blood.'
'My blood isn't cold right now.'
'Then it must be our past history together. You haven't won,' Danner said softly. 'It's only a matter of time until I get my hands on those dogs. I just have to be a little more patient. But I'm very angry with you, Marrok. I'm going to have to punish you.'
'Then it will have to be from hell.'
'No, I'm not that patient. Do you know, at times I really did wish you were my own son? I was proud of you.'
'Liar.'
'No, it's true. At first, I only meant to use you, but I found you were almost as strong as I was.' He shook his head. 'But then I realized that you had streaks of weakness. Paco was one of them.' His gaze shifted to Devon. 'That bitch is another.'
'Shut up about her, Danner.'
'You see, she must mean something to you. What a sense of power that gives me. I took your Paco away from you. Shall I take her away, too?'
'Your minute is up.' He aimed the gun.
'You're angry. You don't want her to die. Remind me to tell you how that old Indian howled when we-' He suddenly rolled toward Marrok away from the gun on the ground, reaching into his pocket and drawing out a Beretta. He shot upward, and the bullet skimmed Marrok's side even as he dodged. He staggered, then recovered.
But Danner was on his feet and moving in and out of the rocks, keeping off the path. Marrok was after him, gaining on him.
Then he saw the gleam of the moonlight on the barrel of Danner's gun as he lifted it.
Marrok instinctively dove to the ground and got off a quick shot as he rolled behind a boulder.
But Danner's bullet wasn't aimed at him.
'Devon!' Bridget's voice.
Oh, God. Marrok lifted his head and stared in agony at Devon and Bridget.
It was like a slow-motion montage in a horror film.
Bridget diving between Devon and Danner's bullet.
Bridget's back arching as the bullet struck her.
'Bridget!' Devon fell to her knees beside the other woman. 'Dear God, her chest…' Devon was dragging Bridget behind a boulder. 'I've got her, Marrok. I'll take care of her. Get that son of a bitch.'
Marrok was already on his feet and darting after Danner.
SHE HAD TO STOP THE bleeding, Devon thought desperately.
The bullet that had struck Bridget had entered her chest and had to be lodged somewhere near her lungs or heart.
Blood. So much blood.
Devon took off her shirt, tore it into strips, and tried to find a place for a pressure point near the wound.
'Devon…' Bridget's eyes were open. 'I don't want to die.'
'You're not going to die,' Devon said shakily. 'I'm a great vet. I can handle this wound until we can get you help. But, dammit, you shouldn't have pushed in front of me.'
'It was the only way,' she whispered. 'I had to… change it. You would have died. I knew it. But I have… a chance.'
'A good chance. Now stop talking.'
'Marrok… tell him he owes me. Tell him I want him to stay with me.'
'We'll all stay with you.'
'Tell Marrok…' Her eyes closed. 'It was the only way…'
Devon froze. Was she dead? No, she was still breathing. She was only unconscious.
She reached for her cell phone. First, call 911 and ask them to send help for Bridget. Then call Walt and get him to bring down the dogs and stay with her.
Then go after Marrok and hope to hell she didn't find him dead.
'YOU'RE FALLING BEHIND, MARROK.' Danner was near the top of the canyon. 'Come and get me.'
'You've reached the end of the path,' Marrok said. 'And the plateau is two hundred feet below. Where do you think you're going to go from here?'
'Down the way I came,' Danner said. 'After I kill you, of course.'
'You're not going to kill me. This is the end for you, Danner.' Marrok moved off the path and into the shadow of the boulders. The moonlight was too bright, and he was a clear target on the path. So was Danner. But he didn't want to shoot the bastard. That would be too easy. He wanted his hands on him, dammit. He wanted to bruise and tear him apart as Danner had killed Paco.
Why had he thought of Paco's words from so long ago? Because the moon was bright, and he felt as savage as that boy he had been.
'I don't see you, Marrok. Are you trying to sneak behind and ambush me again?'
'I'd have to have wings,' Marrok said. 'You've run yourself into a blind alley. All I have to do is come and gather you up.'
'No, you'll have to wait for your chance. I know how you hate to wait. On the other hand, as I told you, I'm very patient. You'll make a mistake, and I'll take you out.'
'You're wrong. I can wait.'
Danner chuckled. 'But you're thinking about Paco and the Brady woman I killed.'
'You didn't kill Devon. You shot Bridget Reardon.'
'Did I? What a pity. I'll have to take your word for it. I couldn't stay around to make sure. But no real harm done. There's always tomorrow. Bridget Reardon was an annoyance to me, too.'
Marrok could tell Danner had reached the top of the path. He stopped, his gaze searching the area around the boulders at the top. No, Danner must be hiding on the far side of that bank of boulders near the edge of the cliff. Marrok would have a hell of a hard time working his way around so that he could get a clear shot. Maybe if he swung off the cliff below and climbed up that way…
'Give me the dogs, Marrok,' Danner coaxed. 'It's not too late. I'll share with you. It's what I always wanted to do. Paco just got in the way. He was such a disappointment. Destroying the panacea, then only leaving the dogs for me to use. For a while I wasn't even sure he'd tell me about the dogs. We had to beat him for hours to get him to tell us where he'd hidden the formula.'
'Shut up, Danner.'
'And then he finally broke down and told us he'd destroyed the formula, and the only thing left of the panacea was in the dogs. It was too weird. Naturally, we had to be sure. We couldn't stop the questioning.'
'No, you wouldn't stop.'
'It's hurting you, isn't it?'
'It will stop when I kill you. You're on the rocks behind the boulder, aren't you?'
'How did you know that?'
'I have very good hearing. The sound of your voice is different because you're by the cliff edge. And I used to come up there all the time. Do you see all the crevasses between the rocks?'
'Yes.'
'Do you hear anything?'
'What are you getting at?'
'A family of rattlesnakes used to live there. The rocks were hot and slick, and they'd lie basking in the sun all afternoon. One time I saw five there.'
Silence. 'You're lying.'
'Why would I try to frighten you?'
'To make me come around the boulder so that you can pick me off.'
