Joe's eyes were blazing in his bleeding face. "Do it. Let's go."
"So that I won't get my chance at Eve Duncan? She really doesn't deserve you. How can I convince you of that?"
"You can't."
"Nevertheless, I'll try. Disillusionment can be a torture in itself, I've discovered. Women are instinctively self-serving, Quinn. They try to mask it by preaching fairness and goodness but it's always to make their own position in life more secure. Christian behavior dictates that they be treated with kindness and tolerance. It doesn't matter how they interfere with a man's drive to better himself. It's always best to use them and then walk away. You'll know better next time."
Joe didn't answer.
"Providing you go on living after tonight." Diaz moved over to the window. He could see the woman walking swiftly through the cemetery. She should be here in a few minutes.
She was passing his mother's tomb now. Do you see her, Mother? She's another one like you. So sure she's right. Despising me for being evil and yet she excuses her own sins. It's going to be a pleasure killing her. Just as it was a pleasure killing you.
Eve stood before the church door, hesitating. "Diaz."
"Come in," he called. "We're waiting for you."
"That's what I'm afraid of," she said. "Come out into the open and bring Joe with you."
"You don't trust me?" he asked mockingly. "I don't know why. Haven't I done everything you've asked?"
"You're entirely too fond of torture. What's to stop you from grabbing me as soon as I walk through those doors and trying to make me tell you where I placed the skull?"
"An excellent idea."
"Come out here."
"Did it occur to you that I could have had a sniper behind every tombstone in the cemetery to pick you off?"
"As you must know, Venable's helicopter pilot did a sweep before I left the forest." She held up a small radio receiver. "He said that there were possibly two men in the forest but none in the cemetery."
He chuckled. "There are three in the forest. And any one of them could have killed you before you reached here."
"But that wouldn't have served you. What about the skull?"
"Yes, what about the skull? Where is it?"
"Bring Joe out and we'll talk about it."
He turned and said over his shoulder, "Come along, Quinn. The lady has a desire to see your handsome face."
A moment later he appeared in the doorway. "Here we are. Now tell me where the skull is."
He looked no different from the newspaper photo she had seen of him. A little heavier, a little older, perhaps. "I'm not going to-" She inhaled sharply as she saw Joe with hands bound behind his back, behind Diaz. "My God. What did you do to him?"
"Nothing much. I had no time," Diaz said. "He was unconscious at first and then I had to be careful to make sure I had something to trade you."
The bruises on Joe's swollen face made him almost unrec-ognizable. "It must have been a real thrill beating up on an unarmed man."
"You shouldn't have interfered, Eve," Joe said. "Why the hell did you?"
"If you don't know the answer to that, then there's no use talking to you." She turned to Diaz. "The helicopter is going to land in four minutes. When Joe's on board, I'll tell you where to find the skull."
"Not good enough. I want it in my hands before I release you."
She had thought that was the way it was going to play out. "I'll stay behind."
"No!" Joe took a step forward. "Hell, no."
"Don't worry, I'm not sacrificing my life for you," she said. "He's not going to kill me. If he did, Armandariz would hear about it and begin to suspect that what Montalvo said was really true."
"No!"Joe said.
"This is no longer up to you, Joe." She turned back to Diaz. "I mean it, no skull until you get Joe on that helicopter."
"You're willing to trade your life for his?"
"You heard what I told Joe. You're not stupid enough to kill me and risk what you've been bargaining for." She looked up at the sky. "I hear the helicopter. He should be landing soon." Her glance shifted to Diaz. "Well?"
He shrugged. "I'll let Quinn go as long as I have you. If you try to cheat me, I won't hesitate to cut your throat."
"I won't go." Joe's eyes were blazing. "What do you think I am, Eve? When did you decide I was namby-pamby enough to let you run over me? There's no way that-" He broke off as Diaz's fist crashed into his stomach with brutal force.
His knees buckled and he would have fallen to the ground if Eve hadn't sprung forward and caught him. She was brought down to the ground with him by the heavy weight of his body. She glared at Diaz. "You bastard."
"I was tired of arguments. I'd already made my decision."
Her arms tightened protectively around him. The blow had knocked the breath from his body and he was struggling for air. "He's wounded and helpless. Cut him loose."
"When he's tucked into the helicopter. He's not that helpless. Some men never give up. He killed three of my men before they took him." Diaz raised his eyes to the sky to watch the blue-white light of the helicopter spear the ground. "Ah, here it comes."
The wind from the rotors was blowing her hair across her face as the helicopter descended. Just a few minutes more and it would be down and Joe would be safe.
Hurry. Please, hurry.
Joe was struggling, trying to sit up and get away from her. She could feel the anger and outrage in every muscle of his body. Who could blame him? She had damaged his independence and his pride and that was unbearable for him. "I had to do it," she whispered. "I'm sorry, Joe."
"So am I." He pronounced every word with precision. "Let me go."
She slowly released him. "It's going to be okay, Joe." She wasn't sure if she was lying. Even if they got out of this alive, she couldn't be sure that anything would be okay for them again. She got to her feet. "Try to believe me." The helicopter had landed and the cockpit door was opening. Two men got out of the aircraft and came toward them.
Diaz pointed his gun at the men.
She stepped between them and jerked her head at Joe. "Untie him and then get him out of here."
"Wait until he's in the helicopter to cut him loose," Diaz told them. "She's trying to save his dignity but it will be much easier for you."
The pilot looked at her. "Ma'am?"
She turned away. "Just get him out." She didn't want to see him struggle. "Don't hurt him."
She heard Joe's muttered curse and then the closing of the door of the helicopter. A moment later she heard the whine of the rotors and glanced back to see the aircraft take off.
He was gone. He'd be safe. Her relief was mixed with sadness. Jesus, she'd bated to do it this way.
"The skull," Diaz prompted.
She tore her eyes from the helicopter. Get down to business. "Very well." She turned on her heel and strode back through the cemetery in the direction from which she'd come. "Follow me."
"I wouldn't think of doing anything else. But tell me where we're going."
"Not far."
"Where?"
"We're almost there." She glanced at the tomb they were passing, where Diaz's mother was interred. "It's really amazing that you were born to a woman, Diaz. I'd think that you'd be hatched by some vermin under a rock. It didn't surprise me that you tried to use a snake to kill me since you're so alike."
"Are you trying to make me angry? Why?"
"Because I'm angry. I don't like what you did to Joe. What you made me do to him."
"Too bad. Where's the skull?"
"Here." She stopped just beyond the tomb. "But you'll have to dig for it."
"Dig?" His eyes narrowed on her face and then went to the grave beside which she was standing. "The Armandariz woman's grave?"
"I thought it fitting that I return her skull to her resting place."