“How could I resist? Catherine is a warrior. I feel a kinship for her. Erin is strong, but she endures and hesitates to attack. It’s her basic character, and I’ve had to make allowances all through these months.” He paused. “But now I have Catherine. Her basic instinct is to make a judgment, then attack. It will be much easier.”

“You have Catherine?” Luke repeated, puzzled. “Does that mean she said she’d belong to you, like you asked me to do?”

“No, not yet.” Cameron laughed. “I have that pleasure to look forward to.”

“I would not count on it,” Hu Chang said dryly.

“But I do count on it. I would not have thought you would agree, my friend. But in the past, you found I could supply you with something you wanted, and you chose to run the risk.” He started up the trail. “I just have to find the correct bargaining chip…”

It was two hours later that Hu Chang caught up with Cameron on the curve of the mountain trail. “How much longer?” he asked. “The boy is struggling.”

“I know,” Cameron said. “He’s very strong. But the altitude is a killer if you’re not accustomed to it.”

“And you haven’t stopped to let him rest.”

“Has he complained?”

“No.”

“Good. I didn’t think he would.”

“You could help him,” Hu Chang said. “You could ease it.”

“But I won’t.” Cameron turned and strode forward around the curve.

It was nearly an hour later that he stopped in front of a sod hut balanced on the edge of a cliff overlooking the valley. He stood waiting, watching as Hu Chang came up the trail. “The boy?”

“Five minutes behind me.”

“But you didn’t wait for him.”

“No, I knew what you were doing. It was a test, and I wouldn’t cheat Luke of his victory.”

“A test you would not have given him?”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. But Luke agreed, and I knew you were no easy taskmaster.”

“Any resentment?”

“No. Curiosity. Why did you wish to test him?”

“You brought him on a man’s job. I wanted to see if he could do it.”

“That’s not all.”

He was silent, watching as Luke came around the curve, staggering, catching himself, then trudging on. “No, I wanted to see if he was truly her son in spirit as well as body. When I saw that you had trusted him enough to have given him that magnificent gift, I thought he might be.”

“But you had to see for yourself.”

“You might have been blinded by your affection for his mother.”

“And why was it so important to you?”

“I have no idea.” He smiled brilliantly. “But it appears that it is.” He strode toward Luke, and called, “You did very well. I’ve known men who have grown up in these mountains who have had trouble on this trail.”

Luke stopped, weaving on his feet. His face was flushed, and his breathing was labored. “It … hurts. It was a … long way. I kept throwing up, and it hurt to breathe. At first, I thought I hated you.”

“But you changed your mind.”

“You were making it, Hu Chang was making it. Why should I hate you because I couldn’t?” He glared up at him. “So I forgot about hating you and just did it.”

“Very sensible of you.” Cameron’s voice was uncharacteristically gentle. “May I say that you have my admiration.” He held out his hand. “And I’d like to shake your hand. Would that be all right with you?”

Luke hesitated, then slowly took Cameron’s hand. “You’re not making fun of me?”

“Why should I do that?” He looked directly into Luke’s eyes. “You belong to me. Your pain is my pain. Your victory is my victory.” He shook his hand, then released it and put his arm around Luke’s shoulders and led him toward the sod hut. “I have great pride in you. Can’t you feel it?”

Luke nodded. “Yes, I think so. I feel … warm.”

Cameron’s eyes were twinkling. “And that’s a good thing in this frigid air. Soon you’ll be inside, and you’ll feel even warmer. You’ll notice that the altitude sickness is gone now.”

“Yes, why?”

“It happens that way sometimes. You’ll be a little tired, but that exhaustion will slip away like a thief in the night.” He opened the door of the hut. “And now you and Hu Chang can heat us something to eat while I stay out here and concentrate on finding a way for us to get to Catherine. Or better still, for Catherine to get to us.” He glanced at Hu Chang. “I was able to make considerable headway on the hike up here.”

“A contact?” Hu Chang asked.

“Yes, I had to sift through half a dozen false leads, but I came up with Sadiki, an Egyptian monk who visited this area thirty years ago. I believe he knows enough to help us.” He smiled again at Luke. “I think Sadiki is the one. Give me a little time, and I’ll be able to give Catherine a way out.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Luke said. He added thoughtfully, “But I think you do know what you’re doing. It’s like Hu Chang in the lab. I have no idea how he knows what to put into his potions, but I know they will do what he says they’ll do.”

Cameron’s lips twitched as he inclined his head. “I appreciate being compared to Hu Chang, but I’m no brilliant chemist. I’m only a poor soldier trying to do his job.”

“Come along, Luke.” Hu Chang drew Luke into the hut. “I fear my friend Cameron is choosing to be deceptively humble. I don’t want you exposed to such deceit.”

Cameron’s smile faded. “No deceit. Simplification, perhaps.” He turned and strode several yards away and sat down and leaned against a scraggly pine tree. “Take the boy inside. This shouldn’t take me more than forty or fifty minutes.”

But Luke was hanging back, staring at Cameron. “Why is he staying out in the cold? He’s just sitting there. He should come in where it’s warmer.”

“Don’t worry. He doesn’t feel the cold,” Hu Chang said. “He trained himself a long time ago not to let heat or cold bother him. I believe he has to remind himself that he can’t stay out in either too long.”

“Peculiar…”

“That he is, Luke.” His gaze narrowed on the boy’s face. “But you like him, don’t you? It’s impossible not to like Cameron when he exerts himself. In spite of how tough you had it today, he did make an effort with you.”

“Yes, I guess I do. I … liked it when he said he had pride in me. That made me feel … I liked it.”

Hu Chang had to pull the boy aside to close the door. He was still gazing at Cameron with that puzzled, bewildered, fascinated expression Hu Chang had seen on other people’s faces when confronted by Cameron. Hu Chang didn’t know how much of that fascination was engendered by Cameron’s charismatic personality or what seeds he had insinuated into the boy’s mind during that time when he had been face-to-face, talking to him. Something had definitely been going on in that moment.

“It’s all right to like Cameron, Luke. But one must always keep a sense of one’s own well-being when around him. Don’t try to please him too much.” His lips twisted. “Or you’ll end up like that pilot, Tashdon. Now, let’s find what rations are available and have them ready for Cameron when he comes back in.” He started toward the camp stove across the room. “And hope that he finds out something valuable from that monk, Sadiki…”

CHAPTER

7

“Catherine.”

She tensed.

“You’re not answering. I know you’re not asleep. Turnabout is fair play,” Cameron said. “I answered when you called me. Now I’m calling you.”

He was suddenly there before her. The same cozy room, the fireplace and deep leather chairs. He was standing in front of the fireplace, and he was just as riveting as she remembered.

“I thought you’d forgotten about us,” she said dryly. “It’s been hours since you did your precision hit, then took off.”

“You knew I didn’t forget,” he said softly. “That can’t happen any longer. Though I can see that you’ve been fighting accepting our very uneasy alliance.”