“He’s there also,” Blake said.
“Really? But we were certain he was searching on the other side of the Alps. Are you sure it’s him?”
“Yes, of course, I’m bloody certain.”
“Now, that does change things, doesn’t it?”
John Wolfgang’s thighs burned with each step he took.
Above him, on the dilapidated Via Ferrata, he watched as the three figures struggle to reach the top. The one man trailing behind and therefore closest to him, John recognized as Carl, one of Blake Simmonds’ goons. Maybe forty feet above Carl, was Sam Reilly. He still struggled to believe that Sam had somehow managed to escape off the Australian coast three weeks ago. After his men had reported back to him about it, he wasn’t entirely convinced that they were talking about the same man, until now. Then, located above Sam, John spotted what could only be the silhouette of a woman.
At this distance, it was impossible to make out any defining features, but he noticed that she was getting closer to the next ledge.
At his age, it would be impossible for him to keep up with them any longer.
He hoped that Carl was there for the same purpose as he, but he trusted that possibility even less than he trusted that Blake Simmonds was still on his team.
No, the goon is Blake’s man, and that certainly doesn’t make him my friend. He’s most likely here to kill them, but he could just as easily be there to help them.
John climbed up another eight rungs of the rusty ladder, and then stopped to catch his breath.
But what is Blake after?
John simply could not work with anyone with whom he was unable to manipulate with either money, women or the threat of painful death.
Looking up again, he realized that it was time for him to make a final decision about his next step in this most violent treasure hunt.
The first climber was just about to reach the top.
John pulled out his pistol and took aim.
Sam Reilly was close to the top.
If they could just get to the next ledge they could then circle the mountain, placing themselves out of the reach of the man who was trailing them like a machine.
That was when he heard the loud crack echo across the canyon.
At first, Sam thought that the sound might have been caused by a natural crack in the rock face ahead. The sound echoed throughout the entire Dolomite range.
It took a few seconds for its source to register with him.
Did someone just shoot at us?
He and Aliana both picked up their pace, and he watched as Aliana climbed over the mountain crest and disappeared.
As he climbed, his mind writhed to grasp how anyone could have known that he was still alive. He was certain that they had taken sufficient precautions while they were searching, so that the other treasure hunters wouldn’t notice him.
But somehow, someone had taken notice.
He knew that he had been careful to tell no one where they were going. He’d intentionally neglected to even tell his own father, just in case someone else might have been listening. Carl, the man from the bed and breakfast, must have recognized him somehow, but Sam couldn’t understand where they could have possibly encountered each other before.
Just before Sam reached the crest, he heard another loud report, quickly followed by two more.
The rock, about a foot to the right of his hand shattered into dust.
Sam had no way to protect himself from the gunfire. It was just enough encouragement to force him to take four more steps, and clamber onto the other side of the ledge.
“You made it!” Aliana sounded relieved.
“Yeah, but for how long?”
She ignored his question, and then, reaching for a boulder on the ground, said, “Quick, help me with this. It’s the only chance we’re going to get to beat this prick.”
“I like your thinking,” Sam told her, as he squatted down to help. Between the two of them, they managed to roll the boulder to the edge of the cliff.
One quick look over the side confirmed that the two men who were pursuing them, were still trailing close behind. The man nearest to the top was no more than fifteen feet away.
Sam didn’t take the time to warn the man, or even ask him to stop, before rolling the boulder over the edge.
Sam could hear the man scream out from below, and he could only imagine the painful death he must have suffered when the boulder hit him.
Slowly and carefully, Sam ventured a peak over the edge.
The man’s right leg had been crushed by the boulder, but he’d managed to clip the carabiner from his safety line onto a bolt, a split-second before the rock struck him.
A rapid succession of gunfire ricocheted off the limestone directly above Sam’s head.
“Shit!” Sam swore.
“He’s still alive?” Aliana asked.
“Yes, but I think it’s the man below him who keeps shooting at us.”
“Damn!”
Sam and Aliana both started looking around for anything that they could throw, but with the exception of the one boulder which they’d already put to good use, the entire ledge appeared to be otherwise devoid of loose rubble.
Sam continued to eyeball the ledge. A path followed the natural protection of the ledge, and alongside it were two more sets of ladders. Sam didn’t have the strength to keep trying to out-climb the other two men, although he sincerely doubted that the younger of the two would be able to keep pursuing them for much longer, either.
“Any ideas?” Sam asked Aliana.
“There’s a tunnel, just around there,” she said, pointing to the end of the natural ledge.
Sam noticed that the tunnel’s entrance was well hidden.
It was unlikely that their pursuer would not notice that they’d stopped climbing, but at least they could buy some time and remove themselves from the direct line of fire while he searched for where they’d gone.
He followed Aliana into the tunnel.
The mouth of the tunnel wasn’t much bigger than Sam, as he fell crouched down on his knees to enter, but once he got inside, he found that the tunnel opened up, so that he could walk around freely without crouching.
“This way,” Sam said, “there are a couple of different routes here, and we might be able to lose him. Stay close to me.”
Aliana took his left hand in hers, and the two of them stepped further into the dark tunnel.
At the far end was another opening.
“There!” Sam directed.
They both made their way toward it as quick as they could manage in the darkness.
Reaching it, Sam looked down and was able to see that there was another long Via Ferrata ladder which dropped for a distance of more than a thousand feet on the other side. He then turned his head and looked up.
Absolutely nothing.
There was no way that he and Aliana would survive such a long, downward climb. Even if it took their attackers half an hour, they would eventually discover their location. Then it would only be a matter of time before they finished what they’d tried so hard to achieve.
In the vista below, rested an enormous lake. It was colored a stunning green and turquoise near its shoreline which turned an almost emerald darkness at its center. It was only then that Sam realized that this was the same lake that he and Tom had dived two days ago — Lake Solitude.
It appeared even more beautiful in the distance, viewed from this height.
On the other side of the tunnel, where they’d entered, he heard his pursuer speak in a thick German accent.
“Sam Reilly. Stop. I’m on your side. They’re going to kill you!”
It was a ruse, and neither Sam nor Aliana responded.
“Blake Simmonds sent me here to tell you that if you get too close, they will never let you live!” The voice was clear, but the man’s breathing sounded labored. Sam had seen his leg, and knew that he must be in agony.