Rogue Angel - Polar Quest Part 35

"If the people plotting this find out that we know, then we'll naturally be the first ones they seek to eliminate. Someone's wanted you dead from the start. And now it looks like they have an even better reason to want it so."

Annja sighed. "Your suggestion about sleeping with my sword? I just might do that. I don't care what my roommates think."

Garin smiled. "Well, at least you always have that weapon. It's not as though it ever leaves you. Does it?"

"Not so far. I've had trouble using it in cramped places, but otherwise, it's always there when I need it."

"Good," Garin said. "At least I don't need to give you a weapon now. I tend to think people might mutiny if they saw that."

Annja nodded. "You should have seen everyone at dinner after you left. They hate me here."

"They think you killed their commanding officer. A man who was well liked by his troops. Of course they hate you."

"Speaking of which," Annja said, "did the satellite phone that you took from Dave's pack survive the explosion in Thomson's shelter? I think he's pretty steamed that I used it to make contact with my hacker friend."

Garin shook his head. "It was pretty mangled. I don't think you'll be using that to call for help, if that's what you're after."

"I just wanted to return it to him. But if it's gone, then I guess he'll have to manage without it."

Garin got up and walked over to his bed. "All right, then. If that's all you've got, I should get some sleep. Unless, of course, you'd like to spend the night with me?"

Annja smiled. "I don't think we're at the point where we need to keep watch over each other by sleeping in the same bed."

Garin lay on his back. "Perhaps not, but it would certainly make for some entertaining times. We might both wake up tomorrow dead. Did you ever think about that?"

"You're going to use end-of-the-world lines on me now? Garin, you must be losing your touch if you think that will work on me. Besides, it's not like you can die. Even if I do, I imagine you'll still be around kicking."

Garin sighed. "Most likely."

Annja moved to the door. "Good night, then."

"Be careful, Annja. Someone is obviously gunning for you."

She pushed the door open and walked back out into the cold. The winds howled through the camp, sliding snow all over the place. Bits of it pelted her parka and face, and she blinked, trying to get her goggles and mask back in place before her exposed skin froze. In conditions like this, it was no wonder people lost skin after only a minute of exposure.

She moved through the night and headed back to her shelter. Sleep would be a welcome relief for her. She dreaded telling Dave about his satellite phone, however. If she got out of this alive, she'd buy him a replacement as soon as they managed to get home.

If she got home.

The thought that someone was so actively seeking to kill her made her feel awful. It couldn't be the two guys back from Gallagher's, could it? Why would they expose themselves so early on? The best way to kill someone was to not announce your intentions and then simply erase the target one day out of the blue. No one would ever see it coming.

Yet there'd been at least two very clear attempts made on her life.

She pa.s.sed the entrance to the dig site and paused. I wonder if the research team really did wait to blow that wall.

She smiled. She would have heard the explosion, wouldn't she?

Why not just peek down there and see if it was still wired and ready to go?

She looked around but could make out no one watching her in the darkness. The snow blew hard, blinding her as it flew in horizontally.

Annja ducked into the shelter.

The guards who had been stationed there were absent. Annja shook her head. Once the commanding officer is gone, discipline apparently starts to slip in this unit, she thought.

Poor Thomson would be disappointed.

Annja unzipped her hood and parka and walked down the long sloping tunnel toward the fork. The lights overhead seemed to move of their own accord, probably from the ambient breeze that Annja had let into the shelter when she entered.

The light was fair and she could make out more pockets of coal in the dirt and rock of the mountain base. She picked up a lump and smiled. Some day this might even turn into a diamond, she thought. If I could just crush these all up by hand, I'd be a rich girl.

Her boots skidded along the path as loose gravel plagued her steps. She stumbled once and had to caution herself to slow down or risk repeating the concussion she'd given herself the other day.

At the fork in the tunnel, Annja turned left and headed down into the darkness. There still weren't any lights strung up in this part of the dig site and it bothered her. Why hadn't the other team arranged for lights? Wouldn't they want to be able to see as they made their way down to the cavern?

Like a lot of other things going on here, that didn't make sense, either.

So what else is new? she thought.

Annja picked her way carefully down the path. Ahead of her, she could make out ambient light coming out of the second dig site cavern. She could start to make out the features of the tunnel and it helped her avoid a nasty depression in the ground.

That's probably where I stumbled and fell yesterday, she thought.

Annja reached the entrance to the cavern and stopped.

Was someone there?

She waited, squinting to try to make out anyone who might be moving around. The cavern was large but not nearly large enough that she wouldn't be able to see someone sneaking about.

And yet something felt weird.

In front of her, she could see the ma.s.sive wall of granite. It would take a lot of explosive to blow that apart, she thought. And it was strange that she could only make out a few of the bored holes that she'd seen them putting explosives into yesterday.

Had they changed the wiring since then?

Annja stepped into the cavern, her feet grinding a bit of loose rock underfoot. The sound of it echoed throughout the chamber.

So much for staying quiet, she thought.

But did she need to? There was no one here in the cavern.

Annja took a quick glance around to rea.s.sure herself she was alone. Then she closed her eyes and saw the sword hovering, ready for use. Annja opened her eyes again, already feeling much better. Peace of mind was a precious commodity lately.

She walked around the cavern to the boxes of high explosives. Opening one of the crates, she was surprised to find it empty.

Where was the rest of it?

She glanced at the granite wall. It seemed utterly impenetrable. How in the world would they blow that in such a way that they could gain access to the other side? Wouldn't they have to dig out all the rubble before they could do so?

Annja walked over to the granite and stared at it. Nooks and crannies of the tough rock stared back at her. Annja could feel the weightiness of the wall looming before her, a giant block in the way of progress.

She ran her hands over the cool rock.

She froze.

Annja felt the rock in other places. Her heart rate kicked up a notch.

She placed both her hands on it and what she felt on her skin didn't feel like rock at all.

She pushed. Part of the granite wall gave in.

Annja pushed harder and the wall gave in more. It felt like a combination of papier mache and cardboard.

The granite wall was fake.

Annja moved closer to where the wall seemed to vanish into the side of the cavern. Find the edge, she told herself. Find the place where the wall meets the real rock and dirt of the mountain.

She ran her hands over the surface of the wall quickly. What was behind this? What was it that someone was trying so hard to hide from view?

And even more concerning, how many people were involved in this from the start? She'd seen at least four people in here yesterday. All of them were busy planting explosives.

Was the entire camp planning to steal the nuclear generator? Was it an entire team of traitors?

Annja thought she found the end point of the fake wall. She felt farther down toward the ground and found a little bit of purchase. She tried crus.h.i.+ng the wall inward, but it held, so instead she pulled back on the bit she had and a large piece came away in her hands.

Annja got down on her hands and knees and looked through to the other side.

What she saw scared her.

Piles of explosives sat from the floor to the ceiling of the cavern.

Whoever had planted them wasn't trying to take out a wall. They were trying to demolish an entire mountain.

And everything around it.

35.

She had to get out and tell Garin, she thought.

Annja turned and found herself staring into the barrel of a gun. Behind the gun, she saw a face she hadn't seen since her first night at Gallagher's bar. He wore a broad smile across his face. "Remember me?"

Annja brought her hands up. "Yeah. I remember you. You're the jerk who ha.s.sled Zach. And then later on you tried to kill me."

He shrugged. "Guilty as charged."

"You got a name?"

He smirked. "You can call me Mitch. That'll do for now. You know, at least until you die."

Annja looked around. "Where's your partner in crime? The smaller guy you were with."

"Right here."

Annja turned and saw the second guy from the bar entering the cavern. "Nice to see you again, Annja. Sorry about that elbow blast to your ribs that night. I hope they've been causing you a great deal of pain."

"Not too much, actually," Annja said. "I guess you just aren't the man you thought you were."

He scowled and then looked at Mitch. "Coast is clear. No one saw us come in after her. We should be good to go. Let's get this finished up and then get the h.e.l.l out of here. Things that go bang make me nervous."

Annja frowned. "And what's your name?"

"Chuck," he said.

"Mitch and Chuck. The two chaos brothers. Is that it?" Annja smiled. "And you guys are behind this whole operation? Somehow I just can't see that."

Mitch glared at her. "Shut up, Annja."

She nodded. "Yeah, this was far too well planned to be orchestrated by you clowns. Someone else has to be pulling the strings."

Chuck frowned. "Can't we just kill her now?"

Mitch shook his head. "You know what the orders are. It has to look like an accident."

Annja smirked. "Uh, yeah. You guys might want to rethink subtlety when it comes to wiring my laptop to explode. That wasn't going to look like an accident."

Mitch smiled. "Nice piece of work, huh?"

"Oh, that was you, Einstein? Yeah, real nice the way it was shaped to blow in only one direction," Annja said.

"Had to make sure we got the target."

Annja shook her head. "Well, you missed, didn't you? I'm still here."

Chuck laughed. "She thinks we wanted to take her out. She doesn't know a d.a.m.ned thing, does she? And here we were, concerned that she'd be able to figure it out and ruin the whole thing. Waste of worry."

Annja couldn't conceal her surprise. "You wanted Colonel Thomson dead? Why?"

Mitch sighed. "Because you'd be out of the way, that's why. If it looked like you'd rigged your own laptop to explode, then we hoped that fool Major Braden would have you locked up for murdering Thomson."

"But he didn't," Chuck said. "Not that it matters anymore." He busied himself with positioning a small black box in the center of the explosive bundles. "He'll die soon enough, anyway."

That's what you think, Annja thought. She knew Garin might be able to survive the explosion, but she wouldn't. She had to get out and she had to warn Zach.