Yeshe gave Shan a confused smile as he was laid in the back of the truck and the other Tibetans nervously climbed in beside him. Shan drove quickly up the long switchback until reaching the hidden flat where he had intercepted Pike and Cao the week before. He had the four bound Tibetans line up behind the truck and the nearest man groaned as he unfolded his pocketknife, then Shan asked him to turn and he cut off the plastic restraint. After freeing all four, he asked them to help Yeshe out and they sat in a small half-circle of rocks as he passed around his water bottle and told them what he knew about Metok’s execution and the deaths of the archaeologists.

“I have an old friend,” Shan declared, “who told me about monks from a long-ago time who found a way to travel between the heavens and hells of human existence. They walked between worlds, finding ways to keep the worlds in balance. Right here, right now, that’s where you are,” Shan said. “You are on the edge of worlds. In the world you just came from men have laid explosives above the ancient cave to obliterate it forever tomorrow morning.” He looked at Yeshe the demolition expert as he spoke. “Four big holes packed with explosives and marked with yellow flags,” he said.

“There is another world, above here, where the relics of gods are being recovered and taken to safety. There is also your homes, wherever they may be. It is your choice where you go now, back to the valley, the mountain, or your homes. If you think it safer to take the government’s punishment, then go to Yangkar and tell my deputy I said to arrest you. No one from the cleanup crew will reach you in one of my cells.”

Yeshe staggered to his feet, pulling off the bandage that covered his head with a defiant expression. “Plastic explosive or just plain TNT?” he asked with a wincing grin.

Another of the Tibetans stood with him. “The mountain is dark and vast. How do we know how to reach the world above?”

“You already have,” came a soft voice from the shadows. Jaya, as Shan had hoped, had been keeping watch in the night.

As they began to follow Jaya, one of the Tibetans paused, then approached to press something into Shan’s hand. “This was pushed through the window of that shed the first night we were locked in there,” he explained. “Bless you, Constable,” he said, then turned and disappeared into the shadows. Shan turned his flashlight on the object in his hand. It was a little blue tsa tsa, a crude ceramic image of the god Gekho.

Tan was sitting outside the module assigned as their quarters with a cigarette when Shan returned to the compound. “I assume all your prisoners are getting what they deserve, Constable,” he stated.