False Horizon - Alex Archer [101]
No, someone else could run down the Loch Ness story if Doug wanted it so badly. Annja wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but traipsing through a cold lake district in Scotland.
A trip to a spa would fit the bill nicely, though, she thought. A long series of massages, hot baths, aromatherapy and good meals. Now that might be something worth looking into.
She wondered if Garin had succeeded in chasing down the nurse he was apparently after. Annja frowned. Here she was, lying near death in a hospital, and all he could think about was another notch on his bedpost.
Way to show me that you care, Garin, she thought. Thank God Tuk was here.
She thought about Mike. What did it mean that his head didn’t hurt him anymore? Was there a chance that his tumor was in remission? Could it mean that he would have more years of his life to live out rather than some quick death sentence?
Annja hoped it would mean he’d be able to enjoy his life again. Although she wondered how the cancer could have gone into remission. Was it due to something they’d been exposed to back at the facility? Did radiation exposure kill cancer cells? Annja wasn’t sure how the whole chemotherapy thing worked, but if Mike had explored the facility and possibly gotten himself some exposure to radiation, then maybe that had affected his tumor.
So, some good comes out of all of this, after all, she thought.
She took another deep breath and exhaled slowly, willing herself to fall asleep. She felt certain that at any moment Garin would no doubt burst through the door and disturb her peaceful atmosphere.
The door hissed open. “You have the worst timing,” she said.
She opened her eyes.
But Garin wasn’t standing there. A Nepali nurse had come in and stood next to her bed, smiling at her.
“Oh,” Annja said. “Sorry, I thought you were somebody else.”
The nurse nodded and Annja looked at her again. It couldn’t be. Not her.
“You’re dead,” she started to say.
But then the nurse’s hand clamped down over Annja’s nose and mouth, trying to smother her.
38
Annja struggled to free herself from the crushing weight of Vanya’s body as she tried to smother Annja. Vanya dropped an elbow into Annja’s midsection and the impact made Annja gasp for breath even more.
Annja swung her arms up and clapped Vanya around the side of the head, trying to rupture her eardrums. But the older woman ducked the blow and Annja’s hands only smacked Vanya on the side of the head.
Vanya climbed atop Annja and tried to choke her. Annja gagged and kept fighting, aware that she was rapidly losing consciousness. All of her strength seemed to have left her.
Vanya’s voice was a sinister whisper in her ear. “You’ve ruined my plans, Annja Creed. I can never go home again and it’s all because of you.”
Annja kicked her hips up and dislodged Vanya, who fell to the floor. Annja scrambled to her feet on the other side of the bed. She ripped out her IV line and grimaced as pain shot through her body.
“I saw you die. Tsing’s man shot you three times in the chest.”
Vanya got to her feet slowly. “Another little bit of make-believe. I didn’t get as far as I have in this life by being too stupid to wear a bulletproof vest with a layer of fake blood over it for just that purpose.”
“You wear that everywhere?”
“Whenever there’s danger to me, yes.”
“But the facility exploded. You should have died there with Tsing and your assassin, Hsu Xiao.”
Vanya’s gaze was searing. “You killed my most illustrious pupil. Yet another reason to come after you. And as for not escaping, there is always more than one exit in anything I get involved with. As soon as you all fled, I got up and ran. I was back in Katmandu before you.”
Vanya circled the bed. Annja backed up, aware now that the woman had a scalpel in her hand.
Annja frowned. “Why not just shoot me?”
Vanya shook her head. “Metal detectors downstairs. I wouldn’t have gotten it through.” She hefted the scalpel. “But a little blade, well,