The Goddess Legacy

Chapter 47

After half an hour of fiddling with her imaging software, Allie had created a semi-opaque ruby red overlay and positioned it upon the image of the mosaic. The dancing goddess instantly morphed into what looked suspiciously like a tree of lightning streaking up from the prone figure of Shiva to her lowest arm, which was clutching a severed head.

Drake edged closer to her and traced his finger along the main body of the bolt. “This looks like a map, doesn’t it? It starts at Shiva’s forehead and finishes there.”

“Yes,” Allie agreed. “If the part that begins at Shiva is the Shiv Khori, it’s probably a guide through the various passages of the underground maze. If we assume that each of these branches here, here, and here, represent caverns that dead end, then that leaves only two — the one that finishes at her mouth, and the one that ends at the arm with the severed head.”

“Which is the holiest of holies?” Spencer asked.

“Actually, it signifies evil. The depiction represents Kali’s triumph over evil,” Allie said.

“How is evil holy?” Drake asked.

“Could be confusion in the translation,” Allie ventured. “Or it could be that whoever crafted this map was one of the occult offshoots that worshiped Kali as the goddess of death rather than the goddess of destruction.”

“Death, destruction… what’s the difference?” Spencer said with a snort.

“To these cults, which used their worship of her as an excuse to murder, considerable,” Allie said. “They all believe they were created by her, but their purpose is the sticking point. Anyhow, that doesn’t matter to us. What does is that this seems to be a map through the cave system.”

“Where do you think this other branch, which leads all the way up to her head, goes?”

“There’s a legend the Shiv Khori has a passage that terminates at another sacred cave in Kashmir: the Amarnath cave. Could be that’s what this is mapping out,” Spencer said. Allie looked at him strangely, and he shrugged. “You told me to research all this, remember? I had a lot of time on my hands.”

“For our purposes, we only care about the branch leading to the severed head,” Drake said, and using a pen from Allie’s purse, began making a drawing of the map on the back of a hotel brochure.

“I don’t get it,” Spencer said. “What does a missing DOD agent and Carson’s murder have to do with some legendary treasure? I mean, this is all fine, but does anyone have any ideas?”

“Could be that Carson had competition, and they’ll kill anyone who gets in their way,” Allie said quietly. “Look around — tell me you can’t see that as a viable possibility.”

“I don’t know. That doesn’t feel right,” Spencer said. “We’re missing something here.”

Drake finished the drawing and folded the paper before pocketing it. “So now the question is how we get to the Shiv Khori.”

“With enough firepower to stop a tank,” Spencer added. “No frigging way do I go anywhere with more than this peashooter,” he said, patting Helms’s Beretta beside him on the tabletop. “And we have the issue of crossing into Kashmir. It says there are checkpoints at the border.”

Drake looked at Allie. “I think we need to call Reynolds. Maybe he can get us into Kashmir and set us up with weapons and supplies. The guy’s an intelligence officer. That sounds like the sort of thing he’d be able to arrange.”

“I don’t like that option,” Spencer said. “Think of another one.”

Allie frowned at him. “Spencer, there’s a limit to how much we can accomplish on our own. He got the cops off your back. Maybe he can pull this off, too.”

“I’ve said before I don’t trust him. If I’m right, calling him would be disastrous.”

Drake stood. “Neither do I. We don’t have to tell him exactly where we’re going. Just that we’re pursuing the trail, and it leads to Kashmir. Remember it was his bright idea for us to continue with Carson’s little quest — so now we need his help. No long explanations required, just guns and gear.”

Allie eyed Spencer. “We good on this?”

He looked away. “I suppose if there’s no better alternative.” He rattled off the types of weapons he wanted — AKM assault rifles, Beretta 9mm pistols.

Allie nodded and held out her hand. “Let me see your phone, Spencer.”

“What’s wrong with yours?”

“I don’t want to call him on my American cell — I’ve got it off so we can’t be tracked. We can jettison this one after I make the call, and buy a couple more before we hit the road.”

Spencer gave her his cell, and she dialed Reynolds’s number. He answered on the second ring.

“Yes?”

“It’s Allie. We have a lead, but it’s going to require some heavy lifting on your end.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Here’s what we need.” She gave him a rundown of Spencer’s weapon request and a description of the other gear — flashlights, first aid kit, rope, a GPS.

“I’ll send Roland to pick you up. Where are you?”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Reynolds’s voice hardened. “It wasn’t a request. I’ve let you have your head in this, but now the adult supervision gets called in. He’ll be responsible for your safety and will drive you to Kashmir. I’ll work on the equipment and a way to get you across the checkpoint — that’s not going to be easy, but it’s possible with the right kind of grease.”

“We want to do this our way.”

“That may well be, but you have no choice. This is moving to a whole new level, and I need professionals involved if I’m going to arm you and move you across borders. And let’s not forget that I lost my man where you want to go — you should be thanking me, not fighting me.”

“Okay, okay. But we have a few errands we need to run. Can we meet him at the Delhi Junction Railway Station in an hour and a half?” Allie asked, resigned to the DOD man’s conditions.

“I’ll call him. I see no reason why not.”

“Thanks. We’ll be standing in front of the main entrance.”

“You might want to get some warm clothes. Kashmir is a lot colder than Delhi because of the elevation,” Reynolds said, and hung up.

Allie turned to Drake and Spencer. “We’ve got the Frenchman picking us up. Reynolds won’t cooperate if we don’t play ball with him. The good news is he sounds like he’ll be able to get us into Kashmir.”

“And the guns?”

“He said he’d work on it.” Allie removed the battery from Spencer’s phone and tossed it in the garbage. “Let’s get moving. We need to do some shopping.”

“Probably not a lot of spelunking stores in town,” Drake observed.

“We’ve got an hour and a half to make it to the station. Let’s make the most of it,” Allie said.

“Yes, boss,” Spencer joked.

“That’s more like it.”