White Jade

Chapter Thirteen

Carter and Selena had been inside the house for half an hour. The windows were open. A light breeze pushed the stale air away.

A large, oriental rug covered the wooden floor in the main room with an intricate pattern of blues and reds. A long brown leather sectional couch and two chairs were grouped in front of a fireplace built from rounded river stones.

The living area and kitchen were separated by a wide granite countertop with a swirling pattern of light and dark colors. A ceiling fan turned above an antique French country kitchen table. The back door opened out by the refrigerator. A hall ran to the right of the living area to a bath and bedrooms.

He sat down at the table with the package. Selena opened a bottle of wine and took two glasses from a cabinet over the counter. She took a seat across from him and poured.

"This is a nice wine, Silver Oak. You like Cab?"

"Yes. Ready to take a look at this?"

"Let's do it."

Carter sipped the wine. He took out his knife and cut away the wrappings of the package. A dark, wooden box appeared.

"That's the box for the book. It was on my uncle's desk."

He opened the box. The book was about eighteen inches long and ten inches wide. The covers were cracked, stained wood, with the remains of red-colored cords that had once bound the flat pieces together. He lifted away the wooden cover. The writing on the page was meaningless to him.

"That's Sanskrit," she said. "This page is in Devanagari. The calligraphy and style suggest it was written around 1200 CE. The rest of the Sanskrit part is in Rgvedic. That's a much older form. This page was added at a later date."

"You can read it?"

"Yes. The language is one I studied for years."

"What does it say?" He tugged at his bandaged ear.

"It's a prayer to the Compassionate Buddha, sort of an introduction. That's typical for a Buddhist text. But this isn't a Buddhist work. The scribe says it should be studied for its medical knowledge but not taken at face value. The text of the book predates Buddhism."

Nick turned the page over with the blade of his knife. Selena moved her finger across the writing.

"Now we're looking at the older script. This word here means treasure. This one means journey, or trip. This one means map. And this one is 'endless life'. These words here translate as 'Golden Garuda'. So the book is called 'The Golden Garuda' and contains directions for finding the treasure of endless life."

"What's a garuda?"

"It's a big, mythical bird, like an eagle on steroids, sometimes half man, half bird. It first shows up in the Vedas. Those are the earliest recorded Indian religious teachings, around 1700 BCE."

The next page was an elaborate anatomical diagram of a naked man squatting down and looking over his shoulder at a stylized sun. It was recognizable, but in a style far from modern drawings.

"That's a diagram of the circulation of the blood, drawn centuries before Harvey discovered it in the West."

He took another sip of wine. She bent over and pointed at the next page.

"This page is a warning. This word means danger or calamity. There's a sentence about guarding or hiding something. I can't quite make it out, there's damage, but it refers to a great king or emperor."

"The Chinese emperor?"

"Maybe. From what I can see, the whole passage says danger awaits anyone who pursues the information in this book."

There was the sound of a car outside.

Nick looked at Selena. "You expecting anyone?"

"No."

"I heard a car."

"I did, too."

He moved over by the window, but couldn't see anyone. The rocks hid whoever was there. A car motor stopped. Doors closed softly.

He pulled the .45 from his holster. "We've got company. Get the book."

Selena put the book in its box and the box in a bag she pulled from under the sink.

"What's out the back door?"

She brushed a hair away. "There's a path down to the river. It goes by the entrance to the mine."

Carter remembered houses in Afghanistan and Iraq, full of death waiting in every room.

"I don't like being inside the house. There's no place to go. Whoever it is can't be here for a good reason, or they'd just drive to the front. They would have seen my truck, so they know someone's here. I think they're after that book."

"How would they know we were here or where the book was?"

"I don't know. But I don't want to stick around and ask them. You game for a run?"

"To the river?"

"Right. That way they have to come at us through the grass and I can see them. They can see us too, but that's better than being trapped in here. I'll cover us."

He opened the back door. A brown, grassy slope led down to the river.

"You go first, you know the way. I'll be right behind you. Let's make it to the other side of the hill and take it from there. Ready?"

She nodded.

"Go!"

She took off. Nick followed. Selena was fast and he was glad he'd kept in shape. He looked back and saw a man raising a weapon.

He dove and pushed Selena sprawling into the dirt just as the intruder fired a long burst. Uzi, he thought. He aimed for a body hit and squeezed off two shots. The shooter stood for a second and then crumpled into the grass.

As he pulled Selena to her feet, a big man stepped around the corner on the front porch. Nick fired and the man ducked back out of sight. They began running again. The chattering sound of an Uzi came from the house. A man with a pistol ran from behind the house and fired three quick shots that streaked by in a whisper of heated air. Carter went into shooter's stance, two hands, aim, take a breath, squeeze, fire. Two rounds, the .45 bucking back in his hands. The man went down screaming.

They ran. Another burst of automatic fire kicked up dirt behind them. Seconds later he heard three pistol shots and sensed the rounds pass by. They reached the hillside. He saw the opening to the mine, crossed off with old boards. Past the hill were open fields and the flatness of the river bed. There was no cover.

"Head for the mine," he yelled.

Selena turned, arms pumping. They reached the entrance and he kicked in the boards. They entered the mine.

It was cool in the tunnel after the hot June sun outside. Fallen rocks from the ceiling littered the floor. Selena put her hands on her knees and bent to catch her breath. The plastic bag with the book in it was clutched in her hand.

"What do we do now?"

"We're too close to the entrance," he said. "We'll move back. Anyone comes to the front, I shoot him."

They went deeper into the tunnel until the light began to give out. A large, empty ore cart sat rusting on tracks vanishing into the blackness of the mine. In the dim light they couldn't be seen from the entrance.

"How many are there?" said Selena.

"At least three. Two of them are down. Maybe just one more."

Carter thought about their situation. Tactical assessment. An old habit.

"We're outgunned," he said. "They've got automatic weapons. How about you get inside the cart. That way you've got good protection."

"What about you?"

"I'll get behind the cart. That will give me a shield and I can move around if I need to."

"How do we get out of here?"

"We wait until dark. That's a couple of hours from now. Then we sneak out. Best I can think of at the moment."

Selena climbed into the cart and peered over the edge. Carter watched the tunnel entrance and thought. He'd fired twice at the first man, once at the big man on the porch and twice at the second man. Five rounds. His H-K held fifteen plus one, so that meant he still had eleven in his pistol. He had a spare magazine, so another fifteen. Not a lot, but so far it had been enough. It would have to do.