obvious, you're running an elaborate artifact theft ring that has to be a full-time operation.'
Amaru looked at his prisoners in mocking speculation. 'Since the fact must be patently apparent to everyone in the room, I won't bother to deny it.'
A few seconds passed in silence, then Doc Miller rose unsteadily to his feet and stared Amaru directly in the eye. 'You thieving scum,' he rasped. 'Pillager, ravager of antiquities. If it was in my power, I'd have you and your band of looters shot down like--'
Miller broke off suddenly as Amaru, his features utterly lacking the least display of emotion and his black eyes venting evil, removed a Heckler & Koch nine-millimeter automatic from a hip holster. With the paralyzing inevitability of a dream, he calmly, precisely, shot Doc Miller in the chest. The reverberating blast echoed through the temple, deafening all ears. One shot was all that was required. Doc Miller jerked backward against the stone wall for one shocking moment, and then dropped forward onto his stomach without a sound, hands and arms twisted oddly beneath his chest as a pool of red oozed across the floor.
The captives all reflected different reactions. Rodgers stood like a statue frozen in time, eyes wide with shock and disbelief, while Shannon instinctively screamed. No stranger to violent death, Giordino clenched his hands at his sides. The ice-cold indifference of the murderous act filled him with a savage rage that was tempered only by maddening helplessness. There was no doubt in his mind, in anybody's mind, that Amaru intended to kill them all. With nothing to lose, Giordino tensed to leap at the killer and tear out his throat before he received the inevitable bullet through the head.
'Do not try it,' said Amaru, reading Giordino's thoughts, aiming the muzzle of the automatic between the eyes that burned with hate. He inclined his head toward the guards, who stood with guns level and ready, and gave them orders in Spanish. Then he stepped aside as one of the guards grabbed Miller around the ankles, and dragged his body out of sight into the main room of the temple, leaving a trail of blood across the stone floor.
Shannon's scream had given way to uncontrollable sobbing as she stared with bleak, unwavering eyes at the bloody streak on the floor. She sagged to her knees in shock and buried her face in her hands. 'He couldn't harm you. How could you shoot down a kindly old man?'
Giordino stared at Amaru. 'For him, it was easy.'
Amaru's flat, cold eyes crawled to Giordino's face. 'You would do well to keep your mouth closed, little man. The good doctor was supposed to be a lesson that apparently you did not comprehend.'
No one took notice of the return of the guard who had dragged away Miller's body. No one except Giordino. He caught the hat pulled down over the eyes, the hands concealed within the poncho. He flicked a glance at the second guard who slouched casually against the doorway, his gun now slung loosely over one shoulder, the muzzle pointing at no one in particular. Only two meters separated them. Giordino figured he could be all over the guard before he knew what hit him. But there was still the Heckler & Koch tightly gripped in Amaru's hand.
When Giordino spoke, his voice wore a cold edge. 'You are going to die, Amaru. You are surely going to die as violently as all the innocent people you've murdered in cold blood.'
Amaru didn't catch the millimetric curl of Giordino's lips, the slight squint of the eyes. His expression turned curious, then the teeth flashed and he laughed. 'So? You think I'm going to die, do you? Will you be my executioner? Or will the proud young lady do me the honor?'
He leaned down and savagely jerked Shannon to her feet, took hold of her flowing ponytail, and viciously pulled her head backward until she was staring from wide, terrified eyes into his leering face. 'I promise that after a few hours in my bed you'll crawl to obey my commands.'
'Oh, God, no,' Shannon moaned.
'I take great pleasure in raping women, listening as they scream and beg--'
A brawny arm tightened around his throat and choked off his words. 'This is for all the women you made suffer,' said Pitt, a macabre look in his intense green eyes, as he cast aside the poncho, jammed the barrel of the .45 Colt down the front of Amaru's pants, and pulled the trigger.
For the second time the small confines of the room echoed with the deafening sound of gunfire. Giordino hurled himself forward, his head and shoulder driving into the startled guard, crushing him against the hard wall, causing an explosive gasp of pain. He caught the distorted look of horror and agony on Amaru's face, the bulging eyes, his mouth open in a silent scream, a fleeting glimpse of the Heckler & Koch flying through the air as his hands clutched the mushrooming red stain in his groin. And then Giordino punched the guard in the teeth and tore the automatic rifle from his hands in almost the same movement. He swung around in a crouched firing position, muzzle aimed through the doorway.
This time Shannon didn't scream. Instead, she crawled into a corner of the room and sat motionless, like a waxen effigy of herself, staring dumbly at Amaru's blood splattered over her bare arms and legs. If she had been terrified earlier, she was now merely numb with shock. Then she stared up at Pitt, lips taut, face pale, specks of blood in her blond hair.
Rodgers was staring at Pitt too, with an expression of astonishment. Somehow he knew, recognized the eyes, the animal-like movements. 'You're the diver from the cave,' he said dazedly.
Pitt nodded. 'One and the same.'
'You're supposed to be back in the well,' Shannon murmured in a trembling voice.
'Sir Edmund Hillary has nothing on me.' Pitt grinned slyly. 'I scramble up and down the walls of sinkholes like a human fly.' He shoved a horrified Amaru to the floor as if the terrorist were a drunk on a sidewalk and placed a hand on Giordino's shoulder. 'You can relax, Al. The other guards have seen the light of decency and virtue.'
Giordino, with a smile as wide as an open drawbridge, laid aside the automatic rifle and embraced Pitt. 'God, I never thought I'd see your gargoyle face again.'
'The things you put me through. . . A damned shame. I can't go away for half an hour without you involving me in a local crime wave.'
'Why the delay?' asked Giordino, not to be outdone. 'We expected you hours ago.'
'I missed my bus. Which reminds me, where is my Dixieland band?'
'They don't play sinkholes. Seriously, how in hell did you climb a sheer wall and trail us through the jungle?'
'Not exactly a fun-filled feat, believe me. I'll tell you over a beer another time.'
'And the guards, what happened to the other four guards?'
Pitt gave a negligent shrug. 'Their attention wandered and they all met with unfortunate accidents, mostly concussions or possible skull fractures.' Then his face turned grim. 'I ran into one pulling Doc Miller's body through the main entrance. Who carried out the execution?'
Giordino nodded at Amaru. 'Our friend here shot him in the heart for no good reason. He's also the guy who dropped the safety line down around your head.'
'Then I won't bother myself with remorse,' Pitt said, staring down at Amaru, who was clutching his groin and moaning in agony, fearful of looking to ascertain the damage. 'Kind of makes me warm all over knowing that his sex life just went dysfunctional. Does he have a name?'
'Calls himself Tupac Amaru,' answered Shannon. 'The name of the last Inca king. Probably took it to impress the hill people.'
'The Peruvian students,' Giordino said, remembering. 'They were herded down a stairway underneath the temple.'
'I've already released them. Brave kids. By now they should have the guerrillas tied up and neatly packaged until the government authorities arrive.'
'Not guerrillas, and hardly dedicated revolutionaries. More like professional artifact looters masquerading as Shining Path terrorists. They pillage precious antiquities to sell through international underground markets.'
'Amaru is only the base of a totem pole,' added Rodgers. 'His clients are the distributors who make the bulk of the profits.'
'They have good taste,' observed Pitt. 'From what I glimpsed, there must be enough prime merchandise stashed here to satisfy half the museums and private collectors in the world.'
Shannon hesitated a moment, then stepped up to Pitt, put her hands around his neck, pulled his head down and kissed him lightly on the lips. 'You saved our lives. Thank you.'
'Not once but twice,' Rodgers added, pumping Pitt's hand while Shannon still clung to him.
'A lot of luck was involved,' Pitt said with uncharacteristic embarrassment. Despite the damp, stringy hair, the lack of makeup, the dirty and torn blouse over the black swimsuit, and the incongruous hiking boots, he still saw
