In the meantime, we go on monitoring all the signals that pass between Mishig and Calcutta.”
There was a pause. Winterpole took a deep breath.
“On the tenth of November, we intercepted a message to Calcutta from Mishig. It was marked “urgent” and had been encoded quite differently to any of his previous signals. And it was signed with the code-name “Zima”. That’s Russian for “Winter”.
It’s the official code-name for Nikolai Zamyatin.”
Winterpole paused again. Christopher sensed that he was reluctant to get to the point.
“Exactly what did this message say?” he asked.
“You understand, Christopher,” Winterpole said in a quiet voice, ‘that there can be no going back. Once I have told you, you won’t be able to leave it alone. I can still spare you, I can still keep silent.
It’s your decision.”
“Tell me. I have to know.” He felt the tension in his stomach tighten into a knotted cord. Outside, the snowflakes danced and fell.
“He asked for information,” Winterpole said.
“Information about an Englishman called Christopher John Wylam, who had worked for British intelligence in India. And about his son. A boy called William.”
The undertow had him firmly in its grip at last, and he could feel himself going under. Thin hands flailing, tearing the sunlight out of the sky. He said nothing.
“Three weeks after that,” the other man went on, inexorable now he had begun, ‘we got hold of a signal from Calcutta to Mishig. It said they had tracked you down in a place called Hexham in England. There was a request for further instructions.”
He paused.
“I’m afraid that’s where things went a bit wrong,” he said.
“We thought Mishig would send another message to Calcutta later the same day. He was due to despatch one of his routine signals. But he never made the broadcast. He took the next train from Siliguri to Calcutta. We’re certain he carried the instructions to his control in person either orally or in writing, it doesn’t matter. That was six days ago.”
Christopher looked at Winterpole.
“You knew about this and you didn’t notify me. You knew something might happen, but you kept quiet.”
“Try to understand, Christopher. We needed to know what Zamyatin is up to. We had to let them show their hand. I was afraid you might do something to prevent them if you knew. I’m sorry.”
“They might have killed him. For all I know, he’s dead now.
And they did kill Father Middleton. For what?”
“We still need to know, Christopher. What Zamyatin is doing in Tibet. What he wants with your son. I’d like you to go to India, to Kalimpong. And if it’s necessary, to Tibet. I think that’s where they’re taking your son.”
“I know,” Christopher replied. He looked away from Winterpole.
Outside, the shadows of night were descending on grey and mottled wings that troubled the snow-filled air.
“I know,” he said. And the snow stopped falling and there was only darkness.
Nedong Pass, southern Tibet, January 1921 He was cold. There had been more snow that morning, white, blinding snow that had whipped at his face and hands. It had blotted out everything: the road, the rocks, the footprints they left behind. It was impossible to tell whether they were still in the pass or not; he thought they might have lost their way. Tobchen was frightened, he could tell. Once, the pony had almost slipped on a ledge over a steep precipice. Since then, Tobchen had made him walk, holding the animal’s bridle, stiff with frost. The old man went in front, repeating mantras endlessly, spinning his prayer wheel like a madman.
Since early afternoon, the snow had given way to a fierce wind, a wind so sharp it threatened to tear the skin from a man’s bones.
It rose to gale force like this every afternoon. The day before, they had passed a group of travellers wearing masks, dark masks of leather painted with the features of demons. He had been frightened and had called out.
“Tobchen, Tobchen who are those men? Why are they dressed like that?”
The old man had looked up and shouted back. The wind snatched his words away and he waited until the boy came alongside him.
“Don’t worry, my lord. They are only travellers. They wear the masks to protect their faces from the wind. And they paint them to frighten the demons.”
The men had gone past without a word, silent and incurious, harried by the wind, dark figures driven remorselessly into the void. He and Tobchen had been left alone again to battle on against the elements.
They stopped just after sunset. The old man found dried yak dung
somewhere and lit a fire. There was tea and tsampa as always, but
Samdup did not complain. And if he had, Tobchen would not have
listened to him. He was a trulku, but he was still a child, and
Tobchen treated him with a mixture of awe and sternness that allowed for no lapses in discipline. He was worried that the old man was growing tired. He wondered how much longer the journey would last.
“How much farther to Gharoling?” he asked.
The old monk looked up, his tea cup clasped in frost-bitten fingers.
“Soon, my lord, soon.”
“But how soon, Tobchen? Tomorrow?”
The lama shook his head.
“No, not tomorrow,” he said.
“But with the help of your prayers and the grace of Lord Chenrezi, it will not be long.”
“Will it be the day after tomorrow, Tobchen?” the boy insisted.
“Drink your tea, khushog, and don’t ask so many questions. When you have finished, I will light a lamp and we will study the Kangyur together. Your education must not be neglected just because you are travelling.”
The boy fell silent and sipped his tea, lifting out from time to time the balls of tsampa that provided the only real nourishment in his meal. The wind was still high, but they sat in the shelter of an outcrop of rocks, listening to it pass. The heavens were invisible behind acres of heavy cloud.
“Why are we going to Gharoling, Tobchen?” Samdup asked.
“I have told you before. To visit Geshe Khyongla Rinpoche. The Rinpoche is a great teacher, greater than I. It is time for you to study the Sutras. Then you will be ready to undertake the study of the Tantras. You must know both to fulfill your destiny.”
“But there are teachers at Dorje-la Gompa.”
“Yes, there are good teachers there. But none as great as Khyongla Rinpoche. Do you remember when we studied the Lama Nachupa together, how it described the duty of a disciple towards his guru?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Now it is time for you to put all its counsels into practice. You have not come among us to learn. You have come to remember all you knew before. The Rinpoche will instruct you how to do that.”
There was a pause. Snow had begun to fall again. It would be a cold night. The boy’s voice sounded faint in the darkness.
“Was there danger at Dorje-la Gompa?”
Unseen, the old monk stiffened.
“Why do you think there was danger, my lord?”
“I sensed it. When the stranger came. I sense it now. Am I right?”
There was silence for a moment, then the old man answered.
“You are not mistaken, khushog. There is danger.” He paused.
“Great danger.”
To me?”
“Yes. To you.”
“Is that why we are fleeing to Gharoling? Is that why we left at night?”
The old man sighed.
“Yes We will be safe there. Khyongla Rinpoche understands. If if anything should happen to me, lord, make your way to Gharoling. They will expect you there. Do not attempt to return to Dorje-la. Do not go anywhere but Gharoling. Do not trust anyone but Khyongla Rinpoche and those he advises you to trust.”