Nezuma frowned. "No more master."

"I love you," she gasped.

He gritted his teeth. "I know."

Her eyes pleaded with him. He knew what she wanted him to say, but he just couldn't say it. He'd never honestly loved her. He had cared for her. But love? No. And saying it now just because she wanted to hear it was unnecessary.

She sucked breath in. The bleeding would kill her soon enough, Nezuma decided.

"I...know...you...would have...killed me...anyway," she whispered.

He was startled. "What?"

"When you found it. You would have killed me."

He frowned. He thought he'd managed to conceal his intentions, but somehow she'd known.

"Do it."

He shook his head. "No. There's no need."

"You would have anyway. Don't let me die like this." Shuko gripped his hand hard.

"If you aren't man enough to love me, then at least be man enough to kill me."

Nezuma unholstered the UMP and brought it up to Shuko's heart. He looked into her eyes but found only contempt staring back. Her lips parted one more time.

"Please."

Nezuma's finger tightened around the trigger, but he wouldn't shoot. She'll be dead soon anyway, he thought.

He watched her face for another moment before reholstering his UMP and moving on. No sense wasting good bullets on her. There'd be plenty of other people to kill soon enough.

Nezuma scampered forward. This complicated things, though-he would have to deal with Kennichi and Creed on his own, rather than have the backup that Shuko had provided.

He thought about going back and taking her weapon, as well, but disregarded it. The G-36 was too big. And dragging a bag of worthless gear might weigh him down.

He moved on, careful now because of the b.o.o.by traps.

He didn't want to end up like Shuko.

"WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU MEAN when you said we'd find out?" Annja asked as Eiji led them down yet another corridor that seemed to take them farther into the mountain. The air seemed still, almost as if very little of the fresh air they circulated into the mountain made it this far in. when you said we'd find out?" Annja asked as Eiji led them down yet another corridor that seemed to take them farther into the mountain. The air seemed still, almost as if very little of the fresh air they circulated into the mountain made it this far in.

"It's why you are here," Eiji said. "And it's where you're destined to go. Everyone who seeks the vajra vajra must seek it in the same way. There are no shortcuts." must seek it in the same way. There are no shortcuts."

"Too bad," Ken said. "I was hoping I'd show you the tattoo and maybe you would roll it out here for me."

Eiji looked at him. "That was a joke, correct?"

"Apparently not a very good one," Ken said.

Eiji pointed down the corridor to a door. "That is where you must go now if you truly seek the vajra vajra."

"Through the door?" Annja asked. "That's it?"

"The door," Eiji said, "will lead you to a series of caves and a labyrinth built into the mountain. There are numerous options and only by choosing wisely will you find the vajra vajra at the end of it." at the end of it."

Ken sighed. "Have you ever been in there?"

Eiji smirked. "You aren't the first person to think that putting a weapon to my skull and forcing me to reveal the path to the vajra vajra would save a lot of time and energy." would save a lot of time and energy."

"You haven't," Annja said. "The vajra vajra was placed inside long before you were born. And to safeguard it properly, there's no way they'd reveal how to get to it." was placed inside long before you were born. And to safeguard it properly, there's no way they'd reveal how to get to it."

Eiji nodded. "The secret died many, many years ago. And none are alive who would know how to get past the various obstacles. I can only tell you the same thing I've told the others who came here-be careful."

"Great," Ken said. He looked at Annja. "Are you ready for this?"

Annja felt her shoulder, which seemed much better since she'd had Eiji's tea. "Yeah, I think so," she said, feeling excited by the challenge.

Eiji bowed once more to them. "Weapons are not allowed inside. Otherwise I would return your supplies to you. They will be here for when you return. If you return."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Annja said.

Eiji bowed a final time and then strode off, leaving Annja and Ken alone in the silent corridor. The torches flickered and cast shadows that leaped from the wall to the floor and back again. Each time the light illuminated a different section of the rock wall, revealing the many facets of it.

Ken took a deep breath. "I guess there's not much more to do, is there?"

"Except to go in and get it," Annja said. "We've come this far. To turn back now-"

"I can't turn back," Ken said. "This is where my destiny lies. My search either ends here or else it opens up a whole new world for me."

"I'm hoping for option two myself," Annja said.

He smiled. "As am I."

They walked down the hall to the door. Like all the other doors in the mountain monastery, this one was also made of stone. Ken looked at the hinge work and shook his head. "I wouldn't even know how to imagine creating a working hinge made out of stone like this. It's amazing."

"The whole concept of this place is amazing," Annja said. "Who would ever believe that such places existed? With all the technology we have and all the places we've explored, there are things still right beneath our noses that we don't know anything about."

"Live and learn," Ken said. "Here we go."

He grasped the latch and pulled back the door. Annja expected to see him have to pull hard to get the door to open, but it swung back easily, revealing a gaping maw of darkness that seemed ready to devour them whole.

Ken peered inside. "Smells musty."

Annja got two torches from the brackets on the walls and handed one to Ken. "This might help."

The torches immediately lit up the area beyond the door. But rather than anything remarkable, the only thing they found waiting for them was yet another corridor.

"This place is built like a pyramid," Annja said. "Miles and miles of corridors with very few real rooms. You could get lost and never know how to get out if you were in here alone."

Ken ducked inside with her. The roof was lower and the smoke from the torches billowed up and spilled across the stone above them.

"It looks like it runs about a hundred feet before there's a wall farther down," he said Annja followed his gaze and nodded. "Shall we?"

Ken stopped her. "You don't think there'd be any b.o.o.by traps at this stage, do you?"

Annja halted. "Honestly, no. I don't think this is the official start of anything. Eiji said this door would take us to a place where there was a series of caves that would then lead us to a labyrinth, right?"

"Yes," Ken said.

"Then I think we're safe here."

Ken sighed. "Nothing ventured."

They walked down the corridor. As they did, Annja hoped that she hadn't been wrong, that she wouldn't suddenly hear some sort of rushing air that might signal poison darts or hidden scythes swooping down to kill them.

They made their way slowly and carefully. But nothing surprised them.

They reached the end of the corridor and saw that it turned to the left and sloped upward.

"I guess we go up," Ken said.

Annja followed him up the hallway, discovering that they both had to duck as they rose in height since the roof seemed to get lower and lower as they progressed.

"Who built this?" Annja said. "A drunk engineer?"

Ken pointed. "Look."

Annja held her torch higher and could see farther ahead. "Looks like it levels off."

Ken nodded. "Yes. And beyond that, I see dark openings."

Annja's heart quickened. Finally, it seemed as if they were close to the final stage of their search. If they could make it past the traps and obstacles and actually retrieve the vajra vajra, all would be good. Then they'd only have to figure out a way to take care of the people waiting to take it from them.

She shivered, thinking about the voice in her ear back at the hotel room. He'd sounded so utterly evil, as if he knew just what he would do before he killed her if she didn't give him what he wanted.

"You okay?"

She snapped back to reality. Ken was staring at her. "Annja?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just daydreaming for a second there. Sorry."

Ken nodded. "As long as it's out of your system now. From here on out, things are going to get tricky. We need total concentration."

They arrived at the end of the corridor and stood on a level patch of stonework in front of three cave entrances. Ken and Annja examined all of them, looking for any obvious signs that one would be a better choice than the others.

They could find nothing.

"Each one seems identical to the other," Annja said after another examination of all three.

"I suppose they'd have to be," Ken replied. "No sense bothering if they couldn't make the very first obstacle a challenge."

Annja nodded. "This is an obstacle, isn't it?"

"Sure," Ken said. "Not in the traditional sense, but choosing the wrong path could quite obviously kill us. This may actually be the toughest part of the entire search to get the vajra vajra."

"You really think so?"

Ken shrugged. "Nah, there are probably worse things inside."

Annja smiled. "Great."

"You have any thoughts on this?" he asked.

"Would tossing a coin be bad form?"

Ken held up his hands. "It might not do wonders for your career if people found out you'd chosen something based on a coin toss rather than exhaustive scientific a.n.a.lysis and historical perspective, but it's fine by me."

"Great," Annja said. She held up a coin. "Heads or tails?"

34.

"Annja?"

Annja held up the coin. "Yes?"

"There are three cave entrances here," Ken said.

"I know that."

"Your coin only has two sides."

"I-" She frowned. "Nuts, I forgot about that." She slid the coin back into her pocket and leaned against the wall. "So much for that idea."

Ken stepped away from the entrances and frowned. "Any thoughts from a historical perspective you think might be important here?"

Annja sighed. "I wish I had my laptop. I could punch this whole situation in and see what comes up."