by Alex Archer
Annja stopped. Something in his voice.
And then she saw it.
There were other armed men in the room, dressed in military-style fatigues. And they each had a submachine gun.
Frank sighed. “Looks as though we walked right into a trap here.”
“And you’ve just made my job a whole lot easier,” Dunraj said, “now that I don’t have to chase you through those confounded tunnels. I swear I never understood them half as well as my brother.”
“So, he was your brother,” Annja said.
“What I told you was the truth. My brother suffered from a mental condition his entire life.”
“Until I killed him.”
“Yes,” Dunraj said. “Until you wandered into my city and turned my plans upside down.”
Annja steeled herself.
“It’s time we ended this.”
Chapter 31
“But you’re not going to do anything with that sword, Annja,” Dunraj continued. “In fact, if I even see you flinch, my men here will rake you with enough bullets to make Swiss cheese jealous.”
Annja smirked. “Oh, that’s cute. Did it take you all night to come up with that whopper?”
Dunraj ignored her. “I don’t know where you found that sword—it’s true I don’t have this entire mountain explored—but I want you to throw it away. Right now.”
“Throw it away?”
He nodded. “Or else I will have my men shoot.”
Annja frowned. Dunraj thought she’d found this in the mountain? Excellent. She nodded. “Yeah, okay.” And then she threw the sword across the room so that it slid under the bed. As it disappeared from view, she knew that it was back in the otherwhere. With any luck, Dunraj wouldn’t realize his mistake.
Until it was too late.
Dunraj visibly relaxed. “Better. Much better. Now, how about we all go downstairs and have a much longer conversation. Frankly, being here in my brother’s home feels a little odd now that he’s dead.”
They marched one by one through the walk-in closet and out beyond it into the passage that led down to the work site. As they came out of the passage, Annja gasped at what she saw.
Corpses were stacked like firewood nearby. All of them swathed in black. The members of Dunraj’s brother’s Thuggee army had been executed. And now Dunraj was disposing of them.
He came alongside Annja and sighed. “I just couldn’t take the chance that any of them wouldn’t keep their mouths shut. Given what they’d all done, it seemed only fitting that they should also answer for their crimes.”
“You’re erasing all evidence of what happened here,” Annja said. “If it doesn’t exist, you can’t be held accountable.”
Dunraj smiled. “I still maintain that we could be so good together, you and me. You get it immediately. I don’t have to explain anything to you.” He came closer. “I have to tell you, it’s extremely attractive to be in the presence of a beautiful woman with such an acute and imaginative mind. Not to mention the ability to fight as well as you seem able to.”
“That’s got to be the most interesting pickup line I’ve heard over the years,” she said. “But as flattered as I am, I’ll have to say no. I mean, how could we ever have a relationship? You’d never trust me. You don’t trust anyone. And that’s your problem, isn’t it? All your life you’ve had opportunities and chances, and yet you’ve never found anyone equal to you.”
“Until now. I could give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of. And probably plenty you haven’t even dared imagine yet.”
“As I said, tempting. But I’m afraid we’re two different people. I’m trying to make a stand for good. And you’re only too willing to roll right over anyone who doesn’t play by your rules.”
“That’s only because the rules have rolled over me more than once.” Dunraj shrugged. “If I hadn’t done it my way, then I’d never have gotten a fair shake in life. I had to become who I am now.”
“Did you? Or is that the excuse you use to justify what you do to people? To get what you want? You should stop killing people,” Annja added.
Dunraj smirked. “Well, I can’t do that, can I?”
“What do you mean?”
“You, Frank and that guy over there…all of you know what happened here. That’s not acceptable. Anyone who knows about this place could conceivably tell others. And I can’t have that. I can’t take that chance.”
“More trust issues,” she said. “Is that why you brought in your personal little army here?”
Dunraj looked pleased. “They’re Tamil Tigers. Do you know about them?”
Annja glanced at the men in the better light and saw the hardened looks on their faces. “Yeah, I know about the Tigers. They’re terrorists. The crimes they’ve committed make you appear to be an altar boy.”
“One man’s terrorists are another man’s freedom fighters. And these freedom fighters just happen to be cash-strapped. Nothing like a side job to help the coffers of the revolution.”
“These guys can’t stand elitists like you,” she said. “How the hell did you convince them to come to your aid?”
“I promised them something that they appreciated.”
And as he said it, Annja saw the arm of a crane moving. Suspended from it was the giant statue of Kali with the golden arms and jewel-encrusted body. That treasure must have been worth many millions of dollars, she thought, not for the first time.
“Just like that? You’re giving them a statue of something that belongs in a museum.”
“It’s an item of antiquity. It does nothing for me.” Dunraj looked at his freedom fighters. “But apparently the Tigers like such things. When I told them what I had, they were only too willing to come to my assistance for this small job.”
“And what about the other workers here? The construction workers on the highway project?”
“What about them?”
“Are you going to kill them, too?”
Dunraj paused. “I don’t think I’m going to have to do that.”
“Why not? Any one of them could spill the beans about your project here and the things you’re doing now.”
“That’s true,” he said. “But I’m hoping that after I illustrate how serious I am, I won’t have to worry about anyone becoming chatty.”
“Illustrate?”
“You’ll find out very soon.” He walked away toward the crane and directed the operator to swing the statue down to a flatbed truck waiting on the lower level.
Annja glanced at Frank. “This isn’t good. These guys with Dunraj are professionals. They won’t hesitate to kill us without a second thought. Make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
“I think it’s too late for that,” Frank replied. “After all, I agreed to come on this trip in the first place.”
Annja took a second look at him. “Wish you were back in New York?”
“Every damned minute.”
“Good, that will give you something to fight for.”
“You’re not doing much to inspire me with confidence here, Annja.”
She nodded. “Yeah, you’re going to have to find your own confidence if you hope to get out of this alive. I’m going to have my hands full dealing with the Tigers. When the time comes, you take the guy closest to you and don’t stop until you hear my voice. Got it?”
“Yep.”
“Tell Kormi.”
“I think he knows. He’s been watching you the entire time we’ve been here. He’s just waiting for your signal.”
“Okay.”
Annja surveyed the scene. There were ten Tigers to deal with in her immediate vicinity. They were staggered along one side of them, carefully arranged so that if they needed to shoot, they wouldn’t risk hitting one of their own.
How courteous of them, Annja thought.
The crane with the Kali statue drew closer. The statue swung precariously on the end of a giant steel cable. Even from this distance, Annja could see the incredible detail of the craftsma
n who had made the statue. It had been brought to this mountain for some reason, and now it was being callously removed for the purpose of paying off mercenaries.
Annja wasn’t sure about her relationship with the divine, but she had to believe that a powerful deity wouldn’t be thrilled about being taken from its home as tribute to some ruthless band of mercenaries.
Then again, perhaps that was up Kali’s alley.
The important thing about the movement of the crane was that as it drew closer to the group, Annja, Frank and Kormi were forced to move out of its way.
Closer to the Tigers.
They all had their fingers on their trigger guards. They weren’t unseasoned amateurs. If they felt the threat, they’d shoot immediately, whether Dunraj told them to or not.
As the statue swung closer, its momentum carried it directly into the line of sight of the Tigers.
That was the moment Annja was waiting for. She steeled herself, felt her heart pounding in her chest.
She reached for the sword.
“Annja!”
Frank’s voice jerked her eyes back to the moment without the sword. “What is it?”
“Look.”
Annja followed Frank’s gaze and saw what he was seeing at the bottom of the work area.
Dunraj was leading another captive up the walkway.
“Oh, no.”
“Well, at least we know he wasn’t in league with these bad guys,” Frank said quietly. “That’s some consolation, I suppose.”
“Not much. He was my last hope for rescue.”
As Annja watched, Dunraj poked Pradesh in the back with his pistol. “Get on up there with the rest of them, my good friend. You will shortly have your destiny before you.”
Pradesh stumbled into line with them. He looked as though someone had beat the crap out of him. His right eye was swollen shut and he was limping badly.
“What happened to you?”
Pradesh grimaced. “I was mugged, I think. Outside my precinct. They attacked me and threw me in the back of a van and drove me here. I was getting ready to come back and mount another search for you. I’ve spent the entire day looking for you, Annja. When you didn’t show up at the hospital—”
“Enough,” Dunraj said. “You can all commiserate with one another when you get to the afterlife and figure out which one of you is coming back as a fruit fly.”
Annja studied Dunraj. “I should tell you something.”
“What’s that?”
“Before I killed your brother, I told him something I think you’ll find important to your future.”
“Oh? And what was that.” Dunraj looked amused.
“Come closer. I don’t want to have to yell it.”
Dunraj took a few steps closer to Annja. But he was careful not to come too close. “Yes? What is it?”
“I told him that if he killed me, I was going to come back and haunt him for the rest of eternity. Not just this life. But every life he’d ever hoped to live. You understand that?”
“And what did my brother say when you told him this?”
“He laughed. Until I came back from the dead and sent him to hell.”
Dunraj said nothing for a moment and then smiled even wider than he had before. “I have to say it again—we could have been great together, Annja. Remember that as the first bullets pierce your flesh, will you?”
Then he turned and walked toward the Tigers.
Chapter 32
Annja watched Dunraj talk to one of the men standing closest to him. Annja assumed he was the leader of the Tigers. He had a thick moustache and longer hair than the others.
Thanks for the nugget of information, Dunraj, she thought. When she made her move, he was going down first. Maybe the other Tigers would scatter if their leader went down.
Probably not. The Tigers had a notorious reputation for cruelty, and none of them ever ran from a fight.
Still, it was worth a shot trying to disrupt their morale. And Annja needed a target.
The crane continued to move the statue of Kali overhead, and Annja found herself momentarily distracted by creaking.
Dunraj looked up, as well, frowning. He barked a command at another worker nearby and sent him running over to the crane’s cab.
“What’s going on?” Frank asked quietly.
Annja shrugged. “I don’t know. But that creaking doesn’t sound like a very good thing, does it?”
“Perhaps the statue is too heavy for the cable,” Pradesh said. “I’ve seen industrial accidents involving snapped cables. Not a very pleasant sight to behold.”
Frank looked at him. “Why?”
“When that cable snaps, people standing in its path get beheaded or sliced into many pieces.”
Frank stared back up at the swaying statue, his body visibly shrinking.
The crane had stopped now. But the statue continued to sway back and forth, causing the cable to creak even more. Annja studied the crane, keeping one eye on the Tigers. But all of them except their leader still had their eyes on Annja and the others.
The moment wasn’t there yet.
The worker Dunraj had sent over came scrambling back and said something to his boss. Dunraj looked as if he wanted to slap the man, but restrained himself and then looked back at the Tiger leader. He said a few words and then smiled.
The worker moved off to the side and blew an air horn. The work site went eerily quiet. The crane stopped moving, the statue suspended above them all, slowly twisting from the inertia.
Dunraj watched as the workers convened below them and then spread his arms as if he was welcoming them as his family. He spoke in Hindi, but Pradesh translated for Annja and Frank.
“My wonderful workers, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to you for the incredible work that you have accomplished here. Your efforts have been gallant, and we are well ahead of schedule. For that, you will all receive a substantial bonus in your next paycheck. Along with my heartfelt gratitude.”
There were cheers and applause. Annja wondered how they could possibly clap in the presence of ten heavily armed men and four people who were clearly being held again their will. But she supposed that providing for their families would make anyone look away when the time was right.
So much for counting on a popular uprising, she thought.
Dunraj continued his speech. “It is, as you all know, extremely important that the work you do here never be discussed with anyone outside of this location. You are not to tell your families or friends of this project. It is a state secret, and divulging this information would threaten the national security of our great nation.”
There were more shouts of support. Dunraj smiled as the workers cheered him. “Thank you. Thank you.”
And then he grew serious. “It is unfortunate that we live in troubled times. Where the loyalties of someone supposedly secure in their livelihood can be bought and sold like a carton of milk. Where people would cut one another down in the hope of gaining some advantage.” He glanced back at the four of them. “Where spies lurk in our midst.”
The crowd looked at Annja and the others, fury on their faces. Spies in their midst?
“Through our exhaustive investigative measures, we have found these four spying around the work site. They are all spies working in the employ of a foreign government—”
Some of the workers started shouting, “Death to Pakistan!” but Dunraj held up his hands.
“We do not yet know who they are working for. It might well be the Americans. Or the British. What is important is that we were able to find them before they could do much damage to the hard work we have all endeavored to bring about here. We have found the traitors before they could complete their plans.”
More cheers went up and Dunraj lowered his hands. “Therefore, I have decided to make an object lesson of them. I have decided to show you how we deal with traitors. How we deal with people who talk too much. Indeed, how we deal with people who do not have the honor to stay true to the
confidentiality agreements each of you signed prior to coming to work here.”
He glanced back at her. “Last chance, Annja. Marry me.”
“Never.”
Dunraj shrugged. “In a moment, I will ask my guards to execute these spies for their treachery. I want you all to watch and understand what happens to anyone who defies the glorious nature of what we have here. I will not tolerate disloyalty. I will not tolerate treachery or espionage.”
The workers roared their approval.
Annja frowned. Wonderful, more bloodlust. She frowned. Kali must really be proud of this.
Dunraj brought his hands up one final time. “Let us all continue to work as hard as we can on this incredible project. If we come in a week ahead of schedule, each man will get a bonus double paycheck at the conclusion of the job.”
Now cheers of “Dunraj! Dunraj!” went up from the crowd. Dunraj smiled and let the workers carry on for several long moments. Finally, he shushed them.
He turned and walked back to Annja. “Anything else to say to me?”
“Nice speech?”
“You speak Hindi?”
Pradesh chimed in from behind Annja. “I translated.”
Dunraj nodded. “Kind of you.”
Annja cocked her head to one side. “It sounded a little Communist to me. ‘Glorious work?’ The idea of communal labor for the betterment of all? I don’t know, if I was a betting woman, I’d say you have socialist tendencies.”
Dunraj frowned. “I’m one-hundred-percent capitalist, thank you. In case you hadn’t figured it out by now, what with the million-dollar condominium and expensive cars.”
Annja shrugged. “Yeah, the KGB used to have all those toys, too.”
Dunraj looked as if he was about to say something, but instead spun on his heel and stalked away. Annja glanced at Frank and Pradesh. Kormi drew closer behind her.
“We’re not going to get a better chance, so be ready.”
“When?” Pradesh asked.
“You’ll know.”
Dunraj reached the Tiger leader and called back, “I hope you enjoy your journey to hell, Annja Creed.”
