He paused just inside the entrance, considering where the best vantage point might be. A few other pilgrims were pacing back and forth along the narrow ledge of rock and praying. Rinchen strolled casually toward the shrine. He took a seat on the ground between the two chortens closest to the artifact. Then he leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and waited.
About an hour later, Daniel and his henchman arrived. They immediately dropped to the stone floor of the cave, gasping like fish out of water. For a good ten minutes, they did nothing but struggle to fill their lungs with air. After they’d recovered sufficiently, they rose and advanced cautiously along the ledge toward the interior. It took them only seconds to locate the shrine. There was a stunned silence as both men contemplated the relic in disbelief.
“This is amazing,” Daniel murmured at last. “Even though it’s been exposed, the artifact is still here and still intact after all these centuries.”
Hunt gave an appreciative whistle. “That feller in town was right. This surely is a sight worth trekkin’ up a mountain to see. How much you think a doodad like that might fetch in US dollars?”
“I couldn’t even begin to guess.” Daniel’s voice was filled with awe.
They stopped talking abruptly when they realized Rinchen was seated a few yards away. The Arkana agent appeared to be deep in prayer, murmuring unintelligible Buddhist chants. He had adopted a lotus meditation pose and his eyes, shielded behind dark glasses, seemed to be shut.
Hunt and Daniel relaxed slightly. They must have assumed he was a pilgrim who didn’t understand English. They lowered their voices but continued their conversation. Over the drone of his own chanting, Rinchen still managed to catch every word.
“So how you wanna play this?” Hunt asked.
Daniel hesitated, assessing the situation. “We’ll have to come back long after sunset to collect the artifact. Sometime around midnight.”
“Nope. 2 AM is better,” Hunt corrected. “That way we’ll make it back into town a little before sunup. We can cut out while it’s still dark and nobody’s stirrin’. Once we put a couple miles between us and Darchen, it’ll be light enough for us to see the road back the way we come.”
“Yes,” the scion conceded. “That would make the most sense. We don’t know the route to Lhasa well enough to risk driving very far in the dark. Two o’clock it is.”
“I’ll have to scare up some tools before that,” the cowboy observed. “Gotta pull off that frame to get the goods.”
“Then we should start back down immediately to make our preparations.”
The duo left without a backward glance at the Buddhist pilgrim still muttering his incomprehensible prayers.
Rinchen kept up the charade awhile longer to give the Nephilim a head-start down the mountain. Then he rose to make the journey himself and report back to his teammates. They were all going to have a long night ahead.
***
The Arkana group stood in front of the Saptarishi shrine, studying the false relic now ensconced in place of the original.
“Does anything look off?” Cassie asked of no one in particular.
Rinchen leaned in and rubbed a scratch mark off the metal frame. “Nope. The fake is an exact match.”
Griffin held the real artifact, training the beam of his flashlight on the object. “Thankfully, there were no additional glyphs on the back that couldn’t be seen in our photographs. Our foes will receive a copy which contains the complete riddle.”
“That’s one less thing to worry about,” Cassie said. “We’re spinning enough plates as it is.” She turned to the twins. “Are you guys all set to go?”
“Check,” Rabten answered. “We’ll make sure to avoid the Nephilim on the way down.”
Griffin handed him the Minoan relic, which he promptly stowed in his backpack.
“As soon as we get off the mountain, “Rinchen said, “it’s pedal to the metal.”
“We know a route that’ll get the artifact out of the country without crossing any border checkpoints,” his brother added. “The package will be on Maddie’s desk in about a week.”
“I still think one of us should stay behind and guard your backs.” The twin’s voice was troubled.
“Don’t worry, Rinchen, we’ll be OK,” Cassie reassured him.
The twins stared at one another in shock and then at the pythia.
“How did you know which of us was which?”
“We’re not wearing our baseball gear.”
Cassie gave a knowing smile. “Because Rinchen’s voice is a fraction of a tone lower than Rabten’s.”
Rabten chuckled. “Way to go. Only our mother has ever been able to tell us apart.”
“Til now.”
“You’ve just witnessed one of the pythia’s many gifts of discernment,” Griffin observed. “Nuances of perception are her specialty.”
Rinchen persisted. “All kidding aside, I don’t like the idea of you two cornered up here with no backup.”
“From a purely practical standpoint, there’s barely enough room in this cave to conceal two people let alone three,” the scrivener retorted. “Aside from that, both of you will be needed to smuggle this artifact across a thousand miles of barren wasteland.”
The twins still appeared troubled but didn’t contradict him.
Cassie glanced apprehensively at her watch and then at the shrine. “Midnight. Hunt and Daniel should have started their climb by now. Griffin and I will wait til they steal what’s in the shrine and then we’ll put the second fake in its place. With any luck, we can sneak down the mountain before daylight and be on our way too.”
Directing his attention to Griffin, Rinchen asked, “Do you know the route back to Hilsa?”
Cassie answered on the Brit’s behalf. “He’s got an eidetic memory. He’ll get us there.”
“OK, then,” Rabten said. “Here’s where we part ways. Good luck, guys. I hope you won’t need it.”
Cassie hugged them both.
