Rogue Angel 55: Beneath Still Waters (24 page)

Traveling with her.

Dining with her.

Sharing a bed with her.

She was barely aware of it as she vomited all over the floor.

When she came back to herself, Paul was still talking to Colonel Schnell. She lay where she was, not caring that she could smell the stink of her own vomit, and she listened to what he was saying, already planning what she was going to do about it.

“Even now, my men are waiting offshore with the equipment needed to remove the gold from this bunker and transport it, and you, back to the Fatherland, where our plans can at long last be put in motion.”

“Why should I go with you?” the colonel asked.

That comment stopped Paul in his tracks. “I’m sorry?”

“Why should I go with you?” Colonel Schnell repeated. “I am content here. I have my subjects, my kingdom, my gold. What do I need you for?”

Annja had known Paul long enough to recognize when he was thinking furiously.

Now was the time to interrupt.

“He’s lying, Colonel Schnell,” she called out, from her position on the floor. “Don’t listen to him.”

Paul turned and glared at her with such a hate-filled expression that she wondered how she had ever believed he cared for her.

She didn’t let it stop her though.

“He just wants the gold for himself. You are completely irrelevant to his plans.”

She was aware of Paul walking toward her, but she didn’t bother to look at him, keeping her attention on the colonel. He looked back and forth between her and Paul, and Annja knew that she had cast a little doubt in his mind. Now if she could widen that gulf…

She was so intent on the old Nazi on the throne that she didn’t see the younger one she’d come here with draw back his foot. Annja was caught completely by surprise as Paul’s booted foot sent her into oblivion.

* * *

W
HEN
A
NNJA CAME
back to consciousness, she found herself lying facedown on a cold stone floor. Her face throbbed painfully, and she knew the left side of it was badly swollen because she could barely open that eye.

She pushed herself upright and immediately regretted it as a wave of dizziness washed over her. She put her palms flat on the floor beside her and waited for it to pass.

“You might want to stay lying down with your face
on the floor,” she heard Garin say. “The cold will help bring the swelling down.”

“That bad, huh?” she asked, as she turned her head to try to find him.

If the bars between them were any indication, she was sitting in a cell with Garin occupying the one next to her. Of Paul there was no sign.

“At a guess I’d say he cracked your cheekbone, maybe even the bone around your eye socket. It’s gonna hurt like a son of a gun for a while.”

Good
, she thought. The pain would remind her of what a fool she’d been.

“Where are we?”

Garin shrugged. “In a cell on one of the lower levels. The complex is pretty large, from what I could see as they dragged us down here. It’s not surprising, since they’ve had more than seventy years to work on it.”

Annja used the bars at the front of her cell to pull herself upright. Her head spun for a minute, making her wonder about a concussion, but she was going to have to get used to it if she was going to get them out of here.

“You don’t seem too worried about things,” Annja said to him.

“Why should I be? You’re going to draw your sword and get us out of here, hopefully sooner rather than later, and given what he’s done I wouldn’t bet on Krugmann living to see the sun come up tomorrow.”

Annja shook her head. “I can’t kill him.”

Garin grunted. “Please don’t give me any of that
crap about taking an innocent life. That man is far from innocent, in fact…”

She waved her hand, interrupting him. “It’s not that. I’d kill him in a heartbeat and sleep like a baby afterward if it weren’t for one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“We still don’t know where Doug is.”

Garin was quiet for a moment.

Annja knew just what he was thinking.

“I know what you’re going to say,” she said.

“You do?”

“Come on, Garin. We’ve known each other long enough to be able to anticipate a few things. You’re thinking that Doug has been dead for days, maybe since the last phone call I made. But I can’t assume that. If he is alive, I’ll be condemning him to death if I take Krugmann out before I’ve had a chance to question the man.”

Funny how he was Paul before this and now he’s Krugmann. Now there’s a coping mechanism if I ever saw one
, she thought.

“It’s your call. I’ll back you either way.”

Annja felt tears welling in her eyes at Garin’s unqualified support. She’d certainly had her differences with this man in the past, but right now in this place and at this time there wasn’t anyone she’d rather have by her side.

She was too honest with herself not to understand that she was valuing the very thing that she had always disliked about him, which was his utter ruthlessness. Garin wouldn’t hesitate when the time came
and right now she was finding that very reassuring. Later, she’d deal with what that meant—ethically—for her; right now, they had to get out of this place and rescue Doug.

If he was still alive.

Don’t think like that
, she scolded herself.
He’s alive. You know he is
.

But if he wasn’t, she was going to be sure to make Krugmann pay.

“So what…”

She didn’t get any further.

The steel door on the other side of the room opened suddenly and a squad of islanders—she decided then and there that’s what she was going to call them, for lack of a better name—came into the room, accompanied by the large warrior who had originally taken them captive.

“Garin?” Annja asked, wondering if now was the time for them to take their chance at getting away.

He had to have been thinking the same thing. “Your call,” he replied, backing away from the door to his cell as the islanders walked over to it.

Five against two
, Annja thought,
those are pretty good odds
.

But before she could do anything, the leader pointed at Garin and said something in his own language.

At his command, two of the islanders took the long pole-like objects that they were holding and jabbed them through the bars of Garin’s cell. He managed to twist away from the first one but the second caught
him square on the thigh. There was a flash and the crack of electrical current, and Garin was suddenly on the floor shaking as if he’d just stepped on a live wire.

Annja looked up to find the leader looking back at her.

“Are you going to come quietly or do I have to shock you, too?” the leader asked her in German.

Not knowing what that kind of current would do to her already fragile equilibrium, Annja decided going along with them was the best course of action for the time being. She raised her hands over her head and waited as they unlocked the door to her cell and waved her forward.

They led her down several passages and up at least two long winding ramps before coming to a door with a lock on it. The leader produced a large iron key from a chain around his neck that she hadn’t noticed before and inserted it into the lock, giving it a hard turn to the left.

The lock clicked loudly and the door popped open.

The leader pushed it open the rest of the way and said, “They’re waiting for you inside.”

Annja didn’t move. “Who’s waiting?”

Her captor eyed her but didn’t say anything more.

“I’m not going anywhere until…”

Her captor said something in his native tongue and the two islanders carrying the shock sticks started to turn toward her.

“All right, all right,” Annja said, holding up her hands. “I’m going. There’s no need to get huffy.”

She walked forward until she crossed the threshold of the door her captor had just opened. He reached out to pull it closed behind her, and as he did so he said, “Watch his left foot” under his breath.

Annja was so surprised that she stood there, dumbstruck, and her chance to ask him what the heck he was talking about passed, as the door slammed shut behind her.

Watch his left foot? Whose left foot?
she wondered.
And why is he warning me?

She tried the door, assuming that it would be locked but knowing she had to try it anyway. The hum of many people talking at once reached her ears and she turned, looking down a passageway. It ran straight ahead of her for a dozen or more yards, then opened into a well-lit space. From where she stood, it appeared to have a sand rather than a stone floor. The sound of the crowd came from there.

Intrigued, Annja headed in that direction.

The sound grew louder as she reached the end of the tunnel and passed into the room beyond to find herself standing under the open sky, the moon brilliant and the stars twinkling high above. The amphitheater, for that’s what it was, was circular in shape and about as wide as the skating rink back in Central Park. The walls rose about fifteen feet, above which rows of seats filled the space, reminding her of a gladiatorial arena. Even as she thought that, she realized that her earlier assumption was right; the floor was made of sand that looked to be several inches deep and was so reminiscent of the beach sand from the lagoon that Annja wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that it had come from there.

The rows of spectator seats were full of islanders—men, women, children even—and they were all
staring down at her now as if she were a bug under a microscope. She could see things changing hands between some of them and guessed that they were taking bets in whatever passed as the local currency.

That told her that she wasn’t going to be alone in this arena for long.

She walked into the center of the arena and turned slowly in a circle, taking it all in. She found a shaded spectator platform with a large throne-like seat in the center directly over the tunnel through which she entered, and as she looked it over she saw a door at the back open and Colonel Schnell enter. He took a seat on the throne and then, and only then, did his entourage follow him, including several island women who gathered around his chair, fawning over him.

No wonder the old coot doesn’t want to go anywhere
, Annja thought.
He is treated like a king here
.

She was still watching him with distaste when the door at the back of the booth opened again. Krugmann entered and took up a position standing near the railing to the left of the colonel’s chair.

He had an anticipatory look on his face that didn’t make Annja feel comfortable at all.

He was up to something, that was for sure.

Colonel Schnell stood and raised his hands, instantly quieting the crowd around him.

“Pretty good trick,” Annja said into the silence. “What are you going to do for an encore?”

It was lame, and she knew it, but it was better than just standing there waiting for something to happen to her. At least this way she’d get the last word in.

Schnell looked down at her the way a picnicker might examine an ant before stomping on it. Ignoring her remark, he addressed her in German, saying, “I have been told by the major that you are an enemy of the Reich. Is that true?”

Annja looked at him for a long moment and carefully answered in the same language. “It’s hard to be an enemy of something that hasn’t existed since long before I was born, don’t you think?”

Krugmann spoke up. “See what I mean, Colonel? An insolent and far-from-ideal attitude.”

Schnell looked over at him and Krugmann closed his mouth with a snap.

So there isn’t a lot of love between them yet
, Annja thought. She might be able to use that to her advantage. But first she needed to know what they wanted from her.

Schnell turned back to address Annja once more. “Is it still your contention that Major Kahler is lying about his reasons for being here?”

It took Annja a moment to realize that he was talking about Paul. Apparently he had decided to revert to his father’s name, as if that made his actions somehow less despicable. Annja intended to disabuse him of that notion as soon as possible.

Focus on the problem at hand
, she reminded herself.

“Of course he’s lying,” she replied. “That’s all liars do is lie.”

“Normally I wouldn’t give someone outside the Party a moment’s thought, but you have intrigued me.”

Be still my heart
.

“Because of that, I’m going to give you the opportunity to prove yourself truthful.”

Annja laughed. “Bring on the polygraph machine then,” she told him.

The colonel paused and stared at her, clearly not knowing what on earth she was talking about, and Annja felt a smile spread across her face in response.
Keep wondering old man, keep wondering
.

The colonel continued.

“Defeat your opponent, and I will consider what you say about Major Kahler. Lose, and you won’t have to worry about his opinion, or mine or anyone else’s for that matter. Do you understand?”

Yes, psycho, I understand
.

Annja nodded.

“Lasst die Spiele beginnen!”

“Let the games begin,” she translated beneath her breath.

The sound of a steel door closing drew her attention, and she turned to see the biggest islander she’d yet seen walk into the arena.

In his hand he held a nail-studded club.

Annja, of course, was unarmed.

Gotta love a fair fight
, she thought, and then ran forward to confront him.

The islanders in the stands cheered as their hero entered the arena. He didn’t acknowledge their cheers in any way but simply lumbered straight at Annja as she moved forward to greet him, although she suspected that they had two different concepts of just who the winner of this battle was going to be.

The islander ran straight at her, swinging his club at the last moment in an attempt to wipe her out with one crushing blow.

Annja ducked underneath the blow, letting the club pass harmlessly over her head as she rushed in and delivered a powerful kick to the inside of his knee.