True to his word, Jack had hot tea ready when he woke everyone at first light. Kathy said, “This gives new meaning to the South Asian custom of serving bed tea, but first I’ve got to go wherever the john is.”
Anita pointed to a small, relatively flat spot about thirty feet from the camp. Kathy got out of the joined sleeping bags, slipped on her boots and trotted over to the john. She told Jack over her shoulder, living like this did not allow too much false modesty, so he should store his Yankee inhibitions until he can provide a proper bath for a lady. Anita laughed and followed Kathy with slightly more covering. After tea and a candy bar, Anita went through their packs and found little they could leave behind.
She kept the sterno because of its quick heat and smokeless burning, but put the stove in the discard pile. The guns were heavy, but they were going along. Jack decided to carry the extra blankets for one more day. The camp site was policed up and made to look as if no one had been there.
Before they left, Jack told Anita he wanted her to take the point position. Dressed in bush clothes, wearing a Gurkha hat, over-the-ankle boots with knee socks, and carrying the .270 bolt action rifle and the Webley, she could pass as an armed Gurkha soldier from a distance. Jack carried the other Webley and a shotgun. Kathy carried the other shotgun.
Jack spent time with Kathy and her pack. First, he told her she shouldn’t even think about carrying the same load as her trail mates. That kind of thinking would only slow them down. She was strong and a good runner but hadn’t had long experience of carrying a heavy pack all day. Kathy nodded and helped Jack cut her load in half, half of it to Anita and the other half to him.
Packs loaded and shouldered, Anita led her column on the trail to Kathmandu. Before starting, Jack quietly told Anita to push it. He wanted to see what their best pace was and to see if Kathy was capable of keeping up without getting into trouble. He planned to set a trail routine of packing up and traveling at first light after hot tea and one of the candy bars and pushing hard for two or three hours before stopping for breakfast. At best he thought they were a good four days out of Kathmandu.
He hoped Bernadette really had a good compound for them to hole up in. The fact that their names and his picture were in the hands of al-Qaeda worried him. He was sure Bernadette had not been compromised by her association with him at the Oberoi in New Delhi. It was very unlikely al-Qaeda had been able to get photos of either Kathy or Anita. He planned on using them as the outside people while he waited for the action before coming out in public.
On an outside chance Jack tried Bahadur’s cell phone. Nothing. Kathy told him earlier, the authorities in Kathmandu cut off cell phone use as soon as any political unrest or demonstrations began.
After the first hour they were hanging together. Jack didn’t see any signs of laboring in Kathy’s stride. The more he was with Kathy the more sure he was his love for her was deepening. He only hoped this mission wouldn’t end up with her dead or badly injured.
Anita was running them on the flat parts of the trail when the footing was good, using slower and longer strides on the downhills where the footing was good, and slowing to short almost pumping steps on the steep upgrades. True to the schedule Anita held up her hand and pulled them into an area thirty feet off the trail on the uphill side behind some huge boulders. By her watch they had been moving for one and half hours. It was time for a ten-minute break and foot check.
Facts and Fictions 