Labyrinth

And sucked deep lungfuls of air.

Finally.

Water dripped off her and her entire body felt cold. She needed to get out of the water and find a way to warm herself. Otherwise, she was done for.

She turned in the water and saw a sandy beach ahead.

Annja swam for the shore.

Grateful to be through the tunnel.

And still alive.

Chapter 9

Annja waded out of the water and fell face-first into the sugar-soft sand. Her teeth chattered and her entire body felt chilled to the core. Annja briefly managed to put the sword back and then exhaustion washed over her. She closed her eyes and just wanted to fall asleep.

But she knew she couldn’t. The watch on her wrist already showed her that one hour had passed since Greene had delivered his ultimatum to find the book or Fairclough would die.

Annja groaned and hauled herself into a sitting position. The sand was mercifully warm and her clothes already seemed to be drying, as if they’d been exposed to a fire. Annja lay back down on the sand and let the warmth, which seemed to be radiating up from under it, bleed into her and restore her core temperature.

Fairclough had planned for this, she guessed. After that swim, people would need to be able to warm themselves. Somewhere beneath her, there was no doubt an industrial heater.

Annja frowned. The heater probably wasn’t left on twenty-four hours a day… Had it been activated when she reached the sand? In that case, there would have to be sensors embedded somewhere in the walls that would track her progress. Either that or cameras, with people watching her. If she could figure out a way to get to some sort of control room, there might be a way to bypass the maze itself and head right to the book.

Of course, in order to do that, Annja would need a more intimate knowledge of the maze. And that was something she didn’t have.

She sighed and sat back up.

Kessel was still nowhere to be seen. Annja wondered if he’d fallen into some other pool somewhere else in the maze and if he’d had his own run-in with a shark.

Maybe he hadn’t made it.

Annja smiled. She doubted it. Kessel was very strong…and smarter than she’d first thought. Maybe she could find an unexpected ally in the man—if she could find him again. He’d already shown a willingness to communicate with her. And Greene had sent him into the maze with Annja without consulting with the guy first. That had to have shown Kessel he was expendable.

“I’d be furious if Greene did that to me.” Annja glanced around, suddenly sheepish that she’d spoken to herself.

A couple close calls and she was already cracking up.

She hauled herself to her feet and stomped around, feeling her muscles come back to life. A few deep breaths, knee bends and waving her arms around helped flush blood through her body.

Now, where do I go from here?

She took a look around this new room and saw that the sandy beach ended almost as soon as she got away from the water. Obviously, the beach was only there to serve the purpose of reinvigorating the person in the maze.

But beyond that, it was back to business.

The maze.

Annja padded out of the sand and paused only to shake some of it from her shoes. Then she put her shoes back on and turned around.

A wide corridor stretched out in front of her. Lights ran along the length of it, illuminating different-shaped stones that paved the floor.

She pulled the sword out again and knelt close to the edge where the stones started. Some of them were shaped like squares, some like rectangles and some triangles.

Annja tapped the point of her sword on one of the square tiles.

And threw herself down as a whisper of air breezed past her head. She heard a splash behind her and knew that whatever trip wire she’d triggered had fired its dart or spear into the water.

Good range, she thought.

She sat back up and tapped the edge of the sword on the triangular tiles. She heard the same punctured sound of air breaking overhead and watched this time as a small dart zipped past her and also landed in the water.

Last time, she thought, and touched the tip of the sword to the rectangle.

Nothing happened.

Annja nodded, stood and set off down the corridor, making sure to keep to the rectangular tiles.

The corridor went on for another fifty feet before ending abruptly. Annja stood on the brink of a pit that stretched fifteen feet before the corridor continued on the other side of it for another fifty feet or so.

The distance was too far to jump, and trying to get a running start would prove difficult relying only on the rectangular stones.

So how would she get across?

And if she did manage to span the gap, she’d have to make sure that she landed on the rectangles on the other side, as well.

Annja shook her head. Damn, Fairclough, you didn’t make this easy, did you?

She glanced overhead, wondering if perhaps he’d left a rope hanging down that she could use to swing across the divide.

No such luck.

She sighed. This was getting tiresome. Annja would have preferred a simpler maze.

Hell, she thought, even facing a minotaur would have been preferable.

She knelt at the lip of the gap and peered into the chasm. The sword cast light only so far, but Annja thought she could see what looked like tips of spears jutting up at an angle, ready to impale those unlucky enough to fail the jump.

Punji sticks, she thought. Just like she’d seen in the jungles of Southeast Asia before.

But there had to be a way across. There had to be. Fairclough wouldn’t have made it impossible.