Zhu grinned and hefted his pack. “Good. A field exercise,” he said, then unzipped the top compartment of his pack and set his pistol under the seat of the car.

They pressed hard, with Shan setting a grueling pace. Zhu remained silent when Shan knelt at the first pilgrim shrine but followed Shan’s action in emptying his canteen and filling it from the pilgrim spring. At the next shrine he copied Shan in placing a stone on top of the old lichen-covered cairn. At the third he joined Shan in kneeling.

As they walked on Zhu whispered something that caused Shan to turn. “Chaosheng,” Zhu said more loudly. “My grandmother always wanted to take me with her on her chaosheng journeys.”

Shan hadn’t heard the Chinese word for years. It meant paying respect to the holy mountain.

“Sometimes I went with my parents to the nearest shrine mountains for a weekend, but never with my grandmother. She would travel for a week or two at a time and sleep on top of the sacred mountain when she got there.”

“On your next leave maybe you can go with her.”

Something seemed to rattle in the soldier’s throat. “She died while I was in officer’s training. I couldn’t even get back for her funeral. My father took his annual leave so he could scatter her ashes on the top of her favorite mountain.”

Shan was about to offer words of comfort when Zhu quickened his pace and pulled away. He did not speak until they reached the shrine before the final steep switchback climb up to the Talons.

“Aren’t we supposed to have incense?” Zhu asked as he laid a rock on the final cairn. “My father would light incense when he prayed.”

Shan searched his pockets, finding a single cone of incense. “I only have the one,” he said, and dropped it into Zhu’s hand.

The lieutenant stared at it. “I didn’t mean that I…” he began, staring at the cone with a troubled expression, then he stuffed it in his pocket and began to climb.

When they reached the camp at the Talons rock formation, Jaya was alone, watching over a kettle of soup. There was no sign of Lhakpa or his four-legged niece. Ko’s words still nagged Shan. It’s all about the goat.

Jaya greeted Shan and eyed Zhu uncertainly. “You brought the army!” she accused Shan after a moment.

“Why would you think that?” Zhu asked.

She pointed to his military boots.

“Maybe I got them at the Shoe Factory,” Zhu suggested.

Jaya bent over the pack he had dropped by the fire and brushed away the grime, revealing the small insignia of the People’s Liberation Army. She glared at Zhu.

Shan stepped between them. “Yes, Zhu is a soldier. He’s been helping me unmask Metok’s killers. He went to Hong Kong and found proof that the case against Metok was fabricated. Now he is going to help you with Public Security.”