“No,” Cao said. “It’s more like the sketch of a thangka, a devotional painting. The ancient ones saw it as clearly as if they were flying overhead on garudas. It’s probably why the valley is so sacred, why your town had an earth-taming temple.” Cao saw Shan’s lingering confusion, so took out a pencil, laid the paper on a bench, and with a few quick strokes, embellished and extended the lines drawn on the photo, making the upper lake look more like a head, the cupping ridges at the top like arms, and the bottom ridges like legs. “Don’t you see?” he soberly said as he held it up. A chill went down Shan’s spine as he recognized the image from the drawings he had seen in the archives. “It’s the most terrible of the earth demons,” the Chinese scholar continued. “The grandfather warrior, they call him, those who are awakening him now to protect the earth. It’s Gekho the Wrathful Destroyer.”

While Cao continued his exploration of the square, Shan and Pike sat in the station, eating a meal Marpa had delivered as Shan explained what happened in Lhadrung.

“You say this started with an execution that was a murder,” Pike said. The slow fire of anger that always seemed to burn in his eyes had crept into his voice. “But it really started with the murder of my daughter and the professor.” Shan nodded his agreement. “And now we have the murder of a witness in Lhadrung and a suggestion that all this may really have started at this school, this Larung Gar place. You have an annoying habit, Shan, of identifying more crimes but never the faces of the criminals. It’s the story of modern China,” the American observed. “Feed the outrage but never aim at the cause unless the Party bosses so direct.”

“I know Huan’s face, and that of Jiao, at least. And if I were in the habit of kowtowing to Party bosses, I never would have gone to prison.”

“Still, you haven’t a shred of evidence against Huan or Jiao, against anyone.”

“I am open to suggestion.”

“Already told you. When you find the right bait, you can always trap a fox. We’re going to create an urgent problem that Huan’s contact in Lhadrung has to respond to. We’ll smoke him out. If it’s someone close to Colonel Tan it shouldn’t be so difficult,” the American suggested, and his eyes lit with a new excitement.