The Sacred Vault

go into the river!’

‘Everybody off!’ said Eddie.

‘What do we do?’ Kit asked, eyes wide as he saw the rapidly approaching gorge.

‘Just jump!’ Eddie grabbed him and leapt from the back of the platform. Nina followed. Human snowploughs, they bounced and skittered down the hill after their former ride. Despite Eddie’s best efforts, he lost his grip on Kit. The two men separated, skidding along on their backs.

Nina, the lightest, was the first to be slowed by the mass of snow she had collected in front of her. Dazed, she lifted her head to see two white fountains continuing past. ‘Eddie!’ she shouted as the broken vimana sailed over the edge of the gorge and smashed on the rocks below.

Eddie had also witnessed the glider’s sudden disappearance. He spread his arms and legs wide for extra drag, digging his heels down through the snow.

He felt his soles tearing small stones from the iron-hard ground - then nothing . . .

It took a moment for him to realise he had stopped. He shook snow from his face, then cautiously sat up. Both legs were dangling over the edge of the gorge. Fifty feet below, the vimana’s remains were being swept away by the river.

He dragged himself back to solid ground. Nina staggered down the slope, while Kit lay to one side, having stopped barely a foot short of the gorge. ‘Everyone okay?’ Eddie groaned.

Kit weakly cradled his left wrist. ‘My arm . . .’

Eddie examined it. It didn’t seem broken, but he guessed it was badly sprained. Using his belt as a makeshift sling, he and Nina helped him stand. ‘We’re about four miles from Gaurikund,’ he said, remembering the lie of the land from their ascent. ‘You think you can make it?’

Kit managed a feeble smile. ‘Well, it’s downhill, at least.’

‘You’ll be fine. You got him, Nina?’

She supported him from the other side. ‘Got him. Ready, Kit?’

‘I’m ready.’ They started down the hill. ‘So . . . this is archaeology?’

‘Yeah. Ain’t it great?’ Nina said sarcastically. ‘Just when you think things couldn’t possibly get any worse, they do.’

A rumbling chatter echoed down the valley. ‘Like now,’ said Eddie. The Khoils’ red and white helicopter was visible in the distance - heading towards them.

‘Oh, man!’ Nina protested. ‘Why can’t they just leave us alone?’

‘Those bushes,’ Eddie said, pointing to a patch of snow-laden shrubs nearby. They hustled Kit over and crouched behind them, watching anxiously as the helicopter drew steadily closer. Had its occupants tracked the vimana as it made its descent - and was Zec now preparing to shoot the survivors? It kept coming, passing almost directly overhead . . .

And continued southwards.

‘They must be going back to Delhi,’ said Nina, watching it shrink into the distance.

‘Great,’ Eddie said. ‘They’ll be there in an hour, and we’ll be lucky to reach Gaurikund by nightfall. Maybe we should have thumbed a lift with them.’

Kit shook his head. ‘Even I would prefer to walk.’

Eddie and Nina both smiled, then with Kit between them began the long trek back down the valley.

Eddie’s estimate was accurate: it was dusk by the time they finally reached Gaurikund. First aid was quickly arranged for Kit, but his priority was phoning Interpol headquarters in Delhi. Unfortunately, the news he got after reporting events was bad - the Khoils had already left India aboard their private jet.

A helicopter was quickly arranged to fly the exhausted trio to the capital. After being debriefed at Interpol, Kit was taken away to have his wounds treated. Eddie and Nina also gave statements before their injuries, less serious, were checked by a doctor, but after that were left alone in a conference room, with nothing to do but wait as the bureaucratic machine ground into motion.

‘You okay?’ Nina asked, resting her head on her husband’s shoulder. A muted television mounted high in one corner was showing CNN, images of President Cole’s visit to Japan in the lead-up to the G20 summit flashing past.

Eddie fingered the bandage covering the cut he had received from the statue of Kali. ‘Still got all my important bits, so okay. You?’

‘Fine. More or less. I was thinking about Girilal. He didn’t deserve to die like that.’

‘He didn’t deserve to die, full stop. He saved our lives, though. Twice. That’s got to be good for his karma.’

‘I just hope his beliefs helped him at the end,’ said Nina morosely. ‘But at least he got to see his son again, and they settled some of their differences.’

Eddie gave her a sharp look. ‘Meaning what?’

‘Meaning . . . what it sounds like.’ It took her a moment to realise what he was saying. ‘You know, if you don’t want to speak to your father that’s up to you, but it doesn’t mean everyone’s pushing you to do it.’

‘Yeah, yeah, okay. Sorry.’ He changed the subject. ‘Don’t know about the karma of Shankarpa and the others, though. They might have ended up on our side, but they still tried to kill us. And Christ knows how many other people they knocked off before then.’

‘The Indian government’ll have to decide what to do with them, I guess. But at least the Vault survived fairly intact. That makes a change for us.’

‘The Khoils still bagged those stone tablets, though,’ he reminded her. ‘So whatever it is they want to do, they’re free to do it.’

‘Bring about the collapse of civilisation, Pramesh told me. So that he can oversee the rebuilding on his terms - and push his particular apocalyptic brand of Shiva-worship on everyone.’

Eddie made an amused sound. ‘He seemed pretty upset when Girilal basically said he was being a huge arsehole.’

‘Pramesh is a true believer - having a holy man tell you that Shiva would be ashamed of what you’re planning to do must be hard on the ego. But what are they planning to do? He said it involved manipulating information, but it’d need a catalyst, something that would make lots of people want answers - answers that could be twisted to enrage them . . .’ She looked up at the TV. The piece about Cole’s Japanese visit was wrapping up, a graphic showing that the final leg of his international tour would bring him to Delhi. ‘It’s got to be the summit. It’d explain why they were so desperate to get the Shiva-Vedas - they had a deadline. And if you want to start global chaos, killing a group of world leaders would be about as good a catalyst as you could get.’

‘But how would they get past all the security?’ Eddie asked.

‘I don’t know, God damn it!’ He raised an eyebrow at her snappish reply. ‘Sorry, I’m sorry.’ She let out a frustrated breath. ‘I’m just pissed they got away. And we’ve got no idea where they’ve gone.’

‘Actually, we do.’ They looked round to see Kit, his sprained arm in a sling, limp into the room on a crutch. Behind him were Mac, who smiled broadly on seeing the couple, and another man, thin-faced with a drooping moustache, who appeared considerably less pleased at the sight of them - or of Eddie, at least.

‘Kit!’ Nina cried, jumping up. ‘Are you okay?’

‘The doctor said I will mend,’ said the Indian. He gave his bandaged arm a rueful look. ‘Eventually.’

She smiled, then greeted Mac warmly before giving the moustachioed man a peck on the cheek. ‘And Peter. Good to see you again.’

‘You too, Nina,’ he replied, before regarding Eddie with disdain. ‘Chase. Hello.’

‘Alderley,’ Eddie replied, with equal antipathy.

‘So,’ said the MI6 officer, ‘how was your party?’

Nina looked apologetic. ‘I am so sorry you didn’t get your invitation, Peter. Somebody,’ she glared at Eddie, ‘made a hash of things.’

‘Completely by accident,’ Eddie told him, not quite hiding a smile. ‘I was gutted that you weren’t there, obviously.’

‘Obviously,’ said Alderley, stone-faced. Mac chuckled.

‘In that case, you can apologise to Peter for the, uh, mix-up, can’t you?’ said Nina. When Eddie didn’t reply