Fury's Goddess

by Alex Archer

  Two things happened next. The conveyor belt started up again, and Pipe Man scrambled to jump off.

  But the cuff of his work pants was caught up in the separator trays and grinding gears. He screamed, and Annja turned away as he was dragged into the teeth of the machine.

  He only screamed for a moment.

  Annja huddled next to the machine and risked peering out from around the corner.

  Another shot rang out and hit the leg of the machine. Annja ducked back.

  As long as Dunraj held the higher ground, he’d be able to keep shooting at her, and eventually, he might even get lucky.

  She felt her side and knew the bullet had merely grazed her. But she was bleeding.

  Again.

  Another shot rang out, but it was poorly aimed, and Annja watched it hit a rock across the way. The rest of the workmen had stopped and were running from the action.

  Annja moved around to the other side of the machine. Bright red blood was spilling out of its extractor, and Annja saw white ground-up bits of bone and gristle.

  She blanched, but then saw that Dunraj had abandoned his vantage point.

  That gave her the chance to move up.

  She took it.

  Running as fast as her ribs and gunshot wound would allow, Annja broke for the upper level. She had to catch up with Dunraj. With Frank successfully out of the tunnel, she had little to worry about.

  Kormi was most likely dead. But Annja would avenge his death when she dealt with Dunraj.

  She passed the statue of Kali and paused. The place was completely deserted.

  And then she heard the click behind her.

  She turned.

  Dunraj stood there, a smile plastered on his smug face. “This is the last time you’ll be a problem for me, my dear.”

  He fired the gun.

  Chapter 26

  But Annja was already moving, bringing her sword up and taking herself out of the line of the bullet. It smacked into the flat of her sword blade and bounced harmlessly away.

  Dunraj saw her cutting down the distance and knew he wouldn’t be able to reacquire the target, so he tossed the gun and drew his own knife. Then he went to meet Annja in a furious clanging of steel blades.

  “Where did you ever get that sword?”

  Annja grimaced as the force of their exchange made her arms ache. “A friend of mine lent it to me.”

  “Here? Who?”

  Annja smirked. “Remember how I told you I was going to come back and haunt you?”

  Dunraj laughed. He redoubled his attack and drove Annja back toward the statue of Kali. “Let’s see how well you fare dealing with this.”

  He launched a series of quick, shallow swipes with his dagger, and Annja had to use her sword in a way she hadn’t before. The sword’s normal length gave her the advantage of distance, but with Dunraj in so close, she had to flip it this way and that and rely on her ability to pivot within the killing zone to deflect and otherwise avoid his attacks.

  I can’t keep this up forever, she thought. And so she closed with Dunraj, stared him straight in the eye and then shoved him back with every ounce of strength she had left.

  He flew away from her, but as he did so, his knife raked down her forearm.

  Annja clamped her hand over it, trying to stem the flow of blood, but it was coming fast, and she was already feeling woozy.

  Dunraj charged her again, and Annja’s attempt to block him was a feeble one. He sensed the opportunity and charged again and again. It was all Annja could do to keep her blade between them to gain some time.

  But Dunraj wasn’t about to give her that time. He kept driving her back toward the statue of Kali, and Annja backpedaled as much as she could, but in the end she ran out of room.

  Dunraj grinned and then sprang at her.

  Annja moved to the side, and Dunraj’s body flew past her into the hole that they’d been digging the statue of Kali out of. He screamed for a short moment and then everything was quiet.

  Annja crouched at the edge of the hole and tried to use the sword’s light to penetrate the darkness. But she was unable to see where Dunraj might have landed. One thing she knew for sure—he couldn’t have survived.

  She felt nauseous and stumbled to her feet, trying to find something to use as a bandage. She found one a short time later as she wandered the work area. No one paid her any mind. As far as they were concerned, it seemed, as long as they had their paychecks, they were still working.

  Although she wondered what they would do when they found out he was dead.

  She sat on a crate and finished dressing her wound. She was going to need stitches, that much was certain. But she couldn’t do that until she got back to Hyderabad. She glanced at the trucks. Could she hop a ride the same way she’d sent Frank off?

  It was possible, she supposed. Provided no one gave her crap about it.

  She stood and then collapsed. Blackness rushed at her, and the only thought in Annja’s head was Here we go again.

  SHE CAME TO ON A COT, wrapped in blankets. Annja tried to sit up but a hand held her in place.

  “Take it easy, Annja. Just rest.”

  She opened her eyes. Frank sat at the foot of her bed. “Hey, you made it,” she said to him.

  “Indeed he did,” another man said. “Although I should be terribly upset with you, Annja.”

  She turned her head and smiled at Pradesh. “I don’t blame you one bit if you are. I’m really sorry we didn’t wait for you.”

  Pradesh put up a hand. “Forget it. The most important thing now is that we were able to reach you and get you medical attention. You had a terrible wound on your arm.”

  Annja nodded. “Dunraj. His knife.”

  “Was poisoned.”

  She looked up at him. “Are you serious?”

  “Very. If we hadn’t arrived when we did, there’s every possibility you would have died from the injury.”

  Annja leaned back and sighed. She felt as if she was battling a flu that didn’t want to relent. “I feel horrible.”

  “That’s to be expected,” Pradesh explained. “But I’m told you’ll make a full recovery after the antibiotics kick in. You just have to give them some time.”

  Annja looked around. “Where am I?”

  “In the medical facility in the mountain,” Frank said. “The workers had an infirmary, so we thought it best to bring you here.”

  “God, I’m still in this stupid mountain?”

  Pradesh smiled. “Only for a short time more, I promise you. Once the doctor gives you the okay, we’ll get you out of here.” He glanced at Frank. “Your cameraman does some excellent work, you know.”

  “Yeah?” Annja felt sleepy.

  “He was able to follow the trucks to their dumping point and the exit of the secret highway.” Pradesh shook his head. “It was rather remarkable that such a thing even exists. If I had not seen it with my own two eyes, I might not believe that it was real.”

  “But it is,” she said.

  “I’ve sent word to have the mayor come out and see it. It will cause quite a stir in the Hyderabad community.”

  “Just so long as people know what was happening here,” she said. “That’s really all I can ask.”

  Pradesh patted her leg. “You’re a terrifically brave woman, Annja Creed. I would never have dreamed you had this much gumption.”

  “That’s me—gumption overload.”

  Pradesh laughed. “Apparently so.” He glanced at Frank. “I’ll leave you two alone for a few minutes, all right?”

  He started to turn when Annja stopped him. “Pradesh?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you.”

  He bowed his head. “Just doing my duty.” And then he ducked out of the infirmary tent.

  Frank looked worried. “Seriously, how are you feeling?”

  “My head aches, my body aches, my sinuses are shot to hell. It feels like someone gave me the swine flu combined with Ebola.”

  “We
ll, fortunately that’s not what happened. Otherwise, you’d probably be bleeding from your eyeballs.”

  “Don’t count that out just yet. I might still surprise you.”

  Frank grinned. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “What about the rest of the Thuggee? Did Pradesh round them all up?”

  “Annja…” Frank hesitated.

  “What is it?”

  “It doesn’t look like the Thuggee ever existed.”

  Annja tried to sit up but failed. “What are you talking about? You saw them just as much as I did.”

  Frank nodded. “I know, I know. And I told Pradesh that, but he got access to the tunnels, and his men did a thorough search. There’s no one hiding there. No one at all. Worse, they said the place looks like it was deserted many years ago.”

  “So, what—they think we hallucinated everything?”

  Frank shrugged. “I don’t know yet.”

  “And what about Dunraj?”

  “What about him?”

  Annja grabbed his arm. “Frank, if he’s alive—which I doubt—they’re going to arrest him, right? This can’t be legal what he’s doing here.”

  Frank pried his arm free. “It looks like he and Pradesh made some sort of deal. Maybe he’s going to plead, I don’t know. I don’t know how the justice system works here.”

  “But they were able to pull him out of the hole, right?”

  Frank eyed her. “What hole?”

  “The hole he fell into when we were fighting.”

  Frank shook his head. “Annja, Dunraj was back in Hyderabad when Pradesh went to his office. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Didn’t you see Dunraj before you escaped on the truck?”

  “No.”

  Annja shook her head, and a wave of pain enveloped her. She put a hand to her skull and moaned. “What the hell is going on here?”

  Frank patted her on the thigh. “Just get some rest, and we’ll talk again when the poison is out of your system.”

  Annja could only nod and then close her eyes while Frank left the tent.

  What was going on here? She had sent Dunraj flying into a hole. He was either dead or seriously wounded, and yet Frank told her that Dunraj had been at his office in Hyderabad.

  How could that be?

  How was it that Dunraj could be in two places at once? She thought she’d figured it out with the secret highway, but now this.

  Her mind trailed off into sleep. Hopefully, this will help heal me was the last thing she remembered thinking.

  “How is she?”

  Voices in the tent. Had she dozed off? Had time passed? She couldn’t seem to open her eyes.

  “Better. But she’ll need time to make a full recovery.”

  “I feel so responsible for this.”

  “You can answer to the judge and explain yourself, Mr. Dunraj. All I do is enforce the law.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Annja cracked her eyes. “Pradesh?”

  “I’m here, Annja.”

  “Who is that with you?”

  “Mr. Dunraj is here.”

  And then amazingly, Dunraj’s face swam into her vision with that same horrible smile plastered on his face. “Hello again, Annja.”

  Annja sat up and swung at him.

  But there was no one in the tent.

  She’d been dreaming.

  Annja slumped back down onto the bed with a heavy sigh. That poison must be worse than I thought.

  She lay there listening to the commotion outside the tent. It didn’t seem as if anything was being shut down. In fact, it sounded as if the operation was proceeding at an even faster rate.

  Annja shook her head. I need to get out of here and go home. The police can sort this all out.

  Annja closed her eyes again. Sleep. That’s what I need.

  But then the tent flap opened.

  And Pradesh entered with a smile on his face.

  There was someone else behind him.

  Annja sat up.

  “You.”

  “Hi, Annja.”

  And this time, Dunraj was really standing there.

  Chapter 27

  “You!”

  Annja came up out of her bed exactly as she had in her dream. But this time, Pradesh was there to hold her back. “Wait, Annja! Calm down! You’ve got him all wrong.”

  Dunraj backed away from the bed and grinned sheepishly. “I suppose it’s only natural to expect a reaction like that considering what she’s been through.”

  Pradesh glanced at him. “She’ll be all right. It’s just going to take some time.”

  Dunraj nodded. “Perhaps I should wait outside, then? You know, until she’s ready to discuss things?”

  “That might be a good idea.” Pradesh waited until Dunraj had left before turning back to Annja. “You’ve got to calm down. Things aren’t what they seem, and we’re trying to explain it all to you.”

  Annja felt a wave of nausea, but fortunately, she was able to check it. “How come you haven’t arrested that man? He’s a murderer.”

  “I know it seems like that—”

  “Seems like that? I personally witnessed him cut a man’s heart out of his chest and eat the damned thing.”

  Pradesh lowered his voice. “Annja, that wasn’t Dunraj you saw.”

  “Yes, it was. I’d know that face anywhere.”

  Pradesh leaned closer. “Annja, listen to me—Dunraj was in Hyderabad the entire time. He has an alibi, and it checks out perfectly.”

  “Then who killed that man that I saw?”

  “His brother.”

  Annja stopped. Dunraj had a brother? She took a breath. “Are you certain that he’s got one?”

  Pradesh nodded. “One-hundred-percent positive. In fact, you fought him, and when he fell into that hole by the statue, he died.”

  “I don’t believe this.”

  Dunraj poked his head back into the tent. “I hear things have quieted down now. Would you mind if I came back in?”

  Annja looked at him. He was the same suave and debonair host that she’d met at the welcome party—if somewhat subdued over the apparent death of his brother. But the man she’d killed had been as debonair, albeit with a psychopathic streak a mile long. And identical physically. A brother?

  “Explain all this to me, if you would.”

  Dunraj ducked back in. “First let me just say that I am terribly sorry for all you’ve been through. Had I known that you were involved in this, I certainly would have taken steps to safeguard your investigation.”

  Annja shook her head. “You’d better back up and start from the beginning, because my head’s spinning, and I don’t like thinking I’m going crazy.”

  Dunraj nodded. “Of course, of course.” He rubbed his hands together. “You see, I have a twin. I suppose that is the best way to begin.”

  “Your brother was a twin?”

  “Indeed.” Dunraj pulled up a folding chair and sat down in it. “We determined early on that he had grave psychological problems. Sociopathic tendencies. It was heartbreaking for my family.”

  “All right.”

  “When it became clear that there was very little we could do to keep him contained, so to speak, my family had a serious decision to make. Where to put him so he could never harm the family or the general public.”

  “So you put him in a mountain?” Annja shook her head. “That sounds almost as insane as your brother acted.”

  Dunraj looked pained. “Believe me, I understand how this must look. And I’m engaged in some very serious mea culpa here, as I believe the term is used. But still, you need to look at it from my perspective. He was my brother, after all.”

  “I’m at a bit of a loss to understand how you thought stowing him here was a good idea.”

  Dunraj took a moment. “He killed the rest of our family, Annja.”

  Annja stared at him. “What do you mean—figuratively?”

  “I was away at Oxford when I got
word that he had butchered my entire family.”

  “So how come he’s not in jail?”

  Dunraj looked down at the blanket on her bed. “I prevailed upon the courts to let me do things my way.” He held up his hand. “Yes, I know, I used bribery to get my way. It was wrong. But as I said, I felt I owed my brother to at least try to give him some semblance of a decent life.”

  “You’re telling me you made a home for him in this mountain. Right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And he lived here.”

  “He did.”

  She glanced at Pradesh. “You’re listening, right? How could this possibly have gone on for so long?”

  Pradesh put his hand on her shoulder. “Let him finish talking.”

  Annja looked at Dunraj. “Okay, so you made a home for him here.”

  He nodded. “I needed a way to get supplies to him, so I had a special underground road constructed that I could use to bring him things. Given my position in society, it was important no one ever find out about him. As far as the public knew, there was only one of us. Me. And if he’d behaved himself, then it would have stayed that way for many years to come.”

  “But he found a way out of the mountain.”

  “When I relocated him here, there were old tunnel systems in place. That’s why I chose this place.”

  “It didn’t strike you as cruel to put him inside a mountain?”

  “He was headed to jail. Or worse,” Dunraj said. “I thought I was giving him a better-than-average shot at doing something with his life.”

  “But he didn’t, did he? He started killing people.”

  Dunraj shrugged. “I had no way of knowing that it was actually him. Every time I came out here to see him, things seemed perfectly reasonable.”

  “How can you say that? He had a band of thugs with him. They resurrected an old cult, and they were engaged in systematic terror campaigns to scare the residents away.”

  Dunraj nodded. “Once I figured out that he had the means to escape the mountain and was sending his emissaries out, I tried to stop him.”

  “And how did you do that?”

  “I started excavating the mountain,” he replied. “I tried to get his mind focused on doing other things while he was here. I gave him a position of power in overseeing the work crews.”