“You said there were three.”
“Yes, and I could swear one is a Westerner. The one with the rifle.”
“Impossible. Probably a Yi tribesman, a hunter.” The driver shrugged.
“How long?” Xao asked. “An hour at the most. Longer for him.”
“Go and get things ready.”
“Yes, Comrade Secretary.”
An hour, Xao thought. After all these years, one hour to the family reunion.
She reached the Buddha’s Ladder well before he did, of course. It wasn’t a ladder at all, but a severe rise up the side of the summit to the edge of a precipice. On the other side was the Buddha’s Mirror. There were few actual steps here, mostly just a treacherous, slippery dirt path.
She stopped and waited. The view from here was lovely, she thought. Rock peaks seemed to rise straight up from verdant bamboo jungles. Swirling rivers and waterfalls like sapphire brocade on green silk. The entire Sichuan Valley stretched out in front of her. Behind her, Emei’s final peak, gray and austere, waited for her. The sight of her own soul waited for her, and she had waited a long time for it.
The sunset would be scarlet. She could tell that already. How appropriate, she thought, that she would meet herself under a red sky.
“Hurry up!” she shouted to him.
There was much to love about him, she thought as he broke into a jog. It was more like a shuffle, but she admired him for it. What pain it must be costing him! What a stubborn man! And what a price his stubbornness had cost!
“Can you go on?” she asked when he reached her side. He was bathed in sweat. His face was green with pain.
“Yeah. How far behind do you think they are?”
She shook her head. “I think we can make it, but we have no time to waste. Please do not fall behind.”
She squeezed his hand, then turned and started up the last climb. She had tried to encourage him, and perhaps herself, but in her heart she knew it was too late.
Simms watched her. If he’d had a better weapon he might have tried it right there, but that would still have left Carey and Pendleton to deal with. No, better to wait until they were all nice and cozy at the top.
He looked down to where Peng was huffing up the last couple of switchbacks.
“Jesus H. Christ, put it in gear!” Simms yelled.
Nothing more useless than a fat chink, he thought. And the young one is completely useless.
Well, shit, I can’t afford to wait for them.
Come on, he told himself. Let’s get it done.
He pushed out onto the saddle.
Neal worked his way up the slope on his hands and feet. The grade was so severe he couldn’t stand up and walk, so he used his hands to balance. Li Lan was using the same method just above him, only she was making much faster progress. Every few paces Neal’s ribs scraped against the slope, and the fiery pain would stop him for a few precious seconds.
He heard her yell, “There is a flat spot just up here! You can make it!”
He pulled himself along, digging into the dirt with his fingers, literally clawing his way up. It seemed like hours before he made it to where she was sitting behind a large rock on the uphill side of the path. She pulled him behind it with her.
He could see the summit clearly now. What looked like a rough wooden pavilion was perched on the edge of the far side. Two men-no, three-stood on the pavilion and looked down toward the path. Two were of medium build and stocky, one was tall and thin. Pendleton? Neal couldn’t be sure at the distance and angle.
Then he heard voices echo below. Li Lan stood up and peeked over the rock. Then she slammed her fist on the rock in rage and frustration. She turned back to Neal.
Tears of anger streamed down her face.
“It is too late!”
Neal leaned out over the rock. His ribs exploded in a burst of pain. He saw Simms pacing steadily across the saddle, almost to the base of the ladder. Peng waddled about a hundred yards behind him, followed closely by Wu, who was shuffling along in his distinctive pigeon-toed gait.
He turned back to Li.
“We can run. We can make it. We can warn them.”
She looked steadily in his eyes. “Fate is fate. You cannot change it. You Americans always think you can change it. You must learn to face your fate, learn to face the truth. Face what your stubbornness, and selfishness, and lust have done.”
“Love.”
“No, lust. I begged you to stop, but you wouldn’t stop. Now see what you have done. See what we have done. Accept it.”
Neal slipped the pistol from the small of his back.
“Go. I’ll buy you the time.”
“Neal Carey, listen for one time. I do not love you. That is the truth. I love Robert. That is the truth. I was never going to go with you. That is the truth. I made love with you to deceive you, to buy your silence. But now your silence is worthless.”
She pointed down the hill.
She’s right, he thought. Everything she says is true. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done because of her. Because I wanted her and couldn’t have her.
“Run,” he said. “If you run you can make it.”
“Do not make this sacrifice for me. I do not lo-”
“I know. You don’t love me. But neither do I.”
But I do love you, he thought.
She turned and ran.
Now think, he told himself. For the first time on this whole fucking job, think. Simms can pick you off from here, and that’s no good. You need to shorten the range so that your pistol is as good as his rifle.
He looked uphill to where Li Lan was scrambling up the slope. There was a slight curve in the path, and some rocks off to the uphill side.
If I can make it there, that might do.
He rolled onto the path and started on all fours. His ribs slammed at him, but he didn’t stop. He didn’t look up, either, but he could hear Li Lan running, as bits of rock and shale slid down behind her.
Go, go, go, he thought.
Now he could hear Simms on the path behind him. Also running. Shit. Have to make it to that curve. Have to make it there with a few seconds’ lead.
Neal stood up straight and burst up the hill. He screamed as his ribs exploded and screamed again as he reached the curve and threw himself behind the rocks. He could see a bit of the path below him and all the path in front of him. He saw Li Lan on all fours, and then he watched as she stood straight up, waving her arms and shouting, trying to warn the three men to get off the edge of the summit.
“She is waving!” Xao said. “But where is Carey?”
“He must be resting.”
“Can he see from there?”
“I am sure.”
I hope so, Xao thought. I hope so. Come on, Mr. Carey. Where are you?
Where are you, you little bastard? Simms wondered. The Chinese babe was flattened against the hill like a bug, but Carey had disappeared. Planning another little ambush, are you?
Simms saw the path curve about forty yards above him.
Okay, he thought.
He left the path, working himself down the slope on the seat of his pants. There was a nice rock down there to steady the rifle on, and it would give him a beautiful fire angle at the summit. They would be silhouetted, backlit by the setting sun.
Then he could deal with Carey at leisure. Leisure… what a nice concept. He sure could use a little leisure.
Simms slid down behind the rock.
What the hell is he doing? Neal wondered as he watched Simms’s maneuver. Then he saw Simms drop into a shooter’s crouch, wrap the rifle sling around his wrist, and lay the barrel against the rock. He watched as Simms put his eye to the scope and began to scan the summit,
Li Lan reached the top. She stopped again and waved her arms. They were about a hundred yards away, heading toward her, arms spread out in welcome-the largest possible targets they could be.
Neal saw it too. Pendleton was wrapped in a native black serape, and he looked like some sort of giant bat as he strode toward Li Lan. The Chinese man was older, shorter, but he also walked purposefully toward her as she ran toward them.