by Alex Archer
“She is an exceptional woman. I told you that when I sent you to her.”
“Why did you leave her?”
Roux was silent. Annja felt certain he was going to duck the issue. She hoped he wouldn’t.
“When I first started working with her, I didn’t really think about the danger I was involving her in. I never considered the consequences,” Roux said thoughtfully. “Do you know how many times she was nearly killed working with me?”
“No.”
Roux sighed. “I got up one morning and I realized I couldn’t watch her get killed. After everything I’ve been through, and I’ve been through some horrific events, I could not bear losing her in such a fashion.”
“So your abandonment had nothing to do with the fact that Fiona was getting older? Or that you hadn’t ever loved her?”
“I love her with all my heart, Annja. I just couldn’t protect her. My life was spent looking for the sword that you now carry, and that search took me into dangerous places.” Roux paused. “And I couldn’t give her children. I wasted twenty years of that woman’s life before I knew it. That was how much in love with her I was.” He drew in a breath. “I suppose, in your parlance, I had been something of an asshat.”
Annja felt sorry for him. “Nothing in return? Roux, did you ever stop to think that maybe all she wanted was you?”
“Annja, you’re young in so many ways. You’re not ready for commitment. You live for the adventure each day brings. Tell me that you’re looking forward to settling down with a husband and a house filled with children.”
Guilt stung Annja when she realized she couldn’t. “Maybe Fiona felt the same way.”
“The life I lived then, it was too big. You have trouble keeping up with what that sword brings you, and that’s the truth.”
Annja had no argument.
“Now, if we’ve discussed this enough, I’ve a game to get back to.”
“Sure.”
“Maybe we should plan to get together again soon.”
Annja heard the loneliness in his voice. He wasn’t all hard bark and bluster. “I’d like that. But it can’t be Paris. They don’t want me back there for a while.”
“Well, then, we have all the rest of the world, don’t we?” Roux broke the connection before Annja could reply.
She stayed on the phone and sucked in a breath. The footfalls behind her grew louder. “Fiona?”
“I’m here.”
Before she’d called Roux back, Annja had dialed Fiona and included her on the three-way call. She’d wanted to give the woman something.
“He didn’t leave you, Fiona. Not in the way you thought.”
“I heard.” Fiona’s voice was brittle and sounded far away. “At least I’ll have better memories, and I thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Roux would be livid if he knew what you did.”
“That’s part of what made it worth doing.”
Fiona laughed. “I suppose so. Do you know when you’ll be leaving London?”
“Soon.” The footsteps behind Annja were definitely closing in on her now.
“We should have lunch before you go.”
“Definitely.”
Annja hesitated. “You know, you could reach out to Roux. Maybe give him a call.”
“Out of the blue?”
“Yes.”
“For good or bad, he has his life and I have mine. Perhaps that’s for the best.”
“And perhaps it’s not.”
Fiona sighed. “I enjoy you, Annja Creed. Truly I do. Roux was right about one thing—you are still so very young.”
“But—”
“Is there someone you care for very much, who could change your life if you let them?”
Immediately, Annja thought of Bart McGilley. They had been friends for years, and she knew they could be more if she would just stay still.
“I can tell by your silence that you know exactly who I’m talking about. Now ask yourself why you don’t let that happen.”
The question made Annja unhappy. Fiona was right. Right now her life was one thing and there wasn’t room in it to be another.
“Now let me know when you plan to leave London. I do want to get together.”
“I will.”
Fiona said goodbye and hung up.
Annja took a deep breath and placed the phone back in her pocket. Instead of being thrilled at putting one over on Roux, now she felt depressed and irritable.
The footsteps behind her accelerated and she saw the long shadow of her pursuer closing on her. She sidestepped at the last minute and the big man ran past. His heavy boots clomped on the cobblestones, but he stopped himself and twisted around.
He stood a little over seven feet tall and would have shamed an NFL linebacker. His skin was pallid, almost fish-belly white, and his face looked like a cinder block stretched across his thick neck. Intelligence gleamed in his milk-white eyes, but there was no shred of compassion or humanity.
“Annja Creed.” His voice was a low rumble.
“You know me.”
“I’ve seen you on television.” He started to circle her. Annja stepped to put her back against the wall.
“Mr. Hyde, I presume.”
“And I’m going to kill you.”
“Why?”
He grinned at her. “Because I’m a monster. Everyone has always said so. Killing you will make me even more famous. Besides, I have learned to enjoy killing. The bones in those women snapped so easily, and you could hear it. Snap, snap, snap.” He sighed. “I look forward to hearing your bones snap.”
“You’re going to be disappointed.”
“Why?”
“Because I fight monsters. And you picked a really bad night to make yourself available for me to vent my frustration.” Annja reached for the sword, felt the hilt brush against her palm, then decided not to use the blade.
Hyde rushed in and she let him. His size and weight were advantages he was used to, ones he counted on.
Annja ducked beneath his outstretched arms, but only barely. He was quicker than she’d believed possible. She rolled away as he threw one hand against the wall and halted himself, turning amazingly quickly. But his size worked against him in the end. She rolled to her feet behind him and slightly to one side. Coldly, with calculated precision, she kicked hard at his right knee.
The joint went violently sideways and shattered in a staccato of sharp cracks. Snap, snap, snap.
Crying out, Hyde threw himself at her, trying desperately to get those big arms around her. Annja stepped back slightly, batting his arms aside with her forearms, and brought her right knee up into his face. Blood spurted and his nose broke.
Hyde went to the ground, caught himself on his knees and reached for her again. He howled like a rabid animal.
Thinking only of the women the man had killed, Annja grabbed Hyde’s outstretched right hand, slid her grip down to his ring and pinkie fingers, and twisted them viciously. The fingers dislocated and fractured. When Hyde drew his hand back, Annja twisted and delivered a side kick to the big man’s face that broke his jaw and knocked him out.
Broken and bloody, Mr. Hyde lay stretched on the cobblestones as a crowd from a nearby pub started to gather. The last few moments of the fight had attracted an audience. Conversations gained momentum and volume.
Annja took out her phone. It was a toss-up whether to call Doug Morrell or DCI Westcox first. She decided on Doug. Judging from the glowing lights of the cell phones in the hands of the crowd thronging the street, the inspector would know soon enough.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459227682
Copyright © 2012 by Worldwide Library
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue