Sam Cleave?"

"Of course I do. I just don't get excited about semantics. We are in Nepal. You should meditate away that stress in your shoulders, Dr. Gould," he smiled. Sam meant it, but he tried to formulate his words so that they would fall on Nina's ears as friendly mockery.

"For your information, Mr. Cleave, I meditate often," Nina informed him and snubbed her nose at him to look out at the layered roofs of the thorny temple passing them.