Operation Snake

Chapter VII

When I went downstairs in the morning she was waiting for me with hot tea and biscuits.

"I am sorry I was so upset last night," she said simply. "It is wrong of me to expect you to believe as we do. Perhaps you will prove me wrong again. I do hope so."

Her eyes were deep and filled with so many things. Hope, sorrow, fear, but most of all with something else, and I found myself cursing Hilary for her damned female wisdom. I decided to keep things on another level if possible with Khaleen.

"Ghotak is not through yet," I said. "He is planning something and I must get to him first. You say he goes into the mountains to meditate alone twice a week and he's been doing this for years. How come the yeti has never attacked him?"

"Really very few people have seen the yeti," Khaleen said. "More have seen his tracks in the snow. But Ghotak is a holy man, and the spirit of Karkotek protects his person."

"With what he's trying to do how can you call him a holy man?" I asked.

"Evil has come into him," she answered unhesitatingly. "Maybe he will overcome it. Meanwhile, he is still a holy man."

I decided against further pursuit of that interwoven exercise in thought. "When does he make his pilgrimages into the mountains?" I asked. "Do you know?"

"Yes," she replied. "He will make one tomorrow and then later in the week."

It was all I wanted to hear. As Khaleen left with the tea and cups, I went out to close up a few more possible holes. I'd given Hilary the whole truth but I hadn't forgotten her cryptic remarks. I went to the Traveler's Inn, got her room number and went up to the second floor. I heard the ticking of a typewriter and I slipped into a small alcove a few feet down the hall. I stayed there and waited. She typed for about an hour and then I saw her emerge, wearing her white sweater and colorful kilt. She went downstairs and I tried the door. It was locked, but apparently like all Nepalese doors, the lock was little more than a nod toward formality. A little pressure and it snapped open. The room was small, typical of the Nepalese houses, with heavy wood panels and small windows, colorful blankets on the bed.

Hilary's things were scattered about. I brushed through her clothes hung in the single closet and then took out her one bag. I riffled through panties and bras and blouses and sweaters. It was in the corner, under a gray cashmere sweater, that I found it. As soon as I pulled it out her smug remark explained itself. It was a small transmitter, probably transistor powered, and certainly capable of reaching a field office somewhere in India. Neat, I smiled to myself. I went to the typewriter and looked over the paper in it. She was writing out the dispatch prior to sending it. I thought of just taking the set with me but then I had a better idea. It would have a nicer touch to it. I opened the back, took out the batteries and put them in my pocket Then I carefully replaced the set in the corner of the bag, under the gray sweater. I took a last quick look to make sure she had no extra batteries in her bag. There were none and I left, slipping out the door, unable to prevent the smile from curling around my lips. I saw her downstairs in the dining room, having a bowl of soup and writing furiously on a sheet of paper. I slipped past and out the door unseen.

I spent part of the day walking the streets, letting as many people as possible see that I was very much alive. This was a land where rumour reigned, I'd learned, and seeing me in the flesh would scotch any rumors Ghotak might have his boys spreading.

In the afternoon, Khaleen went to the temple to pray for her father's spirit, and I was glad she had gone. I thought of what Hilary had said about hurting her and it was the last thing I wanted to do. Yet, it was inevitable. By keeping her at arm's length I'd be hurting her too, only sooner. It would be a double hurt, now and later. I decided to play it by ear, and when she returned we had wine with dinner and went to bed early. I was under the fur blanket only a few minutes when she came in, naked, and her delicate loveliness was again a thing of overwhelming beauty. She crept in beside me and began her soft, fluttering travels across my body with her lips. I reached down, exercising all the self-discipline I could muster, and raised her head.

"What is it?" she asked. "Why do you stop me? Do I not please you?"

"Oh, God, no, that's not it," I said. "But I don't want to hurt you, Khaleen, yet I may have to. What if I should have to leave you soon?"

"If it is so written, so it must be," she said softly. "Until then, I am yours, and it is for me to please you."

She lowered her head and began to caress my body again with her lips. Sorry, Hilary, I said silently. I tried. Khaleen was setting my body afire and I bent down, found her delicate beauty. We made tender and sensuous love, and the night was wrapped in ecstasy.

I awoke at dawn and dressed quickly. Khaleen fixed hot tea for me and asked where I was going, but I refused to tell her.

"I'm going to try to bring things to a close," I said. "Trust in me."

She nodded, those deep eyes so trusting and filled with hidden emotions. I headed out and the streets were nearly deserted in the first gray light of the day. Only a few farmers on their way early to market passed me as I headed for the mountains. I had the Marlin with me, Wilhelmina and Hugo inside my parka. I reached the pass into the foot of the mountains and found a high boulder I could hide behind and still see out. The sun had not risen more than an hour when I saw him approaching, walking alone, his saffron robes cloaking the heavy boots and warm clothing he wore beneath. I let him pass and saw the tall climbing pole he carried with him. When he was far enough ahead I picked up his trail, and saw that he had departed from the one the old man had taken and the one I'd followed. He was cutting in through ravines and crevasses unknown to me. From time to time I glimpsed the spot of saffron on ahead and I found myself thinking that he climbed pretty high just to meditate.

A series of rocky steps suddenly ended in a fairly smooth, worn trail, steep but bordered on both sides by uneven boulders capped by the perennial ice and snow. I couldn't see Ghotak but I could hear him. I was moving on, too quickly, too carelessly, when they dropped on me from both sides of the bordering boulders, blue-shirted figures, two, three, four of them, and I glimpsed more as I went down under the avalanche of bodies. I kicked out, felt my foot sink into one, but his heavy clothing protected him. Another had me by the head. I reached up, grabbed him by the hair and yanked. He let go, and I got an elbow loose and shoved it into his mouth. I got another one with a wild swing and felt his jaw go sideways. I was on one knee now, and fighting back, when someone clouted me with a stout walking pole. It felt as though a redwood had toppled on me. I pitched forward, got a face full of snow which shocked me into consciousness, rolled over, grabbed the nearest arm and twisted. I heard a cry of pain and then the pole came down again, this time crashing against my temple. I pitched forward and everything went blue-black. When I woke up I was bound, my arms stretched behind my back.

Ghotak stood looking down at me as I was roughly lifted to my feet.

"I have severely underestimated you," he said impassively. "But now you have underestimated me. I was certain that sooner or later you would attempt to follow me, and we were waiting."

He turned to his men and spoke to them sharply.

"Bring him along," he said. "And hurry. Time is important. I must be returning to the temple." He started off, leading the way up the increasingly steep trail that finally disappeared in the usual welter of cliffs and vertical ascents. We finally reached a small level spot, and my knees and arms were bruised and hurting from being pushed and pulled up the rocks.

"I will take him from here," Ghotak said to his men. "You will return to the temple and await me. Ghotak will dispose of this evil one after meditation and the voice of Karkotek speaks to him."

I watched the others obediently file back down the way we'd come. Ghotak had plainly kept his own men at a distance and subjected them to some of the same jazz he used on the rest of the people. He reached into his robes and drew forth a snubnosed British Army thirty-eight.

"Walk ahead of me and do not make any false moves," he said. "I do not want to shoot you but I will if I must."

We went on, with Ghotak guiding me by voice commands. The terrain now was flatter and icier and colder. A large opening suddenly loomed up in a snow-covered cliffside and Ghotak pointed me toward it.

"In there," he rasped. I walked on, wondering how I was going to get at Wilhelmina and Hugo. Ghotak put one hand against my back as we neared the opening and shoved. I went sailing on the icy ground and fell into the opening. Torches of animal grease burned along the walls and I saw we were in a huge tunnel-like cut in the cliff. As we moved forward I heard the horrible, spine-chilling scream I'd heard only once before. Ghotak pushed me forward, around a slight bend, and I was facing a huge steel cage. Inside was the yeti, its horrible face peering out, and growling guttural sounds coming from its throat. The creature was jumping up and down excitedly as Ghotak approached, and saliva ran down the sides of its long canine teeth which jutted out from the wide mouth. Once again I was amazed at the bear-like snout of the creature and the human forehead and eyes, the clawed hands and feet. As it saw me it began to scream again in its horrible, high-pitched scream, and its teeth gnashed together as it lunged at the bars. The cage shook but held and Ghotak smiled, a thin, evil smile. "He remembers you," he said. "Unfortunately for you."

"What is it?" I asked, hearing the awe in my own voice. "This is the yeti?"

"It is the yeti, or at least it will do as the yeti," the monk answered. "The legend of the yeti is a thousand years old, and this creature is but some twenty years, but who am I to say he is not a reincarnation of the original yeti?"

"Don't be so modest," I said. "This is what killed the patriarch Leeunghi and the others and almost killed me."

"This creature is a product of forces you in the Western world do not understand," Ghotak said. "Only here in the East do we recognize that there is more that happens which cannot be explained than that which can be explained. As often, the women in the mountain lands, when their sexual appetites can no longer be held back, have used animals. This is so in the lands of the West, also."

He was right, of course. Not so much these days but once, the practice was far more widespread than authorities would admit.

"A Sherpa woman used a pet bear she had on her mountain farm," Ghotak said. "I was but a seminarian then, but I would visit the woman's farm. In the strange ways of nature, a child was conceived and borne by the woman who immediately tried to throw it off a cliff. Even a few hours old it was a creature too horrible to gaze upon. I took the child and brought it here and kept it alive. As I saw it grow, and saw it was more wild than human, I had the cage built and brought here by a team of European engineers. I was quick to see what a valuable asset I had in my reincarnation of the yeti, whom your people call the abominable snowman."

"And this… this thing obeys you?" I asked.

"After a fashion," he answered. "I let him out and he roams the mountains, killing and devouring animals and humans he can catch. But, with his limited intellect and highly developed instinct, he always returns. I always leave more meat for him in the cage. When he takes the meat, the door drops shut and he is imprisoned."

"Suppose he turns on you when you let him out?" I asked. The monk shrugged. "A remote danger. His rudimentary intellect is enough to tell him I am instrumental in his existence. You must remember, he is part human."

"A damned small part," I grunted. The creature hadn't stopped its high-pitched screams but merely lowered them to a snarling, guttural sound. I looked into its eyes and saw the burning orbs of a vicious animal. Ghotak stepped behind me and with a knife he produced from inside his robes, cut my wrist bonds and instantly stepped to the door of the cage, his hand on a chain that would pull up the door.

"You can start to run," he said. "You have a chance to escape the yeti. Sporting of me, is it not?"

"Tremendously sporting of you," I said. "Why?"

"Because I want you found slain in the mountains. I want the Sherpas as they travel through the mountains to find you and the yeti's tracks. It is especially important that you be so found."

"Thanks, sport," I said. He obviously hadn't a thought in the world that I could get away from the creature or slay it instead. I looked at the thing again and I had to agree with his reasoning. He started to raise the door.

"A last thing," he said. "I am very aware that you are armed. You no doubt carry the revolver and the small knife you gave to the girl before you fought the cobra. They will be useless to you. The yeti's skin is as tough as an elephant's hide."

I saw his arm pull down and the door begin to rise. Talking time was over. It was definitely running time, and I started to run, putting every bit of speed I had into it. I started down the trail, slipping and sliding and falling. I could hear the creature emerge, his high-pitched scream now echoing in the wind. He was catching up to me with ridiculous ease. The trail had leveled off to where one side of it was a steep drop over the edge of a cliff. Looking back, I saw that the creature walked upright in a kind of shuffling, bear-like gait. I saw a tall rock, dropped out of sight behind it, and waited.

The creature came shuffling forward, past the rock. I dived, hitting the creature from the side with a perfect tackle. I drove with every ounce of power in my body, slamming into him with the force of at least three good tackles. It did knock his leg out from under him and he went down with a roar, but I missed sending him off the edge of the cliff. He was flat on his back for a moment and I aimed a kick at the one spot where it might most quickly bring him up short. But the creature turned a powerful leg and took my kick on its thigh. It rose to a crouch and saliva dripped from its bared fangs, but it was in a perfect position for a right cross. I couldn't resist the chance and I swung with all my shoulder muscles behind the blow. I felt the blow land and send sharp pains up my arm. The creature merely sprang up and tried to strike me with a tremendous swing of one arm. I ducked and felt the wind of it as the blow just missed my head. He tried another but I was fast enough to backtrack. I saw a rocky series of steps against the cliff and bounded up them, cutting my knees and legs as I slipped and stumbled. The last rock was near enough to the edge of an overhanging ledge so that I could just reach it and pull myself up. I brought my body up over it and lay there for a second, gathering my strength and thoughts. I peered over the side and saw him coming after me. Below was the narrow ledge and below that a series of jagged rocks.

I had climbed up to the overhang with a desperation I could never muster under ordinary circumstances, but the creature was bounding up after me with the effortless, powerful agility of a bear. I knew that to run further would only delay the inevitable. He'd catch up to me, somewhere, and I'd be caught by one of those sweeping arms, ripped apart in minutes by the huge clawed hands. I couldn't outrun him here in these icy, rocky mountains, and no human could outfight him. I yanked Wilhelmina out of the holster and shifted the gun to my left hand. Then I let Hugo drop into my palm. I had but one chance and this was the place for it. It would be dirty and nasty, but it was the only thing that stood between life and the death of AXE Agent N3. I lay down on the ledge, facing the edge of the overhang. I waited, every muscle tight and tensed. Ghotak would be on his way back by now, supremely confident that all was over. He could damn well be right, I knew.

The gray-white hairs first appeared over the ledge, then one clawed hand gripped the edge of the overhang. The horrible snout-faced countenance came next, the huge canine teeth jutting from its mouth. The clawed hands were both on the ledge now, pulling the huge body up. I shot one arm forward with Hugo held outstretched, plunging the stiletto deep into the creature's eye. The yeti screamed, its huge mouth opening wide. It was the moment I'd counted on. I fired the Luger three times, sending three slugs into the open mouth of the creature. The slugs Ghotak said could not penetrate the thick skin slammed into the soft inside of the mouth, tearing great holes and penetrating into the base of the skull.

The blood-curdling screams abruptly stopped and the creature clung there, its head turning sideways, and I saw a strange expression suddenly come into its remaining eye — a look of human sadness. It opened its mouth again, this time soundlessly, and I saw its clawed hands digging deeply into the snow of the ledge, still trying to pull itself up. The damn tiling was inhuman in every respect. I fired Wilhelmina again, sending another slug into its gaping mouth, and now blood spurted from the creature, from its mouth, its ears and even its eyes. I saw the clawed hands go limp, and it slid from the edge. I leaned over to watch the huge body hit the narrow ledge below, bounce off it and hurtle down onto a series of jagged rocks, finally to hang on one in the stillness of death. Slowly, it slipped from the rock and fell into the snow.

I climbed down to where it lay and stood over it in awe. If either of these clawed hands had ripped into me I'd be dead. I took hold of one foot and began to drag it after me. When the going got too hard, I pushed it down ahead of me until I found a place where I could pull it along. Finally, my arms aching, I reached the plain approaching the village, and I dragged the lifeless trophy behind me. Each step grew harder but now I met wide-eyed natives who ran off to tell others and in minutes I had a crowd marching alongside me, excitedly jabbering and pointing in awe to the yeti. I noticed that, though it was plainly dead, no one offered to help me pull the thing. I didn't blame them. Even dead it could scare the straw out of a scarecrow. I marched down the streets and headed for the temple and Ghotak.

Tremendously sporting of you," I said. "Why?"

"Because I want you found slain in the mountains. I want the Sherpas as they travel through the mountains to find you and the yett's tracks. It is especially important that you be so found."

"Thanks, sport," I said. He obviously hadn't a thought in the world that I could get away from the creature or slay it instead. I looked at the thing again and I had to agree with his reasoning. He started to raise the door.

"A last thing," he said. "I am very aware that you are armed. You no doubt carry the revolver and the small knife you gave to the girl before you fought the cobra. They will be useless to you. The yett's skin is as tough as an elephant's hide."

I saw his arm pull down and the door begin to rise. Talking time was over. It was definitely running time, and I started to run, putting every bit of speed I had into it. I started down the trail, slipping and sliding and falling. I could hear the creature emerge, his high-pitched scream now echoing in the wind. He was catching up to me with ridiculous ease. The trail had leveled off to where one side of it was a steep drop over the edge of a cliff. Looking back, I saw that the creature walked upright in a kind of shuffling, bear-like gait. I saw a tall rock, dropped out of sight behind it, and waited.

The creature came shuffling forward, past the rock. I dived, hitting the creature from the side with a perfect tackle. I drove with every ounce of power in my body, slamming into him with the force of at least three good tackles. It did knock his leg out from under him and he went down with a roar, but I missed sending him off the edge of the cliff. He was flat on his back for a moment and I aimed a kick at the one spot where it might most quickly bring him up short. But the creature turned a powerful leg and took my kick on its thigh. It rose to a crouch and saliva dripped from its bared fangs, but it was in a perfect position for a right cross. I couldn't resist the chance and I swung with all my shoulder muscles behind the blow. I felt the blow land and send sharp pains up my arm. The creature merely sprang up and tried to strike me with a tremendous swing of one arm. I ducked and felt the wind of it as the blow just missed my head. He tried another but I was fast enough to backtrack. I saw a rocky series of steps against the cliff and bounded up them, cutting my knees and legs as I slipped and stumbled. The last rock was near enough to the edge of an overhanging ledge so that I could just reach it and pull myself up. I brought my body up over it and lay there for a second, gathering my strength and thoughts. I peered over the side and saw him coming after me. Below was the narrow ledge and below that a series of jagged rocks.

I had climbed up to the overhang with a desperation I could never muster under ordinary circumstances, but the creature was bounding up after me with the effortless, powerful agility of a bear. I knew that to run further would only delay the inevitable. He'd catch up to me, somewhere, and I'd be caught by one of those sweeping arms, ripped apart in minutes by the huge clawed hands. I couldn't outrun him here in these icy, rocky mountains, and no human could outfight him. I yanked Wilhelmina out of the holster and shifted the gun to my left hand. Then I let Hugo drop into my palm. I had but one chance and this was the place for it. It would be dirty and nasty, but it was the only thing that stood between life and the death of AXE Agent N3. I lay down on the ledge, facing the edge of the overhang. I waited, every muscle tight and tensed. Ghotak would be on his way back by now, supremely confident that all was over. He could damn well be right, I knew.

The gray-white hairs first appeared over the ledge, then one clawed hand gripped the edge of the overhang. The horrible snout-faced countenance came next, the huge canine teeth jutting from its mouth. The clawed hands were both on the ledge now, pulling the huge body up. I shot one arm forward with Hugo held outstretched, plunging the stiletto deep into the creature's eye. The yeti screamed, its huge mouth opening wide. It was the moment I'd counted on. I fired the Luger three times, sending three slugs into the open mouth of the creature. The slugs Ghotak said could not penetrate the thick skin slammed into the soft inside of the mouth, tearing great holes and penetrating into the base of the skull.

The blood-curdling screams abruptly stopped and the creature clung there, its head turning sideways, and I saw a strange expression suddenly come into its remaining eye — a look of human sadness. It opened its mouth again, this time soundlessly, and I saw its clawed hands digging deeply into the snow of the ledge, still trying to pull itself up. The damn tiling was inhuman in every respect. I fired Wilhelmina again, sending another slug into its gaping mouth, and now blood spurted from the creature, from its mouth, its ears and even its eyes. I saw the clawed hands go limp, and it slid from the edge. I leaned over to watch the huge body hit the narrow ledge below, bounce off it and hurtle down onto a series of jagged rocks, finally to hang on one in the stillness of death. Slowly, it slipped from the rock and fell into the snow.

I climbed down to where it lay and stood over it in awe. If either of these clawed hands had ripped into me I'd be dead. I took hold of one foot and began to drag it after me. When the going got too hard, I pushed it down ahead of me until I found a place where I could pull it along. Finally, my arms aching, I reached the plain approaching the village, and I dragged the lifeless trophy behind me. Each step grew harder but now I met wide-eyed natives who ran off to tell others and in minutes I had a crowd marching alongside me, excitedly jabbering and pointing in awe to the yeti. I noticed that, though it was plainly dead, no one offered to help me pull the thing. I didn't blame them. Even dead it could scare the straw out of a scarecrow. I marched down the streets and headed for the temple and Ghotak.