Labyrinth (20 page)

Thank God, that was over.

Now only time would tell if she’d done it right or not.

And the only way she would know was if Kessel actually woke up again.

Chapter 23

“Hey.”

Hours had passed and Annja had fallen asleep with her hands still on the sword in case they were ambushed in the tunnel. She opened her eyes and saw Kessel looking at her.

“Hey, yourself.” She sat up. “How are you feeling?”

“Ever have a migraine that just wouldn’t quit?”

“Usually accompanied by nausea and vomiting.”

“Yeah,” Kessel said. “And you remember how it feels when that pain is finally gone?”

“Like a dull gnawing in your stomach. That hollow crappy feeling.”

“Exactly.” Kessel smiled. “That’d be about where I’m at right now. You did it, Annja. You did real good.”

Annja shook her head. “That may go down as one of the most stressful things I’ve ever had to do. And I’ve been in plenty of stressful situations before.”

“I know. And I hated like hell having to put that on you. But I didn’t have a choice. If I’d waited any longer, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now. That’s how close it was.” Kessel looked around slowly. “You got any of that water left?”

Annja helped him sit up slowly and then gave him the bottle. He tilted it to his lips, but didn’t bend his head back. “Still gotta move a little slow. I don’t want to give you another reason to poke my skull.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Annja said. “How long until you think you can get up and walk?”

“Why? You in a rush?”

Annja smirked. “Nah, I love it here. Really. A new set of drapes and this is the perfect spot for me.” She pointed at his head. “But you need professional medical attention, not the butchery of a swordswoman like myself.”

“I’d say you didn’t do anything close to butchering me,” Kessel said after drinking.

“Just be glad you can’t see the job I did. I had to connect the dots on your skull. I couldn’t simply punch the hole and relieve the pressure. I had to remove the indented piece of skull that was pushing into your brain.”

Kessel frowned. “That bad, huh?”

“Yeah. But you knew that, anyway.”

He smiled. “You don’t miss much, do you?”

“Not unless I’m really, really tired. I knew you had to suspect, judging by how you’d felt your skull. You would have known it was pressing in on your brain.”

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Any more than absolutely necessary, given what I was going to do to your head.” Annja smiled. “Well, the good news is it’s done. And I certainly hope I never run across that again in my life.”

“Makes two of us,” Kessel said. “But we’ve got a bit of a problem ahead of us.”

“What’s that?”

Kessel frowned. “As much as it pains me to say it, I’m not going to be any good to you if we get into a fight. Any sort of injury to my head will probably kill me until something is put back over my brain to protect it.”

Annja nodded. “I wish I could have replaced it somehow, but I had a hard enough time with the sword.”

“Speaking of which.” Kessel ran a hand over his head and felt the area she’d shaved. “How’s the bald thing work for me?”

“I only shaved the area I needed to access. I didn’t waste time turning you into Kojak.”

“Hmm, I could use a lollipop right now,” Kessel said. “Oh, well, I’ll check it out when we get back. If it looks like crap, I’ll just shave it all off and be done with it. At least that way it’ll grow back in evenly instead of me looking like a walking lobotomy.”

“Yes, that’s what you should be worrying about right now—how pretty you look.” Annja stood and stretched. “I wish we could find a way out of here.”

Kessel pointed. “I still think we’re headed in the right direction. Even if you didn’t find anything down there except the water, that’s still more than we’ve had to go on so far, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, we keep moving forward.”

“The tunnel roof gets low up there, Kessel.” Annja nodded toward his head. “You’re going to have to be really careful.”

“I’ll be good. Just give me a few more minutes to clear my thoughts.” He sighed. “But I gotta tell you, I feel a whole lot better than I did. Still a dull ache and all, but nothing like what I was going through before. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Help me get Greene and Fairclough and that will be more than enough,” Annja said.

“No problem about Greene.” Kessel slowly began to prepare to stand. “But are you so sure about Fairclough now?”

Annja shrugged. “On one hand, if I was neurotic and had enough money, could I see myself building something like this to protect a book? Maybe. But not likely. The more I think about it, the more I think he’s someone out to exact revenge on me. Whether I deserve it or not.”

“You been able to come up with anything that you might have done to get him so riled up?”

“Not a damned thing.”

“I suppose you could always ask him the next time you see him.”

“I intend to,” Annja said. “It’s just a matter of us finding our way out of this misbegotten hellhole.”

“We will. Trust me.”

“The sooner, the better,” Annja growled. “I think I’m starting to really hate tunnels like this.”

Kessel chuckled. “All right, slave driver. Give me a hand getting up.”

Annja stopped him. “I didn’t mean to say we should leave right away, it’s just that I’m antsy.”

Kessel held out his hand to her. “No, you’re right. I’m out of immediate danger, but I do need to get a doctor to check this out. Make sure there aren’t any other issues to deal with. Plus, there’s the threat of infection. The wound has to be cleaned and sorted out, properly bandaged.”

“Yeah, sorry about your shirt.” She carefully helped him to a standing position.

“Just glad it wasn’t my Metallica T-shirt.”

“Yeah, that would have been a shame.” Annja rolled her eyes. “I suppose it’s better than finding out you enjoy easy listening.”

Kessel put his free hand to his heart. “And what’s wrong with that? Some of my best friends are easy listeners.”

“I guess I could get used to it. You know, if I needed to say—”

Kessel put a hand on the tunnel wall and bent over to kiss Annja. He held the kiss for a few seconds and then broke contact with a smile. “Just in case I don’t get to say a proper thank-you.”

“For what?”

“For everything.” Kessel stared at her in admiration. “You’re a hell of a woman, Annja. And I mean that.”

Annja nudged him carefully. “All right, you big softie, let’s get you out of this tunnel. Time’s wasting and I’m looking forward to our sit-down with Fairclough.”

“Sit down?”

“Beat down, more likely,” Annja said. “Now come on.”

A
S
THEY
WALKED
CAREFULLY
through the tunnel system, Annja was mindful of the pace she set. Kessel nursed the bottle of water and she tried to help him as much as she could. But Kessel insisted on walking by himself. And she could see his determination to do as much as he could without her assistance. He’d accepted the help he truly needed, but now that the danger was past, he would only depend on himself.

Annja knew the feeling. She was fiercely independent, as well. And there was nothing worse than feeling so helpless that you had to hand over control of your life to someone else.

So she gave him his space and pressed on.

They’d long since passed the solitary lightbulb area where Annja had scavenged the water. Beyond it, they’d come to another intersection. Kessel opted for the left again. Annja agreed and they pressed on.

As they walked, the floor sloped upward at a shallow incline. Kessel cleared his throat after another sip of water. “This might be a good sign.”

Annja looked at him. “You think?”

“We dropped a long way into the maze,” Kessel said. “It stands to reason that in order to get out, we’d have to make our way back to the surface.”

“I hope you’re right,” Annja said.

“Well, just so long as it’s not like hiking Everest. In that case you may have to carry me.”

“I don’t think I could do that.”

Kessel grinned. “Probably not. But you never know.”

Annja pointed ahead of them. “There’s another intersection coming up ahead, I think.”

They slowed and Annja waited until Kessel had drawn even with her. The tunnel showed signs of being more refined and finished than it had down below. Annja looked at Kessel.

“What do you think?”

Kessel took the opportunity to rest against the wall. “It’s really well lit up there.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Concealment. We won’t have any. If we get spotted, how do you want to play it? As far as they know, I’m still the mute that Greene hired to watch over you.”

Annja raised her eyebrows. “You really think Greene doesn’t suspect you of being a cop?”

“Why would he?”

Annja shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s just that he seemed pretty quick to send you into the maze. He was there when Fairclough gave me the rundown on what to expect. The idea that there was a lot of danger didn’t even seem to faze Greene. He had no qualms about sending you along with me.”

Concern creased Kessel’s face. “I’ve had the same thought, but I’ve been damned careful. I don’t even meet with my handler except maybe once every few months.”

“Anyone else at the Bureau know about your work in Greene’s organization?”

Kessel shrugged. “Well, I’m sure there are some. But my name wouldn’t be on the operation report.”

“Greene’s organization is small, though,” Annja said. “It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if the Bureau says they’ve got a man inside, then there are only a handful of people who might be the mole.”

“Yeah.” Kessel sighed. “You make a good point.”

“Just trying to head off any problems now,” Annja said. “Besides—” she hesitated “—if there
are
cameras in this place, and a central control room, odds are pretty good they’ve at least seen us talking…even if they can’t hear us.
How do you think we should handle this?”

Kessel took a deep breath before saying quietly, “I suggest we take the chance and play it as if I was still Greene’s man. Even if they know otherwise, they might play along. Buy us time. I’ve been wounded and you saved my life.”