Fury's Goddess

“I’m fine, thanks for asking.” Frank wiped the greasy muck from his face.

“Make sure you don’t break that camera.” Annja kept moving forward, crossing a drainage ditch and a narrow culvert. She took it slow in case she happened across a lounging tiger. But the FLIR again proved its worth and showed no signs of life except for the ever-present mosquitoes.

Annja ignored Frank’s hushed grumbling and brought them within two hundred yards of the development. There, she squatted to study the layout.

The area ahead of them sloped upward out of the culvert to a fence. She initially thought it would be a problem getting through the fencing, but a quick glimpse down the wire told her it was still in the process of being installed and there were several areas where it was possible to step through.

The development itself comprised elaborate mansions in a grand style reflective of the Hindu culture. The landscaping gave them the appearance of being something out of an ancient kingdom.

A few of the homes were lit by a single light, but it was otherwise quite dark. There were streetlights, but they hadn’t been finished yet. By the look of things, several residents had moved in long before the complex was completed. Probably in a rush to get in there first for bragging rights.

On the way in, she’d studied the ground for any tracks. But like Pradesh had said, there seemed to be no sign of tigers.

There were an awful lot of footprints, however. Whether they’d been made by construction workers or by someone else, Annja couldn’t be sure.

Frank nudged her from behind. “What’s the holdup?”

“I’m trying to see what our choices are for gaining access.”

He pointed at a hole in the fence. “Seems like a good place to start right there.”

She held him back. “Hold on a second, would you? We haven’t seen or heard any of the police patrols yet.”

“Probably asleep.” He started to rise when Annja grabbed him by the sleeve and yanked him back into the dirt. She’d heard the unmistakable sound of a car engine.

“Quiet!” she whispered. And then she ducked down as the first arc of light swept the area where Frank had just been standing.

The slow thrum of the motor told Annja that the police car was on a routine patrol. The light swept over them a few times before the engine cranked up and the car moved off.

But still she held Frank down. “Wait.”

“Why?”

“Trust me.”

She listened and heard the motor die suddenly. As if they’d turned a corner.

Time to move.

“Okay, Frank, let’s get to that hole in the fence and get through it quickly. Make sure you pick out a spot away from the fence to hide in. The darker, the better.”

Frank was up and moving even as Annja finished giving him instructions. As she made her way to the fence, she knew they were about to cross a line. Once on the other side, they’d officially be trespassing.

She wondered how Pradesh would feel about that.

Well, she thought, the trick would be to get in and get out without him ever knowing. She checked her watch. An hour on the inside just to get the lay of the land.

The chain links bit at her arms, but Annja ducked through and then hustled across the small road the police car had driven down. Across the way, Frank was huddled underneath an overhang by what looked like an administration building. He had a small piece of paper unfolded and was studying it with a red-lensed penlight.

“What’s that?”

Frank looked up. “Map I made of the layout of this place. I marked the crime scenes on here.”

Annja smiled. “Good move.”

Frank stabbed his finger at the paper, keeping his voice low. “We’re here. We need to head west and find the culvert running in that direction. That’s where they found that guy Gupta.”

“Hopefully, they don’t have another police patrol on the scene.”

“This late at night?”

Annja shrugged. “They might just be parked up to discourage curious trespassers like us.”

“Ah.”

“I’ll take point.” She held the FLIR ahead of her and got a bearing. Annja stuck close to the walls and fences of the community. She was impressed with the layout. The place had obviously been designed to grant the residents the feeling of status, but it was still homey.

She glanced behind her at Frank. He was no ninja, of course, but he might just turn out to be all right.

As much of a wannabe Casanova as he was, he seemed to realize this assignment could really help further his career. If he wasn’t so focused on scoring with the ladies, they might make this a compelling piece of television.

Annja approached a corner and paused. The area around it was wide-open and offered views in each direction. They could see a lot, but Annja and Frank could also be seen. If someone was looking.

Annja paused. She and Frank needed to head west, which would put them right in line with another corner of the complex. The question was, what was waiting down there that they couldn’t see? If the police were stationed there, they would see Annja and Frank.

She turned and gestured for Frank.

“What’s up?”

Annja pointed. “This corner exposes us. We’ve got no cover for at least a hundred yards, and if the cops surprise us, we’ll be caught in the open. I don’t like advancing unless I’ve got cover and concealment.”

Frank studied his map. “We’d have to go outside the fence to use the ground to conceal us.”

“We can’t backtrack now. We’ll waste too much time.” Annja looked at the map over Frank’s shoulder. “What’s that?”

“I don’t know. I got this off the computer. Figured we’d find out once we got here.”

She peered closer. It looked like an extra culvert running out of the complex, but not one that was easily accessible. So how did you get into it?

She looked at the road. And grinned. “A manhole.”

Frank frowned. “A manhole?”

“Yeah. You don’t happen to have any tools with you, do you?”

“Like what? Something to pry a lid off?”

“Preferably.”