Ellie tried her best to look innocent.Adam smiled as the flowers danced at his side.
The soldier called across the camp, and Ellie chilled with alarm as Singh Rao approached.
The subedar loomed over them, framed by one of the moss-draped elephant bones.Unlike Ellie and Adam, he still appeared entirely well put together, with his turban perfectly wrapped and his beard brushed.
“One of my men said you were talking to someone,” Singh Rao accused.
“Just the two of us here,” Adam returned lightly.
“He thought he heard someone else.”
“Maybe it was a ghost,” Adam quipped.“This place seems pretty haunted.”
Singh Rao looked pained.“You seem to have a knack for causing a great deal of bother.”
“Can’t really argue with that.”Adam dropped his insouciance.“Do you know what your colonel is actually here for?”
“Yes.”
“Really think it’s a good idea for him to get it?”
“Some old artifact?”Singh Rao returned with tired skepticism.
“What if it’s not just an old artifact?”Adam pushed back.
Singh Rao shook his head.“You choose strange things to risk your life for, Mr.Bates.”
Adam let out a low, dry chuckle.“Ain’t that the truth.”
Across the stream, a burst of hot blue fire whooshed up from the forest of bones.
With a giddy thrill, Ellie calculated the height and velocity of the explosion.That feldspar she had collected must have had a very high proportion of potassium indeed.It was good that she had placed her little chemistry project in a sheltered, rocky location, or even with the moisture of the monsoon, she might’ve succeeded in lighting the whole ravine on fire.
Singh Rao dropped into an instinctive crouch, whipping his sidearm from the holster and aiming it at the explosion.The soldiers around him did the same, weapons clattering as everyone took up defensive positions.
The subedar’s eyes snapped back to Adam.
“Don’t look at me.”Adam shifted his torso to show Singh Rao how his wrists were still tied behind his back.He added an insouciant wiggle of his fingers.
Singh Rao’s mouth tightened with exasperation.He signaled to his men, and a handful took up secure positions to offer cover while he led the rest across the stream.
Everyone was focused on the potential threat across the water—and not the pair of scruffy prisoners by the boulder with their hands and feet still bound.
Neil scrambled out from behind the rock.
He was filthy.His waistcoat was scuffed and his shirt smudged with dirt.He hadn’t shaved—not that it mattered all that much with Neil.The lightest shadow of a beard accented the line of his jaw.Relief washed through Ellie at seeing him intact.
“Get her behind the rock!”Adam ordered, already shuffling himself in that direction.
Neil hooked his hands under Ellie’s armpits and hauled her around the boulder.He tugged quickly at the knots binding her ankles.
Adam collapsed to the ground beside them, his cheek kissing the gravel.“This would go a little faster with a knife,” he pointed out urgently.
A shout of alarm rose from the camp.
Neil stared at the knots he had barely started to undo and winced.
“Please hold very,verystill?”he pleaded.
