False Horizon. Alex Archer

only hoped that he would not run into the woman again. He knew she would rend him from head to toe with those lethal fingernails.

      He shuddered in the dark as another breeze blew over him. Judging from the position of the stars overhead, the hours had passed quickly.

      Tuk leaned back and stretched himself like a cat. He heard several pops and felt his muscles lengthen as he flexed this way and that. A sudden urge in his bladder made him adjust himself and then urinate in the corner.

      But always, he kept his eyes on the entrance of the hotel.

      His vigilance was rewarded shortly after three o’clock in the morning. He saw a sudden movement and then Burton and Kurtz each emerged from the lobby. Burton had the woman and Kurtz walked with Mike.

      A black car rolled up and Burton eased Annja into the backseat. Kurtz slid Mike into the backseat and then got himself in, as well. Burton walked around and opened the front passenger side. He took a quick glance around and then slid into the car.

      Tuk stepped out and over to the motorbike rack nearby. In seconds, he’d freed one of the small bikes and started the engine just as Burton’s car pulled out of the hotel driveway.

      Tuk let them get ahead by two blocks before following.

      He glanced back at the hotel and couldn’t help but feel like someone was still watching him.

      He frowned and turned his attention back to the car. They drove at a leisurely pace. There seemed no sense of urgency.

      Tuk, as much as he despised Tsing, felt fairly certain that he didn’t mean Annja and Mike harm. He merely wanted them handled in such a way so as to prove that he was in absolute command of things. And certainly drugging them and positioning them in the plane would convey such a message.

      Tuk wondered if Mike even had the map they’d spoken of with him. They would need it, after all, if they were going to fly and try to locate Shangri-La.

      The car turned right and then followed the main road out toward the airfield. Tuk recognized the area and knew they were getting closer to the plane. He would have to make sure they didn’t spot him as they rolled inside the airfield perimeter.

      Half a mile farther on, Tuk saw the taillights flash red as they braked and then turned left into the entryway. He eased the motorbike over to the side of the road and waited.

      From his vantage point, Tuk could make out the car rolling toward a small airplane like the kind that ferried mountaineers all over the country.

      Burton got out of the car first and checked their surroundings. Then he waved for Kurtz to exit the car. Together, they got Annja and Mike into the airplane. When they’d finished, Burton walked over to the trunk and removed several bags and stowed them in the plane, as well. When that was done, both he and Kurtz got back in the car and drove away.

      Tuk rolled himself back into the shadows and let them drive past. He waited until he felt certain they were gone.

      Then Tuk headed toward the plane, an idea already forming in his mind.

      7

      Annja woke up as the first rays of sunlight needled their way through the cockpit window of the de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft and roused her from the foggy drug-induced sleep. She looked around, realized where she was and then nudged Mike, who sat in the pilot’s seat.

      He groaned and then reached up to stretch his hands, bumping them instead on the roof of the cockpit.

      “Careful,” Annja said. “It’s cramped in here.”

      Mike’s eyes fluttered open. “What the hell?”

      Annja grinned. “Apparently, Tsing wants to make sure we get started finding Shangri-La right away.”

      “I guess.” Mike looked around. “The plane’s a little large for what we need, but I guess it’ll do.”

      “Can you fly this thing?” Annja asked.

      Mike nodded. “Got my pilot’s license about five years back. When I knew I’d be spending more time in this part of the world, it seemed like a good idea to have it. The more you can be self-reliant over here, the better off you are.”

      “Would have been better if you were financially self-reliant, too,” Annja said.

      Mike blanched. “Yeah, all right, I know I deserved that one. I’m sorry, Annja, all right? Really I am. I had no idea that Tsing was pulling my strings like this. As far as I knew, it was a simple loan.”

      “That has now turned into something else entirely.”

      “Apparently so.”

      Annja looked him over. She could see that Mike was not happy about having to work with Tsing. At the same time, she could see his sense of adventure exerting itself across his face. Mike’s eyes ran over the instrument panel and he switched on the two turboprop engines. Instantly, the propeller blades started to turn.

      “We’re really going?” Annja asked.

      Mike nodded. “We’ve got no choice in the matter. Tsing made it perfectly clear what would happen if we refused. And for my part, I may as well see whether this map is legitimate or not. After all of the trouble it’s managed to get me into, I owe it to myself—and you—to see it through.”

      Annja looked around. Behind her, she could see several bags. “Looks like they gave us a bunch of supplies.”

      Mike grunted. “It’s the least they could do.” He smacked his lips. “But I could do with a bottle of water. Any chance they packed a cooler back there?”

      Annja felt around and found one. She pulled out a cold bottle of water for herself and one for Mike. “Cheers.”

      Mike polished off the water quickly. “All right, let’s get this thing airborne and see what we can find out there.”

      “What about the map?” she asked.

      Mike eyed her. “What about it?”

      “You have it with you?”

      Mike tapped the side of his head. “Everything I need is stored safely inside the old cranium.”

      “You’re joking,” Annja said.

      Mike laughed. “Actually, I am. I had the map on me the entire time.”

      “What if they’d taken it from you?”

      Mike shrugged. “You heard Tsing. He can’t go out in the daylight with that skin condition of his. Maybe he’s a vampire or something.”

      “Stop it,” Annja said, laughing.

      Mike reached into a pocket of his cargo pants and pulled out a folded-up piece of paper. He handed it to Annja. “Check it out.”

      Annja unfolded the map and frowned. “Most of the explorers who searched for Shangri-La thought it was either close to Bhutan or over near the western border.”

      “They were wrong,” Mike said. “According to the map, the real location lies smack-dab in the middle of the country, closer to the Tibetan border.”

      “You’re sure about this, huh?”

      “As much as I can be.” Mike opened up the throttle some and the plane began to move. “Now I’d better make sure we have clearance to take off or else we’ll never make it out of here.”

      Annja pulled her headset on and listened as he keyed his microphone and spoke to the air traffic control tower. In a short time, they had clearance and Mike urged the plane down the runway and then into the skies over Katmandu.

      Annja looked out of her window as Mike took the plane into a steep climb to gain altitude and then settled on a course heading northwest.

      “We’ll vector around and then head for Jomsom. That’s the closest airfield