Labyrinth (17 page)

A
NNJA
HEARD
THE
SOUND
of the wall swinging back.

And then saw the creature.

She froze as the mass of fur came lumbering through the opening.

For a moment, the creature halted, as if processing the sudden appearance of the woman standing before it. And the gleaming blade she held in her hands.

Whether it understood the potential of the weapon, Annja couldn’t be sure. Because then it roared again and the air filled with the sound of its fury.

And the creature rushed out to attack her.

Chapter 19

Annja saw the creature covered in fur coming for her, its paws—were they hands?—aimed at her face, and she dove to the right to evade its attack. She rolled, bringing the sword up in front of her.

Sasquatch?

On a trip, to the Pacific Northwest once she’d seen…something. Something that might have passed for Sasquatch.

She’d lost a good friend on that trip. And seeing the Sasquatch in front of her ripped the scab off that wound.

Sasquatch.

Was it possible? Was this real? Had Fairclough somehow found a way to capture one and place it here in the maze? And if so, how? The world had been searching for evidence of these creatures for years.

And yet, here it was.

There wasn’t time to reflect on whether or not it existed. Something came at Annja. Intent on attacking her. And if she didn’t want to die, she’d have to do something about it.

Annja brought the sword up and cut from left to right as the creature lunged. The blade sliced air as it ducked and came low under her cut, its right hand slamming into her midsection.

Annja felt the wind gust out of her lungs and she fell back as another strike landed on her chin. Coming so soon after the attack by the mysterious Asian man, her head rolled and she felt sick to her stomach.

She almost missed the creature’s next attack, but her instincts saved her again. As it swiped at her head with one massive claw, Annja’s legs seemed to buckle on their own accord, dropping her out of the line of attack.

Blackness tickled the fringes of her consciousness. She blinked.

Can’t black out now.

I’ll die….

K
ESSEL
CAUGHT
A
GLIMPSE
of Annja from behind the creature, but then the attack happened so fast he barely had time to register what came next. It looked like a wave of fur simply rolled over Annja.

He saw something play out across Annja’s face and Kessel recognized it as confusion. Was the appearance of the creature confusing her? That would be deadly.

Even as he watched, he saw the indecision cost Annja dearly. The beast caught her twice and nearly took her head off.

The blow the creature had landed on her jaw rocked her and she looked like she was going out on her feet.

If she loses consciousness, the creature will kill her, Kessel thought.

He had no choice.

Kessel launched himself out of the cavern, into the air and aimed himself directly at the mass of fur before him.

A
NNJA
SAW
THE
MOTION
out of the corner of her eye, heard what sounded like a bad karate kiai, and then saw Kessel land square on the creature’s back. He clamped his arms around its neck and then took it down.

Together with the creature, Kessel rolled forward, bringing his hands up in a choke hold.

Annja saw the creature buck wildly, determined to throw Kessel off its back, but Kessel had probably used this technique a dozen times in his real-world combat operations. Once the choke was on, it wasn’t coming off until Kessel had finished the enemy.

And if the enemy had been human, then Kessel’s attack would most likely have resulted in an easy kill. But in this case, the creature only reached up and tore Kessel’s hands from around its neck, then hurled him into a wall.

Kessel hit the stones and collapsed.

He tried to stand.

But sank back down.

The creature, now clearly enraged, stood and shook its head.

And roared defiantly.

K
ESSEL
’
S
HEAD
SWAM
through molasses. That didn’t go so well.

Ordinarily, that sentry removal technique worked perfectly. It was quick, silent and brought the sentry down off the line of vision in case anyone was watching. The roll usually broke their neck and then Kessel was free to get up and continue on.

Not this time.

He brought one of his hands up to his head and felt the back of it. A large welt was already growing like a melon. Great. This was probably worth a doctor’s visit or three.

The problem now was the creature was totally pissed off.

Not good, Kessel, he thought with grim realization. What should have taken care of the enemy had only succeeded in angering it even more.

He wasn’t having a great day out.

A
NNJA
WAS
BACK
on her feet. Kessel’s intervention had enabled her to regain her senses. The idea of killing a Sasquatch didn’t sit well with her, but the creature was hardly giving her a choice. She couldn’t sit by and let it kill her and Kessel.

She brought the sword up as the creature stalked her from across the corridor. Its eyes burned red with rage. This wasn’t what she had expected to have to deal with. Not here in the maze.

It didn’t make any sense.

As the Sasquatch rushed her again, Annja raised her sword, feeling its power course through her arms and down into her body. The power that flowed from this ancient metal infused her body and Annja prayed that her cut would be mercifully quick and painless.

K
ESSEL
SAW
A
CHANGE
come over Annja.

The indecision was gone, replaced by the look he’d seen on the faces of men who knew they were about to take a life. It wasn’t machismo or bravado or a superiority. It was the cold, hard realization that she was going to strike down dead something that had once been born an innocent child. Something that for some reason or influence had seen its path in the universe bring it into direct conflict with her.

There was no joy in killing. Only the sad finality of an act that demanded no hesitation to carry out.

As Annja’s sword descended, Kessel knew the strike was true. And as the blade cut through fur, skin, blood and bone, the creature reared its head back and wailed one single howl that ended quickly.

Annja’s blade cut quick and cut deep. The sudden violent explosion of blood and gristle splayed across the walls of the corridor before the creature slid away from her.

Dead.

Annja dropped to one knee.

And Kessel went to her.

A
NNJA
WATCHED
THE
CREATURE
slump over, still. It showed no sign of life. She’d taken it down with one cut, thank God. There was no sense in prolonging its suffering and she felt glad that her skill had been enough to finish the job quickly.

She looked up and saw Kessel coming toward her. “Annja?”

But Annja slumped over.

This time, she let the blackness take her.

K
ESSEL
CARRIED
A
NNJA
back into the cavern. The small fire that the creature had been tending still smoldered, and after laying Annja close to it, Kessel brought the flames back to life by blowing on the embers. He added some of the wood that had been used to tie him up, and as the flames burned higher and warmer, he reflected on the woman lying there.

As he suspected, the hit to her jaw had done its damage. He reckoned she had a decent concussion. As it was, Kessel’s own head ached like someone had been using it for kicking practice.

But his determination to make sure Annja was safe had driven out most of the pain, at least for the moment. She lay breathing quietly, and while Kessel wasn’t thrilled that she was unconscious, given the knock she’d taken, there wasn’t anything he could do but wait it out. With no medical facility nearby and them trapped in the maze, he could only ensure she didn’t slip into shock.

He snuggled next to her, cradling her head as best he could. With his back against the rock wall, he wasn’t exactly comfortable, but he was definitely warm. The creature had positioned the fire so it had a natural reflector throwing heat back at Kessel.

If they could hunker down here for a few hours, gather their strength and then make their way through the other tunnels that branched off this one, maybe they’d find their way out. Kessel had seen the tunnels as he followed the creature, but he hadn’t risked going down them.

Good thing, he mused. If he had, then Annja might well have been killed.

He pulled her closer. It was a shame she’d had to kill it. He knew that there had to be a connection between the two he couldn’t quite fathom yet. Indecision didn’t come easily for someone like her.

No, there had to be something that had given her pause.

Had Annja interacted with bigfoot before? Kessel almost grinned. This was one incredible woman if she had.

But what else would explain the fact that she’d hesitated to kill it?

Kessel glanced down at her face. She looked so peaceful lying on his lap. This was about the best he could do for her right now and he hoped it was enough.

He brought a hand up to the swelling on his head and judged that he would have a tidy headache for a day or two. The pain he could deal with. He just had to make sure it didn’t get progressively worse. If there was bleeding inside his skull, the pressure would increase until it proved fatal.

Kessel squinted into the fire.

Looks like Fairclough isn’t the only one on the clock now, he thought.

If they didn’t get out of this maze soon, then Kessel would probably die. And maybe Annja, as well.

But he’d do his best to make sure that didn’t happen.

But Fairclough? Kessel wasn’t so sure if he could help that. By his own internal clock, they had almost used up the twelve-hour allotment Greene had given them.

And they seemed no closer to the center of the maze than when they’d begun.