Labyrinth (27 page)

But what he was, he had no idea.

A
NNJA
SQUATTED
AMID
the corpses and heaved.

She tried to flush oxygen back into her lungs but they felt like a fiery bellows. Sweat flowed like a river down her back, soaking through her shirt and mixing with the blood and gore of the dogs.

Such senseless death, she thought. Such mindless violence.

The dogs weren’t to blame. They were driven by a need for food. By the cruelty of Fairclough.

Annja looked around at the husks that surrounded her. She fought back the regret and sadness that threatened to overwhelm her.

I’ll see to it that he pays, she whispered to the dogs she’d been forced to kill.

Even if it kills me.

I promise.

Chapter 30

Several hundred yards from where Annja squatted in the tunnel, Greene and Jonas entered the maze’s real control room, followed by the hulking form of the man called Kessel. At a bank of computers and video screens, Fairclough turned when they entered.

“Is he ready?” He directed the question at Jonas, who was still eyeing Kessel as if he were some creature that had just lumbered out of the grave.

“It’s untested,” the doctor said. “We ought to have done an early experiment prior to using this one.”

“There was no time,” Fairclough snapped. “This hinged on finding someone she would form a relationship with who I could then use to destroy her.”

Greene sighed. “Why don’t you just let us kill her and be done with it? Hell of a lot faster that way.”

Fairclough looked at him with contempt. “You don’t have the capacity to appreciate what it is I’m doing here, so do me a favor and please shut your mouth unless I directly ask for your input, all right?”

Greene snapped his mouth shut and shrugged at Jonas. “I guess he knows best.”

“I do know best,” Fairclough said. “Your organization benefits because of me. Without my money, you’d just be a bunch of hoodlums with no means to ever support your cause.”

Greene frowned. “We were doing pretty well before you came along.”

Fairclough laughed. “You’re joking, right? That protest you staged at the G8 summit? That was pathetic. You had no vision until you met me and learned what you could be with the right resources.”

“But if that’s true, then why are we wasting time on this diversion? Shouldn’t we be out fulfilling the grand plan?”

Fairclough pointed at a video screen that revealed Annja through night vision. “What we ought to be doing is right here, right now. What we ought to be doing is destroying the woman who caused me heartache. Once we’ve finished with her, then we can continue our environmental work. But until she is rendered impotent, she will still be a threat to us.”

Greene studied Annja. “She didn’t seem like much of a threat yesterday when we picked her up.”

“That’s because you took advantage of her huge sense of compassion. You’re no match for her physically. None of us are.”

“So, again, why not just shoot her?”

“I don’t think she can be killed that way.”

Jonas waggled his eyebrows. “You think she’s immortal?”

“I think she’s remarkably strong,” Fairclough explained. “And that strength comes not just from a physical place but also from a spiritual place. And that means she’s that much harder to kill.”

“Never met anyone who couldn’t be taken down with a dozen bullets in their skull,” Greene said. “Why don’t you let us try it and find out?”

Fairclough shook his head. “No. The stage has been set for Annja Creed’s demise and I shall now enjoy putting it into motion at long last.”

Greene shrugged. “What’d this chick do to you, anyway? She steal your Bible and kick your dog?”

Fairclough’s expression was stony. “It’s not for you to understand. All I ask is for you to carry out your role.”

Greene nodded. “Fair enough. Tell us when and we’ll be there.”

Fairclough consulted his watch. “Give me about twenty minutes and then release that thing into the maze.”

Jonas nudged Kessel. “Let’s go.”

Fairclough watched them leave the control room and then turned back to the video screen. Idiots, he thought. They would never understand how great the thrill of vengeance was. She must be made to understand that her actions resulted in these consequences.

Surely Annja Creed was close to realizing that.

And if she wasn’t, then in a few short minutes, Fairclough would gladly tell her.

Right before he watched her die.

A
NNJA
HUDDLED
in the corridor, alert for any change in her environment. The darkness had lightened somewhat and she could make out vague shapes in the distance. Back the way she’d come down the slippery tunnel.

Her entire journey through this damned maze had been choreographed from start to finish. At every point, she’d been controlled.

Annja frowned. This had all been leading to a final showdown she felt certain was coming soon.

Otherwise, Fairclough wouldn’t have broken his silence. He was gloating. Trying to psyche her out.

He loved this.

Annja glanced around. Was he watching her right now? The darkness didn’t matter. He could have night vision scopes on his cameras that could easily pick her out. He could be basking in her uncertainty, carefully choosing just the right moment to spring the final part of this mad play on her.

Annja shook her head. This has to end. And not the way Fairclough wanted it to.

The way Annja decided.

She got to her feet. Looked back down the corridor toward the slide that had ejected her into this portion of the maze.

She smiled.

Then Annja Creed did the unpredictable for the first time since she’d been here.

F
AIRCLOUGH
SAW
A
NNJA
move and sat up. What was she doing? She had nowhere to go. And yet she was on the move. Fairclough had thought he’d driven her to the brink of madness. She should have been immobilized by fear and stress—and geography—at this point.

She was heading back down the corridor. Fairclough frowned. Perhaps she was desperate to find a way out so she was going back to the slide to see if she could get out that way? He smirked. That was a dead end. The slide had been coated with an advanced Teflon polymer that made climbing it impossible. It defied friction.

Still, Fairclough watched as she made her way to the slide. She ran her hands on the surface and realized that climbing it was impossible.

But she didn’t seem upset.

Instead, to Fairclough’s horror, she stabbed her sword—that damned sword—into the slide and used it to pull herself up.

Fairclough’s eyes ballooned and he jabbed the radio that connected him with Greene and Jonas. “Release him!”

“Are you sure?” Greene sounded hesitant.

“Dammit, just do it! Release him now!”

“Okay.”

Fairclough leaned closer to the screens. If she got too much of a head start, Kessel would never reach her in time.

And that wouldn’t be good at all.

“I’
M
GETTING
TIRED
of this old clown,” Greene said in the corridor as he and Jonas positioned Kessel.

Jonas shrugged. “So, what do you want to do? Kill him and be done with it? We’d lose out on all his money and then we’d be back to spraying graffiti instead of making an impact.”

Greene sighed. “There are lots of people out there with a ton of money they wouldn’t mind spending on a couple of guys like us. Guys with a plan.”

“Yeah, but would they buy into our goals?” Jonas turned Kessel around and faced him toward a doorway. “He’s ready.”

Greene sighed. “You’re probably right. But I don’t like how he talks to us as if we don’t know anything. He came to us, remember?”

“Come on, let’s do this.”

Greene jabbed the door release. As it slid open, Jonas reached up to the back of Kessel’s head and pushed a small button attached to a transmitter at the base of his brain. As it blinked, Kessel shifted. Then he lumbered forward into the maze.

Greene chuckled. “Annja, meet Fairclough’s monster.”

Then he closed the door behind Kessel.

A
NNJA
STABBED
HER
SWORD
into the slide again and again, slowly making her way higher up the slide. The coating on the slide was almost impossible to get purchase on, but by using her sword and bracing herself on the sides, she could eke out small distances.

She was already sweating like a pig, but who cared? She was covered in blood and gore from slaughtering the dogs. A little sweat didn’t bother her any.

Beneath her, Annja heard a noise like a door opening. So, now it’s begun, she thought.

But what would Fairclough throw at her? she wondered. Some creature she hadn’t yet met?

She thought briefly about Kessel. Was he still out there ready to swoop in and save her? Or was he dead already?

She couldn’t kid herself. With Kessel’s injury the way it was, a simple knock of his head on the roof of the tunnel could have done him in. And if he’d run into Greene or any of his thugs, then the chances were greater that he was already dead than still alive.

Best not to focus on what might be. Better to focus on what she was sure of.

And Annja was sure Fairclough hadn’t expected her to do this.

F
AIRCLOUGH
DIDN
’
T
ACKNOWLEDGE
Greene and Jonas as they reentered the control room. Greene cleared his throat. “It’s done.”

Fairclough nodded. “Excellent. Then all that remains is for the man to carry out his programmed orders and destroy Annja.” He glanced at Jonas. “Does the transmitter work?”

“Checked it myself,” said Jonas. “Light came on and started blinking. That means it’s good to go.”

“Excellent,” Fairclough said. “In that case, let’s activate his orders.” He leaned forward and pressed another button on the console. Fairclough cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone. “Kill the woman known as Annja Creed. Reply if you understand your directives.”

From the speakers on the wall came the disembodied sound of Kessel’s voice. “I understand.”

Fairclough switched off the microphone. “This is what I’ve been waiting for. To witness her destruction.”

Greene and Jonas looked at each other. If Fairclough was happy when this was all over, then he’d be a lot more generous with their funding.

It all came down to money, thought Greene. If they had the cash, they could continue to bring peace to the environment. By destroying humanity. And he supposed that made putting up with Fairclough and his various eccentricities worth it.

But only just.

Fairclough pointed at the screen. “There he is!”