Rogue Angel - Footprints Part 79

"Hang on a second."

Annja slid the power window back up and checked herself out in the mirror. She looked a mess. Dirt streaked her face. Her hair was a shambles.

Maybe this guy hadn't seen Sheila in a long time. Maybe he forgot what she looked like. Any one of those things could help Annja out.

But it was a big chance.

From outside the truck she heard the guy call out. "Hurry up."

Annja unlocked the doors.

She heard footsteps going around to the other side of the truck where Joey had been sitting only an hour or so before. But Joey was a great kid. The person about to sit there was a drug dealer.

Annja heard the door start to open and she turned away toward her own window. She wanted to keep this going until the very last second.

In a rush, the guy hopped into the front seat and started brushing himself off. "d.a.m.n, it's a mess out there tonight. You weren't kidding. Maybe we should have just arranged to do this tomorrow, huh?"

Annja nodded.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah."

"It's been a while, Sheila. How have you been?"

Annja turned and looked at the man sitting next to her. "I've been good, thanks. Unfortunately, I don't think you'll be saying the same thing in a few moments."

Chapter 40.

Shock froze the scarred and battered face of the man sitting next to Annja. But experienced reflexes made him immediately throw his left elbow directly at Annja's face. She had just enough time to shift to her left to avoid the blow.

The man followed it by letting his left hand swing free, chopping Annja across the bridge of her nose. She grunted and heard the bone snap and then the blood started to flow. Annja tasted the copper and frowned.

"Bad move."

But the man sitting next to her didn't stop. As he punched at her with his left, his right hand clawed at the door handle, trying desperately to get out so he could order his men to open fire.

"You're not going anywhere," Annja said. She hauled him back and the truck started to shake.

Annja flipped him around and he head b.u.t.ted her in the face. Annja wondered if he'd cracked some of her teeth. She heard the dull sound of a blade opening in the close s.p.a.ce between them.

I need room to move, she thought.

The man stabbed at her heart, pumping the blade in and out fast.

Annja deflected his arms and the blade, then punched straight into his solar plexus, trying to disrupt his diaphragm so he wouldn't be able to breathe properly. He grunted and tried to slash her across the throat.

Annja leaned back over her seat and then felt her own door swing open, sending the upper part of her body out into the rain upside down.

Instantly, the doors on the other car opened and men started to pour out. All of them were armed with submachine guns.

This is not good, Annja thought.

She slid out of the truck and then rolled behind it as the first bullets ricocheted off the asphalt near her. Annja closed her eyes and summoned her sword. I hope I'm strong enough for this, she thought.

The man Annja had been fighting with came out of the truck screaming. "Shoot her, shoot her! That's not Sheila!"

The men wasted no time. All around the Tahoe, the air exploded as bullets pinged and splanged off every surface. Annja huddled near the back, trying to use the truck's bulk to shield her.

I can't stay here. They'll close on the truck and cut me down, she thought.

There was a brief pause as magazines ran dry and some of the men started shouting that they had to reload.

Annja came out of her squat and ran around the side of the truck, holding the sword high. She swung and cleaved the closest man who was busy fiddling with his magazine release. He glanced up, saw Annja and screamed as she cut through him, spilling his blood in a splash on the ground.

Annja kept moving, her eyes rapidly cataloging the scene.

Six men.

All armed.

The next man was faster than his predecessor and he snapped his magazine home, ratcheted the slide and started to bring up the barrel of the gun as Annja ducked down, spun and cut horizontally, nearly slicing him open across the chest. She heard a sickening gurgle in his throat as he started to drown on the explosion of blood and bile erupting from the heinous sword gash.

Annja leaped into the air, bringing the sword high overhead and cutting down at the next man who was armed with an a.s.sault rifle with a much longer barrel. But instead of trying to shoot at her, he antic.i.p.ated the downward cut and used the barrel of his gun to deflect her move to the side.

She cut back horizontally, trying to take him across the midsection. But he jerked his legs back, gaining distance from Annja.

I'm exposed here, she realized. Annja dove forward, narrowing the distance between her and the man as more shots rang out. She felt a nick by her ear and felt a warm flow of blood as a bullet or a piece of asphalt cut her.

She rolled and came up under the arms of the man in front of her. Annja stabbed straight up, but again the man arched back, letting the blade fly past his sternum. He used his momentum to pivot, drop and kick Annja squarely in the chest.

Air flew out of Annja's lungs as she struggled to regain her breath. She aimed a fist at the man's head and this time scored two blistering punches on his nose. She heard the crack and smiled. Now she'd given him something to think about.

Annja dropped low and then plunged the sword in deep, hearing the sharp release of air. She yanked the sword free as the man slid to his death on the asphalt below.

But she had an immediate problem punctuated by the sound of rapid gunfire. She jerked the sword up in front of her and felt the bullets slam into the blade, making it twist in her hands.

Annja kept moving, certain that if she stopped, she'd be a dead mark. She ran toward the closest gunman and slashed his hand. She heard his weapon fall to the ground with a clang and then swung her blade back up, slicing into the man from his hip up to his neck. He started to retch and gurgle as he slid to the ground dead.

Annja was in her zone now. Her eyes impa.s.sively surveyed the scene, a.s.sessing every remaining target. By her count, she had just three to go and then this band of drug dealers would be vanquished from the earth.

She felt the stab of a bullet puncture her thigh.

"Dammit!"

There was no way to tell if it was a bad hit or not. She knew if the round struck her femoral artery, she could be bleeding to death even as she closed with the man who had shot her. His eyes widened as Annja screamed and drove the sword at him, cutting down and then back up, using her momentum to slice the air faster than he could even try to keep up with.