Erin sat up and yawned. “What are you talking about, Catherine?” Her eyes suddenly widened with alarm. “Trouble?”

“Yes, though I guess it depends on what you call trouble. Your hero, Cameron, came calling. And I’d say he’s big-time trouble…”

*   *   *

“There’s moonlight,” Erin said quietly as she helped Catherine roll the huge boulder back to hide the opening of the cave. “Is that going to be bad or good for us?”

“It could work either way.” She smiled at Erin. “I’m going to consider it lucky. It will help us to find our way to that crevasse at the break in the boulders on the mountaintop. After that, it won’t matter. There won’t be moonlight once we start down into that darkness. Too bad. We need to see where we’re going. Cameron said that the winding path down to the hot springs is killer.”

“You brought your flashlight.” Erin frowned. “But not much else. You left the sleeping bags and everything that—”

“We can’t afford the extra weight. And it won’t do us any good once we reach the springs. We’d have to leave them there anyway.” Catherine carefully brushed their footprints away from the cave opening until they reached the stone path. “If everything goes wrong, we can try to make our way back to the cave.”

“You took your gun.”

“That’s not something I consider expendable. Besides, we have to take the road to make it to the crest of the mountain. I might have to use it if the road is patrolled.” She threw the branch away. “Though if given a preference, I’d prefer knife or hands. A gunshot would be heard all over this mountain and the next in this clear air.” She moved ahead of Erin on the trail. “I’m hoping they’d expect us to be going down, not up the mountain. I’ll keep the pace slow and steady on the trail, so that you can conserve your strength. After we reach the top, I can’t promise anything. No conversation until we reach the top.”

“Okay.” She was silent a moment. “But you don’t have to be so careful of me. I won’t hold you back.”

“I know you won’t.” She smiled faintly. “But I prefer you don’t kill yourself to keep from doing it. Now, hush.”

Silence.

The cold wind striking their faces.

The bright moonlight as icy as the snow on the ground.

Isolation.

Ten minutes.

Fifteen minutes.

Twenty minutes.

The wind was sharper, more merciless the higher they climbed.

Catherine could hear the sound of Erin’s breathing behind her.

Her own breathing was probably heavier and more labored, she thought. Erin was more accustomed to the altitude than she. But at least she wasn’t sick and dizzy as she had been the last time she’d been this high in the mountains. It would have been difficult to function. She would have done what was necessary, but it would have—

Laughter.

She stopped short, her gaze flying to the curve of the trail up ahead.

Conversation. Chinese. Vulgar. Obscene. Boasting.

It was either two of Kadmus’s soldiers or a phone conversation.

She listened. Only one voice.

A phone conversation. She hadn’t thought that Kadmus would allot more than one sentry for this stretch of road.

But the road was so narrow, they couldn’t go around him without being seen.

Erin had nudged closer to her.

Catherine shook her head and held up her hand to indicate she was to stay. Then she moved cautiously forward.

The conversation was continuing, and so was the laughter.

Keep on talking. What else is there to do on this barren mountainside to amuse yourself? Keep on talking …

She had reached the curve of the road and stopped, pressing back against the stone.

Don’t be facing this way.

Please, I need a break …

And she got it!

He was leaning back against the stone face of the mountain and facing the valley. Not as good as if he had his back to her, but she could work with it.

She took off her gloves and stuffed them in her pocket.

Hit him low, bring him down, use her hands on the carotid artery.

He laughed again.

Wait until he hung up. She didn’t want to alert whoever he was talking to in the compound.

He talked a few more minutes.

He hung up.

She moved!

He didn’t see her until she was almost on him. He grunted as he dropped the phone and tried to turn toward her and raise his AK-47. But she had already tackled him, and he was falling. She was astride him as he hit the ground.

Her hands tore open his coat and fastened on his throat.

His eyes were glaring up at her as his fist struck her cheek. “Zai—”

The curse was cut off. She had reached the carotid.

Five seconds later, he was dead.

She took a deep breath and sat back on her heels. Death was never easy, and she never got used to it. It didn’t matter if it was kill or be killed. It still sucked.

She got to her feet and ran back to Erin. “Come on, I need your help.”

“What happened? I didn’t hear—” Erin stopped as she saw the soldier huddled on the ground. “Dead?”

“Very.”

“Then I don’t see why you need me.”

“I want you to help me roll him off the mountain.”

“What?”

“I can’t leave him here, there’s no place to hide him. If someone checks up on him, then it will lead them to this post. If he’s just not here, then they’ll have to look for him. That will take time. We need time.” She was already struggling, tugging him toward the edge of the cliff. “Don’t help me with this. I don’t want your shoulder to go out again. When I get him in position, just help me roll him off the cliff…”

“What if someone sees him fall or maybe—”

“Don’t second-guess.” She tried to catch her breath. “I think that he should fall fairly straight down, there’s no slope or—Help me. Take his shoulders. I’ll do his lower body.”

“Right.” Erin was there pushing. A moment later the body slid silently over the side of the cliff.

She straightened. “What next?”

“We erase signs of struggle and his header over the cliff. Then we erase our own footprints. That’s all we can do without using up time we can’t afford. Come on, get busy.”

Five minutes later, they were moving up the trail again.

Erin shivered. “I’m still seeing that soldier tumble off the mountain. I was hoping that we wouldn’t be forced to do anything that violent.”

“And I was almost sure we’d be faced with something like it,” Catherine said. “We’ve been pretty lucky since we got away from Kadmus.”

“Yes.” She didn’t speak for a minute. “Do you think we’ll run into any other sentries on this road?”

“I doubt it. But I have to be prepared.” She said gently, “You’re doing great, Erin. I couldn’t have done without you back there.”

“Yes, you could.” She made a face. “It just would have taken you longer.” She looked up the road. “How far to the top?”

“I’d say another ten minutes. Any problem?”

“No.” She quickened her pace. “I’m fine. Let’s get up there. It’s always easier going downhill.”

*   *   *

The top of the mountain looked like a moon landscape. It was flat, not jagged, and the surface was covered with huge boulders, craters, and rocks.

“It seems our monk, Sadiki’s, memory didn’t fail him,” Catherine murmured. “But the way down might not be as easy as you hoped, Erin. It looks pretty rough to me.” She started over the rock-strewn surface. “Those big boulders, there should be twisting passages between them going down…”

“According to Sadiki.”

“And according to your friend, Cameron. Let’s see if he’s right.”

“Of course I’m right, Catherine.”

“You’re back. There’s no of course about it. It’s all hearsay.”

“But expertly-well-researched hearsay. And I’m not ‘back.’ I’ve been with you all along. It just wasn’t wise to interfere in the arena you obviously own. Besides, you resent my intrusion.”

She kept moving quickly toward the boulders. “Yes, I do. I don’t really know either your intentions or your parameters of power. You could be some nut one of those think tanks tossed out who decided to throw in with a group equally crazy.”