False Horizon (16 page)

One of the soldiers chambered a round in his weapon and, as he did so, Tuk came alive, suddenly kicking at the exposed knee of the soldier with the gun aimed at him. The gun went off and the round fired wild.

Annja jerked her shoulders up, knocking away Hsu Xiao’s hands. Then she pivoted and drove two punches into the assassin’s exposed sternum. Hsu Xiao recoiled and thrust her hands forward, but as she did so, Annja leaned back, just barely out of range of the slicing claws that would have surely severed her carotid artery.

Annja kicked up at the same time Hsu Xiao backflipped away and Annja’s kick hit nothing. She summoned the sword in time to cut down the other solider who was aiming his gun at Tuk.

Annja’s blade cut him through the shoulder and ripped a chunk of flesh out of his neck. He went down screaming.

Tuk grabbed the closest gun and aimed a volley of bullets at Hsu Xiao, but the assassin twisted away. Annja saw her flick her wrist ever so gently.

“Tuk!”

The throwing spikes embedded themselves in Tuk’s shoulder and upper chest. He went down clutching at the exposed pieces of steel.

Vanya grabbed a knife from a hidden sheath in her dress and came up behind Tuk, placing the point of the knife under his right ear. “Drop the sword, Annja. Drop it or he dies.”

“You’ll kill him, anyway,” Annja said.

“I won’t. I only want the sword. This man is inconsequential to me.”

Tuk grimaced. “Don’t listen to her, Annja! She won’t stay true to her word. You know this.”

Annja held the sword up in front of her. Hsu Xiao came back to stand beside Vanya. The look on her face made Annja’s skin crawl.

“Let him go first,” she said.

Vanya sniffed. “I’m not a fool, Annja.”

“Neither am I. And you don’t exactly have a good record of keeping your word. So we do this my way or no way. You let Tuk go. Once he’s clear, then I’ll surrender the sword. You tell him how to get out of here and he’s gone. It’s that simple.”

“I can’t tell him how to leave. He’ll bring back help.”

Annja shook her head. “We’re out in the middle of nowhere. What help is going to come for us?”

Vanya’s eyes narrowed and she had a whispered conversation with Hsu Xiao. Vanya nodded. “All right. I will tell him how to get out of here. Once he’s gone, you turn yourself over to us.”

Annja pointed at Hsu Xiao. “Crazy Nails stays here with us the entire time. Once Tuk has enough time to get away, then I’m yours. Not a moment before. You try anything at all, any kind of ambush, any funny business, and Tuk’s death will be the least of your worries.”

Vanya sighed. “Fine. You have my word.” She pushed Tuk away from her. “But make it quick. I have a schedule to keep and, right now, I’m behind.”

Annja leaned over Tuk and tugged the three spikes out of him while he gritted his teeth. “You going to be okay?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yes. I think so. None of them went too deep. Hurts like hell but I can endure it.”

“Get clear of this place. You hear me? Get clear and don’t stop to look back. You can bet as soon as they’re done with me Hsu Xiao will be on your trail. She’s going to want to make sure there are no witnesses. You understand?”

“I understand.” He looked into Annja’s eyes. “Thank you for doing this for me. I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend like you.”

Annja smiled. “Hey, you watched over me. This is the least I can do.”

Tuk looked at her and nodded once. “All right, then.”

Annja smiled. “All right.”

Tuk turned to Vanya. “I’m ready to leave now.”

Vanya sighed. “Fine, fine. Go back to the statue room and continue to where your cell was. Beyond the doorway is a false wall. Press it and a door will open to a small staircase. Travel up the staircase and you’ll come to a trapdoor in the floor of the cave you and Annja were in when the yeti found you. That’s your way home.”

“A trapdoor in the floor of the cave? That was the big secret?” Annja said.

Vanya smiled. “No one ever checks the floor. All anyone thinks about is the wall having some type of contraption.” Her eyes flamed. “Now go before I change my mind and have Hsu Xiao kill you all.”

Annja gripped the sword. “That would be a grave mistake.”

Vanya nodded at Tuk. “He gets ten minutes. No more. If he’s not back on the other side by then, it will be his own fault.”

Annja looked at Tuk. “Run and don’t stop for anything. Understand?”

“I understand.” He smiled. “Goodbye, Annja.”

“Seeing you,” she said.

Tuk dashed back into the temple corridor and vanished from view. Vanya calmly glanced at her watch and then back at Annja. “Ten minutes from now. Are we agreed on that?”

“Sure.”

Hsu Xiao stayed stock-still. Annja could sense her desire to rush into the temple and strike Tuk down before he could get clear. “I think your dog wants off her leash,” Annja said.

Vanya smiled. “She does. Very much so, in fact. But she’s a good girl and she’ll do what I say. Besides, there will be time enough for her to kill Tuk once we’re done with you. Who knows, perhaps she’ll even use your sword to do it.”

“She’ll have to get the sword away from me first,” Annja said. “And the truth of the matter is, I don’t think she’ll be able to.”

“I suppose Guge told you our theory?”

“He did.”

Vanya shook her head. “He always did talk too much. I should have had him killed years ago.”

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told him,” Annja said. “It’s not going to work.”

“How do you know?”

Annja shrugged. “Well, considering it’s my sword now and I’m the one who’s been living with it for years, I think I have a better insight into how the sword behaves than you do.”

“That may be true for some things, but one might also argue that you lack the perspective to see a possible means to separate the two of you.”

Annja nodded. “I’ll give you that. But what happens if this grand old theory of yours turns out to be one big mistake? What then? I’ll be dead and you’ll lose the only chance you have of getting the sword.”

Vanya crossed her arms. “That’s a chance we’re willing to take.”

“Wonderful,” Annja said. “See, if I were you, I’d keep me alive and just try different ways to get the sword.”

“You’re too powerful to keep alive, Annja. Surely you must understand that. If you die giving us the sword or if you don’t give us the sword, either way you will at least be dead and gone and no longer a threat.”

“I find it difficult to believe that you consider me such a big danger to you or to your government.”

Vanya sniffed. “What makes you think I give a damn about my government and all it stands for? Hasn’t anyone ever told you that all disputes in the world boil down to the smallest common denominator? And that denominator is money and power. That’s it. Show me any despot, any religious zealot, any tyrant—they all want the same things. Money and power make the world go around.”

“And that’s all you want?” Annja said.

Vanya checked her watch. “Five minutes, Annja. Five minutes to go.”

“Answer the question. Is that why you’ve done everything here? So you can set yourself up as some sort of power mogul?”

Vanya sat on the low stone wall closest to them and stretched her arms. “I have existed in the inner circles of male dominance in China. As a woman, I’ve been told I’d never get anywhere of import and yet I rose to a position of great power within the intelligence service. And I’ve been able to keep an eye out for other promising women so I can help them along, school them in the ways in which we will take power, and then keep them by my side when I need them.”

Annja glanced at Hsu Xiao. “I assume she’s talking about you.”

Hsu Xiao gave a curt nod.

Vanya laughed. “Hsu Xiao wants nothing more than to face you in mortal combat, Annja. Do you know that?”

“Well, I can respect that,” Annja said. “At least she’s not a coward like so many others who just want the fruit without doing any of the work.”

“But I can’t afford to lose her to that blade of yours. Not when I have so many plans for it.”

“What kind of plans?”

“China’s government needs some shaking up for one.”

“You’re going to rule China? Good luck.”

Vanya shrugged. “Well, what would you have me do? Seize power from a nonnuclear power? What a waste that would be. Once Hsu Xiao has the sword, I shall be able to dispatch anyone who stands in my way.”

“Seems to me you could do that now if you choose.”

Vanya shook her head. “No. Hsu Xiao is incredibly powerful, yes. But with the sword, none shall be able to stand against her.”

Annja frowned. “It’s not a shield of invulnerability, you know. I can die just as easily with the sword as I can without it.”

“Rubbish,” Vanya said. “We know the sword grants you a much higher pain threshold and endurance.”

“Yeah, it seems to. But it doesn’t mean I can’t die. If your friend Hsu Xiao here gets a face full of lead, no blade on earth is going to stop her from taking a ride down the River Styx.”

Vanya smiled. “Perhaps. But with the sword, she will be much more potent than any of my enemies.”

Annja grinned. “So that’s it, isn’t it. You’ve got a foe already who is too powerful. What’s he got, someone even better than Hsu Xiao? Is that why you haven’t moved on him yet?”

Vanya checked her watch. “You’ve got one minute, Annja.”

Annja nodded. She glanced at the temple corridor and hoped that Tuk had made his way back to the cave. That he was on the phone with Garin right now, calling in the cavalry.

“So once you dispatch all your opponents, what then?” Annja asked.

“I will assume leadership of China and help guide her into the new millennium the way she should be. I’ll be the new Jade Empress.”

“Fruitcake, more likely. What makes you think that anyone will abide by you being the new ruler of China?”

“Because I will kill anyone who does not.”

“And what about the rest of the world?”

“What about it?”

“I hardly think they’re just going to roll over and say, ‘Great,’ when you come into power.”

Vanya nodded. “That is true. I had been giving that some thought.” She smiled. “A small demonstration of my power may be necessary to prove how serious I am.”

“Small demonstration? Like what? You’re going to wipe out Tibet?”

Vanya shook her head. “That’s far too small scale for my liking. If I do that no one will even pay attention. No, I need something bigger. Something more along the lines of shock and awe.”

Annja frowned as she realized what Vanya would target. “Taiwan.”

Vanya shrugged. “It’s been asking for it for years. They’re such upstarts and it’s really like a forgotten province, anyway. There’s absolutely no way I could tolerate such dissent in my kingdom.”

“Dual purpose,” Annja said. “You show the rest of the world you mean business and you show your citizens their dissent won’t be tolerated.”

“I believe it’s what we call a win-win,” Vanya said. “And speaking of which, your final minute is now up.”

“Is it?”

Vanya nodded. “Yes. It’s time for you to lower your sword, Annja. You belong to me now.”

Tuk raced along the corridor as fast as his legs, grinding like pistons beneath his body, would carry him. He made it back to the doorway and then found the secret exit to the spiral stone staircase leading up. The air bit at him; the cold temperatures were a distinct difference from the balmy weather he’d just enjoyed.

As he neared the top of the stairs, he looked up and saw the ceiling and what would be a trapdoor in the floor of the cave. It seemed perfectly flush and he supposed it would look exactly the same form the other side.

He reached up and undid the locking mechanism, a series of slide bolts that would discourage entry even if by some miracle the trapdoor was discovered.

Tuk braced himself on the stairs and shoved up at the trapdoor with all the strength he had. The weight was enormous and he soon realized that the trapdoor was actually made out of the stone of the mountain itself. For all intents and purposes, Tuk was trying to move a mountain to gain his freedom.

He glanced back down the staircase, half expecting to see the shadowy wisp of Hsu Xiao coming after him. Tuk had no illusions about whether he would live or die. His survival depended on gaining his freedom to call Garin.

Tuk shoved again, but the stone didn’t budge. He took a huge breath and shoved once more, but the stone did not seem to want to give in the slightest. Tuk brought his arms back down and rested them for a moment.

He hadn’t expected the weight to be so incredible.

He frowned and looked back up at the series of bolt locks. He counted them off and then to his horror saw that he’d missed two corner locking mechanisms that were of a different type than the simple slide bolts.

They weren’t taking any chances with this door being discovered, he thought.

Tuk immediately focused his attention to the two locks. They looked like dead bolt locks, but with a simple turning mechanism. He twisted the first knob and heard the satisfying sound of the bolt sliding away with a solid thunk. He quickly did the same to the other lock and then brought his arms back down to rest again.

He’d never known that working overhead could so rapidly tax his arm muscles like this. He took a series of deep breaths and then launched himself right at the trapdoor, hoping that it would move.

He impacted and then he drove the door back and up.

A rush of cold air slapped him in the face and Tuk had an instant shiver. The wind swept in from the cave opening, but he was back.

Back on the other side.

He scrambled out of the staircase, but as he did, the little cell phone tumbled out of his pocket and fell over and over again back down the stairs, coming apart at the bottom. Tuk gasped as he saw the little phone split into two pieces.

“No!”

He scrambled down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, he scooped up the components and then raced back up. Better to be on this side, and if Hsu Xiao’s face suddenly appeared, at least he could slam the rock down on her head.

Tuk examined the components in his hand. Was the phone broken? Would it even work again if he was somehow able to put it back together?

He looked at the pieces and then frowned. There didn’t appear to be anything broken. Perhaps it was just the battery that had come away.

He quickly slapped the battery back into place and then powered the phone up. For a few tense seconds he waited and then he nearly shouted with joy as the screen illuminated and Tuk saw that he had reception.

He pressed the number two. After about thirty seconds, the phone on the other end rang.

“Tuk?”

“Garin!”

“Where are you?”

“There’s not much time. Annja’s going to have to give up her sword if you don’t hurry and get here.”

“Tell me where you are.”

“We’re in the cave near the crash site. The place I told you where we found shelter. From the outside it looks like a small crack but you should be able to just fit inside.”

“Tuk, we found that place. We searched it inside and out and couldn’t find a thing. Are you sure that’s the location?”

“It is! Listen to me! Once inside, there’s a trapdoor in the floor of the cave that leads down a staircase and back over to the other side where we just were. But you’ve got to hurry.”

“I’ve got the rotors turning now on the chopper. Hang in there. I should be there within twenty minutes.”

“That will be twenty minutes too late! Annja made a deal to surrender if I was set free.”

“Why on earth did she do that?”

Tuk sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Tuk, she can’t surrender that sword. If she is able to give it away and it goes to someone villainous like these people seem to be, then the entire balance of good and evil in the universe will be thrown out of whack. She must not give up her sword. She’s got to hold on to it at all costs!”

“But what am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, but you’ve got to stall them somehow. I need time to get there.”

“I’ll do what I can,” said Tuk. “But you’ve got to hurry.”

He slapped the phone shut and paused on the floor of the cave. The last thing he wanted to do was go anywhere near Hsu Xiao or Vanya again. But Annja had given herself up so that Tuk could go free and reach Garin.

If she hadn’t done that, he thought, I never would have gotten this far in the first place.

He started back down the staircase. Behind him, he left the trapdoor open. He hoped Garin and his men would find it as soon as they got to the cave.

If there was enough time.

As he descended, Tuk knew what he needed. He crept back down the hallway toward his prison cell and then turned at the juncture where he and Annja had crept up to the control room.

The smell that assailed his nostrils made him want to vomit, but he choked the surging bile in his throat and forced himself to enter the room. He lifted another AK from one of the dead guards and then took three extra magazines of ammunition.

As he was about to leave, he saw the computer terminal flashing a message. Tuk frowned. He didn’t read or understand Chinese, but looked, anyway. Red flashing icons that made him wonder what was going on.

Were they simply alarms going off? Did they know that the trapdoor was now open to the other side?

Tuk used the mouse to try to navigate around and then started clicking just for the sake of it.

The screen changed to something that looked like a chart with varying levels fluctuating. He saw what he presumed were danger points and noticed the fluctuating levels all hovered close to those marks.

“What is this place?” His voice echoed around the room.

“You don’t want to know.”

Tuk spun around and saw himself staring down the barrel of a pistol.

“Mike?”

Mike didn’t look very friendly. “Already embracing your true identity, I see. What did Vanya promise you if you came over to her side?”

Tuk shook his head. “Mike, I’m not with them. I swear to you. I just escaped and called for some help. But Annja’s back there with Vanya and her assassin, Hsu Xiao. And she’s giving herself up to them.”

Mike looked shocked. “She’s what?”

“It’s true. They want the sword, so—”

“What sword?”

Tuk stopped. “Maybe I should let Annja explain that to you.”

Mike thumbed the hammer back on the pistol. “Maybe you’d better explain it to me right now.”

Tuk sighed. “Annja’s got some sword she can conjure out of thin air. I don’t know what it is or what it does but it makes her some kind of ferocious warrior. Vanya staged this entire thing as a trap to lure Annja here.”

Mike sneered. “This whole place is a trap.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Mike nodded at the terminal. “You see those graphics?”

“Yes. But what do they say? I don’t understand Chinese.”

“I do,” Mike said. “And this whole installation is going to blow if we don’t find a way to shut it down.”

“Installation?”

Mike nodded. “It’s a fraud. The whole thing. We’re in a nuclear waste holding plant. The Chinese government built this Shangri-La facility over the waste plant. The immense heat from the processing facility is the reason there’s a tropical landscape here when right on the other side of the mountain it’s arctic conditions.”

Tuk shook his head. “How could they hide a place like this?”

“I don’t know. We’ve heard rumors for years that they were doing this but we never knew how to find them. Even our satellites couldn’t pick them up. One theory is that the atmospheric conditions surrounding the Himalayas make it almost impossible to see everything in detail.”

Tuk looked at Mike. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. It just took me a while to discover what was really going on here. For a moment, I thought we might really have stumbled upon the actual Shangri-La. But this is most definitely not it.”

“So, what do we do now?” Tuk nodded at the pistol. “Is there any way you can put that thing down? It’s making me quite nervous.”

Mike smiled. “You sure I can trust you, Tuk? I wouldn’t want to have to kill you, but I will, if necessary.”

Tuk held up his hands. “My plan was to come here, grab a weapon and then find Annja. She’s going to need the help.”

“So why did you stop?”

Tuk pointed at the computer. “This thing. The red flashing screen drew my attention.”

“As well it should have,” Mike said. “This place is entering critical condition.”

Tuk frowned. “So, if that’s the case, then where is everyone? What happened to all of the people who were here with us yesterday? The parade, the feast? Where are they?”

Mike frowned. “You don’t want to know.”

“I most certainly do.”

Mike sighed. “Get out of the way.” He pushed Tuk aside and sat down at the computer. He tapped a few keys on the keyboard and then shoved his chair back away from the screen and pointed.

“There.”

Tuk leaned in close, at first unsure of what he was seeing. But then he recoiled in abject horror as the truth became apparent. Scores of bodies piled atop one another lay in a huge pile somewhere.

“Is that what I think it is?”

Mike nodded. “She killed them all. Witnesses, I guess. She kept just enough of her closest, trusted men alive to help her see it through. And then she had all of the bodies disposed of down in those waste tanks underneath this place.”

“She dumped them into the nuclear waste?”

“Yeah, the installation is well-shielded—hence, the reason we can stay here and not get infected. But she dumped the bodies down into those tanks for another reason altogether.”

“What reason is that?”

Mike’s frown only deepened. “Isn’t it obvious? Those corpses will upset the balance of the facility. It wasn’t designed to handle bodies, only sludge. Those hundreds of dead bodies have thrown off the installation and it’s now approaching a disaster.”

“You mean?”

Mike nodded. “This entire installation is going to explode in about thirty minutes.”