Tuk swallowed. "I don't think I like where this is going."

"Then perhaps you should stop talking. Before your worst fears are confirmed. Good night, Tuk."

And the room plunged into darkness again, leaving Tuk very much alone in the cold stone cell.

25.

Annja ran through the deserted corridors of the temple searching for her adversary everywhere, but to no avail. She paused, the sword still gleaming in the night air. There was no way she was going to release her blade until she knew exactly what the h.e.l.l was going on around here.

But after a full minute with no action, Annja calmed her heartbeat down and retraced her steps to the courtyard. The night seemed even more still than it had before.

Something was definitely not right.

And where was Mike?

Annja wanted him around now especially so since there was apparently some kind of a.s.sa.s.sin in the grounds. Was it the Hsu Xiao character that Garin and Tuk had mentioned? Or was it someone else eager to dispatch the outsiders who had come into their land?

Annja headed left of the courtyard, following her gut instinct. Ahead of her, she could see flickering torches in the distance, illuminating aspects of the stone corridors. She pa.s.sed the giant carved Buddhist sculptures and bizarrely colored tapestries and paintings all showing universal conflicts.

Where the h.e.l.l was everyone?

She walked faster and then heard something in the distance.

Voices.

She slowed to a stop and strained her ears to pick up anything of importance. She frowned. They weren't speaking English.

She listened closely.

Annja frowned. Someone was speaking Chinese. Did that mean they were on the wrong side of the border? And if that was the case, then Annja was in serious trouble.

She stalked farther ahead, keeping the sword tucked behind her back to avoid its gleam giving her away. She stayed in the recesses of the shadows and hugged the wall farthest away from the torch brackets.

Annja could hear them more clearly now. They seemed to be arguing. And one of the voices sounded familiar.

Guge?

She waited and then almost gasped when she saw Guge stalking away from someone dressed in combat fatigues. A lone red star appeared on his shoulder epaulets. Chinese military.

Here?

But this was supposed to be a sacred land far removed from the outside world. How was it possible that the Chinese were here? And if they were, why so? What was their purpose?

What did the people of Shangri-La have that would interest the Chinese military so much? She sighed. Maybe the geothermal theory was right. Maybe the Chinese wanted free energy to run part of their country. Already the global economy had hit China hard. Thousands of laborers had been laid off from shuttered factories reliant on American consumerism. And with so many people to take care of, energy costs might push the government to the brink of almost anything. If they couldn't keep their people happy, they'd have a serious revolt on their hands. And China couldn't afford bad will. Another Tiananmen Square incident would turn the world against them. And that would cost them billions upon billions of dollars.

So what was the alternative? Find Shangri-La and plunder its geothermal supply for Chinese use only?

Annja frowned. She really needed Mike.

And it wouldn't hurt to have Garin along, too.

She knew how much he would have loved to hear Annja say that to his face.

Fat chance of that happening.

Annja snuck down the corridor closer to where she'd heard the men speaking. She could feel the cold air now. How deep was she into the mountain? It almost felt as cold as it had back in the cave they'd been taken from.

Guge strode away from the Chinese soldier, leaving him behind. He seemed to be intently watching something through a pane of gla.s.s. But what? And where had Guge gone?

Annja decided she couldn't worry about him right now. She needed to see what the soldier was looking at. Perhaps it would clear up this mess.

But how was she going to get close enough to do it?

She could just run him through with the sword, of course. But, despite her apprehension at the appearance of the Chinese military here, so far they hadn't done anything to warrant murder.

Annja might even be the one breaking the law if she was on sovereign Chinese territory. She could just imagine the scope of the international incident if she attacked the solider for doing nothing other than peering through some gla.s.s.

Still, she needed-wanted-to look and see what he was watching. She regarded the soldier. He was armed with a pistol on his right side, but otherwise, there didn't seem to be another weapon about. Annja figured him for an officer. They were the ones who normally wore sidearms.

Annja returned her sword to the otherwhere and then flexed her muscles. She would sneak up and take him down with a choke hold. She'd been practicing some of them at the traditional jujitsu school that had recently opened in Manhattan. But this form of jujitsu wasn't like the mixed martial arts silliness. This was authentic jujitsu from j.a.pan, with holds and chokes designed to immediately incapacitate or kill an opponent.

Annja stole down the corridor toward the solider. She prayed he wouldn't turn around and see her.

She drew closer.

And then she immediately leaped up and onto his back, wrapping her left arm around his windpipe and using her right arm to tighten the hold. She positioned her head down at the base of his skull.

The soldier's instant reaction was to snap his head back, trying to head b.u.t.t Annja in the face to make her release him. When that didn't work, his right hand scrambled for his pistol.

But Annja twisted him off his feet and brought him down to the ground. She could feel his strength waning already as he convulsed once, twice and then went still.

Annja kept the hold on for a few seconds longer and then released him. She checked his pulse and breathing. Both of them seemed fine. The soldier would recover in a few minutes.

But it didn't give Annja much time.

She rose and looked through the gla.s.s.

"Tuk?"

He sat there on the stone floor in almost complete darkness. What the h.e.l.l was Tuk doing in there?

Annja searched, trying to see if there was a b.u.t.ton she could punch so she could speak to Tuk. She found one and keyed it. "Tuk? Can you hear me?"

She saw him scramble to his feet. "Annja? Is that you?"

"Yeah, what the h.e.l.l is going on around here? Why are you in this...whatever it is?"

"I asked Guge how to cross over and then he pointed me to this doorway. My phone started to ring and then he pushed me through here. I don't know what's going on!"

Annja looked around but saw no way to free him. "I can't see how this cell works. Is there a door in there?"

"None that I can see. Annja, what is this all about?"

"I'm not sure. But I'll get some answers. Do you know this place is deserted out here? I saw your father speaking Chinese to a soldier."

"They want to know where Mike is. And who Garin is. I didn't tell them anything."

"Not much to tell," Annja said with a grunt. "I don't know where Mike is and trying to explain who Garin is would take a very long time."

She kept looking for a release b.u.t.ton or panel or something that would free Tuk but she saw nothing. What kind of place was this?

She looked back inside. Tuk was right up against the Plexiglas and he looked scared. "Annja, I don't think that's my real father."

"I'm starting to think that, too."

"I can't see you, by the way. This gla.s.s is one-way."

"All right. I'm trying to get you out, but there doesn't seem to be any way to trip the door release."

"If there even is a door," Tuk said. "I can't see anything in here to tell you where it might be. The four walls appear completely solid."

Annja frowned. "Well, there's got to be a release somewhere. Just hang on."

"Garin was trying to reach me when I was put inside. Find my phone and maybe you can guide him here."

Annja shook her head. "I have no idea how I'd even do that, Tuk. I'm not sure where we are anymore. If I even knew at all."

"We've got to be somewhere close to the mountain we stayed in. They couldn't take us too far, could they?"

"There's no telling how strong that gas was they used on us. We could be in Brazil now and not know it."

Tuk sighed. "You're right."

"I'm going to keep searching, but you just-"

Annja felt her legs kicked out from under her. She crashed to the ground and nearly snapped her head against the stone floor.

"Annja?"

She rolled, ignoring Tuk's voice, and concentrating on the Chinese soldier who had a quicker recovery time than she'd given him credit for.

As she rolled she saw the pistol in his hand and immediately lashed out her leg, knocking the firearm out of his grasp. It skittered away across the stones. He watched it for a second, determined it was too far away to go after and then glanced back at Annja with a grin on his face.

"So, the mighty Annja Creed makes her appearance at last."

Annja groaned. "I've been here all day. It's not my fault you're late to the game."

He whipped out a knife and the blade caught the flickering torchlight. "It will be my pleasure to kill you," he said.

Annja blinked and had her sword out in the next instant.

The soldier's eyes went wide with awe. "So, it is true."

"What is?"

"The sword. The mystical sword we've heard rumors of."

Annja slashed at him. How had they heard of the sword? As far as Annja knew she'd managed to keep its existence secret from all but a few individuals over the years. And now this Chinese soldier was telling her that he knew of it?

"What have you heard?"

The soldier ducked and came back at Annja with a stabbing shot aimed at her heart. Annja deflected the blow and the soldier caught her with another quick kick that sc.r.a.ped Annja's s.h.i.+n and sent pain echoing through her body.

"You've been in too many battles for your enemies not to notice the sword's existence, Annja. And not all of your enemies died as you thought. It's funny what people tell you when you help them live for vengeance."

"Vengeance?"

The soldier cut back at her. "How do you control the sword? Where does it come from?"

"If you don't know, why should I tell you?"

He smiled. "Because I'm not going to kill you, Annja. I'm going to disable you and then torture you until you tell me every last secret of that blade."

"You think so?" Annja cut down at him again but he managed to vault out of the way. Whoever the solider was, he'd been extremely well trained in hand-to-hand combat.

"I know so. You can hold out for a little while, but eventually you will cry and weep with joy when you tell me what I want to know. When I'm done with you, you will give me the sword."

Annja smiled. "I'll give you the sword right now."

The soldier stopped. "You will?"

Annja plunged the blade directly at him so fast, the soldier had no time to react and the blade stabbed through his fatigues and directly into his heart. Blood spurted out, coating the floor. The air was thick with the smell of copper and death.

Annja yanked her blade back out and let the soldier slide down to the floor, his eyes already wide-open and unfocused as he died.

"You should be careful what you wish for," she said.