Labyrinth (14 page)

Big. Dark.

And ominous.

Chapter 15

But where
was
Kessel?

That was the problem facing Annja. Judging by the television screen, Kessel was in a corridor exactly like the one Annja was in. The stone walls, the torches…all of it looked exactly the same.

It wasn’t, though.

And the surveillance cameras showed that Kessel seemed to have no idea he was being stalked by a shadow. A large shadow. But what cast that shadow, Annja had no clue.

I’ve got to find a way to get to him, she thought.

But how?

She frowned. If this thing was stalking Kessel, then that might mean she could safely call Kessel’s name without fear of it zeroing in on Annja’s location. Unless there was more than one thing stalking them.

It was worth the risk.

“Kessel!”

Annja’s voice seemed to echo up and down the corridor, bouncing back and forth off the stones and causing the torchlight to flicker in fiery spasms. She called again. And again.

On the television screen, Kessel seemed to pause. Had he heard her?

“Kessel!”

He had stopped now. His head was cocked to the side. Annja’s heart jumped inside her chest. He must have heard me, she thought.

But then Kessel kept walking. And so did the shadow.

No!

Annja tried shouting several more times, but Kessel didn’t seem to hear her. And with each step he took, the shadow behind him drew closer.

Always closer.

Annja tried to turn away from the television, but she was transfixed. Wouldn’t Kessel have noticed by now? He’d been a Navy SEAL and was now an undercover FBI agent. His instincts should have been screaming at him by this time.

But he showed no sign of noticing.

None at all.

I’ve got to help him, Annja thought.

Somehow.

But then Kessel stopped short and cocked his head to the side again. Had he heard something?

He started to turn.

Annja saw his eyes widen.

And then saw the shadow block the camera view. Everything had been blotted out by the enormity of whatever Kessel was facing right then.

She saw fast movement on the television screen, as if Kessel was trying to fight.

Annja braced herself.

But when the shadow drew back, there was nothing in the corridor. Kessel was gone.

There wasn’t even a trace of what had just transpired.

Nothing.

My God, Annja thought, what
is
that thing?

What had Fairclough put into his maze that could take down a trained SEAL so easily? Kessel might have tried to put up a fight, but it had been in vain. The shadowy figure had merely washed over him like a tidal wave, and drawn him back effortlessly into the sea.

Annja shook her head. If it had gotten to Kessel so easily, what could stop it from coming for her next?

She pulled out the sword.

This would stop it, she thought with a grim smile. But first she’d force it to take her to wherever Kessel was. Because Annja felt pretty sure that Kessel hadn’t been killed. There was no blood. And no body. That meant there was hope.

She chose to believe the…thing…had simply knocked Kessel out and carried him off.

She hoped so, anyway.

The television screen went blank.

And then the screen came back again. And Kessel was again walking down the corridor. Annja frowned. And then she saw the shadow come back into the frame. The entire scene she’d just watched replayed itself again.

And again a minute later.

Another video loop. But had she seen it in real time the first go-round? There was no way to tell.

Annja’s gut ached. If it had been pretaped video, then the shadow might not still be with Kessel.

And by shouting Kessel’s name like that, she
had
given away her own location. Annja whirled around.

But the corridor seemed empty.

Still, gripping the sword, she felt a measure of confidence. Annja knew what she was capable of when she held the sword. And whatever this creature was, Annja felt sure she could take it on.

She just had to find it.

The video had been meant to get her to reveal herself to the creature. And Annja had fallen for it. Her voice had echoed all over the maze.

Even now the creature could be homing in on her.

Good, Annja thought, let it come for me. I won’t be as easy to take down as Kessel was.

Hopefully.

Annja turned and started past the television screen. It seemed fairly certain that the creature couldn’t get behind her since the wall had come down sealing off that direction. Annja couldn’t go backward, but neither could someone sneak up behind her.

Unless there was a way to retract the wall and reopen the corridor. It was possible. Pretty much anything seemed possible after she had to battle a bull shark in an underground pool.

Her best option was to keep journeying ahead, rather than wait for the creature to come to her. It might not expect her to go on the offensive. It might expect her to hunker down and cower. Maybe that was the other point of showing Kessel being abducted like that. To produce terror.

But Annja wasn’t just anyone.

And seeing Kessel taken so easily hadn’t scared her as much as it had pissed her off.

A friend needed her.

And Annja was determined to help him.

She crept down the corridor, holding the sword out in front of her, almost as she held a gun. She was aware of the sound her shoes made on the stone floor and bent her knees more to help cushion the impact.

Annja approached a bend and steeled herself. But her instincts told her the creature wasn’t waiting in ambush around the corner.

At least, not this one.

She crept on. The corridors never changed, each a direct copy of the previous one. And Annja found herself wondering where she could be heading. There were turns to the left and turns to the right. She seemed to be going around in circles, but she couldn’t stop moving forward. What else could she do?

How had Kessel ended up in such a remote part of the maze? Annja had come down the same tunnel, and yet she seemed to be so far away from him.

Or was she? Maybe she
was
walking in circles…
around
him.

The constant replication of the corridors played hell with her senses. Each turn brought a new sense of déjà vu. Annja, who normally had a terrific sense of where she was going, found herself reduced to simply accepting the forward progress as a sign that she wasn’t going backward.

As she came around another corner, the floor changed again. It went back to the rectangular, square and triangular tile patterns. Annja stopped.

Had she somehow gone all the way back to the start of the maze?

But how was that possible?

Or was this another section designed to look the same? Annja shook her head. A lesser-grounded individual might start flipping out if they’d been forced to go through this.

Not fun.

Annja squatted and looked at the tiles. Her memory of this part of the maze seemed sharp, and she wasn’t sure if this was the earlier section or not.

One way to find out, she reasoned.

Using the tip of the sword, she poked the rectangular tiles.

Nothing happened.

Annja poked the triangular tile close by. And she heard the release of a dart that thudded into the wall behind her.

Okay, so that’s the same.

She prodded a square tile.

Nothing.

Annja’s frown deepened. So it wasn’t the same place. It was different. This time she could safely traverse two different types of tiles, and as long as she avoided the triangular ones, she’d be fine.

Nice one, Fairclough, she thought.

Annja kept moving forward, slowing only when she came across an area of all triangular tiles. It spanned eight feet.

Another virtual chasm. She glanced up and jabbed at the ceiling, but this time, there was nothing fake about it. The tip of her sword clanged off the solid stone.

So much for that.

Annja backed up, aware that the safe tiles were fewer in number. Across the chasm, she saw more safe tiles to land on. Annja took a few running steps, leaped and then came down on the safe tiles on the other side.

Instantly, she heard the telltale release of darts. Not just one this time, but a whole bunch. She flattened herself on the tile floor and listened as the darts whistled overhead before slamming into the wall at the far end.

Annja examined the floor. She was on square and rectangular tiles. That shouldn’t have tripped any darts.

But it had.

Ahead of her, she saw a triangular tile and tapped it with the tip of the sword.

Nothing.

She tapped a square tile and a dart released. Then she tapped a rectangular tile with the same result.

Fairclough had reversed the pattern.

Annja’s heart thundered in her chest. He was taking advantage of false security whenever he could.

Fortunately, her agility had saved her life.

Again.

Annja stood on a triangular stone and kept moving, leaping from tile to tile until she could at last see the end of them. Beyond, the stone corridor resumed and she felt sure there’d be a moment when she could catch her breath.

Annja leaped onto the stone floor and sank to her knees, flushing her system with oxygen. Keeping her wits about her in this maze was damned hard. And tiring.