by Alex Archer
Huangfu wasn't anywhere to be seen. The three dead men remained where they'd fallen.
In the failing light, Annja searched the ground for their weapons and knew at once that Huangfu had come back that way. All of the weapons were missing.
Easing forward, Annja stayed low. When she reached the tree line, she stretched and grabbed one of her backpack's straps. Suddenly, she felt someone's eyes on her. Her senses and instincts seemed to have sharpened since she found Joan's sword. Or maybe dodging killers had sharpened them.
Either way, she knew Huangfu had her in his sights.
Annja jerked sideways, getting ready to run. A bright yellow muzzle-flash broke the darkness hovering over the grave. In the next instant, Huangfu rose up from the grave and opened fire.
Bullets slapped the trees over Annja's head and tore divots from the ground in front of her. She spun and slung the backpack across her shoulders, managing to get only one arm through a strap. Running down the incline, she pushed off the trees with her free hand and blocked brush and small branches from her face.
In the distance, a horse snuffled and stamped its feet. Immediately, the horse smell lingering on the three young men came to her mind.
Shifting directions, Annja headed toward the sound of the horses. She overran her vision in her haste, catching an exposed tree root and tripping. Out of habit, she pulled the backpack to her and rolled, landing on her side and cushioning the impact.
She surged to her feet again. Four long strides later, she realized she was holding the backpack with both hands. The sword had disappeared on its own. She quickly stuffed the leather bag from the dig into a cushioned pocket of her pack.
Bullets ricocheted from a tree trunk to her left, leaving white scars behind. She turned right and vanished behind a wall of pine trees that grew closely together. More bullets hammered the trees and broke branches.
In the distance but coming closer, she heard the sound of helicopter rotors. She hoped it was park rangers, but immediately dismissed that. Park rangers didn't fly around in helicopters unless there was an emergency, and they probably couldn't get one on such short notice.
There was a small airfield in Georgetown, though. It wouldn't have been a problem to put a private craft there and have it on call. Her mind suddenly filled with nasty suspicions about Huangfu's phone call.
Only a short distance away, horses snorted again and stamped nervously.
Annja ran, weaving through trees, staying so close to them at times that she collected an assortment of abrasions and bruises from glancing contact. Her breath whistled in the back of her throat. Timing her strides, she managed to sling the backpack across her shoulders. With her hands free, she could pump her arms and lengthen her stride.
The helicopter came into view through the trees. It was a sleek corporate aircraft, black-gray against the starry sky under the pallor of the three-quarter moon. The helicopter coasted over the tops of the trees less than a hundred feet away. The trees bent under the assault from the rotorwash, and the noise drowned out all other sounds.
Two men hung out the sides of the helicopter. Both of them had assault rifles.
This isn't just about where Ban Zexu was buried, Annja thought.
Cutting around a wall of brush growing through the tangled remains of a fallen tree, Annja found three horses standing in a small clearing. All of them were saddled. The bridle reins were tied to the branches of the fir tree in front of them.
The horses flattened their ears and pulled at the reins in an effort to get free. The helicopter had them spooked.
When Annja ran up to the closest one, the horse reared up to defend itself. The front hooves kicked the air.
"Easy. Easy, boy." Annja caught hold of the bridle halter and held on to the horse's head, guiding it back down onto all fours. She knew the animal probably couldn't hear her over the noise of the helicopter, but she kept talking to it anyway.
From the corner of her eye, she saw the helicopter swing around and start a pass back in her direction. She untied the reins and prepared to pull herself onto the saddle. The horse reared again, twisting violently to the left and shying away from her.
Suddenly, bright light lanced through the darkness and stripped the shadows away. When it fell across Annja, she knew the bullets wouldn't be far behind. The horse continued pulling away from her, and that helped save her life.
Huangfu stepped from the trees with both hands on his small pistol. "I don't want to have to kill you, Miss Creed." He shouted to be heard over the noise of the drifting helicopter. "I will, though. All I want is the – "
Annja shouted at the horse, letting slack into the reins. Muscles bunching, the animal sprinted away from the helicopter sound and straight toward Huangfu. The sharp hooves cut divots from the ground.
Sprinting alongside the horse, staying close while she gripped the pommel and the rear of the saddle, Annja lifted both feet and swung them into Huangfu as he fired at her. She felt the bullet's impact vibrate through the saddle pommel inches from her head, then her hiking boots collided with Huangfu's chest and knocked the man from his feet.
Dropping to the ground again, Annja took three strides, got her rhythm, and heaved herself atop the horse. She had to duck immediately to avoid a low-hanging limb that scraped painfully along her back.
The men aboard the helicopter opened fire. Every third round was a purple tracer. They were wide of her and behind the horse, but she knew they'd quickly correct their aim.
She kicked the horse's sides, urging it to faster speed, though she knew it was foolhardy in the darkness. But she was out of time to be careful about her escape. The horse rolled beneath her, shifting as it read the terrain and dodged trees.
Abruptly, the men in the helicopter stopped firing. The aircraft dipped. Too late, Annja realized that she was about to run out of tree cover. She tried to alter the horse's direction, but the animal was crazed with fear.
Riding braced in the stirrups, her weight balanced on her feet instead of sitting in the saddle, Annja reached for the sword again. She'd no more than thought about it, wished she was holding it, when she had it gripped in her hand.
The helicopter pilot flew in very low. Glancing over her shoulder, Annja saw the man on the right side of the helicopter swing out wide, depending on the umbilical that connected him to the aircraft as he kept his feet on the skids.
She ducked beneath him as he tried to grab her.
The helicopter cruised by like a shark. But only a short distance ahead, it swung around in a full one-eighty. The man hung farther outside the aircraft.
Annja didn't try to dodge the helicopter. Instead, at the last possible minute, Annja lifted high in the stirrups and swung the sword up and across the man's midsection.
The sharp blade cut through flesh with ease. She got a glimpse of the man's surprised face, then she was past him. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw him suddenly dangle from the line that kept him tied to the helicopter. The aircraft jerked a little as the pilot corrected for the sudden deadweight.
Annja stayed low over the saddle and the horse's neck. The animal stumbled over loose rock and almost went down.
Stay on your feet, Annja thought fiercely.
Twisting in the saddle for a moment, she saw the helicopter hovering above the treetops. The body at the end of the line jerked and flailed its limbs as someone hauled it back into the helicopter.
The horse's hooves drummed the ground in a rapid staccato. Annja adjusted herself in the saddle, keeping her weight distributed and as low to the horse as she could to help the animal better handle her weight.
She thought she was headed west, back toward Georgetown, but she didn't want to check her compass yet. The horse was handling the terrain, but she knew that could change at any moment.
The helicopter rotorwash sounded louder again. Looking back, she saw that it was coming in her direction.
Annja willed the sword away. Steering the horse toward a thick copse of trees, she waite
d until the animal slowed to navigate the thick press of brush, then leapt off.
The horse kept going.
Annja hit the ground and rolled. Brush and tall grass slapped at her, leaving stinging lacerations in their wake. She protected her backpack as much as she could. Then she was up on her feet, pushing and shoving her way through the forest at a ninety-degree angle to the path the horse had taken.
Controlling the panic within her, feeling her breath hot and dry in her throat, Annja kept running even after the helicopter passed by in pursuit of the horse. When she couldn't run anymore, she dropped to her knees and laced her hands over her head to open her lungs.
As she watched the helicopter sailing above the treetops with a finger of illumination reaching down from a searchlight, Annja hoped the horse was just hitting its stride and wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Then she reached into her pack for her phone.
Chapter 3
Standing in the darkness, Huangfu Cao watched the helicopter speed over the treetops. He held his phone close to his face, listening to the helicopter communications officer. The man monitored not only the cell phone connection but also the emergency band communication in the area.
"She's called the park rangers, sir," Lin said.
Anger roiled within Huangfu. He had badly underestimated the woman. But no one could have expected her to react as quickly as she had to the shifting situation.
It was true that he hadn't liked the idea of killing her. He liked her. She was competent and knowledgeable. More than that, she had come looking for his "ancestor's" body for reasons of her own, not just to do a good thing. He liked that.
But he hadn't hesitated when the time came. He'd shot as quickly and as accurately as he always did. Somehow, though, he had missed.
Not only that, she'd surprised him with the horse. His chest and abdomen still hurt from the impact.
And now she had managed to call the park rangers.
"Sir?" Lin prompted.
"Stay with her. She has what we came for." If the three young men hadn't stumbled onto them, Huangfu would have the artifact his employer had sent him for.
The helicopter dipped quickly, gliding through the treetops.
"Do the rangers have aerial support?" Huangfu stared into the night. His eyes burned with the effort.
"No. They took the phone call and sent ground forces out," Lin replied.
"How many?"
"Three rangers and some of the local emergency response people. Their number is unconfirmed."
Huangfu knew there wasn't much in the way of a police force at Georgetown. The park rangers were another matter. In this part of California, the rangers went armed not only for illegal marijuana growers but also predators. None of them would be as well trained as his people, but he'd been ordered not to leave a mess behind.
And there were already three dead bodies.
If things hadn't gotten out of hand, he'd planned on dropping those into the hole he and Annja Creed had dug. That wouldn't have been a problem. Even if the bodies had been found later, they couldn't have been tied to him. His cover was complete. Any search into his background would lead only to elaborate lies.
"Even though these initial forces don't have aerial support," Lin said, "they will get it as soon as the situation escalates."
"Let me worry about that." Huangfu watched the helicopter flying low to the ground. "Get the woman." Feeling tense, he continued watching.
In the next instant, the helicopter broke pursuit and lifted into the air.
"There's a problem." Lin's voice was calm and precise.
"What problem?" Huangfu asked.
"The woman isn't with the horse."
Huangfu cursed, knowing that Annja Creed had evaded them again. "Turn the helicopter around. Search the forest again. Now!"
Looking out over the forest, Huangfu knew the effort was going to be wasted. They'd underestimated Annja Creed again.
****
Hoofbeats woke Annja. As uncomfortable and keyed up as she was, she hadn't expected to fall asleep.
For a moment she thought maybe the horse she'd freed had found her again, and perhaps even led Huangfu and his allies to her. She opened her eyes but didn't move. Motion attracted predators, and the men hunting her were definitely predators.
After she'd placed her call to the park ranger's office and asked for help, she'd climbed one of the fir trees and hidden on a thick branch twenty feet above the ground. Using leather straps she carried in her backpack, she'd fashioned a crude nest to keep her from falling out of the tree. She'd spent the night in trees in a similar manner on digs. It was never truly restful, but she'd learned to sleep.
Shifting, she peered through the darkness and gathered her feet under her on the thick branch. She felt through the otherwhere, touching the sword's hilt and drawing it to her.
Less than a hundred yards away, two riders on horseback approached. Both of them had flashlights that strobed the woods. They also carried rifles canted on their thighs. A third horse trailed behind them.
Tense, Annja waited, trying in vain to see through the darkness. Her phone vibrated in her jacket. Cautiously, she took it from her pocket, shielded the glow of the screen from the riders inside her jacket, and saw the call was from a New York area code.
"Hello." She kept her voice low, watching as the riders veered slightly away from her.
"Annja?" The tense voice of Bart McGilley greeted her.
"Yes."
"Are you all right?"
"Yes."
"Is something wrong with this connection?"
"I can't really talk now." Annja watched the riders as they slowed. They wore tactical gear, combat harnesses festooned with equipment.
"Are you in trouble?"
"Maybe a little."
"In California?"
"Yes."
"I flagged Huangfu Cao's file after you asked me to background him. I didn't expect the Department of Natural Resources to call to check on you."
"I called them in."
"They said someone was killed."
"This is so not the time to talk about this, Bart."
"You're all right?"
"For the moment." The fact that Bart was worried about her made Annja feel good. She hadn't made a lot of lasting friends with her unusual lifestyle. But Bart was one of the best. "I'm going to need a favor," she whispered.
"You didn't kill anyone, did you?" Bart asked.
"Actually, I think I did." Annja thought about the sword slicing through the man hanging from the helicopter. She didn't want to kill anyone, but when it came to preserving her life or the lives of others, she'd learned to accept that sometimes there was no other way. "But I think Huangfu's men picked up the body."
"What's going on?"
The two riders milled around for a moment. They talked and moved their flashlight beams around.
"I don't know," Annja answered. "About that favor..."
"If I can."
"I'm going to need an introduction to the local police departments."
"They'll probably know you from your television show." Bart wasn't a big fan of the series.
"Not that kind of introduction. The kind more along the lines of me not being a homicidal maniac introduction."
"Why?"
"Three local guys are dead."
"Did you kill them?"
"No."
"Your buddy, Huangfu Cao, did."
Irritation flared through Annja. She didn't like making mistakes. "As it turns out, he wasn't my buddy after all."
"I told you to watch out for that guy."
I really don't need an "I told you so" while I'm up in a tree, she thought. "I was watching out for him. That's why I'm not dead right now."
Bart sighed. "Sorry. I just worry about you, you know?"
"I know." Annja also knew that Bart was engaged to be married. No date had been set and the engagement was relatively new. If things had been different, if she didn't want to see the world as
much as she did, if she were more certain that Bart wouldn't want someone who was home every night, their friendship might have explored more of the attraction that put them in each others' lives. But they were what they were.
"Do you have this number?" Bart asked.
"Yes," Annja replied.
"Okay. Whoever you end up talking to, put him or her in touch with me. I'll vouch for you."
"Thanks, Bart." Annja's phone vibrated again. "I've got to go."
"Call me when you can. And stay safe."
Annja said she would, then picked up the incoming call. It was a local area code. "Annja Creed," she whispered.
"Miss Creed," a no-nonsense voice said, "this is Captain Andrews of the Eldorado National Park Ranger Station."
"Yes, Captain."
"I've got men out searching for you. Two of them are at the GPS coordinates you sent when you called. You're not there. If this is some kind of prank, you're going to be prosecuted in federal court – "
"I moved since that last call." Annja looked at the two men. "Have your men wave their flashlights."
"What?" The ranger captain sounded exasperated.
"The men that were looking for me have already killed three people." Annja spoke plainly. "I want to know these are your rangers."
"Wait just a minute."
An owl passed by, momentarily obscuring the moon. A feral cat cried out in the distance. Frogs in the nearby stream croaked.
The two men with flashlights waved them in the air.
Annja took her flashlight from her backpack and switched it on. "Tell your men to look north of their position. I'm in the trees." Even though she was talking to the ranger captain, she still felt nervous. One misstep or a bit of bad luck could get her killed.
"All right," Andrews growled in displeasure, "they see you. Climb out of the tree and stand with your hands over your head where they can see you."
"It'll take just a second to get my gear."
"Leave your gear where – "
Annja broke the connection and slid the phone into her pocket. It vibrated as she recovered her rope and shoved it into the backpack. By the time she was climbing down, her flashlight held by Velcro straps on her backpack, the rangers had pulled their horses to a stop under the tree.