“Once. But only in spots, and you can move away from the area, and you’re comfortable again.”

“But you weren’t deep inside a mountain. Conditions could be different.”

“I don’t know about that. But the hot springs here in Tibet could be less hot because they weren’t created by volcanoes. The Himalayas were formed by two tectonic plates shifting and coming together millions of years ago. One of the side effects was the forming of a network of hot springs throughout the mountain range.”

Catherine found herself smiling. “I only wanted to know if we could get scalded. I forgot you were a journalist until you started spouting volcanoes and tectonic plates.”

“I was interested,” Erin said. “But what you mustn’t ever do is submerge your head under the waters. There’s an amoeba that exists under those conditions that can enter your sinus passages and cause a deadly brain disease that could kill you.”

“Thanks for telling me,” Catherine said dryly. “Cameron failed to mention that little threat. A warning would have been nice.”

“Why make you worry? I wouldn’t have let it happen to either of you.”

That jarring intrusion again. She would never become accustomed to it.

She ignored him. “Anything else I should know, Erin?”

She shivered. “Snakes. I’ve heard there’s a species of snake that can live in the hot water.”

Steam was beginning to pour through the passage and perspiration was beading Catherine’s face. “Poisonous?”

“I don’t think so.”

“It would be nice to know.”

“It’s not relevant. They’re rarely found outside Qinghai Province.”

“I think it’s safe, Erin,” Catherine said. “Snakes may be the last thing we should worry about at the moment. God, that sulfur stinks. We must be right on top of—” She broke off as she rounded the corner.

Billows of steam drifting upward from a large dark pool.

Heat.

Sounds of running water.

The foul, ever-present stench of rotten eggs.

“This sure isn’t like the last hot springs where I bathed,” Erin said. “The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the mountains were magnificent. This looks … menacing.”

“It’s the darkness. The unknown can be frightening.” And those billows of steam coming from that darkness seemed something from a sci-fi movie. She bounced the beam from her flashlight around the stone bank of the spring, then to the water itself. “Listen. That rushing sound. Can you tell where it’s coming from?”

Erin listened. “To the right. But it’s very faint.”

Catherine lifted the flashlight and aimed it to the right.

A break in the solid wall of the mountain.

Yes!

The waters of the spring appeared to be trickling through the break and down …

“Come on. That could be our way out.”

“Or not,” Erin said.

“Well, I don’t see anything else. Hurry.” She was shedding her parka and shirt. “Get rid of all your outer clothes. They’ll weigh you down when you’re in the water. You can keep on your underwear.” She was down to her thermal undershirt and tights. She tucked her gun and knife in her boots, loosened the shoestrings and tied them around her neck. “Leave your clothes here, but you’ll need your boots. They’re hard to replace and we can’t afford to have our feet cut to ribbons once we’re outside. Slip anything you want to keep into the boots.”

Erin followed Catherine’s example and tied the boots around her neck. “I’m ready.”

“What about that gold necklace you’re wearing? Don’t you want to take it off and put it in your boot?”

“No, I won’t lose it.” She touched the necklace. “It’s very strong.”

“Whatever. Stay here. I need to test the waters.” Catherine put her bare foot in the spring and slipped from the stony bank. “Warm. Not hot. But it may change the farther we go. My feet are touching the bottom, and so far, the waters are only up to my chest.”

“I’m coming in.”

“No, let me go a little farther. There’s no way that it’s not going to hurt those wounds but I want to make sure there’s no additional acidic—”

“No, you don’t have time to baby me.” Erin slipped into the water and inhaled sharply. “You’re right, it does smart a bit. It’s nothing I can’t deal with.” She waded toward Catherine. “Let’s go.”

There would obviously be no arguing with her. “We’ll try to stay side by side as much as possible. If it narrows down, you go ahead. I need to keep an eye on you.”

“That’s going to be hard. I can barely see you through this steam.”

“It should get less if that passage leads closer to the outside.” She was almost to the break in the wall, and the beam of her flashlight was playing deep into the dark cavity. “Except for the water, it looks almost like that twisting path we took to get down here.”

“Then we shouldn’t have a problem.”

“I appreciate your optimism. I hope you’re right.” Her heart was beating hard as she plunged down into the water within the passage. It was difficult to be optimistic at the moment. They had moved very quickly since they had left the mountaintop, but it might not have been quick enough. They had to try to make up more time in this steaming cauldron. She could only hope that Kadmus had not moved at top speed when they found the sentry or that his chosen direction was not toward the mountaintop.

*   *   *

The lama Padma Nagtal’s face was now as red from the blood streaming down his cheeks as the color of his crimson robe.

“I do not know any more,” he said hoarsely as he tried to struggle from his knees to his feet and regain dignity. “I have told you all.”

“And did you tell the Americans about that passage, too?” Kadmus punched him in the stomach and knocked him back to the ground. “Did they come to you in the village and beg for a route to freedom?”

“I did not see them. I would not have risked the lives of my people in the village to save foreigners.”

“But you didn’t tell me about that passage down the mountain when I sent you and the rest of your stinking brothers away from my palace.”

“You did not ask.”

He kicked him in the face. “And there is no way that they can get away once they reach that hot spring? You say there is no opening to the outside.”

“There were only a few, almost forgotten, texts concerning the hot spring in our library.” He paused. “The library that you burned. None of the texts mentioned any way to leave that spring once reached. Since neither I nor my brothers considered it our duty to explore that place of cold and fire, I must assume that the texts were correct.”

“Assume? I don’t assume anything.” He bent down. “And I’d burn your library again, old man. All those books meant nothing.”

“Except when you needed them.” He met Kadmus’s eyes. “And someday men like you will find you have nothing and will search for our holy books to find your way.”

“Fool. I will own the world. I’ll not need you or—”

“We’ve found the sentry.” Brasden hung up his phone as he approached. “Dead. He was found in the brush about five hundred feet down the mountain. What do we do now?”

“What I planned before. Search all the possible roads down the mountain. But I’m taking eight men with me to the top. I think our lama’s help warrants that increased force, don’t you?”

“It’s still only a rocky hole in the mountain.”

“Then we’ll chase them down to the bottom of that rocky hole. We’ll go so fast and hard that there’s no way they’ll escape.” He took out his gun. “But first I have something else to do.” He pressed the barrel to the lama’s temple. “Good-bye, holy man. We’ll see who reaches his special paradise first.”

He pulled the trigger.

CHAPTER

8

“It’s getting colder.” Erin was panting with effort as she forced herself through the water. “We must be away from the mountain. Could we slow down?”