The Hunt for Shambhala

11

It was one of her crazier ideas, she knew, but she and Riley both understood this was the closest they had come to making a discovery as amazing as Shambhala. Such a discovery would cause a massive tsunami to rip through the world of archaeological history. Everything known about our history would change forever, and Selena Moore wanted to be the one to break it wide open.

Charlie had less experience of such things, but he seemed to be enjoying himself tonight all the same as he and Riley got to relive their old military days. Both dressed up in black gear and faces blackened with a cork the Australian had burned especially for the occasion, they were now pushing out to sea and heading toward Shark Island.

“Shit!” Charlie said.

Selena turned to him and studied the expression of anxiety on his face. What is it?”

“I’ve only gone and forgotten my sodding water wings.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and slapped his shoulder. “Pratt.”

At the back with his hand on the tiller, Riley shook his head. “I’ll match your Pratt and raise you a Dickhead.”

“Just trying to lighten the mood, guys…”

The outboard motor hummed gently in the hot Thai night as it propelled them toward Ko Chalam, now nothing more than a series of jagged silhouettes illuminated from the east by the rising moon. They were without a doubt well past the point of no return in their pursuit of Stanhope’s journal. The tiny island was less than a mile away off Ko Samui’s southern coast but it felt like it may as well have been a million miles.

Riley slowed the boat to a couple of knots as they moved into the shallow water much closer to the island. Selena pushed herself up from her seat and sat up straight, taking in the new close-up view with suspicious eyes. Fireflies flashed and zinged around their boat as they moved into a little sheltered bay on the west coast, and now they were close enough to hear the gentle crash of the surf as the tide drove the sea into the sandy beach beyond.

From their new position, they were able to see that Kuan’s villa was going to be a lot harder to infiltrate than it had looked on Google Earth. Even Riley had vaguely underestimated the angle of the cliffs, and for the first time the usually optimistic Selena Moore started to have second thoughts. Her evening went even more downhill when Charlie casually pointed out at least half a dozen men who were standing around the property’s perimeter. It said something about Kuan’s mind that he felt the need to hire men to guard a villa situated on his own private island.

Riley gently closed the throttle and the small engine puttered down and then cut completely. Now all she could hear was the sound of the sea and the tropical wind blowing through the palms on the beach.

The moon, higher now, was almost full and gave them enough light to see their way ahead as they waded ashore. The sound reminded her of those endless holidays her parents took her on around the Mediterranean… working holidays for them, but limitless fun for her. Tonight was an altogether different kettle of fish.

On the beach, they pulled flashlights from their bags and Riley jammed a small hunting knife inside his belt. Selena didn’t like it when he did things like that, but it had gotten them out of trouble on more occasions than she could count, so she turned a blind eye.

“What?”

“The knife… I don’t like it.”

“Needs must when the devil drives, Lena.”

“He’s right,” Charlie said.

“I know.”

“You stay here with the boat Charlie Lad,” Riley said. “We need someone waiting on the throttle.”

They waved goodbye to Charlie and climbed up on some rocks that formed a break on the southern rim of the small bay. Making their way up to the tree line Selena turned to see Charlie but they had already passed out of sight. She looked up along the cliffs. The villa was half an hour’s walk and some serious climbing, so there was no time to waste.

The tropical wind had blown some high cirrus cloud in front of the moon and dimmed its light a little, but they were still able to see ahead. “See anything yet?” Selena said.

“There’s a path up ahead,” Riley said. “More of a track really, but I guess it’s what old Kuan uses when he wants a dip in the ocean of an evening.”

“A break for us then,” Selena said. “I thought we were going to have to climb the cliffs.”

“They’d be quieter,” Riley said. “Less human traffic, so to speak, but the track will be safer, so it’s your call.”

“Do you really have to ask?”

They turned inland away from the base of the cliffs and began up the track. When they were about halfway up the hill they heard two men speaking in Thai. It sounded like they were telling jokes.

“Must be at a guard post,” Riley whispered. “They’re not moving — just waffling — listen.”

Selena listened in the humid dark for a moment or two. “I don’t understand a word of Thai, sorry.”

“Let’s just say they’re not concentrating on their jobs, so now’s the time to take them out.”

He picked up a small stone and threw it to the right. It smashed through the canopy of some trees and the men’s crude laughter stopped immediately. Looking through the undergrowth the Australian watched in silence as the men raised their guns and walked over to where they had heard the sound.

He picked up a second rock and raised his finger to his lips to indicate to Selena that she had to stay silent. Hurling the second rock through the air in the direction where the men had been originally standing, he crouched back down again and waited for their response.

It came when the rock struck the path behind the men, and they both spun around. Obviously spooked now, they spoke rapidly and then one of them ordered the other to go back and check the second noise.

As the man jogged up the track to their first location, Riley crept through the jungle like a panther until he was no more than a yard or so from the first man. Looming up behind him and straightening himself up to his full height, the former SASR man was at least a foot and a half taller than the Thai guard and probably a hundred pounds heavier. There was no debating the issue when he grabbed the man around the neck and tore the rifle from his hands.

The man threw his arms up and grasped at the thick arm around his neck but there was little he could do. He kicked out, but now Riley increased the pressure until he totally restricted the air supply and after a few seconds the man slipped into unconsciousness.

He whispered through the dense, tropical undergrowth. “Lena!”

A moment later she was beside him, and he was taking his belt off.

The English museum curator stared down at his pants and raised an eyebrow. “Well, I had no idea you still felt that way about me.”

He gave her a look. “Funny, Lena.”

Dragging the unconscious man to a rubber tree he lashed his arms to the trunk and then roughly tore the sleeve off the man’s shirt before using it to tie a tight gag around his mouth. “Choking someone like that only puts them out for a minute or so and when this fucker wakes up he’s going to be in a pretty bad mood. This way he can’t move or shout to alert anyone.”

“Big softy.”

“Yeah… right,” he said, and snatched up the man’s rifle. “That’s Pinky done, so let’s go and get Perky and then we’re in.”

They moved silently though the jungle until they saw the other man coming their way. After having spent the last few minutes searching for an imaginary ghost up the track he now wanted to know where his associate was.

“Get down!” Riley whispered, and they crouched down into the darkness as the man passed.

They watched his eyes widen when he saw what had happened to the other guard but before he could rescue him Riley was pushing the stolen rifle’s muzzle into the nape of his neck.

“Drop the gun,” he said in Thai.

The man complied immediately.

Selena moved forward and picked up the second rifle while Riley told their latest victim to remove his own belt.

He slid the belt off, and Selena raised another eyebrow. “Well, I had no idea this was…”

“Really?” Riley said. “Now?”

“Sorry… just trying to lighten the mood.”

“Haven’t I already heard that tonight?”

He lashed the second man up to another rubber tree and gagged him in the same way. The first man was now conscious again, but neither man was going anywhere, so Riley and Selena made their way back up to the track and drew closer to the villa.

At the top of the track the jungle canopy opened up and they saw the stars high above them once again. Riley made sure they were out of sight and then started to scan Kuan’s villa for ingress points. The Villa Tiāntáng was a little too much like a Bond villain’s hideout than Riley Carr liked to admit. From further along the coast on the bay to the south, it had looked like any other plush coastal home in the area, but now they were closer he could see it was an entirely different state of affairs.

It was built into the cliffs in the same way as the luxury residences back on Ko Samui’s “Millionaire’s Mile”, and flanked on either side by two enormous waterfalls which crashed down into the warm waters of the Gulf of Thailand far below.

The main construction was glass and steel and elaborately dressed up with floating staircases leading to an impressive rooftop balcony. The views at sunset must have been breathtaking, but of more interest to the Australian were the small outbuildings placed in strategic locations around the perimeter.

“More guards,” he said. “And judging from the number of those guardhouses this bloke must be more paranoid than Stalin.”

“Stand up, drop the guns and turn around very slowly.” The voice was cool, and measured. “If you try and use the rifles I will kill before you can aim them.”

Riley cursed himself for letting someone get the better of him but whoever had done it was damned good — he knew that much.

They obeyed and saw a man in a smart suit. He was training a pistol on them, and the muzzle was too close for comfort.

“Great,” Selena said, turning to Riley and lowering her voice. “The fact you got us caught like this raises significant doubts about your competence, Mr Carr.”

“Thanks, babe.”