by Alex Archer
“Is that what you tell yourself before the demons come at night?”
“Shut up.”
Guge shrugged. “You’re more like her than you know. I think that’s why she went through all this trouble just to catch you and get the sword.”
Annja pulled him to a stop again and got up close to his face. “Listen to me, pal. Even if I wanted to hand over the sword, it wouldn’t leave. It’s not something I can give away. And if I could, I sure as hell wouldn’t pass it to some nutball organization that wants to use it for evil purposes.”
“Actually, it’s our theory that you can give it away.”
Annja stopped. “What?”
Guge nodded. “We think you can give it away. Of course, there happens to be a downside.”
“Yeah, and what’s that?”
“You have to do it as you’re dying. Sort of like a final wish or command, if you will. If you manifest the sword as you are dying, then we believe you can hand it over to whomever you want.”
“That’s some theory.”
Guge giggled. “Well, you know what they say about theories—all it takes is one damned fool to try it out to see if it works.”
Tuk swept past Annja. “Can we shut him up now? I’m getting tired of listening to him babble on and on.”
Annja ignored Tuk. “And just how are they going to test that theory?”
“I already told you, Annja. You’ll have to die.”
Annja backhanded him across the face and shoved him forward down the corridor again. She could still see the flickering torches stuck in their brackets down the hall where the giant Buddhist sculptures sat.
“So all of this is nothing but a joke, huh? This must have cost millions to create. Millions of dollars just to get to me?”
Guge shook his head. “Don’t be so egotistical. She’s not a fool. Diverting that kind of money would have raised alarm bells and gotten us all killed. No, we needed a place that already existed. So we found it.”
“This already existed?”
“Sure.”
“Why is this the first anyone has known about it?”
Guge shrugged. “Isn’t it obvious? You found this place because we wanted you to find it. It’s all part of the plan, sweetheart.”
Annja kneed him in the back. “I’m not your sweetheart. Now keep moving before I do get tired of you and let you rot here.”
Guge stopped. “Wait—before we go any farther, I’ve got to tell you something.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“When you meet our leader—because you will soon—you should know one thing about her.”
Annja sighed. “What?”
Guge licked his lips. “She—”
The sharp retort of gunfire exploded down the hallway and three rounds tore a line across Guge’s chest, stitching him from one side to the other. His body spasmed and jerked from the impact.
Annja spun even as Tuk started shouting for her to take cover. Automatic gunfire sounded and Annja bent forward, looking for any type of protection.
“Annja! You okay?”
Annja crawled and found a shallow depression by one of the torch brackets. She reached up and pulled the torch out of the bracket and then smashed it to the ground. Darkness enveloped the hallway.
“I’m all right. You got some cover?” she called to Tuk.
“By the nearest statue.”
Sporadic gunfire broke out and bullets zipped past in the air. Annja kept her head down.
She heard closer gunfire and saw that Tuk was firing back at the end of the hallway.
“Are they down there?”
“I think so. I caught a glimpse of movement right before the whole place exploded.”
“I need a gun. Slide one over to me,” she said.
Annja heard the skid of metal on stone and reached out as the assault rifle slid into her grasp. She picked it up and ratcheted the slide. Annja set the selector switch down past full auto to semi and brought the butt to her shoulder.
Along the hallway, she caught a muzzle flash and ducked back as a bullet plowed through the air near her head.
Tuk was firing back in two-round bursts. Annja caught a glimpse of him in the muzzle flash and then fired off a few rounds herself. She had to let them at least know they were armed.
She wasn’t going down without a fight.
Thoughts swam through her head as she looked for any target of opportunity. Just how much of what Guge had just told her was truth? He’d already admitted to lying. Would he still be lying to her up until the moment he died?
And if he wasn’t lying, then could this whole thing really be just one big plot to get Annja’s sword?
Who would go to those lengths?
“Reloading!” Tuk called out.
Annja brought her weapon up and squeezed off several rounds. She realized they would have to conserve ammunition. Once they ran out, that was it. They’d be defenseless.
“Tuk! We can’t stay here!” she shouted.
“I know. What do you want to do?”
Annja squeezed off two more rounds. “I’m coming to you. Cover me.”
“Go!” he said.
Tuk started firing and Annja crept out of her space, then ran toward the shadowy figure of the little man. Annja slid in next to him and felt the reassuring presence of the giant statue. It was more than enough to provide them with exceptional cover from the bullets coming at them.
Tuk paused. “You all right?”
Annja nodded. “Who taught you how to shoot?”
Tuk grinned. “Reruns of The A-Team. For a while that was the only American programming we got over here.”
Annja wanted to laugh. But they had problems to face. “We can’t stay here. They’ll wait us out and then come and kill us.”
“Agreed, but what do we do? If we try to go at them, they’ll simply mow us down.”
Annja chewed her lip. “I’m open to ideas.”
“I’m not sure I have any.” Tuk frowned. “Hold that thought.” He ducked back around the edge of the statue and let out a burst of gunfire. From somewhere down the hallway, Annja heard a scream and then silence. Tuk must have tagged one of them trying to sneak up.
“It got too quiet out there,” he said a moment later.
“Do you think Guge was telling the truth? That this is a plot to get my sword?”
“I don’t understand your sword, Annja,” Tuk said. “But it certainly seems a bit too massive an operation to go through just for a sword. But then again, I’m not some insane despot. So who knows?”
Annja nodded. “We’ll have to make a run for it. Somehow we have to get out of here. You’ve got to call Garin and we need an escape plan.”
“I’m with you. I’m just not crazy about the whole running right at the gunfire thing.”
“We may not have a choice.”
“Annja Creed!” The loud voice echoed down the hallway. The gunfire had ceased. Annja was puzzled. “Who the hell is that?”
Tuk frowned. “It sounds like my so-called mother,” he said.
“Annja Creed!”
“Vanya?” Annja looked at Tuk. “I think you’re right.”
“What does she want?” he asked.
Annja shrugged. “One way to find out.” She crawled around Tuk but stayed behind cover. “I’m here!” she shouted.
“I’m giving you exactly two minutes to come out of there with your hands raised and no firearms in your possession.”
“Why on earth would I agree to something like that?” Annja called out. “You’ll just kill us.”
“You don’t have any choice. You’re trapped. Sooner or later we will simply come down there and kill you. I’m offering you an alternative to that.”
“Doesn’t sound like it. You’ll just kill us one way or the other.”
“You, perhaps. But if you come out right now, I’ll spare the little man.”
Tuk frowned. “Who’s she calling ‘little’?”
“No way
,” Annja said. “We might die but at least we’ll take a lot of your men with us when we go. Maybe even you.”
Vanya’s laughter echoed through the hallway. “No, I don’t think you’ll take any more of my people. In fact, I’m sure of it. You come out in two minutes or you will die there, trapped beneath tons of rubble.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The entire room is wired with explosives,” Vanya said. “And I’m holding the detonator in my hand right now.”
29
Annja looked at Tuk. “You think that’s true?”
“Stay here.” Tuk crawled away into the darkness and Annja sat very still for a lonely minute until Tuk’s face reappeared next to her. “She’s not lying. This place has more high explosives than a military facility. If she triggers that detonator, then the whole room will cave in. And I don’t know if she has the corridor behind us wired, as well.”
“Can we snip the wires?” Annja asked.
Tuk shrugged. “Maybe, but I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to do it. The other thing is the number of boxes with blinking lights leads me to believe that she’s got them remotely keyed to explode rather than a hardwire landline kind of thing.”
“Great.” Annja slumped back against the wall. “This is not the news I was hoping to hear.”
Tuk nodded. “Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” She glanced back around the statue and saw a single figure illuminated down at the far end of the hallway. “I wonder if I could hit her from this distance?”
“Probably not. And if you grazed her, she’d just blow the whole room up. I think it’s likely that the only thing they’re interested in right now is getting you out into the open.”
“Presumably to kill me.”
“Presumably,” Tuk said. “But who knows, they may have something else in store for you, as well.”
Annja smiled. “Like what? Long bouts of extreme torture? Sounds like a great time.”
“I’m not sure what our alternatives are right now,” Tuk said. “And we’re out of time.”
On cue, Vanya’s voice found them again. “Time’s up, Annja. I am going to turn that room into a pile of smoldering rubble. Come out now.”
Annja shook her head. There had to be something she could do. But what? There was no way she’d be able to disarm all the explosives, and if Vanya saw them retreating back the way they’d come, she’d just detonate the bombs. Annja and Tuk were about to be buried alive under a mountain.
“This sucks,” Annja said. “I don’t suppose your phone is getting any reception now that we’re closer to the outside?”
Tuk’s face lit up. “Let me try.” He yanked the cell phone out of his pocket and examined the screen. “I see one bar on the reception. I suppose it’s worth a shot.”
“Anything is,” Annja said.
Tuk pressed the number two and waited. Finally, Annja saw him sit up. “It’s ringing.”
“Give it to me,” she said. She grabbed the phone as Garin’s voice could be heard.
“Tuk!”
“It’s Annja, Garin.”
“Where the hell are you?”
“I don’t have any time so shut up and listen. This place, wherever we are, is a staged thing. Some rogue Chinese military woman who calls herself Vanya is running the show here and the aim seems to be to get me to give them the sword.”
“Annja, that’s impossible, isn’t it? You can’t give anyone the sword. The sword chose you. And when you’re gone, presumably the sword will choose someone else.”
“Well, I’m having a hard time selling them on that notion. Apparently, they think that as I’m dying I can command the sword to pass to the person of my choosing.”
“Rubbish!” Garin said, although he didn’t sound entirely convinced.
“I don’t have any time. Tuk and I are in a room that is wired with explosives. This Vanya woman is telling me that unless I come out and give myself up, she’s going to blow it up.”
“You go out there and they’ll kill you.”
“I know.”
“I need more time, Annja. I can’t find you guys. I’ve been searching everywhere and there’s no trace.”
“All I’ve got is that this place—wherever we are—was previously constructed. It’s got to be something big. And somehow it’s tropical here, and that means it would take a lot of heat coming from something. I don’t have any idea what, but it’s a sure bet it would have taken millions to make this place.”
“That’s it?”
“I’m not exactly having a great day, Garin.”
“I’ll do what I can and get there as fast as possible.”
“I hope so.”
Annja closed the phone and handed it back to Tuk. “So much for that.”
“Did he say they were close?”
“He’s got no idea where we are.”
“This is your last warning, Annja!”
Annja frowned. “I’m getting tired of hearing her voice. She sounds incredibly egotistical.”
“She’s probably quite happy about the situation she’s got you in,” Tuk said.
“No doubt.”
Tuk laid a hand on her arm. “I don’t mind dying, Annja Creed. I’ve had a good life. I’ve done a lot given the paltry amount I started with. So if you say we’re going to rush them, then that is exactly what I will do.”
Annja smiled. “I don’t doubt it, my friend. But I don’t think that’s the best way to play this.”
“Then how.”
Annja took a deep breath and told Tuk what she wanted him to do. When she was finished, Tuk looked up at her. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. It’s the best option we have right now.”
“It’s not really much of an option, if you ask me.”
“I’m all out of ideas,” Annja said.
“As am I.”
Annja nodded. “All right, then. Are you ready for this?”
Tuk took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I think I am.”
A second later a single shot rang out. Then Annja got to her feet very calmly and shouted down the hallway.
“I’m coming out!”
“What was that gunshot we heard?”
Annja was fifty yards from the entrance. But she could see Vanya standing there surrounded by a squad of Chinese soldiers all aiming their weapons at Annja.
“You left me no choice.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You said you wouldn’t kill Tuk, but neither of us believed you. And he preferred to die by my hand than by yours. So I did him the favor.”
Vanya regarded Annja as she approached. “But you didn’t choose suicide? How interesting.”
“I don’t think I’d be able to do it,” Annja said. “I guess I just know my limitations.”
Vanya nodded. “Come out here into the light so I can see you properly. And if you try any tricks, my men are under orders to fill your body full of bullets. You’ll die standing up.”
“That wouldn’t really help your end game, would it?”
“To get your sword?” Vanya grinned. “I suppose it wouldn’t, but I’m not a fool, either. I’d rather you were dead than give you even half a second to unleash that blade against us.”
Annja cleared the remaining distance and came out into the light, blinking her way back to full vision. As she did so, she caught a glimpse of movement and suddenly Hsu Xiao had her claws positioned around Annja’s throat.
“Move and you will die,” she whispered.
“Nice welcoming committee you have here,” Annja said.
Vanya nodded at her men. “Go and check on the little man. I want his body dragged out here so I can make sure there’s nothing going on.”
Annja shrugged. “I told you he’s dead.”
Vanya smiled. “And if he’s not, he soon will be.”
“And to think I almost believed your promise that he would be set free. I’m glad we chose the route we did.”
“I’m so glad I’ve lived up to your expectations,” Annja said. “So, assuming you’re able to get my sword, who does it go to? You?”
Vanya smiled. “Oh, that I were young enough to wield it with the elegance such a blade deserves. But no, regrettably my advanced age makes that a little foolish for me to attempt.”
“So, who, then? Crazy Nails here? She’ll bust them gripping the hilt.”
“Hsu Xiao will inherit the blade. Yes.”
Annja shook her head. “I don’t know if that’s such a great idea. You see, the sword doesn’t like being told what to do. Trust me. I’ve tried several times.”
“Quiet,” Hsu Xiao said.
Vanya laughed. “I marvel at your humor. I really do. You know, when the rumors reached us about an American woman who had this mystical sword, at first we suspected it was some type of American intelligence operation. That maybe they had created a super soldier that they could unleash at will.”
“Nope. Just little old me.”
“Imagine my delight when I learned everything I could about you. Your past is one shrouded in secrecy for some reason and yet I was able to trace your lineage back hundreds of years.”
Annja frowned. “You’re lying.”
“Oh, no, I’m not. I wanted to know everything about you. It was my way of trying to decipher why the sword chose you as its wielder. I thought that if I could uncover what made you so special, then the questions about the sword would reveal themselves to me.”
“Interesting theory. Too bad you don’t know squat. No one does. I’m an orphan and I’ve got no family.”
Vanya shook her head. “You disappoint me, Annja. I really expected that you would have taken the time to search deeper and go back further than a mere generation. The answers to your past lie in full view, provided you know where to look.”
“And why do I find this so difficult to believe? I don’t know, could it be because you’re a liar?”
Vanya frowned. “I’m not lying. You must think me a fool if you believe I would undertake something of this magnitude and not do my homework. Whatever you may think about me, Annja, know this. I am not lying when I tell you that I have learned every aspect of your past. Every family member who has passed his or her genetic material down through your bloodlines to make you what you are today. You are not a mere orphan. You are something wholly incredible. And yet, you fail to realize that, save for the sword being in your possession.”