Chapters (68)
More gunfire.
More cheering and shouting and rumbling from beneath her.
She followed the gunfire as best she could through the poorly lit space.
The gunfire and the trail of dead.
Another two left turns and she found Birendra propped up against a wall nursing a leg wound. He was sweating and struggling to maintain his composure as he applied a pressure dressing. He started to reach for his gun, stopping himself when he recognised her. Relief flickered over his otherwise impassive features.
‘Ms Julianne,’ he said. ‘Mr Shah has him, one floor down. He wishes you to go on ahead. My wound is not serious. I can tend to it myself.’
Jules answered that with a very dubious look. ‘Jesus Christ, Birendra, at least let me patch you up. You can keep an eye on the corridor behind me. I’m afraid the chap you left to look after me won’t be joining us. Some little munter did for him down on the first floor. Popped out of a room at the top of the stairs and shot him.’
‘A stay-behind,’ grunted Birendra, as she tied off the tourniquet he had fashioned for himself.
‘I wouldn’t have a clue. But I killed him anyway. It seemed the decent thing to do.’
‘Yes,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘Now you must go. We must finish this quickly before any others come . . . Down the hallway, first left, and take the stairs down. You will find Mr Shah through the second door on the right. Ignore the bodies.’
‘Thanks,’ she said giving his shoulder what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze. He hefted his shotgun to point it down the hallway up which she had just come.
Somewhere below her, it sounded like hundreds of men were chanting along in animalistic ritual. The floorboards, possibly the framework of the entire building, was thumping in time to it, as though hundreds of feet were stamping out a beat together. The tempo picked up, building to a crescendo, before erupting into what sounded like applause and shouts of encouragement.
She hurried on, following Birendra’s directions. Another of Shah’s men stood guarding access to the next floor via the stairwell. He watched over three corpses that seemed to have been piled neatly on top of each other. She vaguely recognised him from her visit to the compound the other day. He nodded brusquely and jerked his head in the direction of the doorway a little further down the hall. Julianne safed her weapon, raising an eyebrow in question.
He nodded. It was safe.
‘It’s me, Shah,’ she called out softly as she tapped on the door, fearing to walk in unannounced.
‘Come in, Ms Julianne,’ Shah replied. ‘There’s somebody I would like you to meet.’