The Gods' Gambit (30 page)

“Thank you. There are some things you need to know …” James
told them the whole story in brief. He started with Stefan Costov’s murder and
ended with the call he had received from Lao in Florence. Occasionally, lama
Tenzin cut in with a question. When he had finished, there was a minute of
silence.

“I saw signs of evil rising, but couldn’t predict the scale
of it. It is total war against our world.” Lama Tenzin sounded so different
that at first Irina thought somebody else was speaking. He cleared his throat
and continued. “Now, you will hear about our order. Probably, you’re acquainted
with many of the facts I’m going to mention. The order’s origin is directly
related to the holy family to which Buddha Gautama belonged. It comprised his
father – Sudodana – and his two wives – Maya Devi and Mahapadjapati – his
half-brother and half-sister – Nanda and Sundari Nanda – Nanda’s wife –
Janapada Calayani, Buddha’s wife – Yasodara – and their son – Rahula. All of them,
with the exception of Buddha’s mother – Maya Devi, who died soon after giving
birth to him – and his father, became monks and nuns. That’s how the holy
bloodline came to an end. Sudodana accepted the teaching of his enlightened son
but remained a layman for the rest of his life. One day, Buddha Gautama invited
his father to his residency in the Jatavana monastery to entrust him with a
secret legacy. If the royal Shakya’s bloodline was cut, evil would reign over
the earth. The planet would sink into darkness. That would prevent the future
Buddha Maitreya from appearing in this world. Without him, and without the
heirs, there would be no hope for mankind. It would stay in the clutches of
evil forever.”

“So, for Buddha Maitreya to come to earth, a descendent of
Buddha Gautama’s bloodline should be present. Something like the story of John
the Baptist and Jesus Christ,” said James.

“Similar, yes,” said lama Tenzin. “The holy bloodline should
never become extinct.”

“Then the same disaster would happen if I die without any
offspring, wouldn’t it?” asked James in astonishment.

“It’s logical, isn’t it? Obviously, now the enemies are
trying to secure victory by scarifying you through a special ritual. That
ritual was the best kept secret of the Shield. Until now, nobody except us knew
about it. Or we thought so,” explained lama Tenzin.

“If an heir is killed, but not through the ritual, he will
be reborn again into this world. That has happened. In such cases, the order
received omens showing where the heir had been reborn and who he was. He was
found and the order continued to take care of him,” said Lao.

“The ritual is a completely different thing. It’s ancient
magic. We thought that only our order knew about it. The magic sends the soul
of the victim into another dimension and they never come back,” added lama
Tenzin.

“It sends the souls into the ‘world with no exit’, as it’s
known in the South American myth,” said James.

“We don’t have a name for it. But what you say sounds like a
good description,” said lama Tenzin.

“If this happens to a childless heir, the shadow of evil
will undoubtedly cover our world,” said Lao.

“The reason for this is that together with the heir, the
light of the Buddhas will disappear. This light is what protects the world from
evil,” explained lama Tenzin.

James broke the silence that followed. “No records exist to
show that the royal Shakya family continued after the Buddha’s son, Rahula. It
ended with him, as he was a celibate monk.”

“Buddha Gautama asked Sudodana himself to assure the continuation
of the holy bloodline. Sudodana had a son from a woman named Satti, who was a
devoted follower of Buddha. They kept this secret. They became the first
protectors and founders of the Shield, responded lama Tenzin.

Irina could hear James breathing deeply.

Eventually, lama Tenzin spoke. “Our annals do not mention
that cult. Yet after everything you have told me, I believe that they were
behind the attacks on you and your people. You and your friends have done a
great job discovering who they are and what their intentions are. I believe I
may also add something to your discoveries. When you were telling me about that
cult I remembered an old acquaintance of mine. He was born in north-west Tibet.
He was a teenager when he, his father and a dozen Tibetans went to North China
under the pretext of searching for jobs. Their true intention was to escape to
Tajikistan through the weakly guarded border in the Pamir Mountains. They
managed to cross it, but unfortunately they were captured on the other side by a
Russian gang. The Russians made them build underground installations in a deep
cave in the mountain. The members of that gang wore an emblem of two snakes on
their sleeves. I remember he also told me about a huge sculpture of a horned
dragon which the Russians worshipped. One day, this young man and his father
managed to escape. They returned to China and later to their village. The
father died soon after that. Later, the young man succeeded in fleeing China.
When I met him in my monastery he had already lived in the West for a number of
years.”

Rodnov’s mine in the Pamir Mountains
, pondered Irina.
Events and facts lined up like puzzle pieces revealing a picture. Was it really
possible that they had got to the head of the octopus?
Rodnov. The man who,
according to Lino, clears the path of the world’s theocratic ruler,
she
thought in astonishment.

“Rinpoche, that’s incredibly important. The underground
facility built in the caves might be the cult’s base,” said James.

“Yes, I understand that.”

“Have you heard the name Alexander Rodnov?” asked James.

“No.”

“He’s a Russian oligarch. We think he might be the leader of
the cult.”

“He must be a rich man and have a lot of people under his
command,” said lama Tenzin.

“He’s very rich. He probably has a small army of people
working for him. He’s an influential politician as well,” James explained.

“Tough enemy. Yet he failed to defeat you,” noted lama
Tenzin. “I can tell you that killing the heir of the royal Shakya family is not
an easy job. Many powers are on our side. Never forget that.”

“Those people killed my fiancée and our unborn girl.”
James’ voice cracked in grief.

“Your fiancée was pregnant with a girl?” asked lama
Tenzin.

“Yes. She was in the second month …”

“The heirs cannot have a female child. Always in each heir’s
family is born one boy only—”

James interrupted. “This had been the case since my
forefather, Noel... until me and Elizabeth got together. Rinpoche―”

Now lama Tenzin interrupted him. “It is not that I think
that this child may not have been yours. I’m just telling you that it was not
meant for this poor little one to be born. The heirs have never had daughters.
The carrier of the holy blood has been a boy – the only child in the family. It
has always been like that.”

“That was a sign, James. I and Pema learned too late that
Elizabeth was pregnant.” Lao sounded somehow guilty. “Only after she was …” He
tailed off.

“This was our little secret. The plan was we would announce
it right before the wedding. We wanted it to be a surprise.” James’ voice trembled.

“Be strong,” said lama Tenzin. “This enemy would take down
any woman you have an intimate relationship with. They don’t want you to have
any offspring. The first thing they would do if you had a child would be to
kill him through the ritual.”

“She died because of me.” James uttered these words so
quietly that Irina could hardly distinguish them.

“There is something you need to know,” lama Tenzin began.
“The heirs must have children before they reach the age of thirty-five. If an
heir does not bring a child into the world by then, the holy bloodline would be
cut off naturally. The other members of the order’s council insisted I
emphasise this responsibility. You are thirty-two years old. There are women,
good Buddhists, who would consider it an honour to give birth to the next heir.
Just think of that.”

Irina suddenly felt anger rising within her. This lama would
offer him a whole harem. This is incompatible with the times we live in, she
thought.

“I think you’ve gone too far,” said James with hardness in
his tone. “I still have problems digesting what you and Lao have told me
today.”

“You’re right. Forgive this stupid old monk,” apologised
lama Tenzin.

“By the way, about this thirty-five-year threshold. Buddha
Gautama was that age when he became enlightened. This can’t be simple
coincidence,” said James, allowing the scholar in him to take over.

“Yes. The Buddha’s enlightenment was an event with enormous
charge. It has left its imprint on the heirs. They cannot conceive a child
after reaching thirty-five. The Buddha told this to Sudodana. He wrote it down
in the legacy he left for the future protectors of the Shield,” said lama
Tenzin.

“Rinpoche, the cult perpetrates ritual killings all over the
world. You say that cutting off the royal Shakya bloodline is enough for the
cult to win. Why these killings, then?” asked James.

“To answer that I must reveal a secret to you. It is said
that in each generation on earth there are two thousand people who guard and
guide the world. With their natural wisdom they balance the selfishness and
evil of the rest of us. These two thousand people are old souls who are reborn
on earth again and again.” Lama Tenzin paused for a moment. “Maybe these are
the disciples of the Awakened One from that South American myth.”

“So, Buddha Gautama added the heirs to those guardians of
the world. Something like double insurance,” offered James.

“The annals of our order say that Buddha Gautama transferred
part of his protective light to the heirs because the old souls alone could not
guard the world. Too much evil had appeared in it already. As long as an heir
is alive, this world can never be conquered by evil forces. Even if all the old
souls were taken down.”

“If the royal Shakya bloodline is severed but the guardian
souls stay, does that mean that the cult will take over for sure?” asked James.

“Such a scenario will favour the enemy. The darkness will
triumph eventually. But before this happens hundreds of years may pass. If the
heir and guardian souls are butchered together, the evil dominion will come
sooner. In several decades, or even several years maybe.”

“My Italian friend believes that the cult is close to
achieving its goal.”

“The more guardian souls exiled through the ritual the less
protection for all of us. That includes you.”

“The enemy must be stopped,” said Lao.

Lama Tenzin sighed. “They have discovered you and the
guardians. You can’t hide from them, I’m afraid.”

“That’s the last thing I’m going to do,” said James.

Irina’s car phone started ringing. She turned on the
speaker.

“Inspector Bellin, how’s it going?” a plain male voice
asked.

Irina waited for a few seconds before answering. “There’s
nothing for us here. This is a boring reunion of old friends. I’m wasting my
time,” she said casually.

“The director wants you in the London office tomorrow first
thing in the morning. I’ll send somebody to watch these people. You take a
rest.”

“No need to waste more time and resources here. I’ll cancel
the watch,” said Irina.

UK

The GPS’ display showed that she would arrive at James’ home
in forty-five minutes. Irina applied more pressure to the gas pedal. Their
appointment was in half an hour. She did not want to add a late arrival to the
unpleasant conversation she had in store with him.

She was about a kilometre away from the Whiteway Estate when
from the speaker of the silver box came familiar popping sounds and a ringing
melody. That was James’s mobile. Irina had put a bug in it while they were in
Florence.

She frowned. Last evening she had decided that wiretapping
James was over. She had become personally involved in his situation. She
couldn’t treat him simply as a case. She was also shattered by the conversation
she had heard between him and the Tibetan lama. This had brought a sleepless
night upon her. She hadn’t written a word about the subject of that
conversation in the report she had presented that morning at the London
Interpol Bureau. She was convinced that this information should not be revealed
to anybody. Even if what the lama had said was not one hundred per cent true,
it was better that it stay secret. The more people who knew this, the more
vulnerable James would become. But what if the old monk was telling the
absolute truth? Irina couldn’t dismiss that possibility. Lama Tenzin’s words
coincided in a scary way with the facts she had encountered during the
investigation into the cult. Not to mention Lino’s theory and the
circumstantial evidence.

The pledge at stake could be the fate of the world,
she thought. For an instant she felt like she was carrying a huge load.

She reached out to cut the link between the silver box and
James’ mobile, but froze when she heard a voice say, “James Whiteway?”

The voice was distorted with a metallic timbre. The man
calling was using a device to mask his voice and its frequency characteristics.

“Speaking”

“Listen carefully. Malee is with us. Very nice girl. I want
to keep her for longer but somehow she doesn’t like it here. I don’t understand
why—”

“Who’s calling? Where is Malee? I want to talk to her.”

“Do not interrupt me again—”

“James, it’s Malee. James!” a female voice screamed. Some
undistinguishable sounds followed. Irina recognised them. The woman was trying
to shout something but her mouth was forcefully blocked.

“Don’t hurt her,” said James. “What do you want?”