Rogue Angel - False Horizon Part 29

"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 s.h.i.+eld 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 a.s.sume leaders.h.i.+p 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."

31.

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 k.n.o.b 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 s.h.i.+ver. 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 a.s.sailed 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 flas.h.i.+ng a message. Tuk frowned. He didn't read or understand Chinese, but looked, anyway. Red flas.h.i.+ng 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 ident.i.ty, 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 a.s.sa.s.sin, 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."