Labyrinth (9 page)

Air.

Annja shot for the surface.

Broke it.

And sucked deep lungfuls of air.

Finally.

Water dripped off her and her entire body felt cold. She needed to get out of the water and find a way to warm herself. Otherwise, she was done for.

She turned in the water and saw a sandy beach ahead.

Annja swam for the shore.

Grateful to be through the tunnel.

And still alive.

Chapter 9

Annja waded out of the water and fell face-first into the sugar-soft sand. Her teeth chattered and her entire body felt chilled to the core. Annja briefly managed to put the sword back and then exhaustion washed over her. She closed her eyes and just wanted to fall asleep.

But she knew she couldn’t. The watch on her wrist already showed her that one hour had passed since Greene had delivered his ultimatum to find the book or Fairclough would die.

Annja groaned and hauled herself into a sitting position. The sand was mercifully warm and her clothes already seemed to be drying, as if they’d been exposed to a fire. Annja lay back down on the sand and let the warmth, which seemed to be radiating up from under it, bleed into her and restore her core temperature.

Fairclough had planned for this, she guessed. After that swim, people would need to be able to warm themselves. Somewhere beneath her, there was no doubt an industrial heater.

Annja frowned. The heater probably wasn’t left on twenty-four hours a day… Had it been activated when she reached the sand? In that case, there would have to be sensors embedded somewhere in the walls that would track her progress. Either that or cameras, with people watching her. If she could figure out a way to get to some sort of control room, there might be a way to bypass the maze itself and head right to the book.

Of course, in order to do that, Annja would need a more intimate knowledge of the maze. And that was something she didn’t have.

She sighed and sat back up.

Kessel was still nowhere to be seen. Annja wondered if he’d fallen into some other pool somewhere else in the maze and if he’d had his own run-in with a shark.

Maybe he hadn’t made it.

Annja smiled. She doubted it. Kessel was very strong…and smarter than she’d first thought. Maybe she could find an unexpected ally in the man—if she
could
find him again. He’d already shown a willingness to communicate with her. And Greene had sent him into the maze with Annja without consulting with the guy first. That had to have shown Kessel he was expendable.

“I’d be furious if Greene did that to me.” Annja glanced around, suddenly sheepish that she’d spoken to herself.

A couple close calls and she was already cracking up.

She hauled herself to her feet and stomped around, feeling her muscles come back to life. A few deep breaths, knee bends and waving her arms around helped flush blood through her body.

Now, where do I go from here?

She took a look around this new room and saw that the sandy beach ended almost as soon as she got away from the water. Obviously, the beach was only there to serve the purpose of reinvigorating the person in the maze.

But beyond that, it was back to business.

The maze.

Annja padded out of the sand and paused only to shake some of it from her shoes. Then she put her shoes back on and turned around.

A wide corridor stretched out in front of her. Lights ran along the length of it, illuminating different-shaped stones that paved the floor.

She pulled the sword out again and knelt close to the edge where the stones started. Some of them were shaped like squares, some like rectangles and some triangles.

Annja tapped the point of her sword on one of the square tiles.

And threw herself down as a whisper of air breezed past her head. She heard a splash behind her and knew that whatever trip wire she’d triggered had fired its dart or spear into the water.

Good range, she thought.

She sat back up and tapped the edge of the sword on the triangular tiles. She heard the same punctured sound of air breaking overhead and watched this time as a small dart zipped past her and also landed in the water.

Last time, she thought, and touched the tip of the sword to the rectangle.

Nothing happened.

Annja nodded, stood and set off down the corridor, making sure to keep to the rectangular tiles.

The corridor went on for another fifty feet before ending abruptly. Annja stood on the brink of a pit that stretched fifteen feet before the corridor continued on the other side of it for another fifty feet or so.

The distance was too far to jump, and trying to get a running start would prove difficult relying only on the rectangular stones.

So how would she get across?

And if she did manage to span the gap, she’d have to make sure that she landed on the rectangles on the other side, as well.

Annja shook her head. Damn, Fairclough, you didn’t make this easy, did you?

She glanced overhead, wondering if perhaps he’d left a rope hanging down that she could use to swing across the divide.

No such luck.

She sighed. This was getting tiresome. Annja would have preferred a simpler maze.

Hell, she thought, even facing a minotaur would have been preferable.

She knelt at the lip of the gap and peered into the chasm. The sword cast light only so far, but Annja thought she could see what looked like tips of spears jutting up at an angle, ready to impale those unlucky enough to fail the jump.

Punji sticks, she thought. Just like she’d seen in the jungles of Southeast Asia before.

But there had to be a way across. There had to be. Fairclough wouldn’t have made it impossible.

At least, not yet.

Annja wondered what he might have lying in wait farther on in the maze. But for now, her task was relatively straightforward. Just get across.

Easier said than done.

She glanced over her shoulder at the placement of the rectangular tiles. They’d been spaced just far enough that she was confident there was no way she could get any type of running start.

No, there had to be another way.

Fifteen feet was too far to jump from standing at the ledge. And worse, Annja could see that the first rectangle was situated just out of reach, so that once she got to the other side, she’d have to immediately vault herself forward from the edge of the pit.

Annja looked beyond the chasm. Was there a way to run and jump and avoid the darts when she hit the other rigged tiles?

She could keep the sword up in front of her, of course, but would the blade be enough to deflect the darts? And if one of them hit her, did it have a toxin on it? Or were they simply darts with sharp points?

Too many variables, she decided. Too many unknowns that she couldn’t risk without fear of losing her life.

But what choice did she have?

There was nothing on the walls that surrounded her except a series of holes where she assumed darts would fire out of. No hints about how to get across, no clues as to how to solve this puzzle.

Annja sighed. She wished she could have a few words with Fairclough. Just to get a hint of how he had imagined this maze.

There didn’t seem to be an rhyme or reason to it. Each room she’d been in so far hadn’t behaved the way she’d imagined it would. The table room had held a hidden switch that then plunged her into a pool with a shark in it, followed by a long tunnel swim that left her nearly dead.

And now this.

She shook her head.

What am I missing?

Still kneeling at the edge of the pit, Annja slashed the air with her sword again. The gray light illuminated the tips of the punji sticks. But something seemed strange.

Annja looked again. And then she checked above the chasm.

There.

She stabbed up into the roof directly above the chasm and felt the blade pass seemingly right into the stone ceiling.

Except it wasn’t stone.

It was a painted canvas designed to look like the rest of the ceiling. Annja’s blade cut a swath through it and it dropped down to her. She tested its strength. Would it be strong enough to take her weight?

It was risky.

Annja pulled harder and felt some more of the material rip away from the ceiling. No, it wouldn’t hold her.

No way.

But as she pulled the material she saw something white drop down.

A rope.

Annja smiled. So, Fairclough had given her a way out. But even if intruders figured out the ceiling was a painted canvas, how would they have been able to get to the rope? Annja had the sword, luckily.

But other people?

She shook her head and grabbed the rope. When she put her full body weight on it, it held, and Annja swung across the divide easily.

She still had to be careful when she touched down on the lip of the divide on the other side. And as it was, she had to jump in order to land neatly on one of the rectangular stones.

But she did, aware that a line of sweat had broken out along her hairline.

Annja had little doubt that there’d be even more demanding tasks ahead of her.

She checked her watch before setting off down the corridor again. Twenty minutes had passed. The increments seemed small, but they added up. And somewhere far above her, Fairclough was getting closer to the irreversible effects of that toxin Jonas had pumped him full of.

I’d better get moving, she thought.

Annja stepped gingerly down the corridor and then saw the turn ahead of her to the right. She knelt at the corner and stuck her head out just enough to get a glimpse of what would be waiting.

Instinct caused her to jerk back as another dart zipped past where her head had been a second before.

More darts?

Annja waited and then stuck the sword back around first. This time, nothing shot out of the far wall.

So it had been only one?

Annja took a chance and stepped around the corner.

And felt nothing pierce her skin.

She exhaled and wiped the sweat from her brow. The corridor was dimmer than the one she’d just left. That made her suspicious.

If she couldn’t see too far ahead, there was no telling what might be waiting farther along the corridor.

And she had no doubt there’d be more danger.

Annja kept her steps light, ready to either jump out of the way or drop to the floor if she thought she needed to.