False Horizon - Alex Archer [73]
She rolled off the soldier just in time to see Guge going for her sword. Annja concentrated and the sword vanished. Guge stood there mouth agape.
“It was just there!”
Annja rolled off the dead soldier and then grabbed Guge by his lapels and tossed him against the stone wall. “It’s time you and I had a talk,” she said.
Guge shook his head. “Where did the sword go?”
Annja paused and suddenly the sword was back in her hands. She held the gleaming edge of the blade under Guge’s chin, pressed it ever so slightly against the skin on his neck and allowed it to bite just enough to score a thin line of blood.
Guge gasped at the pain. Annja pressed her point once more and then removed the sword.
“There. Now that I’ve got your attention…” Her voice trailed off.
Guge felt his neck and saw that his hand came away bloody. “You wouldn’t kill me, Annja.”
Annja smiled. “What makes you think that?”
“Because we saved you. We rescued you. If it hadn’t been for us, you would have died in that cave.”
Annja shook her head. “We were fine.”
“Mike would have died.”
Annja paused. “Perhaps you’re right. But don’t assume that means I won’t kill you. Especially since it looks like you’ve been lying this entire time.”
“It couldn’t be helped.”
“The lying?”
“Of course! How else could we accomplish this?”
Annja shook her head. “All right, Guge, or whatever the hell your name is. You and I are going to have a nice long talk. And you’re going to sit down and explain every last bit of what’s happening to me.”
She shoved Guge into the chair behind the keyboard. Annja studied the screen but it was filled with complex Chinese characters that she couldn’t understand. She pointed at the screen. “Does that have something to do with what’s going on here?”
Guge glanced at it. “Of course.”
“And you understand what that says?”
Guge smiled.
Annja frowned. “Don’t even think about lying to me again. I heard you speaking Chinese right before I freed Tuk.”
Guge looked shocked. “You freed Tuk?”
“Of course I freed him.”
“How did you figure out how to do that?”
Annja sighed. “I’m not a moron, Guge. I discovered the depression in the wall. The button disguised as a part of the rock. It took a little time, but I found it.”
“You must be proud of yourself.”
“I’m not proud of anything. What I am is beside myself with wanting to know what exactly is happening in this place. And you’re going to tell me.”
“Hello, Father.”
Annja looked up as Tuk entered the room. “Tuk, maybe you should stay outside.”
He shook his head and looked at Annja’s handiwork. “It smells a lot worse than I thought it would.”
“Stick around a while and it gets much, much worse.”
Tuk knelt and removed a pistol from one of the dead soldiers. He slid the magazine out and made sure there were still bullets inside. Then he slapped it home again and racked the slide.
“Tuk, tell Annja to let me go.”
Tuk looked up and almost laughed. “I’ll do no such thing. I’m as anxious to hear your answers to her questions as she is.”
“But I’m your father, Tuk. You can’t do this.”
Tuk rushed over before Annja could stop him and placed the barrel of the pistol on Guge’s left knee. In an instant, there was a muffled pop and Guge screamed as if he’d been set on fire.
“Tuk!” Annja said.
But Tuk had already placed the gun barrel next to Guge’s other knee. “Are you my father? Tell me!”
“No! No! I’m not your father!” Guge’s face was pale and sweat boiled off his head, running down into his neckline. He clutched at his wounded knee and Annja could see that the bullet had effectively hobbled him.
“Tuk, let me do this, will you?” she said.
Tuk stepped clear of Guge. “Well, at least we’ve established that he is not my father.”
Annja glanced at him. “What if he had been?”
“Then I would apologize for crippling him. But that’s a moot point now, don’t you think?”
“Apparently.”
Annja looked at Guge, who was moaning and clutching his injured leg. “As you can see, Tuk is pretty upset with you for lying to him.”
Guge rocked back and forth, cradling his leg. “My God, it hurts.”
“It’s going to hurt even