Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [100]
Henderson flew into the nearby panel and then crumpled to the floor.
Annja looked at the display on the instrument panel near the steering column and saw that the sub was approaching the entrance to the cavern tunnel.
She dashed for the conning tower and climbed up the ladder. The upper hatch handle was right in front of her and she tried to jerk the wheel around to unlock it. It was stuck.
Annja grunted and tried to use her other arm, but the bullet wound must have been deeper than she thought because the wave of pain that washed over her was intense and she cried out in frustration.
“Dammit!”
She heard movement down below on the bridge. Henderson was coming after her.
She dropped back down to the bridge and saw Henderson approaching. Annja paused for a moment and summoned her sword.
Henderson lifted the pistol and fired as Annja dodged to the left.
Henderson tracked her and fired again.
Another bullet splanged nearby and Annja slashed at Henderson, who seemed to have remarkably fast reflexes for an old man.
Annja cut at him again and again, finding it hard to slash in the close confines of the submarine’s bridge.
She figured she had maybe thirty seconds left before she passed the point of no return.
“I should have killed you earlier,” Henderson said.
“Maybe you should have,” Annja said. “But you missed your opportunity. Now it’s my turn.”
She ducked under the railing and thrust up, impaling Henderson as he came forward to shoot at her again. Annja’s sword blade slid into his hollow chest with little difficulty.
Henderson gasped and fell forward onto the blade. As he did, his head came forward and Annja saw the crucifix dangling there.
“Give me that,” she said, and scooped the necklace from around his collar. She jerked the sword free of his body and watched as he slumped to the floor. Then she slid the crucifix over her own neck and patted it once.
Annja turned back to the conning tower and grabbed at the ladder. Her arm still hurt like hell but the surge of adrenaline had dulled the pain. The energy coursing through her veins gave her the strength she needed.
She dashed up the ladder and jerked the hatch open. It flew off and Annja could see the tunnel entrance ahead of her. A wall of water awaited on the other side. Henderson must have developed some sort of almost force-field technology in order to preserve the cavern as he had.
But there was no time to delay. Annja swung out of the conning tower and onto the deck of the sub. With a final glance at the tunnel opening, she leaped off the sub and into the tunnel water.
Then she swam for all she was worth.
The submarine vanished through the wall of water and then exploded in a massive fireball just beyond. Annja saw the wall of water buckle and then suck outward with the force of the tremendous explosion. She heard a roar in her ears and felt a sudden immense pull.
The current sucked at her hard. Annja felt herself being tugged along toward the entrance of the cavern tunnel.
The force was too great.
And Annja felt herself losing the battle.
39
She couldn’t give up. Not yet. Not after coming as far as she had. Annja took a deep breath and then tucked her head under the waves and started swimming as hard as she could. She felt that for every kick she took, she was being dragged back twice the distance.
But she refused to give in to the pull of the water. The explosion on the other side must have created some sort of massive suction force. It was sucking all the water out of the cavern toward the open ocean.
Annja swam harder, willing herself to keep battling the current until she could get back into the cavern itself where her friends waited for her.
Cole.
His wound needed medical attention. She wasn’t sure if he would even survive.
The thought came to her almost at once. The crucifix. If there was ever a time to test the supposed legend of what it could do, that time was now.
Annja shifted direction and then started kicking