The Soul Stealer. Alex Archer

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      W HEN A NNJA’S EYES SLID OPEN , darkness still enveloped the entire campsite. Inside the shelter, Annja felt warm and snug. The pine boughs Gregor had placed over her earlier in the night had done their job. The scent of pine hung in the air.

      Her head didn’t seem to hurt anymore, much to her relief. Annja shifted and heard the dull snore of Bob snoozing nearby.

      She knew hours must have passed, but what time was it? Why hadn’t Gregor woken Bob to relieve him on guard duty?

      Annja frowned and shifted again, working her way out from under the pile of boughs. The survival blanket made a noise like aluminum foil being crushed and Annja winced. The less noise she made, the better she felt. No sense waking Bob if she could get out of the shelter and give Gregor a break herself.

      Annja poked her head out of the entrance of the lean-to and winced as the cold night air greeted her. There was a distinct bite to it and her skin, which had been warm inside, seemed to stretch taut against the cold.

      Embers glowed a deep red in the campfire pit, but it appeared to have been some time since fresh wood had been added to it.

      Gregor was nowhere to be seen.

      Annja frowned. Had he abandoned them? She didn’t think that made any sense. Why would he have gone through all the trouble of helping Annja with her concussion if he’d intended to desert them all along?

      She moved out of the lean-to, hugging herself as she did so. The howl of wind broke the night, rustling the tall trees above her, making them strain as they leaned one way, then another. The sky overhead showed no stars, only the dark clouds of an approaching storm.

      Annja’s footsteps crunched into the fresh layer of snow that had covered the landscape while she slumbered. There was maybe an inch on the ground, but no more. Still, looking at the sky again, Annja sensed that there’d be more in the coming day.

      That meant they needed to get to Yakutsk as soon as possible. Annja’s run-in with the giant truck had cost them plenty of time. It couldn’t have been helped, but Annja felt marginally responsible for slowing down the team.

      She didn’t like feeling hopeless. Or like some wounded puppy that couldn’t hold its own. She knew Bob would never say anything, even if he could be incredibly focused on sticking to a schedule.

      They’d need to get going as soon as daylight broke.

      But judging from the sky, it seemed that dawn was still a good way off.

      Another blast of wind rattled some of the snow from branches high above, sending clumps of it down into the fire. The embers hissed as the snow melted into water that instantly sizzled and turned to steam.

      Where was Gregor?

      Annja turned and walked the perimeter of the camp. She didn’t think he was the type of guy who would fall asleep while on guard duty. Not a man with all sorts of military and organized-crime experiences in his background.

      So where had he gone?

      She retraced her steps to the fire and knelt down by the log where she’d last seen him sitting. Annja felt the log and found it cold. He’d obviously been gone long enough for the log to lose the warmth his body would have left.

      Her hands felt the muddy ground. She found the dull impressions left behind by his boots and followed them as they headed away from the fire in a straight line.

      Ten feet from the fire, they vanished. Annja sighed. His footsteps were easy to find close to the fire because the ground was warmer there. Any snow that had fallen had melted into the ground, turning it muddy. As a result, Gregor had left tracks.

      But farther away, the ground was cold and hard, and Gregor’s tracks didn’t show nearly as well as they had a few feet back.

      Still, Annja felt the straight line leading away from the fire told her something important—whatever had attracted his attention, Gregor had headed straight for СКАЧАТЬ