False Horizon - Alex Archer [2]
It was the one place in Katmandu that Mike could find his favorite meal of all time—a cheeseburger and a cold beer.
Annja spotted the faded blue sign swinging back and forth in the dusty air and smiled. The owner refused to slap a fresh coat of paint on the building, preferring to keep an understated profile.
At the door Annja paused and then pushed her way inside. Instantly, she heard Ella Fitzgerald belting out an old song. She saw the gaggle of American faces turn toward her. She could pick out the mountaineers among them. They were eagerly poring over maps and studying the best routes that would take them in sight of Mount Everest.
But the Blue Note also attracted its fair share of surly characters, as well. She spotted two unshaven hulks of muscle eyeballing her from across the bar. Then she saw Mike’s hand waving her over and she grinned.
Mike Tingley looked more like a linebacker than a professor of obscure religions. He’d gone to college on a football scholarship and had refused to stop exercising as his years advanced. Almost forty-five, Mike could easily bench over three hundred pounds and his presence was more than enough to belay any hostility.
He rose as Annja came over to his table. “I see you made it safely.” He hugged her and then stepped back. “You look amazing.”
Annja grinned and punched him in the arm. “Cut it out. You know I just crawled off a plane after almost a full day in the air.”
Mike gestured for her to sit. “Grab a chair. I’m sure you’ve got questions.”
“Do you have the answers, though?” she asked.
He grinned. “First things first. You want a burger?”
Annja looked at Mike’s plate. Judging by the few remnants, he had already inhaled his favorite meal. “If I order one, do you promise to leave it alone?”
“I’ve already had my fill. You know I can’t resist this place.” He waved a waiter over and ordered for Annja. When the waiter returned a moment later with their beer, Mike raised his glass.
“Here’s to you, Annja. I appreciate you making the trip over. Really.”
Annja clinked glasses with him and then took a long sip. She put the glass down and smiled. “I’m happy to be here again. It’s been too long since we’ve worked together. Thanks for asking me to come along.”
Mike leaned forward. “So? What do you think of my plan?”
“At first I wasn’t sure what to think,” Annja said. “I mean what you’re proposing has been mulled over and even searched for for so long that most people consider it a pure fantasy. Or that it must have been destroyed many, many centuries ago.”
“And that’s what makes this so exciting,” Mike said. “Because I’m positive that everyone else has been searching in the entirely wrong part of this country for it. Everyone’s been wrong.”
“Except for you,” Annja said. “Imagine that.”
“Well,” Mike said. “I might be wrong, too. I guess we won’t know for sure until we actually get out there and find it.”
“What made you think you could even find the place, anyway?”
“It’s been a hobby of mine ever since I read the book that first described it in detail.”
“But Lost Horizon was a work of fiction. No one really believed that, did they?” Annja asked.
Mike nodded. “Plenty of people did. And plenty of them thought they were going to find it. As recently as a few years ago, there were still exploration teams making concerted efforts to locate it. But no one has ever succeeded.”
“Until now.”
Mike raised his glass. “You’re always the optimist, Annja. That’s what I love about you.”
“Plus, I’m the only friend of yours who’s crazy enough to actually fly across the globe to be a part of this.”
“There’s that, too,” Mike said with a laugh. “But if nothing else, at least we’ll have a fun time of it.”
Annja sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Shangri-La. It’s incredible to think that in this day and age a place supposedly so mystical and fantastic could even exist.”
“Well, what it is, is open to speculation. I never really bought in to the notion that it was some incredible utopia. It’s more the idea of the place that draws me in. That prospect of finding an untouched