Читать книгу Forbidden City - Alex Archer - Страница 8

Standing in the darkness, Huangfu Cao watched the helicopter speed over the treetops. He held his phone close to his face, listening to the helicopter communications officer. The man monitored not only the cell phone connection but also the emergency band communication in the area.

“She’s called the park rangers, sir,” Lin said.

Anger roiled within Huangfu. He had badly underestimated the woman. But no one could have expected her to react as quickly as she had to the shifting situation.

It was true that he hadn’t liked the idea of killing her. He liked her. She was competent and knowledgeable. More than that, she had come looking for his “ancestor’s” body for reasons of her own, not just to do a good thing. He liked that.

But he hadn’t hesitated when the time came. He’d shot as quickly and as accurately as he always did. Somehow, though, he had missed.

Not only that, she’d surprised him with the horse. His chest and abdomen still hurt from the impact.

And now she had managed to call the park rangers.

“Sir?” Lin prompted.

“Stay with her. She has what we came for.” If the three young men hadn’t stumbled onto them, Huangfu would have the artifact his employer had sent him for.

The helicopter dipped quickly, gliding through the treetops.

“Do the rangers have aerial support?” Huangfu stared into the night. His eyes burned with the effort.

“No. They took the phone call and sent ground forces out,” Lin replied.

“How many?”

“Three rangers and some of the local emergency response people. Their number is unconfirmed.”

Huangfu knew there wasn’t much in the way of a police force at Georgetown. The park rangers were another matter. In this part of California, the rangers went armed not only for illegal marijuana growers but also predators. None of them would be as well trained as his people, but he’d been ordered not to leave a mess behind.

And there were already three dead bodies.

If things hadn’t gotten out of hand, he’d planned on dropping those into the hole he and Annja Creed had dug. That wouldn’t have been a problem. Even if the bodies had been found later, they couldn’t have been tied to him. His cover was complete. Any search into his background would lead only to elaborate lies.

“Even though these initial forces don’t have aerial support,” Lin said, “they will get it as soon as the situation escalates.”

“Let me worry about that.” Huangfu watched the helicopter flying low to the ground. “Get the woman.” Feeling tense, he continued watching.

In the next instant, the helicopter broke pursuit and lifted into the air.

“There’s a problem.” Lin’s voice was calm and precise.

“What problem?” Huangfu asked.

“The woman isn’t with the horse.”

Huangfu cursed, knowing that Annja Creed had evaded them again. “Turn the helicopter around. Search the forest again. Now!”

Looking out over the forest, Huangfu knew the effort was going to be wasted. They’d underestimated Annja Creed again.

H OOFBEATS WOKE A NNJA . As uncomfortable and keyed up as she was, she hadn’t expected to fall asleep.

For a moment she thought maybe the horse she’d freed had found her again, and perhaps even led Huangfu and his allies to her. She opened her eyes but didn’t move. Motion attracted predators, and the men hunting her were definitely predators.

After she’d placed her call to the park ranger’s office and asked for help, she’d climbed one of the fir trees and hidden on a thick branch twenty feet above the ground. Using leather straps she carried in her backpack, she’d fashioned a crude nest to keep her from falling out of the tree. She’d spent the night in trees in a similar manner on digs. It was never truly restful, but she’d learned to sleep.

Shifting, she peered through the darkness and gathered her feet under her on the thick branch. She felt through the otherwhere, touching the sword’s hilt and drawing it to her.

Less than a hundred yards away, two riders on horseback approached. Both of them had flashlights that strobed the woods. They also carried rifles canted on their thighs. A third horse trailed behind them.

Tense, Annja waited, trying in vain to see through the darkness. Her phone vibrated in her jacket. Cautiously, she took it from her pocket, shielded the glow of the screen from the riders inside her jacket, and saw the call was from a New York area code.

“Hello.” She kept her voice low, watching as the riders veered slightly away from her.

“Annja?” The tense voice of Bart McGilley greeted her.

“Yes.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

“Is something wrong with this connection?”

“I can’t really talk now.” Annja watched the riders as they slowed. They wore tactical gear, combat harnesses festooned with equipment.

“Are you in trouble?”

“Maybe a little.”

“In California?”

“Yes.”

“I flagged Huangfu Cao’s file after you asked me to background him. I didn’t expect the Department of Natural Resources to call to check on you.”

“I called them in.”

“They said someone was killed.”

“This is so not the time to talk about this, Bart.”

“You’re all right?”

“For the moment.” The fact that Bart was worried about her made Annja feel good. She hadn’t made a lot of lasting friends with her unusual lifestyle. But Bart was one of the best. “I’m going to need a favor,” she whispered.

“You didn’t kill anyone, did you?” Bart asked.

“Actually, I think I did.” Annja thought about the sword slicing through the man hanging from the helicopter. She didn’t want to kill anyone, but when it came to preserving her life or the lives of others, she’d learned to accept that sometimes there was no other way. “But I think Huangfu’s men picked up the body.”

“What’s going on?”

The two riders milled around for a moment. They talked and moved their flashlight beams around.

“I don’t know,” Annja answered. “About that favor…”

“If I can.”

“I’m going to need an introduction to the local police departments.”

“They’ll probably know you from your television show.” Bart wasn’t a big fan of the series.

“Not that kind of introduction. The kind more along the lines of me not being a homicidal maniac introduction.”

“Why?”

“Three local guys are dead.”

“Did you kill them?”

“No.”

“Your buddy, Huangfu Cao, did.”

Irritation flared through Annja. She didn’t like making mistakes. “As it turns out, he wasn’t my buddy after all.”

“I told you to watch out for that guy.”

I really don’t need an “I told you so” while I’m up in a tree, she thought. “I was watching out for him. That’s why I’m not dead right now.”

Bart sighed. “Sorry. I just worry about you, you know?”

“I know.” Annja also knew that Bart was engaged to be married. No date had been set and the engagement was relatively new. If things had been different, if she didn’t want to see the world as much as she did, if she were more certain that Bart wouldn’t want someone who was home every night, their friendship might have explored more of the attraction that put them in each others’ lives. But they were what they were.

“Do you have this number?” Bart asked.

“Yes,” Annja replied.

“Okay. Whoever you end up talking to, put him or her in touch with me. I’ll vouch for you.”

“Thanks, Bart.” Annja’s phone vibrated again. “I’ve got to go.”

“Call me when you can. And stay safe.”

Annja said she would, then picked up the incoming call. It was a local area code. “Annja Creed,” she whispered.

“Miss Creed,” a no-nonsense voice said, “this is Captain Andrews of the Eldorado National Park Ranger Station.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“I’ve got men out searching for you. Two of them are at the GPS coordinates you sent when you called. You’re not there. If this is some kind of prank, you’re going to be prosecuted in federal court—”

“I moved since that last call.” Annja looked at the two men. “Have your men wave their flashlights.”

“What?” The ranger captain sounded exasperated.

“The men that were looking for me have already killed three people.” Annja spoke plainly. “I want to know these are your rangers.”

“Wait just a minute.”

An owl passed by, momentarily obscuring the moon. A feral cat cried out in the distance. Frogs in the nearby stream croaked.

The two men with flashlights waved them in the air.

Annja took her flashlight from her backpack and switched it on. “Tell your men to look north of their position. I’m in the trees.” Even though she was talking to the ranger captain, she still felt nervous. One misstep or a bit of bad luck could get her killed.

“All right,” Andrews growled in displeasure, “they see you. Climb out of the tree and stand with your hands over your head where they can see you.”

“It’ll take just a second to get my gear.”

“Leave your gear where—”

Annja broke the connection and slid the phone into her pocket. It vibrated as she recovered her rope and shoved it into the backpack. By the time she was climbing down, her flashlight held by Velcro straps on her backpack, the rangers had pulled their horses to a stop under the tree.

Both of them were young. One was clean-shaven and the other had a short beard and long hair. They introduced themselves as Dobbs and Carew. Neither of them put their lever-action rifles away.

Carew, the long-haired ranger, stepped down and separated Annja from her backpack. Then he asked for identification.

Annja complied, but the whole time she was distinctly aware that Huangfu or his men could have been only a short distance away with a sniper rifle. You’ve been reading way too many thrillers, she told herself ruefully. But the truth of the matter was that lately she’d been living a life not far off from those fictional heroes.

“Are you okay, Miss Creed?” Carew handed her identification back. He spoke in a pleasant baritone.

“Yes.”

“You’re not hurt?”

Annja shook her head. She wished she was back in her loft in Brooklyn. Before she’d left she’d just got the third season of Gilmore Girls on DVD and was looking forward to watching it. A bath, a glass of white wine, and an episode or two of the show and she could have slept like a baby.

Instead, her mind was filled with questions. She’d explored the belt plaque by touch but she still hadn’t gotten a good look at the piece.

“You said there was a helicopter?” Carew looked at her.

Annja met the ranger’s gaze. “There was. It left the area about ten minutes after I called you.”

Carew nodded. “You said the bodies of the three men this Huangfu fella killed were up near Volcanoville?”

“Yes.” Annja dreaded the next few hours. In her experience any time she dealt with law enforcement agencies she had to tell the same story over and over and over again.

“We’ve got a team over there looking into that. In the meantime, let’s get you out of here.” Carew held the stirrup out for her to mount the extra horse.

With easy grace, Annja pulled herself into the saddle and leaned down to gather the reins. She was glad to be going, but she knew her ordeal was far from over.