“My gun now,” Pike growled.

“If I reported that a foreigner had stolen a gun from a Public Security officer, you would be the most wanted man in all of Tibet.”

“Please do,” Pike shot back. “The press conference with all the American reporters will be stunning.”

“Wo cao ni!” Kim spat.

“Unladylike,” Pike chided, and stuffed the pistol into his belt.

Shan stepped in front of the American to shield the woman from him. “When does Lieutenant Huan leave for the mountains?”

A satisfied sneer grew on Kim’s face. “He left hours ago to take the news to Jiao. I called him as soon as I left the Potala.”

Shan and Pike exchanged an alarmed glance. She had played them, dragging out their interrogation.

“Huan and Jiao won’t just take that phone with the video when they reach that camp whose location you so helpfully provided, they will eliminate all witnesses to his doing so. By the time you get there, all those Tibetans will be dead!”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The Talons had a new image painted on the flat rock face above them, a garuda, the ever-watchful bird protector. “No one here,” Tan said as he, Shan, and Pike approached the campsite. Shan glanced at his watch. “Two more hours,” he pointed out. They had bought time by calling Major Xun and telling him Tan and Shan wanted to meet with the leaders of the Amban Council to negotiate the custody of the phone they sought and resolve their mutual problems. Xun, though confused at first, had quickly warmed to the suggestion. “You’re sure this is the place?” Tan asked then Shan pointed to the shadowed juncture between two of the stone claws, where a figure in a gray cloak stood up. Tan held up a hand as Shan was about to introduce Lhakpa. The colonel didn’t want to know the Tibetan’s name. He had readily agreed to loan Shan a helicopter but only if he joined the expedition. The vengeance he sought was not against Tibetans.

In the gnarled trees just beyond the stone claws, a fire burned in a ring of stones, with rolled blankets beside it. As Shan stepped to the campfire he made out Jaya and the hail chaser in the shadows of the trees, the latter working his mala, his staff leaning on the tree beside him. The ragged old weather wizard took no notice of them, other than pulling his staff closer.