Chapter Seven

Zach had chosen a chair facing the door. So he could watch her as she came in.

He was curious as to how she had reacted to his presence here but hadn’t wanted to ask John. He was unsure of what John Chen’s role was in all this. He certainly had the promised skills. His Mongolian was perfect—or at least appeared to be—he had no problem conversing with the locals. Zach’s Mongolian was non-existent. The country hadn’t been a place of interest to MI6. Before now.

They’d ordered food and drinks and were waiting for Eve to join them. John had been regaling them with the incident on the way back from the airport. Zach had the idea the man was playing it down, though he’d said that Eve had been shaken. But why would someone want to harm her? If she was being paid by the terrorists, even unwittingly, what was the point of getting her here just to promptly kill her off. Or had they been trying to harm John?

Could it be Zach’s presence? But he had arrived in the country under an assumed name. There should be no record, and if someone in MI6 was passing on information—as seemed increasingly likely—then there was no trail to follow, because right now, he wasn’t working for MI6.

The day after he had met with Eve, it had been suggested, very politely, that he take a leave of absence. That he was clearly not over the incident from three months ago and should take some time off until he could see things with a level head.

More likely someone wanted him out of the way.

Which meant he was on his own. He’d investigated the organization who was funding Eve’s work—the Mongolian Historic Society. At first glance, it looked exactly like what it was supposed to be, but when he dug deeper, the organization was nothing but a shell, and he’d reached a dead end. So he was following the only lead he had. All the way to Mongolia. Might as well have been the edge of the world.

Eve appeared at that moment. She was dressed the same as she had been at their last meeting, in a navy suit with a blue T-shirt under the jacket. Smart, businesslike, and functional. Her blond hair hung loose about her face, and she didn’t look as though she’d had any sleep since they last met, shadows under her eyes, her skin pale. She was rubbing at her shoulder as she crossed the room, then she caught his gaze and her hand dropped to her side.

They all rose to their feet as she came to a halt in front of their table. Yuri, the big Russian, stepped around and clasped her by the shoulders, kissed her on each cheek. “Welcome to Mongolia.”

She smiled, but it was a little forced. Then she shook hands with Tarkhan and said a greeting in what Zach presumed was Mongolian. He had read up on the scholar. The man was eighty but looked nowhere near that age. Below average height, thin but upright. He’d apparently spent years in a Siberian labor camp for continuing his studies when they were outlawed under the Soviet regime. She nodded at John Chen then turned to him, raised a brow.

“Zach. How…unexpected.”

“I just couldn’t resist finding out more about our friend, Genghis.” He had actually been doing some reading. The man was fascinating.

“I hope you get an interesting piece.”

“I’m sure I will.”

“We ordered food, just sandwiches—the kitchen is closed,” Yuri said. “But I got your favorite. And wine.” He waved her to a seat opposite Zach, between him and Tarkhan.

A frown flashed across her face, but she sat down. She nibbled at her sandwich. Put it down and took up her glass. She sipped for a minute while the rest of them ate, and he could see the tension draining from her. She caught his gaze. “I hate flying.”

The report on her said she suffered from claustrophobia as well as hydrophobia as a result of the kidnapping. He would imagine the former would make flying difficult.

Then she smiled. “But wow, I can hardly believe I’m here. I’ve spent so much time looking at pictures of this place, reading about it, and now I’m actually here. And we’re going to find the Spirit Banner of Genghis Khan. And then we’re going to find his tomb. And we’ll all be famous and get lots of funding for lots more adventures.”

“Why is the tomb such a big deal?” Zach asked. “And why has no one found it before now? I would have thought it would be obvious.”

She picked up her sandwich and waved her free hand at Tarkhan. “You tell him,” she said, then turned her attention back to Zach. “Tarkhan has spent his whole life studying this stuff.”

Tarkhan put down his glass. He was the only one drinking water—a Buddhist thing, he’d told Zach. “Genghis Khan did not want his final resting place to be known and went to incredible lengths to keep the exact site of his burial a secret.”

“Don’t most leaders want to be honored after their death? Why was it so important that no one know where he was buried?”

“It might be as simple as the fact that Mongolians—especially back then—hated the idea of bodies being desecrated.”

“Or it might be something way more exciting.” Eve’s eyes gleamed with a passion he’d only glimpsed when she spoke about her work. She appeared to have shed her fatigue. “There’s a legend that Genghis didn’t want his tomb found because there is an artifact buried with him—a talisman. A magical talisman that he carried into battle and that gave him the power to overcome his enemies.”

“Sounds like a load of bollocks,” he said.

She smiled. “You don’t believe in magic?”

He snorted. “Do you?”

“Sadly, no. But maybe back then they did. You know, something doesn’t have to be real for it to have power. People just have to believe it’s real. Look at religion. Probably the most powerful force in the world today, and I’m guessing you believe in God about as much as you believe in magic.”

“You’d guess right.”

“But it doesn’t matter, as long as Genghis Khan and his followers—and his enemies, of course—believed it. And he did. He believed it was so powerful and so dangerous that he didn’t trust it in anyone else’s hands, not even his heirs. Maybe particularly his heirs. So it needed to be hidden away. It’s said that the soldiers who brought his body back to Mongolia slaughtered everything they met along the way, animals as well as humans. That, after the burial, they slaughtered all the laborers. They stampeded a herd of a thousand horses over the land to hide the actual burial site and diverted a river to flood it. Then the soldiers themselves were slain.”

“They did a thorough job, then?”

“They did. And then they assigned fifty loyal families as guardians to keep people away from the area.”

“So they do know which part of Mongolia he’s buried in. Where exactly is this?”

“It’s believed to be in an area known as the Great Taboo in the northeastern part of the country. But finding the tomb is for another time. First, we need to find the spear. Tomorrow we’ll head to the Shankh Monastery.”

“Why there?”

“It’s the last place the Spirit Banner was seen.”

“So Genghis Khan was a Buddhist? You know that doesn’t line up with what I’ve read about the man. He seemed a little…violent.”

“Khan wasn’t a Buddhist. Back then, the Mongolian tribes practiced a form of Shamanism called Tengriism. They prayed to Tengri, the Eternal Blue Sky. Though apparently, Khan was very tolerant of other religions. The country became predominantly Buddhist in the sixteenth century, and the Spirit Banner passed into the care of the monks.”

“You think you’ll find new information?” Yuri asked. “That the monks haven’t already given up all they know or all they are willing to share.”

“Ah, but I have a new source. A monk who was a young boy living at the monastery when the Soviets attacked and the spear disappeared. He was one of the few who got away with their lives. He fled to China and has been living in a monastery near Beijing since then. But he’s retired—he’s actually in his nineties now and has come home. I’ve been corresponding with the monastery for years, and this monk said he would like to speak to me. I’m meeting him tomorrow.” She yawned. “I think we’ll have to carry on this conversation another time. It’s been a long day.”

Yuri stood. “I’ll walk you to your room.”

She smiled but shook her head. “No need. Finish your drink. I’ll see you all in the morning. It’s a five-hour drive. We leave at nine.”

As she got to her feet, she cast Zach a glance. He had an idea if he offered to walk her to her room, she’d jump at the chance. At a guess, she had a few questions for him, but he didn’t feel like answering them right now. He raised his glass.

“See you in the morning.”