Pramesh Khoil.
His two servants quickly freed him from the harness. He brushed himself down, then entered the Vault. His triumphant march broke step when he saw who was waiting inside. ‘Dr Wilde,’ he said, the flat voice not quite concealing his surprise. ‘And Mr Chase. The recurring bugs in my otherwise flawless program.’
‘I told you knowledge and experience are more useful than any computer,’ Nina replied. ‘You’re too late - the Shiva-Vedas are already gone. The IHA airlifted them out of here.’
A smug smile crossed the plump face. ‘I think not. Until now, the weather conditions were too severe - and the only helicopters that have entered the airspace are mine. Where are they?’ He received no answer. ‘No matter. We will find them.’ He took in the vastness of the Vault, eyes widening. ‘It is here, it really exists . . .’
‘Sounds like you had some doubts,’ said Nina.
‘The failure to find anything at Mount Kailash was becoming a concern, yes.’
‘So what brought you here?’
Another smile. ‘Ironically, you did. Or more accurately, Mr Jindal did,’ Khoil continued, indicating the startled Kit, ‘and his mobile phone. My people learned that you had left Delhi, and that made me wonder: where had you gone? So I had my telecoms company track his phone through the cellular network, and discovered he had gone to Gaurikund. The only possible reason for you to go there was if you believed you had located the Vault. Once I put that new information into Qexia, everything made sense. I feel slightly foolish for not having thought of the connection to Mount Kedarnath sooner.’
‘Garbage in, garbage out,’ said Nina scathingly. ‘You were acting on bad data. That’s what happens when you rely on technology.’
‘Yet it was technology that allowed me to find you. And the Vault.’ The wind rose again, and he turned to see Vanita being winched down, Tandon and Mahajan helping her on to the ledge.
‘Great, she’s here. Now the party can start,’ Eddie muttered.
Khoil was about to say something in defence of his wife when he noticed Girilal, who had been standing behind Shankarpa, for the first time. ‘A Pashupati?’ he said, intrigued.
‘Girilal Mitra, at your service!’ said the old man, his voice shifting conspicuously back to the manic singsong. He danced round his son to meet Khoil. Zec and some of the mercenaries aimed their guns at him, but Khoil waved them down. ‘So you are Mr Khoil, the computer man.’
‘I am, yes.’
‘Ha!’ Girilal leaned on his stick, staring disapprovingly at the billionaire. ‘You are a very bad person.’
To Nina’s surprise, Khoil seemed stung by the allegation. ‘No! I am a loyal servant of Lord Shiva, like you. I am doing his will.’
‘And is this his will?’ asked Girilal, waving a hand at the bodies.
‘Why would one of his loyal servants kill his other loyal servants, hmm?’
‘A true servant of Shiva would know that death is of no consequence,’ proclaimed Vanita loudly, striding into the chamber with Mahajan and Tandon. She was wrapped in layers of cold-weather clothing, and seemed decidedly annoyed to be there, not even giving the wonders of the Vault a second glance. ‘Especially when it will help end the Kali Yuga. Now, where are the Vedas?’ She gave Nina an icy look. ‘I assume she knows.’
‘They are here somewhere, my beloved,’ Khoil assured her.
‘Somewhere is not good enough. Find them, now!’
Khoil turned back to Girilal. ‘I have no quarrel with a holy man. Do you know where to find the Vedas? If you tell me, I will let you go free.’
‘And what about my friends?’ Girilal countered. ‘Will they go free too?’
‘I am afraid that will not be possible.’
‘Ha!’ snorted Girilal, banging down his stick. ‘You are a bad man. Very bad.’ He waved a dismissive hand. ‘Shiva wants nothing to do with you. And nor do I.’ Ignoring their guns, he shuffled past the mercenaries and sat huffily on the ramp, facing away from Khoil.
Zec glanced questioningly at his employer, but Khoil, seeming genuinely startled by the yogi’s rejection, shook his head. ‘Search the Vault. Find the Vedas.’
‘What do they look like?’ Zec asked.
‘According to the text from Atlantis, they are stone tablets with text in Vedic Sanskrit. They will probably be in a container for protection, a box or chest.’
Zec and all but two of the mercenaries spread out to begin their search. ‘You’ll never find them,’ said Nina as Vanita began to pace impatiently, her husband looking up in fascination at the vimana. ‘It’s a big cave, and they could be absolutely anywh—’
‘Found them,’ called Zec from beside the ramp.
‘God damn it!’
Zec and another man brought the chest to the Khoils and opened it. ‘These are them, yes?’ he asked.
Khoil, hands shaking in excitement, carefully lifted out one of the tablets and examined the ancient text. ‘Yes,’ he breathed. ‘The Shiva-Vedas! The words of Lord Shiva himself.’ He looked at Vanita, the light of the zealot in his eyes. ‘We have them! We will wipe away the corruption of the Kali Yuga. A new age - and we will create it.’ He delicately replaced the tablet in the rack, then closed the lid. ‘Chapal, Dhiren! Prepare it for transport.’
The two bodyguards came to him as the mercenaries returned. Mahajan carried a backpack, from which he took a roll of strong plastic netting and a bundle of harness straps. He and Tandon wrapped up the chest so it could be winched away.
‘Now, what about them?’ Vanita asked impatiently, indicating the prisoners. ‘I think they have lived far too long.’
‘I agree,’ said Khoil.
‘Good! Then kill them!’ She glared at Zec. ‘Now!’
Zec nodded, about to issue a command—
Shankarpa dived at Khoil with a scream of rage.
Zec swept up his MP5K, catching the guardian a savage blow across his face and knocking him down by the foot of the ramp. Another mercenary kicked Shankarpa in the chest and aimed his gun at his head—
Girilal snatched up the dagger and stabbed it to the hilt into the merc’s throat.
The other mercenaries whipped round to face the unexpected threat as the trooper fell, a spray of red spurting out from the wound. Zec fired at the old man. The burst of bullets hit Girilal in the chest and stomach, slamming him to the floor.
And in the moment of confusion, Eddie moved—
He grabbed the gun hand of the nearest man and twisted it round, clenching his trigger finger. The shots hit another mercenary at point-blank range, not even his body armour enough to stop them from ripping into his chest. He spun and collided with another pair of men, bowling them over.
Eddie slammed an uppercut into the first man’s jaw, hearing teeth snap under the impact, then tried to wrench the MP5K from his grasp. Even through the nerve-searing pain, the blood-spitting merc managed to resist, crunching an elbow into Eddie’s sternum and knocking him backwards. He tripped over Kit’s injured leg, making the Indian cry out, and fell heavily to the floor.
The other gunmen brought their weapons to bear, fingers tight on triggers, but Zec thrust his own gun into Eddie’s face before they could fire, shoving a boot on his chest. ‘Don’t move,’ he growled.
All eyes were on the two men.
Except Nina’s.
The sudden chaos had opened up an escape route, however briefly. She took it, throwing herself over the bottom of the ramp into the channel between its two halves. Some of the gunmen whirled at the movement, but she was already in the cover of the rising walls as they fired. Stone chips bombarded her like hailstones as she ran.