Operation Snake

Chapter VIII

Ghotak had sounded the temple bells and called his followers, and as I approached, dragging the creature behind me, I saw his guards dash inside in excited alarm. I left the creature at the bottom of the temple steps and took them two at a time. I glanced back to see Khaleen coming on the run. I waved to her and entered the low-roofed meeting hall at the rear of the temple. Ghotak's men had alerted him, and as I made for the stage, he pulled the revolver from beneath his robes and fired at me. It was a move I hadn't expected, and the first shot sent a splinter of wood from the wall an inch from my head. I hit the floor and the second shot winged past harmlessly. Ghotak's move told me he knew the game was over. There was no longer any pretense at being the lofty holy man before his people. The shots had sent the crowd racing for the exits and I looked up past rushing forms to see Ghotak disappearing at the back of the stage where it led into the temple itself. I vaulted the platform and went after him. His men seemed uncertain, unsure of what to do. I saw two of them leap down and flee with the crowd. One tried to bar my way. He lunged at me, and I cracked his jaw with a sharp right cross. He went down, a sprawling blue bundle. I ran through the narrow passage linking the temple with the meeting hall. I heard my name called, and I halted to see Khaleen running up after me. She ran into my arms and we embraced for a moment.

"Get out of here," I said. "Ghotak will be desperate. He might do anything."

"You go," she said, stepping back. "I will follow. You may need me."

I hadn't time to argue with her. Besides, I knew her tradition-minded stubbornness made it imperative she be here.

"Stay back," I yelled as I ran forward into the temple. I had the thing wrapped up if I didn't let Ghotak slip through my fingers. With these people and their superstitions and ancient beliefs, he could start the whole bit over again. Besides, the bastard had had four tries at killing me. I deserved a shot in return, and I was going to make mine stick.

The temple was silent, and I halted, listening. I heard scurrying footsteps and saw one of the blue-shirted figures racing up from a small stairway at one side of the building. He wanted no part of me and raced for the doors. I let him go. I wasn't interested in the small-fry, the hired hands. I headed for the stairs and glanced back as I started down. I saw Khaleen coming up, and from the open doors of the temple I saw a blonde head appear. I headed down the stairs. A shot creased my shoulders as I reached the bottom step, and I fell backwards and lay still a moment. It wasn't followed by another, and I pulled myself up to see that I was in a large, wood-beamed cellar with statues of various deities lining the walls. I caught a flash of saffron at the far end of the room and Ghotak stepped into view. He aimed his revolver at me and I ducked. I heard the dull click of a hammer hitting an empty chamber. I got up and headed for him. He tossed the gun away and stood waiting for me. My hands opened and closed in eager anticipation, and I was halfway across the room when the floor opened beneath me, and I plunged down. I looked up in time to glimpse Ghotak's arm reaching behind him, pressing a wall panel, and then I was on my hands and knees on a dirt floor. I heard a door open and slam shut and the monk's voice echoed back in wild laughter. The trap door hung open some ten feet over my head. There was no possible way to reach it.

Then I saw I had company in the sub-cellar as the entire end of the pit began to move, to come alive in a writhing, twisting mass that began to curl and twist its way into separate snakes. I saw king cobras, deadly adders, green mambas and a variety of cottonmouths, each one of them capable of killing a man with one strike. They were hissing now, starting to slide toward me. I looked around desperately. There was nothing, only bare walls. I tried jumping for the edge of the opening but it stayed just out of reach. The snakes were moving with speed, obviously hungry and anxious for a victim.

"Nick!" I heard the half-cry and looked up to see Khaleen at the edge of the opening. Hilary's head appeared beside her. "Oh, God!" I heard her exclaim. She tried to reach her arms down but the distance was too great.

"There are draperies over there," she said, looking out across the temple. "I'll get them."

Khaleen stayed at the edge, gazing down at me. Hilary had raced away and I could hear her tearing at the material. But I knew it was going to be too late. The serpents were almost at me. By the time she knotted the ends together and lowered it, they'd have me. Khaleen saw it, too.

I saw her swing her legs over the edge and drop. "No!" I yelled at her. "Stop!" But it was too late, not that she'd have paid any attention to me, anyway. She landed beside me and I grabbed for her, but she slipped away and plunged into the mass of crawling snakes, kicking at them, screaming at them. Hilary was lowering the drapes now, and Khaleen looked back at me, her face contorted with pain as snake after snake struck at her, sinking fangs deep into her legs and ankles. She had diverted their attention from me to give me time to escape, and now her eyes implored me not to let her sacrifice go to waste.

"I tied the ends to the pillars," Hilary said, shaking the drapes. "They'll hold, only for God's sake hurry."

I looked at Khaleen and her cheeks were stained with tears, not all of them tears of pain. "Go, Nick… go," she gasped. I started to climb up the drapes and then dropped back.

"Dammit to hell," I swore. I raced to Khaleen, still standing with snakes imbedded in her legs. My shoes were heavy enough to withstand a few fangs. I kicked at those nearest her, grabbed her by the waist and lifted her from the mass of lunging reptiles. I jumped back, holding her with one hand around her waist, and started to pull myself up the draperies. Some of the snakes had sunk their fangs into the bottom of the cloth but I clung to it, gathering it in as I pulled the girl and myself up. Khaleen was half over my shoulder and I managed to shift her slight form to get use of both hands. At the edge, Hilary took the girl's limp body from me, and I pulled myself onto the floor.

Khaleen was breathing shallowly already. The massive doses of venom she had gotten would act in minutes. I saw her eyelids flutter, and she looked up at me and her hand moved over mine.

"I am yours," she breathed, and her lids softly closed over the deep eyes. Her small form shuddered and lay still. I put her small hands together and stood up. Hilary's eyes were misted over and I swore out loud.

"Damn, damn this stinking place!" I swore. "She didn't need to do that."

"Need and want," Hilary said, her voice catching. They're two different things."

I turned and ran out the door at the rear. Ghotak wasn't anywhere in sight but I saw one of his men, fear in his eyes as he spied me. I hadn't realized till now how omnipotent a figure I'd become to them. I'd survived a battle with a cobra and slain the yeti. You couldn't bat much higher in this league. He tried to run but I grabbed him, lifting him off the ground with one hand and slamming him against the wall of the temple.

"Where did he go?" I yelled.

"I do not know," the man said, shaking his head to emphasize his words. I slammed him into the wall again and heard his bones rattle.

"You've got some idea," I yelled. 'Where did he go? Tell me or I'll break every one of your superstitious bones."

The man gestured to a small, shingle-roofed house about a hundred yards away. "Maybe he hide there," he said.

"He's not hiding, he's running," I yelled. I hauled back and let the man have a sharp crack across the face. He fell to the ground screaming more in fear of what might happen next than in pain.

"The river! The river!" he screamed. He pointed to the right, past the temple, and at once I remembered glimpsing the swift water at the edge of the village on one of my walks. I ran for it, passing women returning with their fresh washed clothes. At the river's edge I saw men looking downriver, and in the distance I spotted a log dugout being paddled by a bright saffron spot. Three of the men had drawn the inflated buffalo skins onto the shore, having just paddled across the river on the unique rafts. I grabbed one and a paddle and pushed it out onto the river, falling across it to lie with my body straddling the inflated skin. The animal's four legs jutted upwards and the whole thing looked somewhat like a four-poster bed floating upside down. But it was light and maneuverable and I found myself gaining on Ghotak's heavy log dugout. The current was swift, and we were downriver quickly, passing overhanging trees and sloping banks. The river curved, and I saw Ghotak disappear around the bend, glancing back to see me catching up to him. I paddled furiously, and the balloon-like buffalo skin almost skimmed over the top of the water. Rounding the bend, I saw the dugout at the shore and Ghotak clambering out of it. I headed for him and saw him draw his revolver. I was still a good distance away and a poor target, unless he was a lot better shot than I thought. But he wasn't trying for me, I found out. The slug hit the inflated skin and I heard the whoooosh of air escaping and I was in the water, swimming against the swift current.

Ghotak was off and running, and I was slowed once again by the wily monk. I cut across to the bank, feeling the current carrying me downstream as I swam. Reaching the shore, I pulled myself up, tossing off my soaked outer jacket. I clambered up the bank to see a stone house standing some fifty yards away and back from the shore. The windows were shuttered, and it looked deserted, but it was the only house around and I headed for it on the run, crouched over, trying to make myself less of a target. I had to cross completely open ground to get to it but there were no bullets sent winging at me, and I reached the house, yanking at the door. It opened and I went inside to find it was a kind of stable. Two burros and a loaded sled stood in the center of the place, the burros harnessed and ready to go.

"Where are you, Ghotak?" I called. "I know you're in here someplace." I moved forward cautiously, glancing up to see a second floor balcony above. Bales of hay were stored on what was a small second-story landing. Four stalls lined one end of the stable and two more of the sturdy Sherpa burros looked at me over the top of the wooden stalls. There was no sound but that of the restless shifting of the burros and I walked over to them. Heavy saddle bags hung from each animal and I opened one and reached in to draw out a handful of gold coins and Nepalese rupees. I went to the sled, and tore open the tarpaulin over the boxes and packs tied onto it. I ripped open one box. Jewels and precious stones stared back at me. Ghotak had been prepared for any eventuality, I saw, and was ready to move out and set up housekeeping with a bundle somewhere else.

But where the hell was he? Maybe, with me so close on his heels, he'd given up the idea of trying to flee with the stuff. I took out Wilhelmina and started up the short ladder that led to the second-floor landing, wondering why, if he were up there, he hadn't taken a shot at me. On the landing, I found only bales of hay but there were a lot of them, each one some five feet long and three feet wide, more than large enough for a man to hide behind. A narrow passage was open between the bales and I moved down it, Wilhelmina in hand, cautiously peering behind each bale as I passed it. Suddenly, from behind the very last of the bales at the end of the landing, I heard a noise and saw the flash of saffron move. Ghotak looked up for an instant and then flattened himself behind the bale. I went after him quickly and found out, too late, that he had set me up beautifully. My foot landed right on the spring mechanism of the animal trap and the vicious steel jaws crashed together on my leg. The excruciating pain shot up through my body and I dropped to one knee. Ghotak was up and I took a vicious kick in the face and fell backwards, my leg twisting in the heavy steel trap. Wilhelmina went skittering out of reach and I saw Ghotak's evil smile, his small eyes bright in final triumph.

He stood over me and laughed. "I could kill you, but that would be too easy for you," he said. "You have cost me a great deal. You shall not have an easy death." The trap was sending great stabbing pains up my leg but I tried kicking out at the monk with my other foot. I caught his shin and he backed away in pain, his eyes clouded.

"You are very much like a cobra," he said. "Always dangerous unless completely dead." I watched as he took out a packet of matches and lighted the bales of hay, going from one to the other until tongues of flame began to curl up around the corners of the bales. He smiled at me again and disappeared down the ladder. I sat up and looked down at the trap to see if I could pry open its steel jaws but I saw at once I was doomed. It was the land that, once sprung, only a metal key could unlock, releasing the powerful spring mechanism.

I could hear Ghotak below, starting to mount the lead burro. I dragged myself forward, past the smoking, burning bales. The chain on the trap was long enough to let me reach the edge of the landing. Ghotak was atop the burro and the door was open. I saw him kick the animal and the burro started to slowly move out. I let Hugo drop into my palm, raised myself on one knee, aimed and threw the stiletto with every bit of strength at my command. I saw it hit just where I'd aimed, the back of the monk's neck. As his head jerked upwards I saw the point of the stiletto jutting out the other side at his throat. He raised his hands and clawed at his neck, his fingers spasmodically twitching as he tried to find the handle of the stiletto. He had finally gotten one hand on it when his body stiffened and his hand fell away. He half turned in the saddle, his eyes glancing back and up to where I peered over the ledge, his mouth open, and then he fell heavily from the saddle to lay on the floor, staring upwards with the sightless eyes of the dead.

The smoke was growing heavy now, and the flames higher. I crawled back, following the chain to where it was attached to a wooden peg in the wall. I took a handkerchief and tied it around my face as the waves of smoke choked my lungs. The heat was becoming intense and the bales were starting to burn with fury. I kicked at the wall with my other foot and saw it was soft plaster. I dug frantically at the plaster surrounding the wooden peg, gouging out chunks of the material. The smoke was so thick now I could no longer see the roof above me. Luckily, it still had room to rise, and did not completely engulf me. I kept digging frantically, the face of death giving me strength and urgency beyond normality.

Finally, I put both feet against the wall and, straining every muscle, pulled on the chain attached to the peg. I felt it give. The pain of the trap on my leg was almost unbearable, but I pushed my legs hard against the wall again and pulled. The peg came out of the wall with the pop of a champagne cork and I fell backwards. Dragging the trap and the chain, I crawled across the floor, staying low to get air. The heat seared my face and the crackle of flames filled the stable. I found the ladder and half fell down it but I reached the bottom and crawled into the open. I lay there and drank in deep gulps of air. Finally, getting to my feet, I saw that the burros had moved out of the building, no doubt as soon as the flames had started. I dragged myself to where they were standing, managed to mount the lead burro and headed back to the village. I glanced back at the building. It was in flames now. Despite the terrible pain in my leg, I felt strangely satisfied and at peace, as though a lot had been put to rest by those flames.