Still nauseated by having witnessed the despicable torture Sam had to endure, Alex sat in the back of the van as it drove off. For the very first time, the man with the black eyes spoke.
“Where do we need to go?”
It surprised Alex that he had a strong Asian accent and his somewhat high-pitched voice didn’t quite resemble his muscular exterior. Alex paused as she recalled the first part of the riddle.
Where the three kings sleep…
The urge to ignore the ninja’s question surged through her veins. She recalled the desperate look in Sam’s eyes. She was out of options. There was no use fighting it any further. She had to comply.
“Oudong Temple. We need to go to the three stupas.”
The driver accelerated. Twenty minutes later they stopped and, to further emphasize their power over her, abruptly pulled Alex from the van.
As usual, the temple was flooded with tourists. Alex looked at her hands that were still tied. She looked a mess. Her clothes were dirty and her shirt stained with Sam’s blood.
“I need to clean up first. Unless of course you want the tourists to see that I’m being held captive? Oh, and another thing, your ninja suits are kind of giving it away too. You might want to consider changing into something a bit more appropriate for the occasion.”
The three ninja kidnappers stopped. It was evident that the one with the black eyes was in charge when the other two looked at him for their orders. She had backed them into a corner. Removing their masks would expose their identities. He shoved her back into the van and tossed her backpack and a bottle of water onto the floor next to her before shutting the door.
When Alex stepped out of the van five minutes later the three ninja’s had removed their masks and changed their black shirts to more casual t-shirts. At the back of their necks, all three of them had the distinctive black scorpion tattoo. Without their uniforms it was the only thing uniting them. Although they were all three Asian, they looked remarkably different. The man with the black eyes appeared slightly older with a scanty beard and mustache. A large tattoo of a tiger covered his entire right arm, and a red dragon decorated the other. With his mask off, his black eyes looked less pronounced against his thin lips that naturally curled up into a smile, even though he wasn’t smiling at all.
The other two appeared to be at least ten years his junior. Their faces were clean and youthful and their arms clear from any tattoos. Alex was aware that tiger tattoos were the markings of the champion ring fighters that dominated the martial arts fight clubs across Asia. The red dragon was usually awarded only to the sensei, which confirmed her suspicions that the black-eyed man was in fact in charge.
Aware that Alex was sizing them up, the sensei lifted his shirt to reveal his .45 semi-automatic pistol that was tucked in his waistband.
She slung her backpack over her shoulder and started walking toward the flight of steps. If she were to successfully escape today, she’d have to create the perfect opportunity to disappear into the crowds. Perhaps she could disunite the trio; divide and conquer, as it were.
“Is your boss not joining us? Leaving you to do his dirty work for him, is he?” She provoked.
They didn’t comment. Instead, Alex felt a strong hand between her shoulders when the black-eyed man shoved her forward. He might have had a mouth that hinted on a smile, but this man was far from pleasant. Annoyed with herself she headed up the multitude of steps to the stupas against the hill.
Halfway up her abductor stopped her.
“What are we looking for?”
It was evident he didn’t want them to be too integrated with the crowds and lose control of the situation.
Alex took a sip of water and answered him mockingly.
“I’ll let you know when I know.”
Her cocky answer didn’t fly. The black-eyed man pulled his gun from his waist, grabbed her by the arm and shoved it in her ribcage.
“Just because my boss isn’t here doesn’t mean you can mess with me woman.”
As if his grip on her arm and the gun in her side wasn’t warning enough he spat on the floor next to her, proving just how little respect he had for her. In an instant, Alex’s bravery dissipated into a ball of dread inside her body. They might need her alive, but she could think of a million things he could do to hurt her without having to kill her. He had proven his loyalty to his puppet master already. She yanked her arm out from under his grip and looked him square in the eyes.
“I wasn’t messing with you. I don’t know what we’re looking for. The riddle said, Where the sun’s rays meet, and as it stands, it could be anywhere. Problem is, it’s in the middle of the day, and the sun’s rays are everywhere. The clue could just as well mean at first light or at sunset. It’s impossible to know what time of day the sun is expected to hit at the exact point we’re meant to be.”
She stormed off up the stairs aware of him right behind her. This brute might have thought he had the upper hand, but she would not allow him to intimidate her. She needed to remain sharp and focused on getting as close as possible to the urn and grabbing the first opportunity to escape. She told the truth. There was no way of knowing what to look for. Once at the top, she would have a bird’s eye view of the surrounds, and with any luck, she would spot something that revealed which direction to take.
As her emotions ran rampant with a jumble of fear and excitement she mulled the next part of the clue in her head.
The guardian of the ancient world sits at their feet
To her knowledge, both Greece and Rome had always referred to themselves as the ancient worlds, but in fact, the Chinese regarded themselves as having had the longest continuous civilization in the world. In all probability, the Chinese capital had been the most powerful economic center in the ancient world, attracting western traders to buy and sell silk by the multitudes. It made perfect sense that the clue referred to the ‘ancient world’ being China.
Alex knew they would soon reach the top of the fourth stupa, which would still be taped off and guarded. Based off of her recent visit granting her access using the Commissioner-General’s letter, the guards on duty might not hesitate to let her pass. It was very likely that Roshi might be preparing the temple already. She couldn’t endanger anyone else’s life, least of all the monks’. Once they reached the row of three stupas halfway up the stairs, she stopped and pushed her way through the photo-snapping tourists to the eastern railing. Her entourage remained close on her heels and masterfully managed to avoid being photographed. From up high the view was as breathtaking as she recalled when she and Sam were there. Thousands of trees spread their foliage like umbrellas over the expansive hills below. Her eyes frantically searched the jungle for anything that could resemble ‘the guardian of the world’ but noticed nothing. The intense sun cast rays of light everywhere.
“What are we waiting for?” The man with the black eyes asked quietly. “Hurry up, my boss is not a patient man.”
“I told you. I don’t have the foggiest idea what we’re looking for. I’m trying to find something called ‘the guardian of the ancient world’. It has to be something that’s of Chinese origin.”
She recognized the path where they followed Roshi toward the secret tunnel but quickly diverted the ninja’s attention by walking to the opposite side of the stupa. The secret tunnel could be her escape route if she managed to get away from them long enough without compromising the safety of the monks inside.
The three kidnappers flanked her like bodyguards around a celebrity, never once letting her out of their sight.
“There’s nothing here. I told your boss. We need the second scroll. We’re trying to find a needle in a haystack here.”
She stalled, trying to buy Sam extra time to recover before she went back for him. She purposefully left out the ‘sits at their feet’ part of the clue. She had already figured out that the ‘guardian of the ancient world’ was the giant statue of Buddha behind her, but she dared not reveal it just yet. Her father always said deciphering clues was her strength. Somehow her mind connected the dots before anyone else could.
She walked along the railing that wrapped around the three stupas all the while pretending to still be scouting. By now it was late afternoon and as far as her kidnappers were concerned, nowhere close to finding the urn. She sensed they were becoming more agitated by the minute but she had an advantage which she had all intentions of exploiting for as long as possible. Sam needed to sufficiently build up his strength if they were to escape this unscathed.
Gradually the busloads of tourists departed one by one as night fell.
“We’re going to have to sleep over tonight. I guess the clue will be revealed at first light when the sun’s rays point it out. At least that’s what I make of the clue.”
Alex didn’t wait for them to agree and headed down the steps back toward the van.
The night was not a peaceful one. Alex found her every move being watched. With her locked up in the back of the van, the kidnappers took shifts patrolling the bus throughout the night. At four a.m. the monks’ morning bell chimed ever so faintly through the crisp morning air. Sunrise would be around five thirty. If her hunch was correct, the sun’s rays would fall on the enormous Buddha in front of the three stupas.
She listened for the rustling sounds of the guards’ feet outside but heard none. Was it possible they had fallen asleep? Surely men of such discipline would be alert at all times. She pushed open the door to see the youngest of the three kidnappers had indeed fallen asleep under a nearby tree. Alex froze as she spotted him and listened out for the other two who were nowhere to be seen. This might be her chance to escape to the tunnel. She should reach the path within five minutes and then it would be clear running to the hidden entrance. Without thinking about it further, she set off along the path.
Pain ripped through her right ankle moments before she hit the ground face first. Wrapped around her ankle was a black leather strap from a whip followed straightaway by the sensei’s firm grip on her arm.
“What the heck?” She shouted at him in anger, irritated for having been caught.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He replied.
The threat of his wrath engulfed her empty stomach.
“Nowhere, I needed the loo, or am I not permitted to urinate in private?” Alex yanked her arm from his grip.
“Go here.” He pointed to the nearby tree and turned his back.
Unable to avoid it, she pretended to go behind the tree.
“We need to hurry. The sun will be up soon,” she commanded as she charged past him toward the stupas’ stairs. Her first attempt at escaping had failed miserably. Now, she would have to regain her focus and wait for the next opportunity.
As predicted, the gigantic Buddha statue in front of the three stupas lit up like a cosmic nugget of gold just as the sun’s first rays poured down from the skies. A shimmering beacon of light illuminated the glass box that was positioned at its feet. There was nothing inside the box but a small gold dish with old coins. Perplexed, Alex circled the statue.
“Where is it?” The sensei asked with more accusation than curiosity in his voice.
“I don’t understand,” Alex replied scratching her head. “It was supposed to show me.”
The trio around her looked as confused as she did. She was confident something was meant to have happened at the Buddha’s feet. But, apart from the box with coins, there was nothing there.
She stood back and stared at the Buddha. A minute later a beam of sunlight shone through the Buddha’s forefinger and thumb and scattered a prism rainbow through the glass box onto the forest floor.
The magnitude and surpassing awe of the rainbow beam was so intense it beamed right across the entire balcony in front of the stupa and through the arches on top of the railing. It was simply spectacular. In that moment, Alex forgot all about her and Sam’s capture. Instead, excitement leaped through her body as a force of adrenaline rushed her to the balcony’s edge.
“The sun’s rays! Where the sun’s rays meet. The thumb and index finger is the traditional teaching pose!”
Without hesitation, she spun around and ran down the avalanche of steps into the forest. Her body thrust forward by the sheer excitement of the chase. She no longer schemed an escape even though there was a considerable distance between herself and her kidnappers behind her. All she thought of was to get to the end of the rainbow before the sun moved out of its position. She ran with the swiftness of a gazelle crisscrossing between the trees, never once taking her eyes off the intense beam of colors.
Out of breath she arrived at a small clearing surrounded by seven towering trees. Their leaves formed a dense canopy above her head that made way for the arch of colors at precisely the right angle. The precision and engineering with which the trees were positioned were astounding. Still panting she scoured the jungle floor underneath the prism beam. There was nothing but leaves scattered all over the ground. She vigorously brushed away the foliage with her hands. Her fingers hit the hard edges of something below the surface. She yanked her backpack off her back and took out her small shovel. Within minutes the steel grey coloring of a stone tablet stared back at her just as the colorful arch disappeared again between the leafy ceiling.
Before she even had a chance to properly inspect the ancient object, she was yanked back by the two younger gang members leaving the sensei to kneel down in front of the tablet. A quick phone call to his boss forced Alex back to the reality of a treasure hunt under duress. The mobile phone disappeared back into his pocket as he walked over to Alex and briefly instructed his two sidekicks to clear off the rest of the stone.
“Be careful!” Alex yelled remembering the warning of the puzzle.
“Shut up!” The black-eyed man shouted back, his eyes darker than usual.
Alex did as she was instructed. The warning in the clue echoed through her thoughts. Beware the serpent’s tongue! It is a trap. She watched patiently as the two youths raked away more leaves. The stone, almost fully exposed now, was that of a dragon spanning at a minimum, eight meters in length. His face looked almost life-like as its scaled body stretched out between the roots of the trees. From its mouth, his forked tongue flicked upwards. Mesmerized, Alex watched as they excavated the stone serpent.
The sensei yelled another command to his men who promptly obeyed and started prodding and padding down the dragon’s body. They shouted back an answer before both knelt over the tongue of the dragon which was the only part of its body protruding from the stone.
“No!” Alex shouted off a warning that brought about a firmer grip on her arm. It was blatantly obvious they thought she was attempting to deter them from unlocking the next clue.
“You’re hurting me! Let go of my arm! You can’t touch the tongue!” She tried warning them again.
Still, the men ignored her and continued prodding the stone tongue. In a wink of an eye, a loud swooshing sound swept through the air. Alex fell to the ground and covered her head pulling her clinging kidnapper down with her. The sound of two balls bouncing on the ground followed by two louder thuds forced Alex and the black-eyed man to look up. The gruesome sight of his decapitated subordinates lying on the ground left Alex and her kidnapper horrified.
When mobility finally returned to Alex’s paralyzed limbs, she got up and cautiously walked over to the slain bodies next to the stone dragon. An enormous guillotine had ejected itself from the mantel on the dragon’s neck.
The horrendous incident had little to no effect on the black-eyed man’s demeanor. He showed no remorse or emotion of any kind and merely pulled the dismembered corpses and remains under a nearby tree. With his hands on his hips, he then towered over Alex and barked a command at her to carry on.
His frigid behavior somewhat surprised her. Could these men have this little value for another member of their gang’s life? She didn’t care for them either, but if ever she became more aware of how brutal and callus her kidnappers were, it was then.
Resolving to comply with her abductor’s demands, she recalled the next part of the clue.
Steer clear and follow the map.
“We’re looking for a map of some kind,” she offered. “Something that will show us where to go next.”
They leaned over the dragon and inspected the carvings. The man searched fervently alongside her. At that moment, she missed Sam dearly and wondered if he had survived the torture.
“Here!” Her hostile associate shouted excitedly as he pointed to the imprints on the dragon’s tail.
Alex noticed the map carved out in the stone. It would lead them through the forest, and she quickly copied it down on her notepad. Closer inspection delivered several routes in the map. She turned it upside down, folded the paper’s corners together and still couldn’t quite ascertain which direction they needed to follow.
“Fire!” She shouted excitedly. “The clue says ‘the fire is your ally, it will light the way’.”
She sat back down next to the dragon’s tail and traced her finger along the lines before digging into her backpack for a packet of matches.
The first match onto the dragon’s tail had no effect. She struck the second match at the tip of the serpent’s tail. Within seconds sparks flew through the air as it lit up the distinct outlines of the route they should take. From under his breath, the black-eyed man rambled off something in Mandarin, which made her smile. It was apparent he had never seen anything like it.
After briefly copying the map onto her notebook they were set. Alex stared at the diagram. There was one last clue left.
Keep to the center until you reach the clay
Two of the men were dead. She stood a far better chance of escaping now, but she’d have to stall. Once they reached the ‘clay’—whatever that meant—they would not be able to continue without the second scroll’s clues. Since she tried to warn them against the peril of the serpent’s tongue, he trusted her. The black-eyed man would be none the wiser now that he had tasted the rush from an archaeological treasure hunt.
So, for the most part of the day, Alex pretended to follow the map leading them deep into the forest. It was afternoon, and they were several hours’ walk from the Oudong Temple where the van was parked. Alex sat down on the root of a large tree.
“I’m tired, I don’t think the map is accurate,’’ she lied.
“Get up!” the man barked. “We will go back to the van.”
He stared at his mobile and raised it above his head. He had missed his hourly check-in with his boss. The black-eyed man was exactly where Alex wanted him. She jumped up and headed back the way they came. Once they were nearing the van, she stopped.
“I need to use the bathroom. Turn around.”
This was her moment. The black-eyed man politely turned his back and continued searching for the mobile’s reception. Alex picked up the fair sized rock she had spotted earlier and whacked him on the back of his head. It wasn’t hard enough to knock him out, and he merely swayed. She struck his head again, and this time the brawny black-eyed man slumped to the ground. Alex wasn’t sure if she had killed him, her conscious instantly plaguing her. Blood gushed from the second wound to his head. She kicked his side for any sign of life, but there was none. He was indeed dead. Tears of horror threatened to run down her face but she quickly wiped it away and thrust her hands in his pockets in search of the car keys. She never intended to kill him, but if she hadn’t, it was a matter of time before he killed her. With the keys in hand she bolted for the car as fast as her legs could carry her.