Labyrinth (34 page)

Kessel grabbed her in his arms. “I like to think that maybe I’ve been pretty lucky this time out.”

Annja kissed him. “You think?”

“I do.”

Kessel was just about to kiss her again when the walls of the examination room started to shake and crumple and a series of explosions went off.

Annja pulled away from Kessel. “It’s caving in—we’ve got to get out of here!”

Chapter 40

They ran up the corridor beyond the examination room. Green arrows pointed the way and Annja was relieved that Fairclough had at least had the good sense to show people how to exit.

Kessel was moving slowly, however—the result of his body still not firing on all cylinders. Annja yanked him along through the corridors and implored him to move faster.

“Come on, we’ve got to get the hell out!”

Kessel frowned and kept moving himself forward, but his nerve impulses didn’t seem to be reaching his brain or else his brain wasn’t passing the command down to his legs. Either way, he was slowing things down. “Go without me or you’ll never make it, Annja.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be an idiot. I’m not leaving you behind. We just have to get back up to the outside before Fairclough seals us in this giant tomb.”

Kessel nodded and they kept moving.

As they ran, the walls shuddered when more explosions went off. Clouds of dust and debris choked the air and they had to cover their faces with their clothing to breathe properly.

But even still, Annja and Kessel were both choking and coughing as they tripped along the corridor.

“He must have planted explosives,” Kessel shouted over the din of more crumbling walls.

“How do you know?”

Kessel’s face was grim. “I’m pretty well acquainted with how explosives work, Annja. And these are set charges to bring this place down.”

“How much time do we have?”

“Probably not enough.”

They reached a stairwell and Annja pushed through the door to get to the stairs. In here, the air was less dusty and they could take a breath again.

Annja looked up and groaned.

Kessel frowned as he followed her gaze. “About how many flights of stairs would you say that looks like?”

“More than I feel like climbing,” she replied. “But we either climb them or we die down here.”

“I really admire how succinctly you put everything.” Kessel mounted the stairs and Annja followed him. “Let’s go.”

They started climbing, and with each stair, they could hear more explosions echoing off the walls. Behind them, the stairwell started filling with flames and smoke.

Kessel pointed skyward. “If we can’t get up there fast, we’ll die of smoke inhalation.”

Annja squeezed his hand. “We’re not quitting!”

Annja’s lungs burned and her legs felt like lead. Kessel seemed to be dragging and she was forced to pull him along. He moved slowly and she saw that his head injury had started to bleed, as well.

They had to reach the surface!

At one point, Annja tripped and fell forward, bruising her knee on the tread in front of her. She grunted and then Kessel was there, helping her to her feet.

“Now we’re both hobbled,” he said with a sooty grin. “Come on—let’s get out of here.”

Together they made it through the first few flights, but even as they approached the halfway point, Annja knew that it was a long shot. After all of this, to come so far and be so close…

She pictured the sword to see if it was in the otherwhere. She hadn’t even had a chance to check to see if it was back.

But it was. And its glow was much less gray than it had been before. Annja smiled. It was almost like seeing an old friend come back to town.

She felt a new rush of adrenaline flood her bloodstream. She raced ahead.

At the next landing, he pulled her to a stop. “My legs are shot. I’m slowing you down.”

“I’m not stopping. You can either get your ass in gear or else I can carry you.”

Kessel looked at her. “Carry me?”

She leaned over and got Kessel onto her shoulders in a fireman’s carry. “You owe me big for this one, Navy SEAL.” And then she started back up the stairs, powering her legs to keep churning despite the weight of Kessel’s body.

They cleared another two flights before Kessel prodded her. “Put me down, I can walk it from here.”

“You sure?”

“No, but I’m not going to put you out any more.”

Annja set him down. “Don’t make me have to do that again. We go together or not at all. And frankly, I still need to have a few words with our host.”

Kessel nodded. As they reached the next flight, they heard a shriek of metal and the lower portion of the staircase came away from the wall, and fell back into the flames licking their way up from the bottom.

Kessel needed no further encouragement and grabbed Annja. “Come on, let’s hurry!”

Annja’s lungs were on fire. As the smoke drifted skyward, it raced past them, and clouded the entire stairwell.

“I can’t see!” she called.

Kessel forced her to stoop over so they could try to stay under the smoke. But since the smoke was creeping up from below them, they couldn’t get low enough. Annja was coughing. Kessel hacked and spat out a foul-colored mucus.

They reached the second-last flight of stairs. Kessel pumped Annja’s hand. “We’re almost there. Almost home free!”

But she had fallen back against the stairway wall, nearly passed out.

In the next moment she felt herself being lifted and carried up more steps. Was Kessel carrying her toward the open air? She couldn’t think anymore. She couldn’t breathe.

She focused on the sword. In her mind’s eye, she was using the sword to cut through the smoke ahead of Kessel. As the smoke threatened to cut off their path, Annja swiped at it and cleared it away so Kessel could rush through.

She felt Kessel trip or fall forward and then there was a split second of uncertainty. Were they still trapped in the stairwell? Were they outside? Or had they fallen right back down the stairs into the flames that threatened to burn them alive.

When a cool breeze blew across her face, Annja opened her eyes and saw that Kessel had cleared the staircase and they were indeed outside.

It was dark.

Night?

Annja had no idea what time it might be. She rolled onto her back and gasped the fresh air. Kessel lay next to her, heaving and hacking his lungs free of the smoke.

“Annja.”

She took another breath and coughed. “Yes.”

“We did it.”

Annja allowed herself a smile. “Thanks to you.”

“And you.” Kessel retched twice before he wiped his mouth and crawled over to Annja. For the longest time, they just lay there and held each other.

D
AWN
BROKE
OVER
Fairclough’s property. A delicate red-orange sky spilled along the line of oaks that stretched toward the horizon and the Berkshire Mountains in the distance.

Annja shivered in the fall early-morning air and turned over. She blanched. She stunk to high heavens like smoke and about a dozen other nasty things.

You need a shower.

Maybe a dozen.

Kessel lay nearby, breathing deeply and resting quietly. Annja crawled over to him and nudged him awake. “How are you feeling?”

“Like someone used the inside of my mouth and lungs to line a camel tent,” he said. “But I’m alive.”

“We’re both alive,” she replied. “And we’ve got each other to thank for that.” She punched him on the arm. “So, thanks.”

“I get a punch on the arm for saving your life?” Kessel shrugged. “Something’s wrong when you don’t even get a kiss from the princess you save from the dragon. Sheesh.”

“Tell you what, Mr. Charming, when you get a shower and a shave, I’ll get you that kiss.”

“Sounds like a fair trade.” Kessel rolled over and got to his feet.

Annja watched him as he moved. And there seemed to be something more certain about his steps. “How are you feeling today?”

Kessel looked at her. “You know, actually pretty good. I think my legs are coming back online. Would have been nice if they’d been working better when I was fleeing that massive inferno, but you know, I’ll take what I can get.”

“Speaking of which.” Annja rose and walked back toward the stairwell entryway, a small shed that looked like something you’d normally find on any large property.

But when she reached out to touch the door handle, she jerked her hand back. “Hot.”

“The whole place has probably melted,” Kessel said. “No sense going back down there, anyway.”

“I’m surprised there isn’t a fire department on scene,” Annja said. “You’d think someone would have noticed this fire.”

Kessel shook his head. “Not at night. And it was all underground. About the only thing that would have been visible would be the smoke, and since the darkness would have concealed that, no one might even know this happened.”

“Except for us.”

“Us,” he agreed.

“So what happens now?”

Kessel shrugged. “I go call the FBI and get them out here pronto. And then once I turn this over to them, I’m going to get a room and a shower somewhere close by. Apparently, I stink to high heaven.”

“You do indeed,” she said. “You think there’s any chance the Bureau will comp me a room at that same hotel where you’re planning on getting a room?”

“I’m not sure. Their standards are pretty high and whatnot. I don’t know if the bean counters will cough up another room. Budget cuts and all that jazz.”

Annja eyed him. “So what you’re saying is if I want a shower, I’ll have to suck it up and share a room with some hulking behemoth?”

“It’s a distinct possibility,” Kessel said. “I mean, I hate telling you that, but it’s probably the reality of the situation.”

“I think you’re using your power to influence the outcome of this situation.”

“Are you claiming I’m abusing my position?”

Annja smiled. “Well, you’re not abusing any position just yet. But if you clean up real good, you might just a chance to try out a few of them.”

Kessel grinned. “You know, that’s about the best thing I’ve heard in a really long time.”