Footprints (19 page)
Annja wiped the grit from her face. Her hand came away moist with the tears that had been trying to flush her eyes. And then her vision finally cleared and she could see at last.
Tom's body
lay
in a crumpled heap about fifteen feet away, a pool of blood staining the ground beneath him. Annja's sword jutted out of the tree trunk nearby.
"I missed," she said, confused.
"I didn't," a voice said from behind her.
She turned and saw Jenny standing there with David's gun in her hands.
Annja smiled weakly.
"Great timing."
Jenny nodded. "Well, life has always been about timing, hasn't it? You just have to know when to do the things you need to do."
Annja got to her feet. "The bastard threw sand into my face. It got into my eyes and I couldn't see a thing."
"You okay now?"
Annja wiped her face on her sleeve some more. "I think so."
"He might have killed you," Jenny said.
Annja looked at Tom. There was a neat hole in the center of his forehead. "You made an incredible shot for someone who's never used a gun before."
"What makes you think I've never used a gun?" Jenny asked.
Annja shrugged. "I just thought you hadn't. You never seemed comfortable around them."
"Well, not when Tom was aiming
that
huge cannon at us from the front seat of his truck. I don't think anyone would be cool in that situation.
Except maybe for the great Annja Creed."
Annja shook her head. "I'm not great." She checked Tom's pulse but he was already dead. "What did you do with Sheila?"
Jenny pointed over her shoulder.
"Back at the cave.
I broke her neck."
"How'd you manage that?"
Jenny grinned. "Just a little trick I picked up along the road of life. A single woman needs to know how to take care of herself.
Nothing to it, really.
You just step up, elbow them in the face and then loop your arm and—"
Annja held up her hand. "I get it."
Jenny smiled. "So they're both out of the way now.
At last."
"
That means we can get the hell out of here," Annja said. "I'm buying the first drink at the airport."
But Jenny wasn't smiling anymore. "What about the bodies?"
Annja glanced back. The thought of cleaning up two more corpses was appalling. But she couldn't just leave them where they were. They'd get ravaged by the forest animals. And if they didn't explain themselves to the police—the real police—there was a chance they'd be implicated in some type of murder charge.
Jenny was right. They had to clean things up.
"Where did David say the nearest state cops were?
An hour away or something like that?"
Jenny nodded.
"Yeah."
"
I guess we should call them, huh?
At least when we get back to town and talk to Ellen."
"
And what about the other stuff?"
"
The drugs?"
Annja shrugged.
"Beats me.
The cops'll take it, I guess. That's their thing. I sure don't want anything to do with it."
"It's worth a lot of money, though, isn't it?"
Annja nodded.
"Probably worth millions on the street."
"
They were planning on heading down to
Someplace where they could set up shop without the fear of being extradited back to the
Annja brushed her knees. "Yeah, well, their plans are ruined now. Just goes to prove that you can't stop the forces of good." She glanced up. "That'd be you and me."
Jenny smiled. "Yeah, I got it."
Annja looked at her sword sticking out of the tree and then smiled back at Jenny. "I guess I'd better yank that thing out of there, huh? Can't leave it like that for some innocent person to stumble over. That'd be messy."
Annja started to walk over to the tree and then heard the sound of a hammer being pulled back on a gun. "Don't do that."
She turned. "What are you doing?"
Jenny held the gun aimed at Annja. "I'm finally taking control of my life. That's what."
"
By shooting me?"
"
I don't want to have to do that," Jenny said. "But that sword is far too dangerous. I can't let you get it back in your hands or you'll use it on me."
"Why would I do that?"
Jenny sneered.
"Because you're Miss Goody-Goody.
There's no way you're going to let me walk out of here with those drugs. You'll try to stop me. And I'm done with people imposing themselves on my personal destiny."
Annja frowned. "You think those drugs are your destiny? Don't be ridiculous. You've already got a great life."
"I don't have a life," Jenny said. "I have an existence. And it's a meager one at that. I've got no real career path other than making tenure at some university no one even cares about. My romantic world is a sham. I'm struggling to make ends meet on my crappy salary and I'm a miserable wreck."
Annja frowned. "If you need money, I'll loan you some to get you back on your feet."
"It's not just about the money. Can't you see that? I'm tired.
So tired.
Of everything.
The daily struggle to survive.
And it's all based on the hope that one day things will finally get better. Well, when do they get better? I'm not a young girl anymore. The world isn't my oyster. Hell, it never was my oyster. All it ever turned out to be was a big pile of crap. And I'm sick of it, Annja. "
"And you think this is the answer to your problems? Stealing drugs and then selling them and taking the money to go run off somewhere and live like the spoiled princess you've always wanted to be?"
"Being spoiled has nothing to do with it."
Annja sat down on the ground. "You think your life is tough, Jenny? You should try seeing things from my side of the coin. I don't have any family. I don't have many close friends aside from folks like you."
"Yeah, but you've got a career in television. That's got to count for something.
Lots of fans and all that."
"
I don't have many fans. The coanchor on that show gets more fan mail in a day than I do all year. And it's all because she lost her top once during filming. You think I want to sacrifice my journalistic integrity for some pieces of mail? And yet that's the world we live in these days."
"You're paid well, at least."
"Sure. The money's nice. But it doesn't make all the loneliness
go
away when it's just me alone in my bed at night." Annja shook her head. "You think I have the life, don't you? That all of this travel is a great adventure for me."
"Isn't it?"
"No, it's not. Did you ever wonder why I spend so much of my time traipsing around the world?"
Jenny shrugged. "It's pretty obvious, isn't it? You love what you do.
The quest for relics and all that stuff.
It's your obsession."
"Yeah, it's my obsession." Annja sighed. "That's only part of the story, Jenny. The other part is that I am so scared of ever settling down and committing myself to one thing, one person,
one
ideal, that I run away from anything that even remotely looks as if it could be a solid foundation in my life. And I run right toward danger and anything else that looks as volatile as nitroglycerin."
"If that's the case, then why did that sword choose you to be its holder and caretaker?"
"Isn't it obvious? It knows I'll never stop running toward the bad guys. That there will always be a chance for me to fight and use it for the powers of good. Of course it chose me. The last thing that sword would ever want was someone with a regular job, a spouse and two kids at home. Can you imagine that? It would never get used."
"And presumably evil would triumph," Jenny said.
"That's my guess."
Jenny shrugged. "All right, so you've got a crappy life, too. Why don't you change it?"
"Who says I can?"
"I do."
Annja smiled. "Yeah, I wish it was that easy. It's not. The same powers that brought this sword to me will make sure that I never have a moment's rest as long as I try to avoid my destiny and that of this sword."
Jenny sighed. "I wish I could take it from you."
"Don't say that. You don't want this thing. I don't even know if I want this thing."
Jenny lowered the gun. "I don't want to hurt you, Annja."
"You don't have to hurt me. But you don't have to take those drugs, either. There's always a better way."
"Is there? I've heard people tell me that all the time. And I never seem to find it. People say to have faith and yet my faith is never rewarded. I've prayed to every deity I can think of. I've prayed to every ancestor in my family. I don't ask for much. Just a little bit. And yet, time after time, there's no help from beyond. No help from those who are supposed to have the power to help us."
"I know what you mean."
Jenny frowned. "And then every day I hear stories of people who are bad, unjust or evil
who
are living a great life.
Criminals with more money than God.
Women falling all over themselves to be with them.
Even law-abiding people who are frugal, cheap bastards and would never give a dime to charity. Even they have the life."
Annja nodded. She'd seen it enough times to know that Jenny spoke the truth. Her friend took a stuttering breath and then continued.
"So when does it all end, Annja? When do I get the rewards of living an honest, hard-working life? When do I wake up and see that
all the
struggle has been worth the pain and agony that I've endured?
When?"
"Maybe tomorrow.
Maybe never," Annja said.
"I'm tired of the maybes. I'm tired of saying to myself, 'tomorrow's going to be the day this all gets taken care of.' I'm tired of wishing so hard that I make my head hurt. And I'm tired of the endless disappointment."
"I don't know what to tell you, Jenny." Annja shook her head. "I wish I had the power to make all your pain go away. But I don't. None of us do."
"I do now," Jenny said. "And I'm not walking away from the chance just because it's not the right thing to do in someone else's book. For me, this is the right thing to do and it's the right time to do it."
Annja looked at the ground. "I can't let you take the drugs, Jenny."
"Why not? After everything I've just told you. I poured my heart out to you. I'm dying here and you still cling to some supposedly noble ideology? How is that your decision to make?"
Annja shook her head. "I don't know. But it's a decision that has to be made and I'm the person here, right now, standing in your way."
Jenny raised the gun. "Like I said, I don't want to hurt you, Annja. But so help me, God, if you try to stop me from achieving my happiness, I will put a bullet in you. I'm not going to go back to my crummy life and try to spend the next forty years telling myself that it would have been wrong to take the drugs and give myself the life I've always wanted.
No way."
Annja got up from the ground. "I can't let you do that, Jenny. You'd never forgive yourself if you did. That junk only hurts more people than it saves. The money those criminal kingpins have is taken from the suffering of others. You don't want to be any part of that."
"I do now." Jenny shrugged. "I just do not care about anyone else anymore except myself."
"In that case," Annja said. "You'll have to shoot me."
Jenny shook her head. "I don't want to do that."
"You're not taking the drugs, Jenny. So if you're determined to do that, then I'll have to stop you," Annja said.
"After everything we've been through together. You'd really try to stop me?"
"I wouldn't
try.
I would do it," Annja replied honestly.
Jenny shook her head. "I thought you'd understand my reasons for doing this."
"I do understand your reasons. But that doesn't mean I have to condone them. And I can't. I hope you'll understand that."
Jenny shook her head. "Actually, I can't understand why you'd stand in my way. That's equal to you telling me that I don't have the right to live my life the way I want to."
"No, that's you saying you don't care if living your life comes from the suffering of others."
"What about
my
suffering? Doesn't anyone care about that? Isn't that important, as well? Or am I just going to be forgotten again like every other time?"
Annja looked Jenny in the eye. "You're starting to annoy me with the woe-is-me stuff. You're no different from millions of other people. We all struggle in some way, shape or form to make our way through life. No one ever said it was going to be an easy thing."
"No one ever said it was going to be this difficult, either."
"
Granted.
But what's the choice? You're going to abandon all your morals now just because you've got the chance to take advantage of a situation that you'd normally steer clear of?"
"I've got the chance to make my life what I've always wanted it to be. My visions have the chance to become reality now."
"And how are you going to manage that? You're just going to waltz down to their contacts and sell them the drugs?"
"
Why not?"
"
You think they'd even deal with you?"
"I've got the merchandise."
"But they don't know you from anyone. You could be a cop. You could be wearing a wire or something. Trust me when I tell you that drug dealers aren't the kind of people you want to be messing around with."
Jenny ratcheted the slide on the pistol. "Well, maybe this is the new Jenny. And frankly, the new Jenny just might have some tricks up her sleeve that the old one didn't."
"You're going to need them if you hope to come out of that meeting alive and intact."
Jenny smiled. "Why don't you come with me?"
"Me?
No way."
"
Why not? You could be the security blanket I need. Keep an eye on things and make sure it all goes to plan. I'll split the money with you. There's more than enough for both of us to go anywhere we want and live like queens."
Annja shook her head. "You haven't been listening to me, have you? Didn't you hear what I said earlier? I can't live my life the way I want to. The sword controls me now. It's not overt, but I can feel the pressure from it to journey where there's evil and help rout it."
"Throw the sword away, then."
Annja shook her head.
"As if it was that easy."
"
You threw it easily enough at Tom there."
Annja nodded. "And look where it ended up."
Jenny glanced to her right and so did Annja. But the sword wasn't embedded in the trunk of the tree anymore.
Jenny frowned. "Where is it?"
Annja tapped her chest.
"Back with me now.
Inside.
Always with me.
No matter what."
Jenny pointed the gun at her. "Don't even think about pulling it out. I won't hesitate to shoot you."
"Yes, you will."
The explosion made Annja wince as the air broke near her left ear. A single shell casing spun out of the ejector port on the side of the pistol and spiraled to the ground.
Jenny regarded her now with a certain detachment. "I don't think you want to make a wrong assumption again, Annja."
"Guess not."
Jenny nodded at the truck. "How much have you placed inside?"
"
A few bags.
Not that much."
"And what do you think the street value would be?"
"I have no idea. But it's not enough. Remember, these guys you'd be dealing with are expecting a full shipment of drugs. You show up with just a few bags and they'll think you're holding out on them. That's not the kind of thing that endears you to criminals."
"So you'll help me load the rest of it, then.
Just like we were doing before."
Annja shook her head. "I won't."
Jenny waggled the gun. "Don't make me shoot you. I'm getting tired of saying it."
"I'm getting tired of hearing it." Annja sat down. "You're going to have to accept the fact that I am not going to be a party to your new criminal enterprise."
"So that's it?"
"That's it."
Jenny looked down over the pistol. "This isn't how I wanted things to end with you, Annja."
"
Could have fooled me.
You seem perfectly at ease with what you're about to do."
"I suppose stress and anxiety have a way of making you reconcile the certain necessary evils of life." She shrugged. "And I'm sure it's nothing that a couple million dollars won't help me forget all about."
Annja shook her head. "If you think for one split second that you'll ever forget about this, then you're sadly mistaken."
"Am I really? And how would you know?"
"Because I carry the memory of every person I've ever killed. They never leave you. They never go away or dull over time. They're always there in your mind. Whenever you think they're not, they just come back even stronger than before."
"I guess I'll have to learn to live with it. Just like you did, huh?"
Annja nodded. "Yeah, but the people I've killed have all been bad. The world was better off without them." She looked at Jenny. "I've never had to kill a friend before. I've never done what you're about to do."
Jenny was quiet for a moment. She frowned when she looked back at Annja. "All of this talk is just designed to get me to think twice about my actions."
"I'm trying to talk some sense into you before you make the biggest mistake of your life."
Jenny shook her head. "The biggest mistake I ever made was not doing a better audition for
Chasing History's Monsters.
I could be where you are right now."
"They came to me," Annja said. "I never searched them out at all."
Jenny smiled.
"Oh, sure.
I read all about it in the newspaper. How you were chosen out of a hundred or so hopefuls. I was one of those hopefuls. I thought I had a legitimate shot at the role. I didn't know at the time that the fix was already in."
Annja shook her head. "I didn't know about that. I figured it was just propaganda put out by the studios to help sell the show. No one really expects anyone to believe it. I didn't know you tried out for the show. I never knew what it was that made them pick me. I'm sure you would be a huge hit on the show."
"Stop trying to butter me up. It won't work."
Annja sighed. "This is getting us nowhere. You're going to shoot me so you can run off with bags of drugs, sell them to people you've never even met, think that they won't smoke you as soon as they get a shot and then ride off into the sunset on some
Fantasy Island
regurgitation."
"
Yep."
"
You realize the entire thing sounds ridiculous."
Jenny laughed. "My life's been ridiculous so far. Why stop now?"
"
Because I'm asking you to.
Does that count for anything?
Anything at all?"
Jenny chewed her lip. "Not anymore, Annja. I'm sorry. But it doesn't. The time has come. The needs of the one now outweigh the needs of the many."
Annja nodded. "I can't entirely find fault with you wanting to do this. I just wish you'd see how unlikely it is that you'll be successful."
Jenny looked up. The drizzle had tapered off and the clouds had started to part. "Weather's getting better. That should make loading the truck easier."
"For you," Annja said.
"Still not going to help?"
"No."
"And I can't buy your loyalty?"
Annja sniffed. "My loyalty was never for sale. It was given unconditionally as a result of being your friend.
Your good friend."
"
We were good friends," Jenny said. "It's a shame that after all we've been though it has to end this way."
"Just get on with it, then."
Jenny nodded.
"All right.
If that's what you want."
"It's better than sitting here trying to talk some sense into you. That's obviously not going to work."
"I'm beyond reason at this point. All I can see is what I need to do in order to make my life what I want it to be."
"
If you say so."
"
I do."
Annja leaned back on her hands. "Make sure you aim properly. I don't want an abdominal wound. Those suck."
Jenny positioned the pistol in both of her hands and adopted a solid shooter's stance. "I'll put two in your heart. It will be over soon enough."
Annja looked at her. "I want you to do me a favor."
"
A last request?
That seems a little trite.
Especially coming from someone like you."
"
What's that supposed to mean?"
Jenny shrugged. "You don't seem like the type who would beg for something at the last moment."
"I'm not begging for anything," Annja said. "I'm only making a small request for you to remember something. That's all. No steak dinner or anything like that.
Just a tiny favor."
"
And what would you like me to remember?"
"That I saved your life."
Jenny looked at her. "Joey saved my life. Not you."
Annja shook her head. "No. If I hadn't taken the spirit walk with Joey's grandfather, we never would have found you."
"Why didn't you tell me that before?"
Annja sighed. "Because when I do these things I'm not looking for bragging rights. I do them because I don't have any other choice. It's who I am, how I'm wired.
I can't not help people."
Jenny nodded. "I understand."
"Do you?"
"Yes. But I still have to do what I have to do. You must be able to understand that."
"I can understand the thought process but not the eventual outcome. I think you're committing suicide here."
Jenny shook her head. "I disagree. But even if I am, at least I'm finally living my life on my terms. It's felt as if I've been living in a fantasy future world for so long, I don't even remember the last time one of my decisions was made by me for me."
"And this decision you're making now, the one to kill me? That's all for you, huh?"
"Yes. It is."
Annja nodded. "Then I wish you the very best of luck with your life."
"Thanks."
Annja closed her eyes. "See you on the other side, my friend."
She heard Jenny's voice. "Goodbye, Annja."
Annja steeled herself.
She would summon the sword and be ready to move as soon as Jenny did.
Before she reacted, Annja heard the explosions of the two gunshots in rapid succession.
And then she felt the impact in her chest.