The Eye of Shiva

CHAPTER 40

Ijay stood next to a tree, motionless in the fog. Drops of condensation formed on his armored vest. His breath misted in the night air, blending seamlessly with the fog. Anyone seeing him might have thought he was part of the tree. He was dressed all in black. He wore a black ski mask over his face. The skin around his eyes was darkened with camouflage paint. He'd brought four of his team with him, now hidden in the fog.

Everyone was in position. He'd go in the front with two of his men. If the Americans tried to retreat out the back toward the lake, the other two would cut them down.

The houseboat was no more than a black shape in the swirling darkness. A dim light showed through one of the windows. The soft lapping of shallow waves on the shore and the smell of decaying vegetation on the beach were the only indication of the lake, invisible in the night. Every sound was muffled by the fog.

Ijay smiled to himself. There were only three of them, these American spies. Careless spies. The light in the window showed they were unaware of their danger. By the time they realized what was happening, it would be over. He flicked the safety off on his silenced MSMC.

Ijay liked the weapon. It was Indian made, based on the Israeli Uzi. It had been designed to overcome the failures of the INAS carbine carried by the regular forces. It took a 5.56 X 30mm cartridge and put out over 700 rounds a minute. You didn't want to be in front of it when it went off.

He gave the signal to move in. His men mounted the steps in single file, silent as their leopard namesake. They took up position on each side of the door at the end of the boat. Ijay followed them onto the porch. The first man's name was Arjuna, named for the hero of the Bhagavad-Gita. Arjuna eased up the latch on the door. It lifted with a dull click. He looked a question at Ijay, who nodded.

Arjuna opened the door, making no sound. He moved into the dark interior, his finger on the trigger, followed by the second man. Ijay brought up the rear. A glow of light showed at the end of the hall. There was a faint smell of propane in the air. In the darkness at his feet, Arjuna didn't see a thin wire stretched at ankle height across the passage. He tripped on the wire.

On the other side of the flimsy wall separating one of the bedrooms from the hallway, there was a bright arc of electricity. Lamont had left the valve on the propane tank open and rigged a detonator. Gas filling the room ignited and exploded.

Arjuna was engulfed in a hellish blue ball of flame. The force of the blast smashed the second man to the side and threw Ijay backward through the open door and off the porch. His clothes were on fire. He tore the burning mask off his face and rolled on the ground, back and forth until the flames were out.

The explosion had blown a hole through the roof of the houseboat. Fresh air rushed in and fed the flames consuming the old, dry wood. The fire roared out into the night and shot upward in a blazing column. The fog turned red and yellow with reflected light.

Ijay scrambled to his feet, stunned, trying to make sense of what had just happened. His weapon was somewhere inside the inferno, ripped out of his hands by the blast. He heard shouts and pistol shots at the other end of the houseboat. There was a short, quiet stutter of machine gun fire, then more shots.

Silence in his earpiece.

If his men were still alive, they'd be talking to him. He felt the beginnings of rage but pushed it down. Now wasn't the time. He'd made a mistake with these Americans. He'd underestimated them. It wouldn't happen again.

Ijay backed away into the fog, turned and ran.

Nick and Selena skirted the blazing houseboat and met Lamont at the van.

"I think one of them got away," Lamont said.

"That IED of yours worked like a champ," Nick said, "but it started a hell of a fire."

The houseboat was engulfed in flame. The big timbers underneath the boat began to burn. The fire roared and crackled and clawed at the air. They backed away from the heat.

"I need to talk with Harker," Nick said.

Nick touched the transmitter in his ear. "Director, you copy?"

"Copy, Nick. Go ahead."

Her voice was clear and strong. Satellite must be right overhead, Nick thought.

"We have a problem. Cobra's team tried to take us out."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah."

"What's the problem?"

"We're fine but Langley is going to need another safe house. All this one is good for is toasting marshmallows."

"There's a fire?"

The remains of the burning roof folded inward and collapsed, sending a fiery column of sparks into the air. Nick watched the flames rise into the night.

"You could say that. One of them got away."

"All right," Elizabeth said. "Nothing's changed. We still need Cobra if you can get him. Find a place to stay."

"Roger that. Out."

"What now?" Selena said.

"Now we look for a hotel and get some sleep."

"You're not worried about Cobra finding us?"

"He already did. They're not going to try anything else tonight. There's no point in keeping out of sight now that Cobra knows who we are. Afridi will be at that mosque tomorrow and we're going to be there looking for him. Now we need to get out of here before somebody gets curious about this fire."

They got into the van, turned around and bumped out the dirt track until they came to the highway. Behind them, all that could be seen of the burning houseboat was a deep, orange glow in the fog.

Selena drove, remembering a hotel they'd driven by in Srinagar that might do. She really wanted a shower. Her mind went back to the lake and the firefight, a brief, surreal moment of utter violence. Wrapped in the fog, it had been like shooting at black ghosts in a dream world where nothing was real. It was real enough, though. She'd seen her bullets take down one of the black figures. With a start, she realized she was more concerned with finding a hotel with hot water and a soft bed then she was about the man she'd just killed.

She wasn't sure what that said about her. Whatever it was, she didn't much like it.