Undercover - In China - Book 7

Part 44 - Immortal Mountain Monastery

Kozak sat up suddenly. 'Ziff! . . . Zhis is not a dream . . .  You are speaking Canadian . . . What are you doing 'ere?'

'We thought you were Denny,' I said.

'How did you get here?' Licia asked. 'I was supposed to go 'ome but Murga went somewhere else and I ended up in ze world's filziest jail . . . Zhen Wang Bang drafted me into ze army and I 'ad to drag zat f-f-f . . . filzy, maudit wheel barrow all the way from Xiangyang . . . I made a big mistake getting mixed up wiz Murga. He is a maniac,' he added savagely. 'Ziff, please,' he pleaded, almost in tears. 'You 'ave to help me.' 

 'Okay,' I said. 'One condition. You must stop working for Murga.'

 'Yes. Yes.' Kozak nodded his head and then said, 'Mais . . But,Wang Bang will zhink I try to cheat him out of a reward.' He climbed painfully onto the carriage beside Licia. 'Have you got anyzing to eat? I am famished.'

 Miguel gave him one of Zhang Fei's sticky rice and he wolfed it down hungrily barely slowing down to peal off the bamboo leaf wrappings. 

 Licia drove the cart while Kozak told us his story. He didn't know what had happened to Denny or that Murga had captured Dr Zhang.  Murga had promised to return him to his home/time using Dr Zhang electric bookcase because Triple Oh was blocking access to Murga's network of time phase connect points. But Yonnie and Treeka had locked Dr Zhang's time settings. This meant that no one could go anywhere except to Han China. Kozak climbed onto the back of our cart and promptly fell into the sleep of exhaustion. We travelled in silence for a long time, Miguel and I dozing on the bags at the back of the carriage.

We were far away from the wheel barrow camp by nightfall but we took the precaution of concealing the carriage in a bamboo grove and we slept underneath while the horse ate shrivelled apples from a nearby tree. 

 We arrived at Jiangling late the next day. Smaller than Xiangyang, the city walls extended for less than a kilometre on each side. A farmer told us it was already occupied by Cho Cho's advance guard, so we asked the way to the Immortal Mountain Monastery and avoided the city.

 It was raining steadily as we drove into the monastery compound and our reception was as miserable as the weather. Several agitated monks rushed to intercept us. One grabbed the horse's bridle and tried to lead it back to the gate while the others shouted at us harshly. Foreign barbarians were apparently not welcome. 

 Kozak shouted above the hubbub in Mandarin. Licia looked astonished as she translated. 'We are eternally sorry to disturb the tranquillity of this place but we have an urgent matter to discuss with His Serenity, Lu Tong.' 

 Eventually the monks calmed down and listened. One of them reluctantly took Kozak to see the abbot while the others gathered to prevent us moving the carriage past the gate. Kozak returned, sometime later, with the news that we could leave the horse in the stables but we must remain in the temple and not disturb the monks' privacy. 

 'Wow,' Licia exclaimed. 'Your Mandarin is better than mine. How did you learn it so fast?'

'I 'ave a computer translator.'

'How did you know the abbots name?' I asked. 

 'I was 'ere before wiz Murga,' Kozak replied. 'I told ze abbot we were students and begged permission to wait for Dr Zhang 'ere. 'E was very suspicious but 'e knew Dr Zhang and agreed.'

 The monks escorted us to the stables where we left the horse. We picked up the last of the sticky rice, satchels containing the remaining vials of skunk juice and our spare clothes in case we had to leave in a hurry and walked to the temple. There were a few people burning incense sticks and bowing and praying to the giant statues lining the sides of the main hall but they studiously ignored us as we walked around tapping the walls, looking for a place where the time connect might appear. They must have thought we belonged to an unusual sect of ancestor worshippers.

 ''Ow do you know where it is?' Kozak asked.

'We don't,' I told him. 

 'Oskar Kilo. Let's find the solar array,' Miguel suggested. 'Dr Zhang said he had a battery powered transponder to help Oppy locate the nexus reliably and that means photo voltaic cells to keep it charged. That has got to be close to the connect point.'

Licia asked one of the more sympathetic monks if there was a way up to the roof and he gave us a rickety bamboo ladder on strict condition we didn't break any roof tiles. We propped the ladder against the roof and sent Licia first to see if it was safe. Miguel climbed up next and Kozak started to follow Miguel but climbed back down complaining that he had vertigo. I joined Licia and Miguel on the overhanging eaves of the green tiled roof. We walked up to the roof ridge, being careful not to break any tiles, especially the delicate looking statues on the corner ridges, and looked around until Miguel spotted the solar panels partially concealed by a row of stone dragons near an adjoining building. 

 'That's why we couldn't find it,' Miguel said. 'We were in the wrong part of the building.' We gingerly walked over the roof ridge to the adjoining building and looked for another way down. But the overhanging eaves made it impossible to climb down and the nearest tree was out of reach so we walked back to the ladder. As we approached the top of the ladder, we could hear a loud conversation and, with a shock, I realized it was not in Mandarin. For a moment I thought it was Dr Zhang.

''Ow did you find us?' Kozak was asking angrily.

'Toktakunov finally cracked zde code on Ziff Dion's armband,' Murga said. 'Zo, vhy did you change the passvord?

 'I didn't,' Kozak whined. 'Toktakunov must 'av screwed it up. Where is Dr Zhang?'

'Vee ver attacked by Cho Cho's soldiers and he voz captured.' As I peeked over the edge of the roof to check, my shoe dislodged a piece of broken tile which skittered over the edge of the roof.

 'Zdey are up zdere?' Murga snarled and the top of the ladder began to shake as he started to climb. We ran back over the roof ridge to the solar cell array and looked around desperately for a way of escape.