"Insha'Allah," Sayeed said. He walked away and began giving the orders.
Afridi sat down on a rock, took out a copy of the Qur'an and began reading. He didn't know he was being observed or he would have been less tranquil as he studied the Book.
On the other side of the Khyber Pass in New Delhi, Rao's phone alerted him to a call.
"I have Afridi's location," Krivi said. "He's just west of the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan, this side of Kabul."
"What's he doing there?" Rao asked.
"Nothing, yet. Setting up his camp. Do you have a satellite over the area?"
Rao made a quick check. "Yes."
Krivi gave Rao the coordinates.
Rao brought the area up on his monitor. The light would soon be gone but there was still enough to see Afridi reading a book.
"I see him," Rao said. Bile rose in his throat at the sight of his enemy.
"Can you get to him there?"
Rao thought about it. The only way was to send Ijay and the Leopards in by helicopter. It meant flying across Pakistan from Kashmir, through the mountain valleys. A night mission was bad enough in itself. With Islamabad alert on the eve of war, there was a high risk of failure. The chances were good Ijay would be intercepted.
On the other hand, Ijay had one of only two Rudra attack helicopters modified with experimental stealth technology. Even the Americans didn't have anything like it. The technology was untested in combat, but field tests had gone well. If anyone could get through Pakistan's air defenses, Ijay could.
Rao made up his mind. "Yes. I can get to him."
"How can I help?" Krivi said.
"You seem to have a lot of resources," Rao said.
"A few."
"My team will have to cross Pakistani air space. Can you distract their defenses tomorrow evening, if I tell you when?"
"Where will the flight originate?"
"From Poonch. It's near the border, west of Srinagar."
"I'll see what I can do and call you back," Krivi said.
Fifteen minutes later, Rao's phone rang.
"You have a corridor one mile wide west of Poonch and across to Afghanistan from 2000 to 0600 tomorrow," Krivi said. "Tell your pilot to stay low and inside the corridor. He may still run into problems."
"Good," Rao said. "That should be enough time."
CHAPTER 52
In the morning, Afridi set his men to work moving rocks. It was tedious, hard labor. After several hours had passed, Afridi was beginning to doubt there was more to find. Then one of the men shouted. He pointed at a large, yellowed bone in the debris. They found more bones and the remains of a wooden pack cradle, still tacked with rotted bits of leather. Then an iron box about a foot square.
Afridi stood next to Sayeed, looking down at the box. His men gathered around him, waiting. A rusted lock held the top shut with a metal clasp. Afridi broke the lock away with the butt of his rifle. He lifted the lid.
A collective gasp came from the men. The chest was filled with jewels that shone with brilliant colors in the bright morning sun.
Sayeed sucked in his breath at the sight of so much wealth.
"God is Great," he said.
"Allah has blessed our cause," Afridi said. He looked at the sky. "Come, brothers, we must pray and give thanks."
After the prayer, Afridi picked up the chest with the jewels and took it over to one of the trucks while the men continued digging. He sat on the worn seat in the cab and looked through the gems. Sunlight poured through the windshield onto the stones. Afridi had never seen such beauty. Diamonds. Sapphires as large as bird eggs. Stones of yellow, red, green and blue, rough cut and polished. At the bottom of the chest, buried under smaller stones, something glowed blood red. Afridi reached in and grasped it and took out a ruby so big he could barely get his fingers around it. It was as big as his palm, heavy in his hand. It swirled with color as it caught the rays of the sun, changing from a fiery glow to a deep red and back again.
A jewel for a king, he thought. Or a caliph.
In the next few hours they found the remains of two more beasts and six more of the iron chests. Two of the chests had broken open where they'd fallen and spilled hundreds of gold coins under the stones. Three other chests held shaped pieces of reddish gold set with precious stones.
Afridi held one of the heavy pieces in his hands and hefted it. From the Peacock Throne, he thought. Enough gold to build an army.
He kept the men working for the rest of the day but they found nothing more. Afridi called a halt to the digging. It was enough. It would soon be dark and the road was dangerous at night, plagued by bandits. Afridi decided to leave early the next morning. He called the men to him.
Afridi went to each man and gave him ten gold coins. It was more wealth than any of them had ever seen or could hope to earn in three lifetimes. One coin would feed a family for a year or more, a village for many months. Any man would be tempted by such riches as they'd found. Afridi knew that a man who had riches was much less likely to give in to temptation.
"God has said to be generous and to reward the worthy," Afridi said. "You are faithful men and you have earned this gift. We will take the rest and use it to bring death upon the infidels."
His fighters shouted and brandished their rifles. "Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!"
"Park the trucks facing out. Man the guns and post sentries," Afridi said to Sayeed. "Then we eat."
"The men have worked hard," Sayeed said. "Hot food would be good and the night is cold."
Afridi nodded. "Build a fire under that ledge." He pointed toward a nearby rocky overhang. "Not a big one."
Sayeed said, "Do you expect trouble?".
"Always. I don't think the tribesmen will do anything, not against those guns. If they were, we'd already know. I worry more about the American satellites."
An hour later the camp was settled for the night. The men not standing guard sat around the small fire. The flames cast shadows and light against the canyon wall. The heat of the day faded and the temperature plummeted. Overhead, the sky was deep black and filled with stars.
Afridi wrapped himself in his cloak and lay down on the hard earth, his rifle beside him. Once, when he was younger, the ground would have felt almost as soft as a bed, a place just to rest. But he was older now. It was a long time before he drifted into an uneasy doze.
The sound of helicopter rotors drawing near woke him.
Instantly, he was up and shouting. He grabbed his AK.
"Wake up! Wake up!"
The rotors became a roar overhead. The canyon floor flooded with bright, white light. Clouds of dust rose from the beating blades as a half dozen men dressed in black dropped on long lines into the clearing.
Afridi raised his rifle and shot one of the dangling figures. The man fell from the line and hit the ground. A burst from one of his comrades slammed into Afridi's chest, knocking him to the ground. He was aware of pain. He couldn't breathe. He heard the rapid tacktacktack of automatic weapons, the screams of men dying, the indifferent beat of the helicopter blades. His last thought was of the giant, blood red stone he'd found among the jewels.
CHAPTER 53
It was evening in Virginia and day in Afghanistan. The satellite Elizabeth used to observe Afridi came into range. The black and white image was crisp and clear. It wasn't what Elizabeth expected to see.
"What on earth…" she said.
"What happened?" Stephanie asked. "It looks like they're all dead."
Afridi's campground was destroyed. Elizabeth counted thirteen bodies sprawled on the canyon floor. The trucks had been torched, leaving charred hulks. A thin column of black smoke lazed into the sky from one of them.