She felt someone lift her hand. The touch was gentle and comforting. It must be one of the children, returned to show her the way. Now she would take the hand; it was time to go.
Her mind began drifting away from her body. The separation was almost complete when a bolt of pain seared through her left wrist. Although she knew the pain was real, her mind was too detached to trigger a reaction in her body. She knew, too, that whoever did this was not some gentle soul leading her to peace. She grew angry at the pain; it ignited her competitive fire and she longed to fight for control of her body. Her challenge was taken up almost at once.
The new pain didn't seem much at first. It built up slowly. Something was being forced deep within her. Her legs had been pulled apart but it was not a man inside her. It was something else trying to fill her womb. When the real pain came, it was in long bursts of fire. Just when she'd get used to one, another would thrust into her. They seemed to have no end. She wondered if this was the pain of childbirth. In a flash of thought she knew this was the pain of her own rebirth, pain she must endure to survive. She would not let it beat her. She would not let him beat her.
Now 'him' filled her mind. Him! Him! Annika's conscious mind was returning. She remembered where she was — and her tormentor.
Then a different pain began, in a different place. She felt a burning tear as something pushed into her from behind. Again it wasn't a man — but she knew it was him doing this to her and that was all she needed to bear the pain. If she could regain control of her body, she'd fight him to the death; but she couldn't even open her eyes. Only her mind was working.
Now she felt pain below her eyes. It was being forced into her nose. She couldn't breathe. She was suffocating and face-to-face with the instinctive panic that comes with it. Somehow she must get her mouth to open. It was her only chance for breath. She steeled her will for the seconds left and focused her mind on a single word: breathe. He was so busy forcing the last of the tampons up through her nostrils that he didn't notice the slight parting of Annika's lips and the first frail draw of breath. It was almost sunrise and the only good news from the mines was that the searchers weren't shooting at one another. At least not yet. No one had found a thing, all were exhausted, and most still had day jobs to get to. The mayor promised fresh volunteers 'first thing in the morning,' which probably meant hours from now in Mykonos time.
What the hell, thought Andreas, it probably doesn't matter much now anyway. All the likely places turned out to be busts — nothing even close to Panos' or the artist's. It was like looking for a needle in miles of buried haystacks. Andreas didn't hold out much hope of finding Annika Vanden Haag this way.
He told Pappas to have the men call it a night. Andreas respected Pappas' knowledge of the mines, but as Pappas told him, 'unless you know what the killer has in mind, there's no telling where he might be.' Between themselves they'd dropped the mayor's pretext for the search. Andreas let him assume they were looking for the same man who killed Vandrew. He suspected the others had reached the same conclusion.
Andreas thought it might help if he ran through the possible suspects for Pappas, but he didn't dare. Even if the killer were one of those on his list, there were five others he'd be naming as a potential serial killer. God knows how someone like Pappas would use that information against those men — freely citing Andreas as his source for the slander. Not something to do lightly if you valued a career. Still, if they were to have the best chance at finding her, he might have to tell him.
Andreas was standing by Pappas when he heard him radio the last group of searchers to come in. He looked at Andreas. 'Any suggestions on where to send in the new guys?'
Andreas nodded no. 'Wish I did.'
Pappas stared at him and took his sunglasses out of his shirt pocket. 'Sun's back.' He put them on. 'May I make one?'
'Sure.'
Pappas walked to the old mining-company maps laid out on the tailgate of his Jeep. They'd used them to keep track of the crews down below. 'I think we ought to start looking here,' he said, and pointed to an area by the sea. It was at the opposite end of their current search.
'Why there?' Andreas asked.
Pappas shrugged. 'I don't know, call it a hunch.'
Now it was Andreas doing the staring. 'What's your real reason?'
Pappas gave the smile of a shark searching for prey. 'Probably about the same as yours for starting us at this end.' He pointed again at the map.
'I never told you why I picked there.' Andreas' voice was coldly professional.
'Would you have if I'd asked?'
'No.' Andreas cracked a smile.
'Look,' Pappas said, his tone changing mercurially, 'it's late and I'm tired. This is my suggestion. Decide if you want to take it or not, and call me if you do. I have a business to run.' He seemed to fall back on that tone every time Andreas almost started liking him, and it pissed Andreas off.
Andreas let his anger pass before speaking. 'I'll consider your suggestion. Just tell me where it is. These mining maps have no topographic references I'm familiar with.'
Pappas smiled again. 'It's a tunnel that opens over there.' He was pointing toward the rising sun. 'By the priest's beach.'
Andreas was pretty sure how he knew to pick that spot. That brought back his anger, though he tried hiding it. 'Fine. We'll start there.' He knew he sounded abrupt. A few seconds passed and Andreas reached out his hand. 'Thanks for all your help,' he said sincerely. 'We couldn't have done it without you, and I'd very much appreciate any suggestions you can give the new men.'
They shook hands.
Andreas' anger wasn't at Pappas — it was at the contractor's friend and benefactor, the mayor. 'The damn bastard only cares about himself.' Andreas was ranting on the phone to Tassos as he drove back to town. 'I can't believe he gave him the names.'
Andreas heard a yawn. 'Ahhhh, start believing. I'm not surprised. Just be happy he's on our side — for the moment. By the way, what time is it?'
'About seven. What do you mean "on our side"?' Andreas couldn't shake his anger.
'He wants to find the killer as badly as we do. He also wants to keep things quiet, and knows Pappas will keep his mouth shut if he thinks it might jeopardize the island's building boom.' He yawned again. 'I'm sure the mayor told Pappas what to say at the meeting in the taverna. It made Pappas look like he wasn't afraid to stand up to him, and that way the warning about a killer out of Pappas' mouth, not the mayor's.'
Andreas shook his head. 'Real smoothie.'
'Yeah, so's a snake. Bet when he gave Pappas the suspects' names he told him to get you to tell him too. That way, if anything went wrong, Pappas could name you as the source and you'd believe you were.'
'Son of a bitch.'
'That's one of his nicknames. Hey, don't worry, no harm's been done, but watch the guy. He's capable of anything, and I mean anything. That's how he's stayed in power so long. He knows where all the bodies are buried — and how to bury them too.'
Andreas winced at Tassos' choice of words. 'Okay, so, how are we set up for tonight?'
Tassos wasn't yawning anymore, but he still sounded casual. 'There are more churches to Saint Kiriake on Mykonos than I thought, but some — like the big one in town — are too public for our killer to use. We'll only have to worry about the out-of-town ones off by themselves.'
Andreas' voice sounded doubtful. 'Something about this guy makes me not want to take chances.'