Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [94]
If she stayed up there, Sheila would be able to get the drop on Annja and this thing would be over far sooner than Annja anticipated.
A gunshot from behind her told her that the remaining guards were now advancing on her. Idiot, she thought. Sheila had distracted her while they got into a better position.
Annja caught movement out of the corner of her eye and instinctively fired at the retreating shadow. Her bullets scored a hit and the body of one of the guards went sprawling out all over the floor.
“Not bad, Annja.” Sheila seemed to be laughing at her. “You’re a better shot than I gave you credit for. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“Why don’t you come down and play? No guns, just the two of us,” Annja said.
Sheila laughed. “You forget that I’m handicapped. Only one good wrist. I can’t throw a punch right now. Besides, I like shooting at you better.”
Annja twisted as the rounds bit into the area just above her head. If she hadn’t already been moving, she would have died.
But she ran for the corridor that led to the prison cells. If Sheila was on the upper level, Annja planned to be there, too.
She scooted past the bodies of the guards she’d killed earlier. She gained the upper level and ran into Sheila coming down to meet her.
Sheila fired first, her bullets raking up from the floor and cutting across Annja’s body. But Annja was already diving for the wall and, as she did, the rounds struck her gun, splintering it into several pieces.
Annja tucked, rolled and came up with her sword in hand, already charging Sheila before the startled attacker could gather herself for another offensive strike.
Annja leaped high and brought her sword straight down.
Sheila did the only thing she could by bringing her own gun up and trying to deflect it. The blade bit into the submachine gun and Sheila got her back behind the block. Annja gritted her teeth and the two of them stood there, locked together.
“I won’t be easy to kill, Annja.” Sheila’s face broke into a sweat and she tried to push forward.
Annja grimaced. “I never expected you would be.” She put her own weight into her move and grunted as she tried to jerk her sword blade free of the gun barrel.
“You’re trapped. Give up the blade and we’ll go unarmed,” Sheila said.
Annja stepped and used her hands to throw the sword and the gun away. But as she did so, Sheila whipped out a Bowie knife and slashed across Annja’s abdomen. Annja clutched at her stomach, but knew the cut was very shallow.
It still hurt like hell.
“Did I say unarmed?” Sheila laughed. “I must have forgotten to tell you about my knife skills.”
Annja backed away from Sheila and scowled. “I never trusted you, anyway. Your word means nothing.”
“Unfortunately for you, it seems like you’re out of time.” Sheila stepped in and slashed high at Annja’s face before ducking low and stabbing right at Annja’s heart.
Annja brought her leg up to block the thrust and just barely managed to do so. Sheila spun away, bringing the knife back up in front of her.
“Enough of this,” Annja said. She had the sword manifest itself back in her hands.
This time, Sheila gasped. “How did you do that?”
But Annja was already attacking, cutting in and slashing upward at an angle to Sheila’s hip. To Sheila’s credit, she managed to use the Bowie blade to block the initial cut and parried it, but that just led Annja into her next attack and, this time, the blade bit deeply into Sheila’s hip.
Annja watched as her sword cut in and then streamed through Sheila’s upper torso, cleaving as it went.
The air exploded with the stench of blood and gore. Sheila started to scream but that was choked off by the upsurge of blood rushing from her mouth.
She died as she fell, staining the floor in front of Annja and her sword.
Annja spun as another volley of bullets exploded in front and behind her.
The other guards!
Annja was pinned down and had no options. Her own gun had been shattered and Sheila’s gun was damaged. Annja’s only option was the sword.
She could see the shadows of the advancing guards as they came at her from