The Dragon’s Mark Read Online Free PDF Page B

time, those eyes said. And for the first time since taking up Joan’s sword, Annja felt outclassed.
    Then Garin was looming in the doorway, pistols in hand, and gunfire filled the room. He mercilessly cut down those Annja had been unwilling to slay only moments before, their bodies twisting and jerking like marionettes as the bullets thundered into them. He was firing with both hands, so he wasn’t as accurate as usual and a few stray shots whined in Annja’s direction, forcing her to dive to the floor to avoid being hit.
    When she looked up again, her attacker had turned from her and was already halfway across the room, headed for an open casement window that she had failed to notice when she’d first arrived.
    So that’s how they got inside, she thought. And apparently that’s how they intended to get out again. But not if she could help it.
    “Garin! The window!” she shouted.
    Garin spun in her direction and brought his arms up, the guns roaring in the small confines of the room. Bullets split the air and slammed into the area all around the window, but Annja’s attacker managed to slip through the opening without being hit.
    Annja wasn’t ready to let him get away that easily.
    “Oh, no, you don’t,” she said through gritted teeth, angry at having been bested so handily. With her sword in hand she ran for the window herself, trusting Garin to stop firing when he saw her move.
    Garin shouted something at her, but Annja didn’t hear. She was almost to the window itself when a hand appeared from outside and tossed something dark into the room in front of her.
    It hit the floor and rolled toward her.
    She had a split second to think, Grenade! and throw herself to the side before the explosive device went off.

4
    It felt as if a giant hand picked her up and threw her against the floor, the concussion hammering her senses until her head reeled. She bounded off the marble floor and slid into the wall with enough force to nearly knock her senseless.
    Only the fact that it had been a concussion grenade, rather than an explosive one, saved her life. She was still trying to figure out which way was up when Garin rushed to her side.
    “Annja! Are you all right?” he asked, his voice seeming to come from miles away as the roaring in her ears continued.
    She nodded, still too caught up in the emotion of the moment to speak. Her heart was beating like crazy and she fought to get her breathing under control as Garin helped her into a sitting position.
    At last she found her voice.
    “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’m all right.”
    Using his arm for support she pulled herself all the way to her feet and then stood on still-wobbling legs. Her gaze landed on the lock of hair that the intruder’s sword had cut from her head.
    Too close.
    She glanced over at the intruders. Or rather, what was left of them. Garin hadn’t spared any ammunition it seemed; every body was riddled with bullet holes and blood leaked across the marble floor beneath them.
    “Did you have to kill them all?” she asked.
    “Yes.”
    Now why didn’t that surprise her? “But if you had managed to only wound one or two, we might have been able to question them. Learn who they were and why they were here.”
    Garin grunted. “Or they might have managed to kill us both. Thank you, but I’ll take the safer way out every time, particularly where my life is concerned.”
    Annja did not doubt that in the slightest. When it came to protecting his long life, Garin was exceedingly ruthless.
    At any rate, it was too late now to argue about it.
    Garin stepped over to the window and cautiously looked out, but the intruder must have been long gone for he turned away, shaking his head. He was on his way back to Annja’s side when Roux and Henshaw arrived.
    “Is everyone all right?” Roux asked as he stepped into the room, surveying the death and destruction before him.
    “We’re fine,” Annja replied as Garin nodded in assent.
    “What happened up