"Presently. When you hand me the skull. If it's truly buried here, as you told me. I'm beginning to doubt it."
"It's here." She shoveled more quickly. "A few more inches…There!"
The dull gleam of the brown leather of the case was revealed as she scraped the dirt from around it. She picked up the case and held it out to him. "Now tell me what you meant when you said it would have been better if I'd gotten on the helicopter."
"Open it."
She unsnapped the case and lifted the lid.
He shone the flashlight down at the reconstruction. He gave a low whistle. "Yes, that's the bitch. You did a good job."
"What did you mean?" she repeated.
"It's true I don't want to disrupt my very tentative relationship with the CIA. To kill an agent would bring pressure to bear to wipe me out." He reached out and took the case. "But if Montalvo does it, then everyone goes after him. The helicopter should be blown out of the air in his territory in about three minutes."
"No!"
"Yes. I don't think we can hear it but we may be able to see the sky light up to the west. I believe we'll wait and let you see it before I kill you."
She climbed out of the grave. "You son of a bitch."
"Of course, we'll have to transport your body to the wreckage immediately so that you'll be found with Quinn's remains. A little gasoline bonfire and your body should be similar to the other corpses."
"They'll find the bullet wound when they do the autopsy. The burns wouldn't mask it."
He snapped his fingers. "That's right. What a fine scientific mind you have. I might have made a mistake. Let's see, then I'll have to break your neck, won't I?"
"If you can catch me, bastard." She wheeled and tore down the path in the direction of the church.
She heard him laugh behind her. "Run. You can't get away. Nekmon has been watching us from the hill. He knows that I have what I need and he'll be calling the castle to have my men come down to scoop you up. I may have them break a few more bodily parts other than your neck."
She glanced at her watch as she threw open the church door. Three minutes. God, she'd cut it close. "Sure, have them come after me," she called back to him. "You're too much of a coward to do it yourself. You beat up men who can't defend themselves. You crucify boys who are better men than you'll ever be. You think of yourself as a king of all you survey, but you'd be nothing without those goons." She glanced over her shoulder. That had gotten him. He was stalking after her.
Her gaze shifted to the castle. Activity. The gates were opening to let Diaz's men stream out.
And Diaz had almost reached the church.
The sky to the west lit up.
The helicopter!
"No!"
The Compound
12:44a.m.
It was time. It was going to happen.
Miguel tensed beneath the sheet. Sweet Mary, he had waited too long for this. He was actually trembling like a baby.
Soldono stuck his head in the door. "How are you doing, Miguel? Dr. Diego said you couldn't sleep and wanted some company. You're lucky I'm a night owl."
Miguel nodded. "So is the Colonel. But I'm still being terribly neglected. He's in the library, busy trying to arrange to send me away from here. And Eve didn't even pay me a courtesy visit today."
"I believe she's busy too." Soldono sat down in the bedside chair. "We seem to be the only ones with a little leisure time." He smiled. "Would you like a midnight snack? I'll send for a tray."
"Are you sure you haven't been told to keep an ailing man from being bored?"
"Who would tell me? I take orders from Venable. I'm afraid he doesn't think you of enough importance to waste my time."
"Ah, what a blow to my ego," Miguel said. "And I was considering leaving the Colonel and going to Venable and asking for a job. Don't you think I'd make a fine CIA agent?"
"I think you're pulling my leg. What do you want to eat?"
"The Colonel is feeding me steaks to replenish my blood supply." His smile faded. "I hear I must thank you for donating blood to me."
"It was nothing. I would have done it for anyone."
"But I was the one in need," Miguel said. "I don't like to be in need. It hurts my pride. I've never felt more helpless in my life than when I was being nailed to that cross."
"You don't want to think about that, Miguel."
"But I do think about it. I can't get it out of my head. The spikes being driven into my hands and all the time Diaz standing above me and gazing down at me and smiling. It was nothing to him. He acted as if he did this every day of his life. So casual. He even took a phone call while he watched them do that to me."
Soldono leaned back in the chair. "Oh?"
"He probably thought I was in too much pain to pay any attention to what he was doing. He didn't realize how every sound, every sight, was magnified, and recorded in my mind. With every pound of that hammer…"
"I'm with Diaz. You must be remarkable, Miguel. I wouldn't think you'd be able to concentrate on anything but what was happening to you."
"What a curious coincidence that you'd use that phrase."
"What phrase?"
"You said, 'I'm with Diaz.'" He smiled. "And you are with Diaz, Soldono. You were the one on the phone with the bastard that night."
Soldono stiffened warily. "You're crazy."
"No, he used your name. Just once. He said, 'Are you sure, Soldono?' You must have been telling him about Eve going to Armandariz's camp."
"Nonsense. You were delirious with pain."
"No. You're his mole in this camp. How long have you been in his pay?"
"You're nuts. It was Destando who was in Diaz's pay. For God's sake, Montalvo shot the bastard."
"No, he wanted you to think he had shot him so that you wouldn't realize we suspected you. Destando has been lying low all day on the Colonel's orders. How long has Diaz had you in his pocket?"
Soldono didn't answer.
"How long, Soldono?" Miguel asked softly.
He was silent a moment and then shrugged. "Not long. He wouldn't meet my price. It wasn't until lately that he was desperate enough to make it worth my while." Soldono's gaze was cold. "And you're a fool to confront me like this when you're helpless in bed. You must know I have to kill you."
"To protect your interests with Diaz?"
"Diaz will need me as long as I have contacts with the Agency. I have to maintain those contacts. When I leave the Agency, I'm going to go home and fake a terrific windfall on the stock market. None of this living in the jungle like an animal for me. I'll have a grand horse farm in Kentucky and be respected." His eyes narrowed. "So Montalvo knows?"
"Definitely."
"Then I think after I leave here, I'll have to go and take care of him. The library, you said?"
"That's what I said." Miguel watched him reach in his pocket and draw out a gun and point it at him. "You'd really shoot an unarmed man?"
Soldono's lips twisted. "I really would."
"That's what I thought." Miguel's forefinger pressed the trigger of the sawed-off shotgun he was cradling beneath the sheet. The sheet was blown off Miguel by the force of the blast.
And Soldono's head was blown off his body.
12:48 a.m.
"Are you hiding from me?" Diaz asked mockingly as he peered at the dark pews. "You were very brave a few minutes ago, whore. Where is that courage now?"
He began to go slowly down the aisle, shining the flashlight on either side. "Are you praying in my fine church? It won't do you any good. You'll be dead in a few minutes. Did you see the sky when the helicopter blew? Do you think when you join Quinn in the afterlife that he'll forgive you for betraying him with another man? He tried to tell me that he didn't believe me, but a man always believes a woman will fuck an-other man given the chance." He stopped, frowning. "Come out, bitch. I'm getting impatient and you don't want to-"