Free The Iron Tiger by Jack Higgins

Father Kerrigan tMnks he should be going. He doesn't like leaving Kerim for too long. Ill run you back in the jeep.'
     
     
Til get your coat,. Hamid told her and went inside.
     
     
"Did you win your game?' she asked.
     
     
'No, did you?'
     
     
Janet smiled faintly..You couldn't be more wrong..
     
     
She brushed past him and went inside and Drummond stood there in the half-darkness, listening to the rise and fall of the voices, a cold finger of excitement moving inside him, leaving his stomach hollow and empty.
     
     
She sat next to him on the way back, Father Kerrigan on the other side, and now and then the wind lifted the edge of her silken headscarf into Drummond's face.
     
     
He was aware of her warmth, the softness of the thigh against his, the delicate perfume, and gripped the wheel tightly, inhaling her sweetness, aware of feelings he had not experienced for a very long time.
     
     
The old priest kept chuckling to himself. 1 wish you could have been there, the pair of you. And didn't I show him? It'll be many a long day before he comes crowing over Terence Kerrigan again.'
     
     
Drummond glanced at Janet and grinned as he turned the jeep into the courtyard of the mission. 'I think he must have won.'
     
     
'Ah, get away with you!' The old man snorted as he got out of the jeep and then smiled, his face dear in the moonlight. 'A fine night for a drive.'
     
     
Drummond hesitated and Janet said calmly, 'Mr. Cheung mentioned the ruins of a Buddhist temple not far from here. He seemed to think they were worth seeing by moonlight'
     
     
'And maybe he had a point there.' Father Kerrigan slapped the side of the jeep with his bare palm. 'OS with you, now, and don't be late.'
     
     
Drummond took the jeep out through the entrance and turned across the moonlit plain beside the river. He had taken down the canvas tilt earlier and the wind was sharp and cold, carrying with it the sceat of wet earth. A few minutes later, they came over the edge of an escarpment and the ruins of the temple lay before them in the centre of a small plateau, bare and windswept, crumbling with the years.
     
     
He braked, switched off the engine and they walked the last few yards. The full moon touched the scene with a pale luminosity and the dark shadows of half-mined pillars fell across the mosaic floor like iron bars.
     
     
The statue of the Buddha was at the far end, chipped and cracked by time and the weather, one arm missing, but the great, serene face was still complete, hooded eyes staring blindly into eternity across the river.
     
     
Janet walked towards it slowly and Dnimmond paused to light a cheroot. When he raised his head, she was standing at the edge of ths crumbling terrace, staring pensively into the night
     
     
The moon was directly behind her, outlining her shapely limbs through the thin silk of the dress, and when she turned and looked at him, she looked unreal and ethereal like some dark goddess of the night who anight % away at any moment
     
     
They stood like that, trapped by a moment of time, looking at each other, and then she came forward slowly, reached up and gently touched his face.
     
     
Drummond turned his head, brushing her palm with his lips and slipped his arm about her waist. She leaned against him, trembling a little and in the distance, thunder rumbled menacingly.
     
     
She glanced up quickly. 'What was that?.
     
     
.Storm on the way.' He pointed to where sheet lightning nickered over the mountains. 'We'd better get moving.'
     
     
She was conscious of the unnatural stillness. A blanket of dark moved in from the horizon, blotting out the stars as it came. Drummond took her hand and they ran back towards the jeep.
     
     
He pressed the starter and moved away immediately, and in the same moment, great heavy drops started to splash against the windscreen. He pressed his foot flat against the boards, but it was no good. There was a tremendous clap of thunder overhead and the skies