Rogue Angel 46: Treasure of Lima by Alex Archer Page A

cage open to attack, and Annja took advantage of the opportunity, jabbing with the point of her sword. Her opponent was quick and light on his feet, however, and he managed to twist his body away from her strike far enough that all he received was a shallow cut along the outside of his torso.
    Shallow though it might be, Annja knew it still must have hurt, and the way he began favoring that side confirmed it for her. She pressed the advantage, hoping to overwhelm him, driving him several feet back down the corridor as a result.
    For a split second she paused, catching her breath, and that was when he made his move. He leaped toward her with a savage cry, slashing with the machete as he did so. As before, she countered with her sword, dashing the machete blade to one side.
    She didn’t see the short, narrow-bladed knife he now held in his other hand, the one he’d drawn midleap, and was very nearly skewered on it as he thrust it toward her gut. It was only the fact that he glanced downward toward his target that gave his strike away and allowed Annja to bring her knee up and knock the blow to the side.
    Not one to miss an opportunity, she used the same leg to drive a powerhouse kick into the outside of his front leg, just above the knee. She smashed it in the wrong direction, eliciting a howl of pain from her opponent as he backed off again.
    Annja knew she couldn’t let the fight go on too long, for reinforcements were no doubt already on the way. If she didn’t break free soon, she’d be trapped by the new arrivals and her chances of getting out of this alive would be significantly reduced.
    Dreadlocks must have been thinking the same thing, for he suddenly pressed another attack. Every thrust she made in counterattack to his own was parried with the machete in turn, and she soon found herself on the defensive, backing away from the flurry of blows he tried to rain down upon her.
    Her heel struck something on the floor behind her and she realized that Dreadlocks hadn’t been trying to break through her defenses with his whirlwind attacks at all. Instead, he’d been intentionally driving her backward in hopes that she’d trip over Reyes’s body and leave herself vulnerable for a killing blow!
    Annja refused to let that happen. She’d been watching for a pattern in his strikes and she thought she’d found it. As Dreadlocks came in with another right-to-left thrust, Annja blocked the blow with her sword but this time let the blade of the machete travel down the length of her sword until it struck the hilt. The move took her inside Dreadlocks’s guard and it allowed her to pin the machete against the wall with her sword held in her right hand and pivot one hundred and eighty degrees. Putting her back to him, she swung her left arm around in a wide arc and slammed her elbow into his face.
    The blow was enough to stun him, and as he stumbled back a step or two, trying to widen the gap between them so he could find time to regain his breath, Annja completed the turn, thrusting forward with the blade to take her opponent through the throat.
    Mere moments had passed since the fight had started, but that was long enough. Annja could hear people running on the deck above her, no doubt drawn by Dreadlocks’s yells, and she knew she had to get out quickly before they managed to surround her.
    Willing her sword back to the otherwhere, Annja stepped over the bodies and slipped through the doorway through which Jimenez had emerged.
    She found herself in the engine room. It was unusually quiet, the Pride ’s diesel engine having been stopped from the bridge above, and a glance told her that the room was currently empty. A large tool locker filled one wall of the room and she was tempted to hide inside it, but knew the presence of the bodies in the hallway outside would let them know she’d be nearby. Her pursuers would be likely to search the room, and if they did so, the tool locker would be an obvious hiding spot. She’d