Chapter Twelve

Zach waited a minute after she left, staring out into the darkness, listening to the stamp and shuffle of the horses.

His legs ached, his balls were squashed from hours in the saddle, and his ass felt like he’d been sitting on a bonfire. But despite all that, he actually felt good. There was something about this place… Maybe it called to the primitive side of him. He felt closer to nature than he’d ever felt in his life.

He’d watched as Eve had grown stronger with each hour. She was totally different from the diminished, almost timid woman he had met in Cambridge. She’d looked good on the horse—a hell of a lot better than him—and her expression had been serene.

At least he’d done some good getting her out here.

He headed back to the camp. Gansukh had built a fire in a stone ring and balanced a metal cooking pot on top. He was chatting to John in rapid Mongolian.

Zach grabbed his sleeping bag and laid it on the ground, close to the fire and next to Eve. Opposite him, Yuri appeared grim. Not a happy man. He’d had some sort of showdown with Eve—they’d hardly looked at each other all day.

The guide handed them all bowls of the now familiar mutton stew. He reckoned it was the staple food of the Mongols. They ate in silence and afterward, Zach passed around the bottle of scotch. They were all tired. But he didn’t think he would sleep, and there were things he needed to know.

He’d thought that Genghis Khan was peripheral to all this, just some long dead historical figure, but he was starting to believe that maybe he was central to everything. He just couldn’t understand why. Which meant he was lacking vital information. And sitting around this fire were some of the world’s experts on the man. Time to utilize the resources at hand.

“Tell me more,” he said. “Make me understand why this is so important. Genghis Khan died eight hundred years ago, so why should it matter where he’s buried? Or whether he’s ever found? It’s ancient history. In the past.”

Tarkhan smiled at him from across the fire. “The past is what shapes the present.”

Very cryptic, but he supposed it was true in a sense. Just not eight hundred years’ worth of true. “So how do you think he’s shaping this particular present?”

“Much of the world as we know it evolved because of the great Khan. He came from virtual obscurity to create the biggest empire the world has ever known before or since. It stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Mediterranean. But it wasn’t enough. Genghis Khan believed it was his destiny to conquer the whole world. It’s said that on his deathbed, he spoke the following words: With Heaven’s aid I have conquered for you a huge empire. But my life was too short to achieve the conquest of the world. That task is left for you. The ‘you’ he mentioned were presumably his descendants. And he had many. Legitimate and illegitimate. Legend has it that when the soul of Genghis Khan is reunited with his last resting place on earth, the talisman will be found, and only then will his destiny be fulfilled.”

“But found by who?”

“That’s the interesting part. After his death, it’s believed that a secret organization was formed by one of his illegitimate sons. The Descendants of Genghis Khan had one aim, to be ready for the day they are to complete the task started by Genghis Khan and conquer the world. This group has spread over the face of the globe, insinuating itself into the world’s infrastructures, growing in power. Its members are high-ranking politicians, military, businessmen, either born or recruited, all being set in place for that final push. All waiting to take up their positions in the biggest empire the world has ever known.”

A shiver ran over his skin. This so reflected his own beliefs, it was uncanny. “Don’t you need to be descended from Genghis to get an invite?”

“Possibly, but likely not. During his lifetime, Genghis Khan rewarded loyalty rather than birth. He ran his empire as a meritocracy. All you needed to do was prove your loyalty and you could climb the ranks almost without limit. But remember, this is all supposition. This organization was never more than a whisper in secret places.”

The pieces were starting to take shape in Zach’s mind. He was struggling to make sense of them because the ideas seemed preposterous. Unbelievable. That didn’t mean they couldn’t be true. This would bring the various disparate parts together. And so far, nothing else had come close to doing that.

Could the spider in the middle of his web be this group? The Descendants of Genghis Khan. He didn’t believe in all the mystical stuff. Certainly not the crap about the Spirit Banner being the embodiment of Genghis Khan’s soul, or that he’d possessed a talisman that promised victory in every battle.

Hell, no.

As far as he was concerned, that was just so much fucking bollocks. But he’d studied enough ideologies to know that symbols could have enormous power, that they could become a rallying point. They didn’t have to be factual. Enough people just had to believe in them. And not necessarily at the top levels. Though he also knew that people could be made to believe the strangest things, especially if they were indoctrinated at an early age.

You take some kid, tell him from the moment he can understand, that he’s the descendant of the most powerful warrior ever known. Convince him he has an important destiny. What kid wouldn’t lap that stuff up?

Zach’s mind was pulling the pieces together, faster now that his brain had broken through his resistance.

A secret organization that stretched across the globe and was only waiting until they had this Spirit Banner to begin the final step in the process of taking over the world. And Eve was planning on finding the Banner tomorrow. And if she did, she would presumably hand the thing over to the people who had paid their money—from an account used by known terrorists—for her to find it.

Was she an innocent dupe being unknowingly used by an evil, manipulative organization? Or was she somehow complicit?

And what about the rest of them?

He’d made a big mistake not investigating the other members of the team before he’d come out here. He’d run a quick check, and they’d all seemed to be exactly who and what they were supposed to be. All except John Chen, who’d been a last minute, unexpected addition to the group. But the truth was Zach hadn’t thought them important. His focus had been on Eve. His connection.

Could Eve have been recruited into this group? Was she aware of her role? Or was she merely being used? On balance he’d go for the latter. But maybe that was wishful thinking. He liked her. He glanced at her now. She was sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring into the fire.

He wanted to ask her, talk to her, find out what her take was on this stuff about the descendants. It was probably nothing new to her; she must have heard it before. Did she believe it? Was she making the same connections? But he could hardly ask her that here. He was supposed to be a journalist—though perhaps he needed to take a few more photographs if he wanted that cover to hold. Eve’s expression was tranquil, a small smile on her face. She looked happy.

Because she was about to realize her professional ambitions? Or because she was about to help some descendant of Genghis Khan take over the world? She was a big fan of the man—she’d probably like that.

“So once they get their hands on the Spirit Banner,” he said, “then there’s nothing to stop them?”

Tarkhan smiled. “There is always a counterbalance. A second group exists, successors to the tribe who were set to guard the secret burial site. The Darkhats. They were the only tribe allowed to live in the Great Taboo. They’d been tasked with the purpose of keeping the secret of the grave, but a secondary goal grew over the years, to ensure that The Descendants of Genghis Khan never prevail. They were seen as the greatest threat. The Darkhats began as fifty families, who then proliferated over the years, and during the Soviet occupation, they spread across the world, searching out and destroying their enemies wherever they found them.” He grinned. “Again, this is all unsubstantiated. Maybe nothing more than a fairytale to give people something to believe in.”

Zach didn’t believe in fairy tales.