Rogue Angel: Forbidden City

by Alex Archer

  "No," the woman agreed. "I came here to kill Ngai Kuan-Yin." Her eyes looked blank and hard above the dirt-encrusted surgical mask.

  "Well, that certainly gives us common ground. If I haven't killed him, I'd be more than happy to have another go at it."

  "Roux!"

  Annja recognized Garin's voice.

  "You don't have to die in there," Garin bellowed. "You can still walk away from this."

  Roux looked at Annja. "Do you think we can trust him?" he asked.

  "No."

  "Neither do I." Roux turned his attention to the woman. "What's your name?"

  The woman hesitated. "Kelly."

  "Why do you want to kill Ngai?" Roux asked.

  "He had my father murdered."

  "I saw how you handle those pistols of yours. You've had training."

  Kelly didn't say anything.

  "You knew Ngai would come here."

  "Yes."

  "How?"

  "Ngai is looking for the City of Thieves."

  Annja held up the ball. "Where did you get this?"

  "That's for me to know."

  "What you know," Roux said forcefully, "is important. We can hear you out, or we can figure it out on our own. Guess which way you get to live?"

  A chill passed through Annja. She had the distinct impression that Roux really would kill the woman if she didn't talk. That's just a ruse. Isn't it? She suddenly wasn't sure.

  "I don't know what it is." Kelly seemed embarrassed. "My father left it for me. Until a few days ago, I'd never seen it."

  "Roux! Don't be foolish!" Garin's voice sounded loud and impatient.

  Garin just doesn't want to risk his own neck, Annja thought.

  "Is the ball important?" Roux asked.

  "There are tamgas on the pieces," Annja replied.

  Roux sighed. "I hate having to make a lot of decisions all at once. I don't know whether to trust her or not."

  Annja willed the sword away, then knelt and picked up the nearest pistol. She handed the ball and the pistol to Kelly. "Fine. I'll make this call. You figure out whether we should trust Garin."

  Kelly seemed surprised. The pistol jerked automatically in her hand, almost coming up despite the fact that Roux still had her covered.

  "We're in this together," Annja said. "Ngai and Garin aren't going to give you a free pass out of here."

  "I don't want one." Kelly tossed the ball back to Annja. "I can't figure that out." She retrieved her other pistol, then held them both up. "I'm better with these."

  Annja nodded.

  Roux sighed with disgust. "How do you know she won't put a bullet in the back of your head the first chance she gets?"

  "It's my amazing woman powers," Annja said.

  Kelly nodded back at her. "As long as we understand each other. I came here to kill the man who killed my father."

  Annja looked at the ball. "Oh, I think we all have our agendas."

  "Roux! Answer me!" Garin shouted.

  "I don't think we're going to get out of here without putting some of them to rest." Annja walked to the cave mouth and carefully peered down. A couple hundred or so yards away, Garin, Ngai, and fifteen armed men occupied positions behind sand dunes.

  "Annja! Talk some sense into – "

  Roux rolled out of hiding and fired, swiftly working the bolt-action and firing again.

  The first bullet missed Garin by inches. The second struck the helicopter's gas tank, exploding it. The helicopter flew from the ground with a convulsive shudder, then broke apart and caught fire. Black smoke roiled up to mix with the thick, ominous clouds that swirled in the sky.

  Garin and his newfound friends ducked for cover.

  "So much for negotiations," Annja muttered.

  "It would only have been a waste of time." Roux stepped back from the cave mouth and nodded at the passageway they'd uncovered. "We have a way out."

  If it goes anywhere, Annja thought. But, in the end, they really didn't have a choice.

  The archaeology crew climbed through the hole in the cave wall and stepped into the waiting darkness.

  Chapter 33

  Outside the storeroom, which had obviously been designed to stand apart from the rest of the underground structure, Annja followed a corkscrew spiral staircase that had been carved from solid stone. The amount of work involved told her that the subterranean complex must have taken years to construct.

  She followed her flashlight beam, but the beams of the crew behind her wavered and flashed through the darkness, as well. Knowing that Garin and Ngai wouldn't waste any time pursuing them, she went as quickly as she could.

  The steps went on and on leaving a feeling of vertigo swirling in Annja's skull. Several of the people following her had started to bump up against the rough-hewn walls. She hoped no one would fall, because it would have a domino effect.

  Finally reaching the bottom of the steps, Annja discovered a hallway ran to the left and to the right.

  She waved her flashlight at the wall in front of her, hoping for some kind of help that would explain where she was. She transferred the bone sphere to her backpack, as everyone gathered.

  "Do you know where we are?" Kelly stood behind Annja, breathing as regularly as if she'd been on a stroll.

  Definitely not your common dig worker, Annja noted.

  "Maybe eighty or a hundred feet below the surface." Annja looked at the ground, hoping the wear on the stone would indicate which way most of the pedestrian traffic went. She figured that heavier wear would indicate the shortest path to an exit.

  Don't get your hopes up. Whatever exit might have been there two thousand years ago may not exist now, she reminded herself. Doubt ran through Annja's mind. Suddenly a new thought occurred to her. It's only been a hundred years. Lehmann claimed to have gotten down into the City of Thieves.

  Her hope shored a little, Annja knelt and ran her fingers across the stone. She felt the deep grooves in the rock caused by frequent trips of those who had lived underground.

  "Do you have maps of this place?" Kelly asked.

  "Unfortunately, no. Hold them back for a moment. Until I decide which way we're going."

  Kelly blocked the doorway, holding back the line of people. She held one of her pistols in her fist. Stopping traffic was no problem.

  "What's going on?" Roux demanded from the end of the line. He'd chosen to bring up the rear.

  Annja ignored the question. She started back along the hallway in the other direction. The stone was worn more heavily there. A trench occupied the center of the corridor, deep and smooth.

  She stood and pointed the flashlight ahead of her. "This way." She took off at once, stooped just a little because the corridor's ceiling was low.

  Kelly followed her, matching Annja's pace but leaving her room to work. "That was a neat trick with the sword. How did you do that?"

  "Sleight of hand," Annja replied. "I always loved David Copperfield's performances."

  "You'll have to show me some time."

  "A good magician never reveals her secrets," Annja said.

  ****

  Garin paused at the cave mouth, resting his AK-74 on his hip and listening intently. It was hard to hear anything. The storm's fury had worsened. The wind picked up sand and spun it hard enough to sting exposed skin, even through light fabric. He'd slid his sunglasses on to protect his eyes.

  Ngai's men were in line behind him.

  "Go," Ngai ordered impatiently from the rear of the line. "They're going to get away."

  Get away where? Garin wondered. But since he heard nothing, he entered the cave mouth and peered inside.

  He spotted the opening in the cave wall at once. Piles of rock had tumbled before it. Lead smears from the bullets they'd fired into the area streaked the walls.

  "They're gone." Ngai was furious. Color reddened his face. He addressed Garin like he was to blame.

  Garin swallowed his anger. There would be a time for reckoning later.

  "They're inside
the underground city. They found the City of Thieves." Garin felt certain that's what had been located. "They haven't gotten away. We're just going to hunt them down like rats in a maze." He grinned. "Now, I need a flashlight."

  One of Ngai's warriors handed him a light.

  Taking the flashlight, Garin switched it on and stepped through the opening, taking up pursuit.

  ****

  When Annja felt the section of floor tremble underfoot, she threw herself against Kelly and yelled, "Back!"

  The two women moved, dropping to the floor and bouncing off Professor Hu and the men behind him. Annja hoped they'd gotten clear.

  Stone grated and a dozen metal spikes suddenly thrust out of the wall to the right and chipped stone from the opposite side of the hallway. Sparks flew like tiny fireflies and quickly died out.

  Some of the local workers cried out in fear, calling on their ancestors for blessings.

  Annja got to her feet and eased up to the pressure plate that had tripped the trap. Two thousand years old and it works like a Swiss watch she thought with admiration.

  "That was close." Kelly was at Annja's side.

  Annja used a small crowbar from her backpack to pry the pressure plate back into place. The iron spikes retracted into the stone wall with a grinding noise.

  "So what do you do when you're not dodging death traps in lost and forbidden underground cities?"

  Kelly seemed to consider the question for a time before she answered. "Espionage."

  "Chinese?"

  "American."

  "Interesting. That's what brought you over here?"

  "Actually, the agency that I used to work for and I have a hand's-off policy we're following with each other. I was coming to visit my father when I found him murdered by Ngai's thugs."

  Annja grimaced. "Oh. Sorry." She searched the ground and found four small rocks that fit up under the pressure plate. Annja wedged them in tight.

  Bracing herself, she put pressure on the plate and found she'd managed to keep it from making contact with the tripping mechanism. She turned to the group of people behind her.

  "Give me room to work. If there was a trap here, there'll be others." Annja pointed to the pressure plate. "I've jammed this one, but you should still step over it if you can." Her surgical mask had slipped off during the exertion. She took a deep breath. There was nothing but the scent of stale air, and no effects from the datura powder that she could feel. "I think we'll be fine without the masks at this point."

  As the others moved on, Kelly hung back.

  When she checked on her charges a short time later, Annja saw Kelly kneeling by the pressure plate. The woman carefully pried out the rocks Annja had wedged in. When she stood, the trap was set again.

  Standing nearby, Roux looked at Kelly and grinned in approval. "I like the way you think," he said.

  "There's no sense in letting a perfectly good trap go unused," Kelly replied.

  "That might not be such a good move if we have to come back this way," Annja said.

  "We haven't found a true exit yet," Roux retorted. "The way we came in was through a room, not a door."

  Annja had to admit that was true.

  "And," Roux added, "going back into superior firepower isn't a good plan."

  Also true, Annja agreed. Then she took up the lead again, easing through the darkness.

  ****

  At the bottom of the spiral stairs, Garin hunkered down to survey the floor.

  "What are you doing?" Ngai demanded.

  "Looking to see which way they went." Garin played the flashlight over the rock and dust.

  "They went this way." One of Ngai's warriors stepped forward impatiently. He indicated the footprints in the dust. "Any fool can see that."

  Unless Annja or Roux faked those footprints for a time and dragged a shirt over the dust in the other direction to mask their trail, Garin thought that. He didn't say anything.

  "Go," Ngai ordered.

  The warrior ran, following the hallway.

  Garin stood and looked at Ngai. "How many underground cities have you been in before?"

  Ngai ignored him.

  "Station a couple men here," Garin said, "to keep them from doubling back and escaping."

  With terse commands, Ngai assigned two men to guard the stairs. Then he followed his men.

  Garin trailed after them, knowing they were too eager. Like hounds on a scent. He knew they were thinking about the fact that only Roux and the woman had fired back, suggesting that their prey was virtually helpless.

  They didn't see the dangers posed by the unknown terrain they traveled.

  Only a short distance ahead, Garin heard a distinctive clicking sound. He froze in his tracks. He'd been on far too many tomb robberies not to pay attention to such things.

  Then iron spikes suddenly jetted from the wall, slamming into the lead warrior and impaling him. Incredibly, the spikes didn't kill the man outright. He hung there, pinned against the stone wall like an insect on a collector's board.

  The man screamed in pain, but the sound was as much a gurgle as shriek. At least one of his lungs had been punctured. Garin figured probably both.

  The other warriors stood back from the dying man. They were used to street violence, not something so unexpected.

  The man begged and mewled for help, growing weaker by the second.

  Garin muscled his way to the front of the stunned men and looked at the wounded warrior. There was nothing to be done to save him. Kneeling, Garin took out his knife and lifted the pressure plate that had sprung the trap.

  The bars withdrew, pulling back through the man's body and dropping him to the ground. He flailed his arms helplessly, no longer able to move his legs.

  Garin guessed that the man's spine had been severed. Blood spread in an ever-widening pool beneath him, but it would be some time before he died from blood loss.

  Turning to Ngai, Garin said, "Maybe I could lead now. You can bet this isn't going to be the only trap in this place. Sha Wu Ying and his people probably littered this place with death traps. I might be able to keep more of your men alive."

  Ngai said nothing, then slowly nodded.

  Drawing his pistol, Garin put the barrel against the dying man's head. The man's eyes widened as he realized what was going to happen. Somehow he found the strength to yell even louder.

  Garin pulled the trigger and the pistol bucked in his fist.

  Chapter 34

  At first, Annja had thought the cries of pain that had filled the corridor behind them had been horrible. But they didn't compare to the sudden silence that followed the last ringing echoes of the gunshot.

  She knew that the trap they'd left behind had claimed at least one victim. That knowledge didn't make her feel good – or safe.

  In the last fifteen feet, she'd disabled two more traps. She made her way to the doorway ahead. When she reached it, she paused, shining her flashlight around.

  "What is it?" Kelly asked her.

  The woman's question echoed inside the massive vault before them.

  "Whatever it is, it's big." Annja moved her flashlight around. The darkness effortlessly absorbed the light, like a great ocean of blackness. She turned to Hu's assistant. "I need the flare gun from the emergency kit."

  The young man dropped to his knees and opened the pack. He reached inside and brought out the flare gun.

  Chambering one of the fat rounds, Annja aimed the flare gun at the ceiling above them. She couldn't see it, only knew that it had to be there. Drawing a breath, squinting her eyes, she squeezed the trigger.

  The flare took flight with a muffled sound! It smacked into the ceiling some twenty feet overhead, sending a colony of bats into panicked flight.

  Bats, Annja thought. She watched them for a moment. If bats have found a way in, there has to be a way out. That didn't mean that way out was big enough for human beings, though.

  The flare bounced from the ceiling, then deployed its parachute. Burning a pallid ruby
and trailing smoke, the flare floated toward the ground.

  The chamber was at least a hundred and fifty or two hundred yards across. To Annja's right and dead ahead of her, doors opened into rooms built into the ground. The chamber floor was covered in rock quarried in alabaster-colored flat slabs a foot to two feet across, fitted and mortared together.

  "There are steps cut into the wall over here," Professor Hu said.

  Before the flare winked out, Annja looked at the wall and saw the steps. They curled around the chamber, gradually leading up, vanishing in the darkness again before she could see where they ended.

  "It has to be the way out," Hu said hopefully.

  At least at one time, Annja thought. Nothing else made sense. But there had been nuclear testing over the Lop Nur area, and two thousand years of history.

  Annja took a deep breath. She wanted to stay and explore the buildings cut into the chamber side, but knew she couldn't with Garin and Ngai hot on their heels.

  "All right," Annja said. "Let's see where it takes us." She took the lead, playing her flashlight over the steep steps.

  ****

  Minutes later, they reached the top of the stairs. A tumbled-down mass of rocks blocked the way.

  Annja couldn't tell if there had been a doorway under the debris or if the stairs had merely fed into another corridor. She felt air on her face, cool against the perspiration.

  Reaching into her pocket, she took out the lighter she habitually carried for starting fires. She struck the igniter, sparks flared to life, and the wick caught. A bright yellow-blue flame danced to life.

  Immediately, the flame shimmied, pulled by the invisible air currents that Annja felt. Airflow meant there was a gap somewhere. She moved the lighter close to the chamber wall, knowing that air had a tendency to follow solid surfaces, the same principle that allowed an airplane's wing to achieve lift.

  Sliding the lighter's flame within inches of the wall, Annja discovered that the air flowed through the wall at different places. Training her flashlight on the wall, she searched for cracks.

  "Here." Kelly traced her forefinger along a too-straight crack that ran along the wall. That crack met three others, all at right angles to each other, framing a rectangle.

  "It's a door," Roux said.