mountain.'
On the next afternoon, beneath another boiling white sun, they heard the sound of an
engine gunning through the snow. 'The trucks,' someone shouted, and everyone
poured into the blinding light to see their rescuers. The old herder's two yaks stood
nearby, grazing on the last of some dried grass scattered on top of the snow.
In the far distance a vehicle was cutting straight toward them from the north. All
they could make out was the glare of its windshield between two brilliant roostertails
of slush, a ship of pure light.
'Home! We're going home!' It could have been anyone's voice. It was everyone's
sentiment.
They gathered to watch the vehicle approach. Even Li emerged from his tent to join
in their excited babble. This was the first Abe had seen him since their retreat from
the face.
'Wait a minute,' J.J. said, shading his eyes with a piece of cardboard. 'That's no
truck. It's a Land Cruiser.'
'Makes sense,' Stump reasoned. 'You send in your icebreaker first. It's got
four-wheel drive and good mobility. The rest will come behind.'
'Come to papa,' Robby shouted at the Land Cruiser.
'Mr. Burns,' Jorgens said to Abe. 'Would you please ready your patient for transport.
Gus goes first.' For a moment, anyway, some of the timber returned to his bearing.
'I'll see to it that Mr. Li agrees.'
Li was glassing the distance with a pair of binoculars, too busy to answer.
Jorgens went right on laying the groundwork. 'With the Gamow bag on the back
floor, that will leave room for two. Burns goes, obviously. And it's either Kelly with her
eyes or Corder or...'
Abe was standing close enough to hear when Thomas muttered, 'What the hell.' Abe
glanced at him, but the man was staring off into the north intently.
Slowly, as if disbelieving his own eyes, Li lowered the binoculars. His smile had
faded.
'Pete,' Stump said. Sober looks were suddenly epidemic. Abe wondered what was
wrong.
'I'm going out with Gus,' Daniel was insisting. 'We'll make room for Kelly. But I go
with Gus.' There were no two ways about it.
'I don't think so,' Stump said.
'It's okay,' Jorgens said to Stump. 'Corder should go with her.'
'No,' Stump said.
Jorgens stopped.
'We're not going anywhere.'
Engine whining, the Land Cruiser closed on them. It hit a wet drift with an explosion
of diamonds and the vehicle slung left, then right. The spray of slush reached for
them, sparkling in the sun. The yaks spooked and bounded into the snow, but were
too famished to run very far.
The Land Cruiser breasted another drift. Thirty feet from the front of the mess
tent, it braked.
'Tell those guys to keep the engine running,' Daniel said. 'Let's load Gus on.'
No one moved. Daniel plucked at Abe's sweater. 'Come on, Abe. Let's move. We can
make Shekar by dark.'
The engine cut off. Abe's heart sank.
'Tell that driver to fire it up. We're taking Gus out of here.'
Daniel walked between them as between statuary. The climbers were motionless
and silent.
He was the only one among them who had not seen this same Land Cruiser before.
He did not recognize the three soldiers who now emerged.
'What are you guys waiting for? Stump, give me a hand.'
The soldier's pea-green uniforms were filthy. They looked ravenous and tired. The
two younger soldiers seemed very happy to be here again. The officer did not.
Taking the initiative, Li approached them. He highstepped through the snow. Li and
the officer stood by the Land Cruiser and conferred for several minutes, casting
nervous glances at the climbers. Jorgens started to join them, but Li held up his open
palm to stay in place. After some more words, Li came over to the climbers.
'Not good,' he said with mechanical bravado. 'Pang La is closed. Earthquake, snow,
not good.'
'The hell,' snarled Daniel. 'If they got in, we can get out.'
Daniel's ignorance confused Li and he goggled at the climber.
Stump stepped forward. 'They didn't get in, Daniel,' he said.
'The hell,' Daniel said again and he started to wave at the Land Cruiser. Then it sank
in. His hand dropped back to his side.
'Where have these men been for the last week?' Jorgens asked.
'Rongbuk Monastery,' Li said.
It was simple to see. The soldiers had set off with their prisoner. Then the
earthquake had trapped them on this side of the pass. They had started back toward
Base Camp, only to be caught by deep snows. Without food or sleeping bags, probably
without fire even, they had taken refuge in the ruined monastery for the last seven
days. Now they had completed their fateful circle.
'These men require food,' Li said. 'They require shelter. They require medical
attention. They require...'
Daniel cut him off. 'Where's the kid at?' he demanded.
'What you say?' Li was outraged, though Abe perceived more bluff than anger. The
man had to be just as disappointed as they were at being trapped, but with one
significant difference: He was now trapped with them, and they were the enemy.
'What did they do with the boy?'
'I forbid...'
Daniel's black eyes dismissed the L.O. and without another word he bulled past him
toward the Land Cruiser.
'You,' Li shouted. 'You stay away.'
Daniel didn't highstep through the snow, he simply slugged his shins through it and
tore a path. The officer saw Daniel coming and he ordered the two younger soldiers to
intercept him. But the week without food and warmth had depleted them. Daniel
pushed between them.
The officer barked a high reedy command in Chinese. When Daniel kept coming, he
unsnapped a leather holster cover at his hip. Abe watched the man perform his
motions, and they seemed perfectly natural. Of course he would draw his gun. It was
as inevitable as Daniel's advance.
With ritual determination, the officer pulled his automatic pistol and gestured Daniel
away. That didn't work, of course. There was too much forward momentum. But
when the officer extended his arm its full length and aimed the pistol at Daniel's face,
things stopped, or at least paused. Daniel had came to a halt.
Abe wanted to shout. This was a mistake. They were climbers and their climb was
over. They had finished with this place. It had finished with them. There was nothing
