34

The beast that had once been Gregor roared long and loud at Annja. She winced at the noise but kept her sword up in front of her for protection.

There’s nothing left of Gregor in there, she thought. Dzerchenko and Tupolov have killed every last bit of him. She eyed him as he circled, drawing down the distance between them.

Gregor’s eyes flashed from side to side as if trying to figure out a weakness in Annja’s defense. His toes dug up dirt and dust and his hands snapped together like pincers.

In the next instant, he was airborne again, driving down at Annja’s head with his hands and feet fully splayed. Four sets of wicked claws streaked toward Annja with terrifying speed.

She brought up the sword. She dropped and stabbed upward.

She heard a shriek in the next instant as her blade punctured Gregor’s sternum and drove all the way through. Gregor’s momentum finished the job, and he landed on top of Annja with a sickening crash.

She could feel his final breaths coming out hot and sticky. She felt the sudden rush of blood drenching her.

Gregor’s voice sounded far away. “Thank…you…”

Annja’s eyes felt hot and wet. “I’m so sorry,” she cried.

She pushed him off her, and Gregor’s body slumped to the side. His eyes rolled back.

Gregor was dead.

Annja looked at his claws and found they looked almost like toys rather than lethal killing tools. But she’d come close to feeling them and wouldn’t trade places for anything.

She drew her sword into the air. The blade had a thick, slick coating of crimson. Annja wiped it on the ground, watching as the dirt absorbed much of the blood.

Annja wiped her brow and turned to look up at the window. She was sure that Dzerchenko and Tupolov would be watching in horror.

But there was no one there.

Annja frowned. She wanted to put the sword away, but she didn’t know what might be waiting for her. Dzerchenko and Tupolov might be planning to double-cross her.

She couldn’t take the chance. Not with Bob in desperate need of medical evacuation.

Annja walked to the door and waited. Nothing happened. She placed the sword against the wall close by and tried turning the wheel lock. It was stuck. She looked back at the window.

Dzerchenko and Tupolov were back.

Uh-oh, Annja thought. This can’t be good.

Dzerchenko waved to Annja and then pointed to a grille near the door. Annja looked and then heard a buzz of static. “Congratulations.”

Annja frowned. “I did what you asked. Now let me get Bob out of here.”

“Ah yes, well, I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible. We can’t trust you not to tell anyone about our experiments here.”

“I’m not interested in blowing the whistle on you guys. I just want to get Bob out of here and to a hospital in one piece,” Annja said.

“You did quite well with Gregor. We were very impressed.”

Annja looked over at Gregor’s corpse. She felt horror at what she’d done. And a measure of relief that it was finally over. “I’m thrilled you enjoyed the show. Now let me out of here,” Annja said angrily.

“What would you say if we told you that we were so impressed that we’d like you to stay here with us for a while.”

Annja frowned. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

Dzerchenko grinned. “Deals are made to be broken, my dear Annja.”

“Not this one. Now let me out.”

“I’m afraid not.”

Annja gritted her teeth. “Dzerchenko, you are really doing your best to make me mad, aren’t you?”

“Not at all. I’m simply asking you to understand our position.”

“Which is what, exactly?”

Dzerchenko held up a clipboard. “We have several instruments located throughout the arena that measure all sorts of things, including reaction speed, power, endurance, that sort of thing.”

“So?”

“So, you were off the chart on all of them. It was quite amazing. We wonder if it has something to do with your special sword there.”

Annja shook her head. It always amazed her that people said she moved fast. To her, it felt as if she were moving through quicksand most of the time. “I don’t know what the sword can and cannot do,” she said honestly.

“Exactly,” Dzerchenko said. “That’s why we’d like you to stay around for a little bit. Humor us by showing us how it all works. And once we’re done, we’ll let you go.”

“Why should I believe you? You were supposed to let me go when this was all over.”

Tupolov laughed. “Well, honestly, Annja, we didn’t think you would be able to survive a fight with Gregor. That’s why we made that promise. Your odds simply were not good.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“We had a lot of faith in our creation.”

“So you lied.”

“See it from our perspective, Annja. We’re scientists. We want to study things that are incredible to us. And you were certainly incredible. You defeated something that should have been undefeatable.”

Annja smiled. “I guess you guys weren’t as good as you thought you were, huh?”

Tupolov frowned. “We think the problem was with Gregor and not with our research.”

“Always the way,” Annja said. “It’s never about the people in charge. It’s always the little guys that get the blame.” She pointed at Gregor. “For what it’s worth, I think he was pretty damned impressive.”

“It’s worth nothing,” said Dzerchenko. “You killed him and made our experiment worthless. Now we’ve got to come up with something new.”

“Something new?” Annja asked, frightened by the thought.

He smiled. “You, my dear.”

I’m really getting tired of him calling me “my dear,” Annja thought. She shook her head. “I’m not going to be your guinea pig.”

Dzerchenko shrugged. “Then Bob will die.”

“Bob’s got nothing to do with this!” Annja grabbed her sword. “I did what you asked and you’re supposed to let us go!”

“Bob has everything to do with this,” Dzerchenko said. “After all, he seems to motivate you in some way. Are you in love with him?”

“No. He’s a dear friend.”

“And naturally you’d like to see him live out his life with many more happy years. Wouldn’t you?”

“Of course,” Annja said.

“Then the choice is, once again, yours.”

Annja leaned on her sword. Somewhere up there Bob lay on a gurney, probably completely unaware of what was going on. Maybe they’d stashed him in the other room again so he couldn’t hear. If he could hear, he would have shouted something about Annja refusing to do it and to not worry about him.

But she couldn’t do that. She’d lost Bob once on this trip, and the thought of losing him again made her heart ache. Worse, knowing those two crazy loons, they’d probably make some big spectacle out of it.

And that might be the worst thing of all.

Annja bit her lip and felt the tang of blood as she tore off some skin. “What do you want from me?”

“Just a chance to ask you some questions.”

“That’s it?”

“Of course.”

Annja frowned. “You’ll forgive me if I’m not exactly a trusting soul when it comes to your declarations. After all, you just admitted that you lied to me in order to get me to fight Gregor.”

“True enough, but we have nothing to gain from lying to you this time.”

Annja looked at Dzerchenko and Tupolov. Both of them wore such sweet smiles it made her stomach churn in disgust.

I don’t trust either of those two idiots any farther than I can throw them. But what choice do I have?

“All right,” she said.

“You agree?”

She looked up. “I said yes.”

Dzerchenko clapped his hands. “Excellent. That is really good news, Annja. And we’ll make sure Bob is taken care of straightaway.”

“What do you mean?”

“We were about to remove him from life support when it looked like you weren’t going to play ball with us.”

“Well, get him back on it!” Annja shouted.

Tupolov disappeared and returned a moment later. Dzerchenko pointed at his clipboard. “This will be so enthralling, I assure you. Once we get our questions answered, that will be all there is.”

Annja nodded. “Fine, fine. Whatever.” She rested her hand on the wheel lock of the door leading out of the arena. “Just let me get the hell out of here already, would you? Gregor’s body is starting to smell for some reason.”

“That’s due to some of the chemicals we pumped into him to accelerate his reaction time and thought processes. They’re probably just leaking from his orifices and his wounds.”

“Wherever they’re leaking from, it’s really beginning to stink down here,” Annja said.

Dzerchenko and Tupolov smiled.

Annja heard a hiss and turned around.

At the far end of the arena, she could see grill-work high up on the wall. A faint yellow gas was seeping out of it.

She spun around. “What the hell is that?”

Dzerchenko’s smile widened. “Just a little security for Tupolov and me.”

Annja shook her head. This was getting ridiculous. “I told you that I would agree to answer your questions. There’s no need for any gas.”

“What if you try something on us? After all, you’ve still got your sword.”

Annja hefted her blade. How she wanted to cut them both open. Instead, she frowned again. “I thought you wanted to ask me questions about it. Isn’t it better if I have it available for you?”

“We’d prefer you put it away.”

Annja smiled. “Turn the gas off.”

Tupolov shook his head. “Not yet.”

Annja glanced back at the grates. More of the yellow gas floated into the arena. Already she was starting to feel faint and somewhat woozy. Why would Tupolov and Dzerchenko want to gas her when they needed her to answer questions?

It didn’t make sense.

Annja clenched her jaw. Those bastards weren’t going to ask her questions at all. It had been a stall tactic in order to get the gas ready to pump in. They don’t care one little bit about what I can do, Annja thought.

They want to turn me into another Gregor. Only better. One equipped with a sword.

Annja looked up at the window. She held up her sword and pointed at them. “This isn’t going to work. I know what you’re up to. I won’t let you do it to me like you did to Gregor.”

Dzerchenko and Tupolov just laughed and pointed at the yellow gas rapidly filling up the arena area.

Annja turned and looked back at the grates.

I have got to get out of here before it’s too late.

Otherwise both Bob and I will die.