Chapter 12

at the bookshop

Jack Hey Dick .

Dick Hi , What’s that ?

J It is Abha’s dog.

It follows me everywhere.

D What’s his name ?

J It doesn’t have one .

D You can’t have a dog without a name .

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D You ready for another journey ?

We would like to leave for the Ranch tomorrow .

J I’m ready . What is the plan .

D Rebecca wants you to go to Lhasa.

But we need you to go to the Samding Monastery.

J Where is that ?

D It is at Yamdrok Tso Lake ,

Just past the village of Gyantse.

J Why are we going there ?

D We are going to take a CIA agent there.

J What is an agent going to do there ?

D She is going to be trained by a Tantric guru .

Then she will go to Lhasa.

And there , she will spy on Chinese women .

J What if she just wants to be a yogī ?

D She can do whatever she wants .

Hopefully , she will help us .

She might even help you in the future ,

so be good to her .

J Very good .

it will help if we can pick up some manuscripts there .

I need to keep Rebecca happy .

She pays me a lot of money .

D Got that covered . Her name is Mia .

She will meet you at Dakshi’s Ranch tomorrow .

J Does Badal know what is going on ?

D He might know something.

But it is best not to say anything to him or Rebecca .

J No problem .

Do not forget , I want to go by Camling Lake Monastery .

D That is your problem .

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at the Dakshi’s Ranch

Jack Hi Badal. How is it going ?

Badal Things are going well.

What is that ?

J It is a dog .

B Good , but he needs to be keep quiet .

Are you ready for another journey ?

J Yes , I hear that we have a passenger .

B A Tibetan woman . She is kind of quiet .

J Sometimes that is good in a women.

B I prefer the talkative ones myself .

J I would like to spend a couple of days at Camling Lake.

Can you arrange that ?

B Let us wait on that .

I answer to 4 different people .

My life is complicated .

J Is the mule train ready to go ?

B We were waiting on you.

Let us go .

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on horseback

Jack Hi there , my name is Jack .

Mia And I am called Mia .

Nice to meet you .

J Like wise .

Dick tells me that you are a spy.

you seem awfully small to be a spy .

M I am new at this .

I will be gathering information on the Communists .

J You know ….. this could be dangerous .

Why are you doing this ?

M Yes , but I hate the people who destroyed my country .

J I hear you there .

You are going to be trained as a holy woman or something .

M Yes , in the Tantric arts .

J That sounds fascinating .

M It is a wonderful opportunity .

I’m very much looking forward to it .

What is your dog’s name ?

J He doesn’t have one .

M That is crazy .

Let me see . Trouble

That should be his name.

J Thank you Mia .

Have you ever hunted rabbits ?

M nope .

J Well , Trouble needs to eat some meat .

So , I need to shoot a rabbit .

Would you like to learn ?

M Sure , I do need to learn to shoot a gun .

J Here , I’d like to give you my Walther PPK.

I’ll go ask Badal when it will be a good time to shoot .

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at the Samding Monastery

Monk Greetings , please come in .

You will want a bath and food .

Follow me .

Badal Mia will be staying here ,

We would like to stay the night ,

and leave in the morning .

Monk Of course , I will make arrangements .

We are a poor Monastery .

The accommodations will be sparse .

B That will be fine .

In 4 months, will you transport Mia to Lhasa or

do we need to return ?

Monk We shall find out later .

Mia , there is the woman’s quarters .

Prayers in one hour , then we eat .

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at dinner

The food looked appealing .

Barley-soap with mutton ,

some potatoes and cabbage mixed in .

Flavored with what tastes like mustard .

The yak cheese made the meal complete .

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Jack Very nice meal , thank you .

Does this place have a main frame ?

Monk No. This place is too small and rundown for the Chinese .

We plan to keep it this way .

We are happy here .

Badal Do you have any manuscripts to sell ?

Monk Nothing here , but there is much elsewhere .

Mia When do I get to meet my guru .

Monk In the morning , after prayers .

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at night

Jack I wish I could stay and study Tantric with you .

Mia Maybe someday .

But I thought that you were not religious .

J It seems very interesting though .

Hopefully you will tell me everything .

Mia Of course I will .

They said that you were my courier .

So we should meet often .

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