Part 27 (1/2)
”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 ma.s.sive 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 h.e.l.l 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 h.e.l.l 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 pa.s.s to the person of my choosing.”
”Rubbis.h.!.+” Garin said, although he didn't sound entirely convinced.