False Horizon - Alex Archer [28]
“You sure?”
“That they’re broken? Yeah. I’ve had them before.” Annja frowned. “They’re not fun, but they’re manageable.”
Mike nodded and then glanced at Tuk. “Who is this?”
Annja smiled. “Apparently, we had a stowaway on the plane.”
“He was with us?”
“Yep.”
Mike grimaced as Tuk pressed into the wound more. “I could have sworn I saw something at Jomsom.”
Tuk smiled. “I’m afraid that was me.” He leaned over Mike’s thigh and stared at the wound.
“How is it?” Annja asked.
Tuk looked at her. “The bleeding is slowing, but I can’t tell how bad the tear is. I think it’s fairly certain that the femoral artery was not damaged, but he has lost a good amount of blood.”
Annja looked around. “How long before they send a rescue team?”
Mike grunted. “I don’t know. Depends if they got a fix on our location. There’s a lot of real estate to cover up in these parts. All they knew was we were north of Jomsom. We could have gone down anywhere.”
Annja sighed. Daylight was already starting to fade in the mountains and the chill that her adrenaline had kept at bay was finally working its way into her consciousness.
They needed shelter and fire. If they had to spend the night exposed to the elements like this, there would be no surviving it.
She looked at Tuk. “How well do you know the countryside around here?”
Tuk shook his head. “I don’t know it at all. I’m an orphan and found my way into Katmandu when I was young. All the memories of my childhood have deserted me unfortunately.”
Annja maneuvered around to where Tuk stood. She reached to take over the act of keeping pressure on Mike’s wound. “Well, here’s the reality check, Tuk. We need to find a place that is out of the wind. If we stay exposed like this on the mountain we’re dead before anyone gets a chance to find us.”
Tuk nodded. “I agree. What would you like me to do.”
“Seeing that you’re the most mobile out of all of us, you’re going to need to find shelter of some sort. I know there are a lot of caves around these parts. What are the odds you can locate one for us to take shelter in?”
“I won’t know until I get started,” Tuk said.
Annja nodded. “All right, then. You go and see what you can locate. The bags in the back have some winter coats in them. You should take one along. And don’t do anything silly. Mike’s going to need help getting to wherever we hole up. Try to make it close. Otherwise, we’ll risk worsening his wound.”
“I understand.”
Annja watched him get a coat out of one of the bags and zip it up. He brought them each a winter parka and then nodded to Annja. “I’ll be back as soon as I can find someplace for us.”
“Good luck,” Annja said.
Tuk took a final glance at Mike and smiled. “Fast as I can.”
He trudged off through the snow, but despite his small size, he seemed to make fast headway through the drifts. Mike’s coughing brought Annja back to the moment.
“Is he gone?” Mike asked.
“Yeah.”
Mike frowned. “Leg’s killing me. Got any of that water from the cooler?”
Annja nodded and placed Mike’s hand on the dressing. “Hold this here and press down on it. I’ll get the water.”
She scrambled back around to the cooler and winced as she did so. Her ribs were aching, but she fought off the desire to give in to the pain. Mike was the priority. He needed looking after and Annja’s ribs were a secondary concern.
She dug a bottle of water out of the cooler and came back to Mike’s side. “Here you go.”
He tilted his head back and took several swigs. Annja eased the bottle back down. “Don’t want you throwing up any of it. Just take it slow.”
“What’s the deal with our little friend there?”
Annja shrugged. “No idea. He was in the back of the plane. I passed out right after I found him. He could certainly have done me harm if he wished, but he was actually helping me when I regained consciousness.”
“You trust him?”
Annja smiled. “I’m not exactly in a position where trust can be withheld, am I? We all need one another if we’re going to survive this.”
Mike nodded and took another sip of the water. “What if he works for Tsing?”
“What if he does?”
“He could have overheard