The Emperor's Tomb

SIXTY

NI CLIMBED FROM THE WELL AND CHECKED HIS WATCH. NEARLY SIX PM. He sucked a few lungfuls of warm, moist air. The rain had stopped.

He replaced the iron plate in the well.

Tang would surely be exiting soon, so he needed to leave. His adversary had come prepared, but so had he.

He found his cell phone and hit a speed-dial key. The number dialed and the connection was made. “I want you here, on site, in the next fifteen minutes.”

He’d brought twelve of his investigators with him, transporting them in a separate helicopter that would have arrived about half an hour after his. They’d been instructed to wait a few kilometers away until contacted.

“We’re on the way.”

“Meet me at the security center, at the administrative buildings, east of the museum.”

He ended the call and headed off.

MALONE LED THE WAY AS HE AND CASSIOPEIA SCAMPERED through the tunnel, back toward where they’d entered. He knew that there were four right angles to traverse, two remaining as they’d already once turned left, then right. He avoided all the doorways leading out, careful to retrace the path they’d used to enter. He’d be damn glad when sky once again loomed overhead.

He still held his gun, which contained a few rounds. Cassiopeia’s was exhausted. They both toted flashlights.

“I appreciate what you did back there,” he said.

“Least I could do.”

“You realize Viktor was on the other side of one of those flashlights.”

“We also know that neither one of us was shot.”

He stopped. “You can’t be serious. You actually think he helped?”

“Cotton, I don’t know what to think. This whole thing seems one double cross after another. All I know is that a four-year-old boy is gone and I can’t get anywhere close to finding him.”

He saw the exasperation in her eyes, and awaited another verbal assault. Instead she drew close and kissed him.

Tender. Sweet. Not a question, more a statement.

“Viktor’s not you,” she said.

“You think I’m jealous?”

“I think you’re human.”

He was uncomfortable as hell. Feeling emotions was one thing, revealing them was quite another. “We need to get out of here.”

She nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”

They negotiated the final two turns. He spotted a splash of light in the tunnel ahead. The gash in the library floor. They stopped beneath the hole and glanced up three feet.

“I’ll go first,” she said.

Before he could object, she leaped up, secured a grip, and leveraged herself through the hole.

Halfway, she was yanked upward.

A man dropped through the opening and landed on his feet.

He wore the uniform of museum security and carried a gun, pointed straight at Malone.

“I believe they want you to come up,” Cassiopeia said from above, “quick and quiet.”

TANG STEPPED OUT OF THE CAR THAT HE AND VIKTOR HAD driven from the well site back to the security office. They had quickly found their way out of Qin Shi’s subterranean world and fled the fenced enclosure. The two dead brothers had been left underground. There was little that could be done with their bodies, especially considering the site was now contaminated with mercury vapors.

Ni Yong was his immediate concern.

He’d had the perfect opportunity inside the tomb—privacy beyond measure—to end the problem.

But he’d blown the chance.

Or more accurately, Viktor had blown the chance.

He kept his displeasure to himself. An easy matter to deal with this foreigner when the time was right.

“Wait out here,” he told Viktor.

He stormed back inside the air-conditioned security building. His clothes were filthy, his hair disheveled, his throat filled with the taste of musty air.

The men inside snapped to attention.

“In Pit 3, an hour ago, did an old man exit the enclosure?”

The supervisor barked out instructions and another man tapped a computer keyboard, apparently locating videotapes for the relevant time and place. He watched as one of the monitors came to life with Pit 3—the warriors standing silent guard, the chariot, the horses, the gash in the earthen wall. The view was an angled shot from what appeared to be an interior roof camera. He watched as an older man stepped from the black yaw leading into the library chamber, followed by the two brothers he’d left on guard. One held a gun and was directing Pau to a nearby ladder, where all three climbed to the catwalk. Another monitor switched feeds to show the exterior of the Pit 3 museum and the three men leaving the building.

He’d not seen Pau Wen in over twenty years, since just before Pau fled the country, but little had changed. Still the same long face, round eyes, and high forehead. The hair remained sparse, only now it was grayer. One of the brothers kept a gun pointed at his prisoner, and Tang watched as they slowly walked across the empty plaza.

“Where are they going?” he asked.

The supervisor nodded to the controller and the feed was switched to another camera.

“We followed them for a few minutes,” the supervisor said. “Then captured this.”

Tang saw that Pau and the brothers were now in the car park. People were still there, crowding onto tour buses and leaving in vehicles. He watched as Pau and the brothers approached a light-colored sedan. No one now held a weapon. Each of the brothers offered Pau a warm embrace, then all three left in the car.

He kept his face expressionless.

No one said a word.

“Two more individuals, a man and woman, should have emerged from the same underground room in Pit 3,” he said.

The supervisor quickly nodded and snapped his fingers. Keyboard taps brought the correct images onto a monitor.

“When the two men you stationed left,” the supervisor said, “I sent two of our men to keep watch.”

At least someone had performed his job. “That was the correct thing to do.”

The man bowed at the compliment and motioned for the video to be played. Tang watched as one of the museum security men emerged from the library chamber, followed by a man and woman, then another security guard with a gun drawn. Of course, if the two brothers had maintained their post Cotton Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt would be dead, and the problem they posed would be solved.

“Where are they now?” he asked.

“In custody.”

“Take me to them.”

He turned to leave.

The door swung open and Ni Yong barged inside, followed by ten armed men.

“In the name of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, I am taking control of this facility.”