Free Powder Burn (Burn with Sam Blackett #1) by Mark Chisnell

gear in. This is fifteen thousand, and it drops back to about the same height the other side – walk high, sleep low. It’s the second time we’ve been well over fifteen thousand. With a rest here to acclimatize, we’ll be all right.”
    She stared upwards for a few moments longer before turning back to them. “If Shibde really has been invaded, it’s a hell of a story to go in there and get the pictures. Shibde, the pristine, peaceful, medieval Himalayan kingdom overrun by Demagistan, the authoritarian, nascent superpower with a human-rights record that would make Genghis Khan blush ...”
    “ But that’s not what we’re going to do,” replied Lens, firmly, “because whatever is going on in Shibde politically is happening a long way from Powder Burn. I’ve had a look at the US spy-satellite images and believe me, there’s no habitation within three or four days’ walk of that run. There are no roads, no huts, no livestock – nothing, just mountains, glaciers, dust, rock, snow and ice. And even looking a bit further away, all I saw was a few small villages.”
    “ Did you check the whole country?”
    “ No, just along the border, near that mountain.”
    “ So you don’t know if it’s true or not – the invasion?”
    Lens hesitated. “I might have seen trucks. I’m not a satellite-photo analyst. I taught myself what to look for when it comes to terrain, using images of areas I know, but I’ve no idea what I’m looking at when it comes to anything else. Anyway, there was no evidence of military activity anywhere near Powder Burn. They’ve no reason to come near the borders. The last thing Demagistan wants is to advertise their presence to the world – most people already believe they’re in there, they don’t want to make it worse by appearing in some trekkers’ viral video clip.”
    “ People have tried to get in to find out what’s happening, haven’t they? Didn’t whatshername , that CNN chick, have a go a while back?”
    “ People have been trying for decades, centuries, to get in – but their whole objective was to see the towns and villages, to see what life was like, to see if the stories of a golden Shangri-La were true. Then as soon as they get anywhere near the locals, they stand out like a sore thumb and are unceremoniously dumped back over the border. The last guy that got in there and managed to stay was Colonel Harry Spedding. He was sent in to spy out the land ahead of a British attack in 1854. He ended up befriending the king – and, more importantly, his daughter. The story is that they were lovers –”
    “ What happened to the CNN girl?” Sam interrupted. She wasn’t to be distracted by the history lesson.
    “ She didn’t get far. And she didn’t even know whether she’d been thrown out by the Shibdeese, or Demagistanis dressed as Shibdeese.”
    “ And they beat her up, didn’t they?” It was coming back to her now, she’d watched a news report last summer.
    Lens folded his arms. “It wasn’t bad, just a little warning. And anyway, as I keep saying – we’re not going anywhere near any people. They won’t even know we’re there, and if we keep our mouths shut afterwards, they won’t even know we’ve been.”
    She looked back up at the climb; she could feel Lens and Pete watching her.
    “So you’re in?” asked Lens, hopefully.
    “ I don’t know ...” She sank wearily to sit on a boulder, and dropped her head into her hands. She took a long, deep breath, all the way into her belly, and let it out slowly. “It’s all making sense now. That’s why Pete wasn’t bothered when I said they won’t let you back into the country after you release the film without a permit. And you brought your supplies up here in advance, so there’re no porters or guides this time, no one to see you sneak off. You’ve thought it all through.”
    “ Lens, he’s the clever one,” said Pete, pushing his hands deep into his jacket pockets.
    She looked up at Lens as she