The Tomb (Repairman Jack)

Jack smiled ruefully. 'Sort of like the mice deciding to bell the cat, isn't it?'

'No. You can do it. You are his equal...in more ways than you know.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Why didn't you shoot Kusum when you had the chance?”

'Worried about you I guess, and...I don't know...couldn't pull the trigger.' Jack had wondered about the answer to that question, too.

Kolabati came close and leaned against his chest. 'That's because Kusum's like you and you're like him.'

Resentment flared like a torch. 'That's crazy!'

'Not really,' she said, her smile seductive. 'You're carved from the same stone. Kusum is you—gone mad.'

Jack didn't want to hear that. The idea repulsed him...frightened him. He changed the subject.

'If he comes tonight, will he be alone or will he bring some rakoshi?'

'It depends,' she said, moving closer. 'If he wants to take me with him, he'll have to come in person, because a rakosh will never find me. If he wants only to even the score with you for stealing me away from under his nose, he'll send the Mother rakosh.'

Jack swallowed, his throat going dry at the memory of her.

'Swell.'

She kissed him 'But that won't be for a while. I'm going to shower. Why don't you come in with me? We both need one.'

'You go ahead,' he said, gently releasing himself from her. He did not meet her gaze. 'Someone has to stay on guard. I'll shower after you.'

She studied him a moment with her dark eyes, then turned and walked toward the bathroom. Jack watched until the door closed behind her, then let out a long sigh. He felt no desire for her tonight. Was it because of Sunday night with Gia? It had been different when Gia was rejecting him. But now...

He was going to have to cool it with Kolabati. No more rolls in her Kama Sutra hay. But he had to tread softly here. He had enough trouble without adding the wrath of a scorned Indian woman.

He went to the secretary and removed the silenced Glock with the pre-frag hollowpoints; he also took out a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson .38 Chief Special and loaded it. Then he sat down to wait for Kolabati.

18

Kolabati blotted herself dry, wrapped the towel around her, and came out into the hall. She found Jack sitting on the bed—just where she wanted him. Desire surged at the sight of him.

She needed a man right now, someone to lie beside her, to help her lose herself in sensation and wash away all thought. And of all the men she knew, she needed Jack the most. He’d pulled her from Kusum's clutches, something no man she’d ever known could have done. She wanted Jack very much right now.

She dropped the towel and fell onto the bed beside him.

'Come,' she said, caressing his inner thigh. 'Lie down with me. We'll find a way to forget what we've been through tonight.'

'We can't forget,' he said, pulling away. 'Not if he's coming after us.'

'We have time, I'm sure.' She wanted him so. 'Come.'

Jack held his hand out to her. She thought it was an invitation to pull him down and she reached up. But his hand was not empty.

'Take it,' he said, placing something cold and heavy in her palm.

'A gun?' The sight of it jolted her. She’d never held one before...so heavy. The dark blue of its finish glinted in the subdued light of the bedroom. 'What for? This won't stop a rakosh.”

'Maybe not. I've yet to be convinced of that. But I'm not giving it to you for protection against rakoshi.'

Kolabati pulled her eyes away from the weapon in her hand to look at him.

'Then what...?' His grim expression provided a chilling answer to her question. 'Oh, Jack. I don't know if I could.'

'You don't have to worry about it now. It may never come to that. On the other hand it may come down to a choice between being dragged off to that ship again or shooting your brother. It's a decision you'll have to make at the time.'

She looked back at the gun, hating it and yet fascinated by it—much the same as she’d felt when Kusum had given her that first look into the ship's hold last night.

'But I've never...'

'It's double-action: You've got to cock it before you can fire.' He showed her how. 'You've got five shots.'

He began to undress and Kolabati put the gun aside as she watched him, thinking he was about to join her on the bed. Instead he went to the bureau. When he turned to face her again he had fresh underwear in one hand and in the other a long-barreled pistol that dwarfed hers.

'I'm taking a shower,' he said. 'Stay alert and use that'—he gestured to her pistol on the nightstand—'if you have to. Don't start thinking of ways to get your brother's necklace. Shoot first, then worry about the necklace.'

He stepped out into the hall and soon she heard the shower running.