It took them another strenuous flight full of boredom and noise to reach Simikot, the closest form of civilization before they would embark on a hike from hell, 3,000 meters above sea level and lasting for days in a godforsaken mountain range.
"Did you pack thermal clothing, Sam?" Nina asked, as they climbed out of the helicopter and checked their gear before departure. "The mountain air at this altitude is unforgiving."
"Yes, mother. And clean underwear too," the cocky journalist bit back with a sarcastic smile.
Nina mouthed the words "fuck you" and pulled her straps taut around her waist to secure her massive backpack to her body. The pack was almost larger than she was and when the wind came up with more aggression she imagined being lugged around by her collar.
The party walked through the narrow dirt roads of the villages they passed, but there was no time for play with the local children who swarmed around them and there was definitely no time to rest. They had to make it to the first 1,000 meters within the next three days. Purdue had a schedule in his mind, one he intended to keep to above all else. Sam could feel the alcohol of the previous night take its toll but wouldn't admit to it, especially after Purdue had warned him that the whisky was detrimental to his ability to function at optimal level.
Gary was not trekking with them solely as pilot, but he was also a trained EMT and his medical expertise would be pivotal to such an excruciating venture. He was versed in altitude sickness and similar conditions, so between his skill and Jodh's knowledge of the passes and the terrain, the party was safely covered for medical assistance.
The place was absolutely breathtaking. In the distance the ice-capped mountain ranges folded and bent. Like slumbering ice giants they peaked into heaven, piercing the cloud coverage above the crisp atmosphere and only exposed the brown rock faces beneath on lower altitudes. Majestic and leviathan they appeared, walling the Himalayan basin in their ancient silence where the only sound was a whispering wind and a heartbeat. Calisto relished the silence of Humla, her ears ringing from the deafening nothingness. From horizon to horizon the sky domed in a sharp blue sapphire of infinity, immeasurable by eye and unfathomable by heart.
Above them she noticed two large birds, circling. They looked like condors, massive wing spans that kept their strong feathered bodies afloat on the upper sweeping gusts.
"Wow," she whispered and stood still for a moment to shield her eyes with her hand against the sun.
"No time, sergeant," Purdue snapped from the front of the line. "We are racing against time here."
Nina found it peculiar that he would say that. Purdue and Gary walked in front with Jodh while Sam joined the two women right behind them. He had no idea how unfit he was and the alcohol had done him in too.
"Hey, Jodh, where did you get that smashing walking stick?" Sam called ahead. It looked like a valuable tool to have on the more steep slants of grass and gravel that took them higher with each step.
"Bought it from a villager two years ago!" Jodh shouted with a proud smile and tapped the stick twice on the hard earth. Completely surrounded by crinkled white snowcaps and protrusions, the sound of the howling wind accompanied the crunch of their hiking boots on the loose gravel and rocks. It was a pleasant day, at least, and they tried to make good time to make it through the salt trail on to the location where the book's coordinates would lead them.
Calisto stopped again. She waited for Nina and Sam to pass well ahead of her and looked back, running her eyes over the nearest rise of grass and rocks behind them.
"What is it?" Nina asked her.
"Keep going, Dr. Gould," Calisto said, without looking at Nina. She could tell by the bodyguard's voice that it was not a mere request and she quickly caught up with the men, constantly looking back at the stationary woman who faced away from them.
"I don't like this. Women's intuition never lies, you know," she told Sam in a hushed tone.
He looked back. "That's not women's intuition, Nina. That is a trained nose for trouble and I don't like it one bit. I hope to God she has a gun in that packet of jelly beans," he remarked.
Before long, they had reached the last small village. The frigid afternoon was gaining on them.
"We have to get to Base Camp A before dark or we are going to have trouble. There is some cold coming," Jodh told the party.
"Will we be at the mercy of the elements or are we staying in a village setting?" Gary asked Jodh.
"Camping. In tents. Sorry, Mr. Cleave, but we will be way past the village by nightfall," Jodh answered. The cold started to eat into their necks and burn their cheeks as the sun paled and dipped behind the edge of the tallest mountain. Sam preferred the company on this excursion far more than the previous one to Antarctica. The collection of people on this trek was less egotistical and a lot quieter and he was delighted, because he did not have the strength for in-fighting. Then again, he knew that the night could bring anything.
As they passed through Yalbang, the last village before being at the mercy of the wilderness, Sam saw an old man carving walking sticks like the one Jodh had. He approached the elder and hoped he could barter for a cane.
"Let's take a thirty-minute break, people," Jodh announced, "and fill up your canteens with water and take off your boots for a while. It helps to air out your feet before the cold gets too much."
Sam liked the staff that resembled a shepherd's stick. It had a strong shaft, solid and well-chiseled and at the top it bent into a bulbous head. The language barrier broke down when Sam smiled and offered the old man his half-full packet of cigarettes.
"You didn't!" Nina gasped next to him. "I thought you quit? Sam… that's your whole stash for the trip. I remember the value of those," she argued innocently and Sam chuckled at her urge to step in.
"Well, yes, I did try to quit, but with the level of exertion we are about to maintain, they are just going to impair my breathing, right?" Sam replied, and Nina was amazed at his uncharacteristic sense of responsibility for his health. Maybe he had changed after all.
The trade between Sam Cleave and the village elder went smoothly. The old man looked delighted at the gift of tobacco in exchange for one of his canes, and Sam fixed his camera on the man for a memento photo of the friendly father who was missing most of his teeth due to old age.
"I'll take a good picture. Stand so that the Himalayas fill the background," Nina said, and took the camera from Sam. As Sam and the elder decided how to pose she looked to the right and saw Calisto sitting under a small tree, chewing on a chicken leg she got from four women on the porch who sat cackling about the foreigners. Her face was serious, almost savage, as she ripped the meat off the bone, her eyes fixed on some distant area. Nina felt that same twinge of uncertainty she had when Calisto stopped earlier in the day and told her to press on.
What are you looking at? Nina thought.
"Ready! Ready!" Sam called her to attention.
"Smile!" she said and clicked the silver button. This one must have been a personal camera of Sam's because usually she could not tell where to push the button on his gear when he had slapped it all together. Lenses and zoom adjusters, tripod clips and myriad switches always confused her. Sam allowed her to take a few pictures of the children playing in the dirt and had the women waving with smiles. Nina regretted not being able to capture the magnitude of the beautiful gigantic mountain ranges in one frame. Even their height was astonishing, too tall to fit into frame.