False Horizon (20 page)

Annja struggled to free herself from the crushing weight of Vanya’s body as she tried to smother Annja. Vanya dropped an elbow into Annja’s midsection and the impact made Annja gasp for breath even more.

Annja swung her arms up and clapped Vanya around the side of the head, trying to rupture her eardrums. But the older woman ducked the blow and Annja’s hands only smacked Vanya on the side of the head.

Vanya climbed atop Annja and tried to choke her. Annja gagged and kept fighting, aware that she was rapidly losing consciousness. All of her strength seemed to have left her.

Vanya’s voice was a sinister whisper in her ear. “You’ve ruined my plans, Annja Creed. I can never go home again and it’s all because of you.”

Annja kicked her hips up and dislodged Vanya, who fell to the floor. Annja scrambled to her feet on the other side of the bed. She ripped out her IV line and grimaced as pain shot through her body.

“I saw you die. Tsing’s man shot you three times in the chest.”

Vanya got to her feet slowly. “Another little bit of make-believe. I didn’t get as far as I have in this life by being too stupid to wear a bulletproof vest with a layer of fake blood over it for just that purpose.”

“You wear that everywhere?”

“Whenever there’s danger to me, yes.”

“But the facility exploded. You should have died there with Tsing and your assassin, Hsu Xiao.”

Vanya’s gaze was searing. “You killed my most illustrious pupil. Yet another reason to come after you. And as for not escaping, there is always more than one exit in anything I get involved with. As soon as you all fled, I got up and ran. I was back in Katmandu before you.”

Vanya circled the bed. Annja backed up, aware now that the woman had a scalpel in her hand.

Annja frowned. “Why not just shoot me?”

Vanya shook her head. “Metal detectors downstairs. I wouldn’t have gotten it through.” She hefted the scalpel. “But a little blade, well, they’re easy to find in a place like this.”

Annja felt the wall behind her. She tried to summon the sword, but couldn’t visualize the blade properly. Her sword wasn’t there.

Vanya smiled. “What’s the matter, dear? Having trouble conjuring your special sword?”

Annja frowned and tried again, aware that Vanya was edging closer to her. Annja could just make out a fuzzy image of the sword, but it didn’t seem to be enough to get it to materialize in her hands.

So she lunged, and threw the pitcher of water from the nightstand at Vanya. But Vanya, surprisingly nimble for her age, ducked the container and moved even closer.

“Not to worry, Annja,” she said. “I’ll sever your windpipe so you get to die choking on your own blood. I figure it’s the least I can do, considering how you treated Hsu Xiao.”

“I gave Hsu Xiao the chance to walk away,” Annja said. “She chose to end her life by fighting me.”

“If you had joined us, we could all be in power right now. The fallout from the facility explosion would have enabled us to seize power, Annja. Instead, all of my dreams have been laid to waste because of you and that sword of yours. Ever since I heard of it, I’ve been obsessed with having it. And now you can’t even bring it out to kill me.”

Annja looked around frantically. There was precious little she could use to fend off Vanya.

“Help me!” she screamed.

“They’ll never get here in time,” Vanya said.

Annja made a lunge for the red distress call button and punched it hard.

But Vanya kept laughing. “They won’t come. I unhooked the receiver at the nurse’s station. We’re all alone, Annja. And now I can finally finish what I started.”

She slashed at Annja’s throat. Annja ducked and then kicked up at Vanya’s kneecap. The kick landed square and Vanya grunted as the heel landed flush. But her leg didn’t buckle.

“That works better if the leg is straightened,” Vanya said. Then she punched Annja across the jaw.

The blow sent Annja reeling. She toppled over the bed, landing on her feet near the door. She made a run for it, but the door was locked.

“I’ve got the key right here,” said Vanya. “You’re welcome to try and take it from me.”

Annja tried to summon the sword again. It was a little more clear, but she still couldn’t see clearly enough to bring it out.

Vanya edged closer again and, this time, when she slashed, the edge of the scalpel bit into Annja’s forearm, scoring a line from the wrist to the elbow. Annja glanced down and saw a flap of skin hanging loose. Blood poured from the wound and spilled across the sheets and the floor.

Annja slid back toward the wall, gripping her arm. Vanya came closer. “I’ll make it quick,” she said.

Annja lashed out with another kick and landed it square in Vanya’s stomach. Vanya doubled over and backed away.

I’ve got to get the sword, Annja thought.

But then Vanya was coming at her again, cutting and slashing with the scalpel.

Annja fell back under the assault, and when she tried to check Vanya’s advance, Vanya grabbed her wounded arm and Annja screamed. Vanya’s nails sank into the exposed muscle and tendons and crushed them under her grip.

The pain nearly caused Annja to pass out.

But she used all of her strength to throw Vanya back across the room. The woman slammed into the wall opposite the bed and fell to the floor. But she immediately scrambled to her feet and came running again.

“You’re not going to make it out of here alive, Annja Creed,” she shouted as she cut down with the scalpel. This time, it stuck into the exposed bone in Annja’s forearm.

Annja screamed again and tore her arm away from Vanya’s grasp, the scalpel jutting out at an awful angle. Annja glanced down at the blade and yanked it free. Then she stalked Vanya.

But Vanya pulled out another scalpel and the two of them circled.

Vanya feinted and came in with a straight stab. Annja sidestepped the thrust and slashed across the top of Vanya’s forearm, drawing blood for the first time.

Vanya let out a shriek and then retreated, but still kept her blade in front of her.

Annja, woozy from the injuries, advanced but slowed down.

Vanya backslashed at Annja, who checked the blow and then stabbed into Vanya’s stomach with the scalpel. The cut was superficial, but Vanya staggered back, clutching at her abdomen.

Vanya suddenly flew at Annja and the rush of energy toppled them back over the bed. The nightstand yielded to their body weight, splintering and breaking into pieces.

Jagged bits of wood scattered about them and Vanya raised herself up, grabbing one of the coarse pieces. She brought it down on Annja’s head.

Annja felt the impact and nearly lost consciousness. But she fought back against the rising tide of blackness, punching at Vanya and scoring a direct hit on the older woman’s face.

Vanya’s nose cracked and a stream of blood shot out, staining an already slick floor.

Annja tried to stand but her head throbbed. I can’t take much more of this, she thought.

For a moment, her vision wavered and then Annja sank to the floor. She closed her eyes and prayed that she would see the sword. She needed it now.

The sword materialized in her mind’s eye. She grabbed it and opened her eyes just in time to see Vanya rushing at her with everything she had.

Annja slid back down against the wall, the sword held up in front of her.

Vanya’s eyes locked onto the blade and then, with a scream, she slipped on the bloody floor and pitched onto the blade.

Annja felt a sickening lurch as Vanya’s body hit the tip. There was a moment of tension and then Vanya’s body slid down the blade, coming to rest on the floor at Annja’s feet.

“You want the sword?” Annja said. “Now you’ve got it.”

Annja slumped back against the wall and realized that the world hurt a whole lot more than she’d ever been willing to admit.

The door to her room flew open.

“Annja!”

Annja raised a hand weakly. “Here.”

Garin’s bulk rushed in and Annja couldn’t believe how happy she was to see him.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“What are you saying? I look like crap?”

Garin eyed Vanya. “I wondered if anyone might try to make an attempt on your life. I went to find the nurse who was acting strangely.”

“Tuk said you were checking her out.”

“I was. But not in the way you think.” He looked over Vanya’s body. “She had some fight in her, didn’t she?”

“Almost too much,” Annja said.

Garin stepped outside and called for a doctor. When he came back in, he knelt by Annja and looked at her arm. “This is going to take a while to heal.”

“Great.”

“Just can’t stay out of the fights, can you?” He smiled at her and, despite feeling like death, Annja grinned back.

She heard a commotion out in the hallway. “Doctors are coming,” she said.

Garin nodded. “Yeah, and you might want to put that blade away before anyone sees it.”

Annja nodded. “Good point.” The sword vanished.

Garin helped her get back to the bed. Annja felt the incredible strength in his body and wished that she could borrow some of it so she didn’t feel quite so small and weak as she did just then.

Garin hovered over her. “You’re going to be fine, Annja. It takes more than this to keep you down.”

Annja smiled. “If you say so.”

The doctors and nurses rushed in. Their shouts echoed down the hallways as they called for police, more nurses and a cleanup crew. Garin hovered close by and Annja got the distinct impression he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight for a good long time.

That was fine. Because if Vanya had any friends looking for revenge, there was no way that Annja was going to be able to fend them off.

Garin leaned over her as the doctors and nurses started tending to her wounds. “Hang in there,” he said.

She smiled weakly. “What else would I do?”

Garin backed up as more nurses came in and shooed him away from Annja’s bed. She let herself be tended to, not really feeling much pain anymore—not really feeling much of anything. Her mind drifted and floated all around the hospital room. She saw the doctors studying her wound intently while one prepared to sew her up. Nurses and attendants hauled Vanya’s body away with a sense of bewilderment on their faces. They could see that Vanya had impaled herself on something, but what? And where was the weapon now?

Garin steered their questions away but Annja wasn’t worried. She knew that he could field all their concerns and keep everyone quiet about anything he wanted to. And she felt better that he was in the room with her.

“I’m going to sleep now,” she said quietly.

Annja opened her eyes to bright sunshine flooding her hospital room. One of the windows overlooked a courtyard and the scent of flowers hung in the air. She smiled and rose to take a shower.

She’d stayed in the hospital for just over a week, happy to take it easy for once. The doctors told her it would take a few more weeks for things to heal completely, but they had also told her she was strong enough to go home.

Annja’s single bag lay on the bed and she rummaged through it, looking at the variety of clothes Garin had purchased to replace what she’d lost early on in the trip. She settled on jeans and a turtleneck sweater.

As she carefully pulled on the clothes and then brushed her hair, a knock sounded at the door.

Before she could respond Garin’s face appeared around the corner. “Are you indecent?” he asked. He frowned when he saw she was already dressed. “Damn, I was hoping to time it better.”

Annja smiled. “Really? You’re resorting to a quick game of peekaboo? Is it that thrilling?”

“Depends on the woman,” Garin said. “With you, peekaboo would definitely be a highlight.”

“Keep dreaming, then,” Annja said.

“I shall.” Garin nodded at the bag. “Just about finished?”

“Yeah. Thanks for the clothes.”

“Least I could do. After you nearly died on this adventure. I figured clothes shopping might not be high on the old priority list. Plus, there was the incredibly beautiful salesgirl—”

“Garin.”

He held up his hands. “Sorry, just kidding. You know I have to reinforce my reputation any chance I get.”

“Well, give it a rest, would you? It wears on me lately.”

Garin sat by the window and watched her.

Annja finished packing her bag. “You know, there’s one thing that’s been bothering me about this whole thing.”

“What’s that?” Garin turned to peer out of the window.

“You.”

He glanced at Annja. “Me? What about me?”

“Well, you hired Tuk to watch over me. But why? I mean, if you were so concerned about my safety, then why on earth didn’t you just come here yourself and take care of the danger?”

“It’s not always that easy, Annja.”

“Baloney. I’ve never known you to back away from a fight. And now all of a sudden you start? It doesn’t make sense.”

Garin smiled. “I wasn’t backing away from anything. But at the same time, I needed a low profile.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t know who was after you until Tuk started relaying information to me. And even then, it took me a while to piece things together. When he told me about Hsu Xiao, I had to go back and search through my databases and ones I’m not supposed to have access to. Even then I was playing catch-up the entire way.”

“I guess.”

Garin stood in front of her. “Believe me, Annja, if there’d been a way for me to take this off of you, I would have. But I couldn’t risk it without having concrete proof, and by then things were so far in motion already, I couldn’t get to you in time. I had to rely on Tuk. And thank God he turned out to be as formidable as he was.”

Annja looked at him. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me everything?”

Garin sighed. “You’re so damned intuitive it drives me crazy. And honestly, I forget who I’m dealing with sometimes. You’re not just a pretty face, are you?”

“I’m not a pretty face, right now,” Annja said, smiling.

“I couldn’t be here in Katmandu because I’m too well known. As it was, I took a great chance coming to hire Tuk.”

“Who knows you?”

Garin shrugged. “The better question might be who doesn’t know me?”

“Tsing?”

Garin nodded. “We did some work together a while back. He knew me very well and…let’s just say that it didn’t end well.”

“In what way?”

“Let’s suppose he told me that if I ever showed my face in Katmandu again, he’d have me drawn and quartered.”

Annja smiled. “Sounds about right.”

“When Tuk told me that Tsing was involved I kept an even lower profile. Specifically, I flew to India and stayed there until I knew what was going on. Once you were off to Jomsom and Mustang, something didn’t feel right, so I flew back into the country, waiting for Tuk’s phone call.”

“But when it came,” Annja said, “we’d already crashed.”

“Exactly. By then, I didn’t much care if Tsing knew I was back. I went to him, prepared to offer a truce until I could find you, but he’d already chased you up to Jomsom. Or actually, I think he was chasing Hsu Xiao because she tried to poison him.”

“So, by the time all of this was happening, we were already at the fabled Shangri-La.”

“Yes, well, that does sound better than nuclear waste facility masquerading as a mystical land.”

Annja hefted her bag. “You ready to go?”

Garin rose. “Sure am.”

They walked out of the hospital together and the weather was spectacular. Annja took a deep breath and exhaled. Her body felt good. Not perfect, but really good. And well on the mend.

She felt rested. Better than in a very long time. “I’m looking forward to going home,” she said.

Garin smiled and handed her a plane ticket. “Here you go. It’s first class.”

“First class? What did I do to deserve this?”

“As if you didn’t know.”

Annja laughed. “What about you, Garin? Where are you off to now?”

“Ah, well, you know how it is. Lots of things to do and see. Lots of other activities to keep me busy.”

Annja looked at him for a moment. “Maybe someday you’ll stop doing whatever it is that you do.”

“Maybe,” Garin said. “And maybe someday you’ll stop what you do, too.”

“I don’t know if I can. The sword seems to have my destiny all mapped out but damned if I can fathom it.”

“We all have our destinies to play out, Annja,” Garin said. “But play them out we will. And maybe when they’re done and finished, we can actually live how we want to. You know, if you happen to believe in free will and all.”

“Free will,” Annja said. “That’s quite a concept.” She turned her gaze away.

“Looking for something?” Garin asked.

“I was hoping to see Mike. I haven’t seen him since the mountain. He left me a message saying something about his brain tumor, but then it got cut off and I never learned what was going on.”

“Maybe Mike’s got his own destiny to play out, too.” Garin smiled. “Remember, nothing’s ever quite what it seems, is it?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Garin kissed her on the cheek. “Goodbye, Annja. I’ll be seeing you around. We won’t always be friends, but we won’t always be enemies, either. Remember that the next time you want to kill me.”

Annja looked at him for a long moment and then stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on his cheek. “You do the same.”

“I shall.”

She watched him walk away and vanish into the crowd. Annja never knew how such a large man could so easily disappear, but somehow he always did.

Annja looked around. She needed a taxi and then it was a trip to the airport followed by a long flight home. She wondered if they served ice cream sundaes on the plane?

A taxi sidled up next to her and she got in. “Airport, please.”

“Why the hell do you want to go there?”

Annja looked up and then saw the face of the driver. “Mike!”

He grinned at her. “Hey, kid.”

“What are you doing driving a cab?”

Mike nodded at her ticket. “You got time to take a ride? Maybe have a conversation about stuff?”

“My flight’s not for hours yet. I’ve got some time.”

“Good.” Mike eased out into the traffic and they drove through the congested streets of Katmandu. Gradually, the city limits fell behind them and they passed into more rural areas. Annja looked out of her window and watched the children playing soccer and laughing and running through the streets.

“What’s going on?” Annja asked.

“You’ll see,” he said.

He pulled over near the airfield where they’d been stowed aboard Tsing’s plane and switched off the cab’s engine. Then he got out of the car and leaned against the hood.

Annja followed him. “It’s great to see you again, you big lug.”

He hugged her and then set her back down. “Sorry, I haven’t been around. I had to take care of some things.”

Annja nodded. “I heard. Tuk said something about your cancer being in remission. That’s wonderful news! Congratulations.”

“Thanks. But it’s not in remission.”

“It’s not?”

“No. It’s gone. Completely.”

Annja felt her heart leap. “Even better! Wow, how did that happen?”

Mike shrugged. “I don’t want you to get mad at me, okay?”

Annja backed away. “What is it?”

“I never had it to begin with.”

“What?”

Mike held up his hands. “Annja, hear me out—”

“You faked that? I was beside myself with grief for you and now you tell me it was all a lie? How dare you!”

“I had to lie, Annja.”

“Why in the world did you have to lie?”

“Because that was part of my cover.”

Annja frowned. “Cover? What cover? You’re a teacher, Mike. You don’t need a cover.”

“The teacher thing is my cover. The brain cancer was another facet of it. Together, they helped sell me.”

Annja shook her head. “Jesus Christ, don’t tell me you’re a spook.”

“Guilty.”

Annja sighed. “How the hell did that happen? The last I heard you were doing great at your job and you had a great career.”

“I do have a great career. But it’s doing something other than teaching. The Agency uses me for a variety of unorthodox assignments, and the rest of the time I’m a mild-mannered teacher. It works out very well.”

“CIA?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t look like a case officer.”

Mike smiled. “Not everyone who works for the CIA, works for the CIA, if you get my meaning.”

“I don’t.”

“The Agency uses a whole network of independent contractors. It goes back many years. In this country there is a network of people who can be called upon at any time to step up and take on assignments best handled by someone other than official CIA officers, even those deep-cover guys. So the Agency uses us and we’re sort of cutaway from the apparatus as a whole. It gives us better flexibility and more freedom to pursue what needs to be done without a whole bunch of hamstringing oversight.”

“If you say so.”

“Don’t be upset with me, Annja. I feel bad enough that I had to get you involved in this. It’s all my fault that this happened to you and you got so banged up. But I needed you to come along or I never would have been able to sell it to Tsing.”

“Sell what to Tsing?”

Mike sighed. “For a long time now, the Agency has suspected that the Chinese have been dumping nuclear waste somewhere, but we never knew where. Some analysts thought it was a safe bet that they were dumping it at sea, but we’ve been watching for signs of that and never caught them doing it. That left either space or they were burying it.

“Now the Chinese have a fairly admirable space program, but they’re not anywhere ready to start shipping rockets full of waste to dump up there. So that left burying it.”

“Would they really do that?”

“China’s got more environmental waste than almost any other country on the planet, including us, if you can believe that.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

Mike continued. “We’d heard rumors about a construction project that happened over near Mustang, but we never had a solid lead to follow until a few weeks ago. One of the contractors offered a map of the area on the black market.”

“A map? That one you had that supposedly showed the way to Shangri-La?”

“The same. Of course, Tsing tried to buy it back, but the dealer said no way. We heard about it and the Agency figured I would have the best chance of acquiring the map.”

Annja shook her head. “Wait—why would Tsing need to buy back a map to a place he already knew all about? Didn’t he help build it?”

“He sure did. But he wanted the map so he could make sure it was off the market. He didn’t need it per se, it was just his attempt to contain an information leak.”

“But why go to him for the fifty thousand you needed to buy the map? Couldn’t the Agency just front you the cash?”

Mike frowned. “No, Tsing was too well connected in Chinese Intelligence to ever believe that I had the capacity to finance the map purchase. If the Agency fronted me the money, Tsing would have known who I was immediately and just had me killed.”

Annja sighed. “I’m still confused as to why Tsing even brought us before him and told you that he was interested in finding Shangri-La. What was that all about?”

“The code name for the supposed location of the nuclear waste facility we had learned about was always Shangri-La. The contractor who put the map on the market called it that, after what the Chinese planned to name the place.”

“So, a dual-meaning sort of thing, huh?”

“To Tsing, I was just a history teacher looking for the fabled location of the real Shangri-La. In his mind, he was going to get the map back. In my mind, I was working to ascertain the exact location of a nuclear waste facility built and operated by the Chinese government. Three layers of duplicity, I guess you could say.”

“And one very confused Annja Creed.”

“Welcome to the intelligence world.”

“No, thanks.” Annja turned away. “What happened to the facility, anyway? I haven’t seen any mention of it on the news.”

“That’s because there hasn’t been any.”

“How in the world could they possibly keep that a secret?”

Mike shrugged. “They had help.”

“Who?”

“Uncle Sam.”

“We helped them? Why the hell would we do such a thing? They damn near contaminated an entire country. The world deserves to know what happened.”

“Things aren’t that black and white anymore, Annja. The cold war’s over and we live in a new world now. Enemies aren’t always enemies. Friends aren’t always friends. About the best we can manage now is a sort of gray relationship where hopefully we all get along and manage to keep the world spinning.”

“So we helped them keep the lid on this?”

“More than that, we helped them clean it up.”

“Clean it up?”