“Come on, old son,” Learoyd said, holding out his hand, “you’ll make it.”
Slowly, ever so slowly, so as not to upset their precarious balance, Din stood up and Ortheris groaned, gritting his teeth from the pain as Din put his weight on his bad shoulder.
“Forgive me, Sahib!”
“Never mind that,” said Ortheris, “just get on up there!”
Carefully, Din climbed up to the next level of the pyramid, putting one foot on Delaney’s knee. Transferring his weight slowly, he moved to sit astride Delaney’s shoulders.
“Can you reach it, Din?” said Learoyd.
Din looked up and swallowed hard. “Must stand, Sahib.”
“All right, then, stand. But slowly, mind!”
Moving as slowly as he could, Din placed his knees on Learoyd and Delaney’s shoulders. He could see, directly below him, the dizzying drop to the bottom. The wind whipped at them and the human pyramid swayed slightly.
“Hold on there, Stanley, damn your eyes!” Learoyd shouted.
“It’s me shoulder, Chris. It’s killin’ me.”
“I’ll bloody well kill you if you move again! You so much as twitch and I’ll have your guts for garters!”
Muttering a prayer to himself, Din slowly stood up as Learoyd and Delaney held onto his ankles to give him some support. He didn’t dare look down. The rock outcropping was directly above him. If he stretched his arms out, he could reach it.
Behind them there was the sound of the heavy bolt being drawn back and then the massive door opening. Men ran into the room. Gritting his teeth, Din pushed off Learoyd and Delaney’s shoulders and jumped.
“You! Get down from—”
The pyramid collapsed. Andre, Ortheris, and Mulvaney fell to the floor of the parapet. Finn hit the surrounding wall as he went down and scrambled for a purchase. He felt Learoyd beneath him, grabbing onto his legs for dear life. The added weight almost took him over. Learoyd hung over the abyss, clinging to his legs.
“Hold on, Chris!
“Don’t you worry about me, mate,” Learoyd called back. “Just you hold on!”
Above them Din clung to the rock, straining to pull himself up. There was no going back now. If he lost his grip, he would plummet to his death. Using every ounce of strength he had, he clawed desperately for a hold.
Several tribesmen peered over the side at Delaney and Learoyd, grinning. The officer named Martin looked down at them.
“Very cute,” he said. “I ought to let you fall.” He glanced back at the others, being held back at gunpoint. “You,” he said, pointing to Mulvaney.”Give them a hand.”
Mulvaney came forward and braced Finn while Learoyd slowly shimmied up Delaney’s legs until he could reach Mulvaney’s outstretched hand. Moments later they were safe.
“That was a damn fool thing to do,” said Martin. He frowned and made a quick count. “Somebody’s missing. The Hindu.”
One of the tribesmen shouted out something and fired his rifle at the rock above them. They caught a glimpse of Din’s legs disappearing out of sight atop the rock outcropping.
“ ‘E made it!” shouted Mulvaney. “Good ol Din!”
Martin turned to several of the tribesmen and addressed them in Pushtu.”Get him. Bring him back alive if you can, but if you have to, shoot him.”
“You bloody bastard!” roared Mulvaney, lunging at him.
The tribesmen at once shifted their aim to Mulvaney, and Learoyd leaped at them, knocking three down with his weight. Finn grappled with Martin as Andre and Ortheris took on the other tribesmen. Two men grabbed hold of Mulvaney, but he wrenched loose and one of the men fell back against the wall. His momentum carried him over the side. His scream receded in the distance.
One of the tribesmen slammed Ortheris against the wall with his rifle, and the soldier cried out from the pain in his wounded shoulder. The tribesmen struck him in the stomach with the rifle butt and was about to bring it down upon his head when Andre intervened. She had disarmed one of the tribesmen by kicking his rifle out of his grasp, then continuing the motion to launch a spinning back kick that knocked him down the stairs. She grabbed the other tribesman’s rifle before he could bring it down on Ortheris’s head, and kicked his legs out from under him.
Learoyd was still struggling with the men he had knocked to the floor, trying to keep them from drawing their knives, when Finn yelled out in Pushtu, ”Stop or I’ll kill the holy one!”