“Thanks,” Scarlet and Lexi both said at the same time.
“Hey!” Lexi said. “That was my kill, not yours.”
“I don't think so, darling. It was the left front which was blown out first — look at the direction it pulled off in. All mine.”
“I shot at the left as well.”
“Hush now,” Lea said. “Mum and Dad are very proud of you both.”
“He’s stuck in traffic!” Hawke said, racing towards the Rav.
“And he’s getting out of the sodding car!” Lea said.
Scarlet smirked and reloaded the Storm. “Two can play at that game.”
A second later and they were sprinting from the deserted Qashqai and giving chase through the backstreets of Ulan Bator. It was cold now, winter in the north and getting late in the day. The sun was pale against the concrete government buildings and residential tower blocks as they pursued the fleeing man.
Hawke watched the man as he desperately ran for his life. Then, Scarlet fired a couple of shots over his head, the sounds of her bullets were two thin cracks in the bustling city air. Pedestrians turned to see what was happening, a man in a taxi pulled up and began to film them on his phone.
“This guy’s really beginning to piss me off,” Hawke said.
“Why isn't he shooting back?” said Lea.
Lexi smiled. “Maybe he has no weapon!”
“Or maybe he’s under orders not to harm us,” said Scarlet.
Hawke said: “Either way, we need a chat with him.”
A few minutes later the man stumbled over a curb and flew to the floor like a rag doll. He cartwheeled uncontrollably before tumbling into a heap in the gutter. Before he could move an inch Hawke was on him, and grabbed him tightly by the throat.
“Please!” said the man. “Don't kill me! I meant you no harm… I just…”
“What is it?” Hawke said. He squeezed his throat a little, just to add a small incentive to cooperate.
“Please… I can’t breathe!”
“That’s sort of the point,” Scarlet said, and kicked the man hard in the balls.
Instinctively he tried to double-up in pain, but Hawke’s hand around his throat made this almost impossible.
“Is there a man alive you won’t do that too?” Hawke asked.
Scarlet shrugged and Hawke returned his attention to the pleading man.
“Who are you?”
“My name’s Altan. I’m just a local private investigator, that’s all.”
“A likely story.”
“It’s true! Look me up on the internet — my card’s in my top pocket — please just take it.”
Lea leaned in and took a small business card from his pocket.
“Anyone here speak Russian?” she said.
“It’s not Russian,” Lexi said. “It’s Mongolian. It’s just written in Russian Cyrillic. Don’t they teach you people anything?” She took the card and glanced at it for a second. “It says he’s a private investigator, but that’s an easy cover to give yourself with a two dollar business card.”
“Why were you following us?” Lea said coolly, ignoring Lexi’s jibe.
“I was just told to keep an eye on you, that’s all. No harm. I was never going to hurt you, I swear it!”
“I’d like to see you try,” Scarlet purred.
“And who told you to watch us?” Hawke said.
“An American, that’s all I know.”
“I think you know more than that,” Scarlet said, pulling her foot back and readying for a second kick. A warped smile spread across her face.
“No! Please, no! All right, I’ll tell you. I was hired by an American man named Bradley Karlsson. That’s is all I know, I promise you! I don’t know anything else about him.”
“Come come, Altan,” Scarlet said. “I’m sure you can be more helpful than that. Remember what’s at stake.” She pulled her boot back and squinted one eye as she aimed in between his legs.
“Okay — but this really is all I know. Bradley Karlsson flew into Ulan Bator yesterday and hired me to follow you. That’s all I know. He said he was with the US Government. Please,” Altan strained through Hawke’s iron grip, his eyes crawling from his groin up to Scarlet’s boot, “please, that is the truth.”
“We’ll see about that,” said Hawke, and knocked him out. They dragged his body off the road and propped him up against a building. Now Hawke was starting to lose patience. Every time he thought he was making progress something happened to confuse him even more. Now, there was a rogue American agent by the name of Karlsson on the scene, but how the hell he knew about what they were doing and where they should be, he had no idea.
“So what now?” Scarlet asked.
“A tough call,” Hawke said, “but I say we get to the Khan museum as fast as possible. Whoever this Karlsson is he obviously knows a lot more about us than we do about him, and for all we know he could be one step ahead of us as well. All we can do is stick to the plan and hope for the best.”
“The classic SBS strategy,” Scarlet said, smirking.
Then Lea’s phone rang.
“Hold on, guys!” she said. “It’s Ryan.”
She answered her phone and spoke with him for a few moments.
“What’s up?” Hawke said when she hung up.
“He says that the thirteenth chapter reference on the back of the portrait is referring to something called the Secret History of the Mongols. Apparently it was an ancient manuscript written when Genghis Khan died and it’s been lost for centuries.”
“This day just gets better,” Scarlet said.
Hawke agreed with Scarlet and tipped his head back to look at the sky. He took a deep breath in and a few seconds out. As if things weren’t bad enough, they now wanted him to track down a manuscript that had been missing for hundreds of years.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Hawke looked out over the enormous plains as they made the journey to the Genghis Khan Complex, easily imagining the vast armies of Genghis and later Kublai Khan crossing this country on horseback as they expanded their mighty empire. It was here, on these plains that Genghis Khan built the greatest empire ever known by man.
They pulled up in the car park outside the complex and got out the car.
“This is actually the middle of nowhere,” Scarlet said. “I mean I’ve heard the expression before but now I actually know where it is physically located on the globe.”
“No, I don't think so,” Lea said. “I went to Edinburgh once.”
“No, darling,” purred Scarlet smugly. “You’re confusing middle of nowhere with arse-end of nowhere.”
Hawke stared at the massive statue of the Great Khan. It was at the end of an enormous series of giant stone steps which swept up a grassy hill ahead of them. A few tourists ambled here and there, many taking pictures of themselves with the statue in the background. A light breeze, cold and sharp, blew off the plains and cut into them as they made their way inside.
“More Westerners than I expected,” Lexi said.
At the top of the steps were two massive bronze statues of Khan-era Mongol soldiers, sparkling in the brilliant, clear sun.
“They look like they mean business,” Lea said.
“Those were the days,” Scarlet said, stroking a bicep. “When men were men.”
Hawke rolled his eyes and pressed onwards.
Inside was larger than he had expected, and he wondered where to start.
They split up and made a tour of the complex, keeping their eyes out for anything referring to the Secret History of the Mongols, but found nothing. Moments later, Scarlet returned with a smile on her face. She noted with amusement that if you walked through Genghis Khan’s crotch you could go outside and climb up his horse’s neck and look out across the plains.
“Anything of interest?” Hawke asked.