Rogue Angel - Warrior Spirit Part 9

Ken nodded. "Most of them come awake by instinct. But a few will probably wake up in parts unknown. It could be an expensive taxi ride back to their part of town."

The train slid out of the station. The jostle of the car bounced Annja against Ken a few times and she did little to avoid it. It reminded her of the playful little b.u.mps that had marked her high school love life.

But since then, her affairs had been few and far between. Usually only with very limited and very controlled consequences.

In truth, she didn't have time for much of a love life. Her career meant the world to her now. And with her constant expeditions to the furthest reaches of the planet, Annja had no illusions about maintaining a serious relationship.

Still, Ken was nothing if not enticing. And tomorrow would be the start of their journey. Annja was looking forward to spending more time with him. A lot more time.

Twenty minutes after they started, the train rolled into her station. Ken helped her up. "We're here," he said.

They climbed the steps and exited the station, which overlooked a plaza of shops that were now closed. A street sweeper hosed down the street and then vacuumed up any garbage. A few people hurried by on their way home intermixed with late-night drinkers en route to the nearby bars that stayed open well into the wee hours of the morning.

At the front entrance to her hotel, Ken stopped. "We're here."

Annja kissed him on the cheek, momentarily taken aback by her brash move. Where did that come from? she wondered.

But Ken seem unfazed by it. He merely smiled and bowed quickly.

"I'll see you in the morning. Have a restful sleep."

Annja watched him walk down the street until the shadows seemed to swallow him whole.

She sighed and then wandered inside.

Annja Creed, she thought with a grin, you need a good night's sleep.

10.

Annja floated in a strange, lazy dreamworld of sounds and images. She saw faces from her past and faces she didn't recognize. She heard sounds and felt things that seemed out of place. All of them seemed to swirl together like melted ice cream in the hot summer sun.

She tossed. She turned. And still she couldn't get comfortable.

She thought about the ninjitsu ninjitsu cla.s.s she'd seen this evening and how it seemed that someone trained well in the art might well be a truly formidable opponent if faced in combat. cla.s.s she'd seen this evening and how it seemed that someone trained well in the art might well be a truly formidable opponent if faced in combat.

Annja wasn't sure she wanted to test that theory anytime soon.

She thought about Ken. What in the world had made her kiss him on the cheek like that? It was just a peck, after all. But still. Annja wondered what she felt for him. Certainly he was attractive enough. But she sensed there was something else about him that drew her in. The mystery of his family, the missing piece of history and the quest to restore his lineage-she found it all so n.o.ble.

And she admired him for it.

Tomorrow, they would start their journey to find the vajra vajra.

She turned over again, aware that her arm was going numb from sleeping on it too much. She propped herself up again.

Her stomach hurt, too.

Now that's weird, she thought. The last time that happened...

Her body tensed. Could it be? Was someone in her room again?

She cracked her eyes just a sliver, trying to pierce the darkness and discern anything that might indicate the presence of someone.

She knew better than to try to look at things directly in the dark. The human eye changed in low-light conditions, using the rods instead of cones to see detail. And since the rods were at the outer part of the eye, Annja glanced around looking at things out of the corners of her eyes to see.

But all she saw was blackness.

She felt a shift in the air. It tickled her face.

Someone was was there. there.

What to do?

The other night, she'd been in the tub and naked. Now she was at least dressed. But she also realized that being under the covers as she was would be a hindrance to her movement. She'd have to toss the covers and then roll out of bed. A two-step process just to ready herself for combat with a person she couldn't even see.

Not good. Not good at all.

She watched the room some more. Now she could pick out a black shape moving against the black backdrop of her room. There seemed to be no ambient light coming in from outside that she might be able to use to help her see who had invaded her room-potentially for the second time in as many days.

The shape moved to her desk.

He's looking for something, Annja decided.

But what?

Adrenaline poured into her system. She could feel her smaller muscles contracting involuntarily as she steeled herself for the possibility of combat. Would they simply search her stuff and then leave?

They.

Where had that thought come from? As far as she could tell there was only one person in the room. And yet...

No, there was one more. Somewhere Annja couldn't see. And trying to shift in the bed might make her a target again.

Her breathing had shortened now.

I have to move-I've got to find out who this is!

She flexed her hands, bunching up bits of the covers and readying her grip. She would whip the covers one way and launch herself out of the bed the other way.

But what if the other person was standing there waiting for her?

She bit her lower lip and almost cried out as it cut too deep. A copper taste flowed into her mouth.

She had to take the chance.

She steeled herself.

One...

Annja took a deep breath in.

Two...

She tensed.

Three!

She threw the covers at the shadow by her desk and swung her legs out off the opposite side. She flipped off the bed and then straightened up with her hands held high ready to fight.

Instantly she felt her legs being swept out from under her. She landed hard and tried to roll, but the small size of her room made that difficult. As she rolled, she felt one of her arms being pinned behind her.

A knee appeared on her shoulder, driving her face first into the carpet. Annja hit hard and exhaled to try to dissipate the impact.

"That wasn't a very smart thing to do, Miss Creed."

The gruff voice that spoke in her ear had a vague accent to it. j.a.panese? She couldn't tell. Annja tried to respond, but the knee holding her down along with the arm pin made breathing difficult. She coughed and some of the pressure released, but not enough that she could escape.

"What do you want?" she asked.

The voice seemed to float somewhere above her. "Where is it?"

"Where's what?"

"The dorje dorje."

Annja frowned. "What the h.e.l.l is a dorje dorje?"

"The item he has hired you to find."

"Who? What? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ogawa approached you last night at the budokan budokan. We saw your meeting. You've been with him ever since. And we believe you already have the dorje dorje in your possession. We want it." in your possession. We want it."

"I don't know what a dorje dorje is," Annja said. is," Annja said.

The voice paused. "He calls it a vajra vajra."

Annja sighed. "For crying out loud, we haven't even started looking for it yet. How can I possibly have it?"

She heard a muttered exchange of conversation between the man holding her down and the other invader. She tried to make out the language but found it impossible to do so.

After a moment, the voice reappeared in her ear. "We were told you had it in your possession already."

"Well, I don't."

"Why should we believe you?"

"Don't believe me-I don't care. Go ahead and tear my room apart. You won't find the silly thing." Annja was frankly tired of being held as she was.

She got no response.

"I don't know where you got your information from, but it's obviously a load of c.r.a.p."

The voice came closer to her ear. "If we find out you lied to us, we'll be back...to kill you."

Annja heard a quick spit of speech again, and then the pressure on her shoulder and arm disappeared. Annja stayed where she was.

"Can I get up now?" she asked angrily.

Again, only silence greeted her question. Carefully, Annja got up off the floor. The room felt empty now. She walked slowly over to the lights and turned them on.

Her window was open.

Annja ran to it and looked out. She looked up, down and all over, but saw no one clinging to the outside of the hotel like a bug. Her room was far too high up, wasn't it? There'd be no way for someone to get out from this height. It didn't make sense. Unless, of course, they had parachutes or some other high-tech gear they could use to escape.

And yet, they'd been here. At least two of them.

And they'd very neatly vanished into thin air.

Annja sat down on the side of her bed and sighed. This trip had been nothing but eventful so far. She wondered what the next few days would hold for her.

Part of her wanted to call Ken. She wanted to let him know that other people were after his precious item. Garin had warned her of the same thing.

She frowned.

But Garin wouldn't be behind this, would he?

What would he want with an artifact like the vajra vajra? What could he hope to do with it? Ever since Annja had found the sword of Joan of Arc, Garin had treated her with a vague, ambivalent respect. Annja wasn't sure if he thought of her truthfully as an enemy or what.

What she did know was that because the sword was back together now, Garin might not be immortal any longer.

But she had no proof.

She could call Ken. See what he thought about the whole thing. Maybe he knew for certain there would be others after her. He'd hinted at that earlier, hadn't he? That's why he had wanted her to stay with him.

Had Ken known about these guys?

Annja frowned. She couldn't see that happening. Ken seemed far too focused on retrieving the vajra vajra to restore his family's name than anything else. Being in cahoots with some third party after the artifact seemed unlikely and completely out of character for him. to restore his family's name than anything else. Being in cahoots with some third party after the artifact seemed unlikely and completely out of character for him.

But Garin had also warned Annja that she didn't really know Ken that well.

Was it possible she was being totally naive?