trace, a glimpse, and he'd almost missed it.
Blood?
He lifted the light and warily scanned the darkness ahead.
Nothing.
He moved slowly toward the boulder. As he reached it he saw the red substance was trickling from behind the rock. He bent and touched his fingers to it.
Yes, blood.
He drew his gun from his jacket and inched closer. He was almost on top of the boulder before he saw the huddled body of the man behind it.
Blood everywhere. Blood on his face. Blood on his shirt. His throat was cut from ear to ear.
Quinn?
Dear God, it looked like a scene from a horror movie, Jane thought.
She stared in morbid fascination at the coffin resting on the red velvet cloth and then up to the opening where Joe was waiting with his rifle.
No, don't look up there. She couldn't be sure that Aldo wasn't watching her. She tore her gaze away and looked back at the coffin.
Why was Aldo letting her stand here? Why didn't he make his move?
Throw the dice. Make it strong. Make it bold. She took a step forward out of the shadows. “Here I am, Aldo.” Her tone was challenging. At least, she hoped it was. “Are you there? Did you screw up your courage enough to meet me?”
No answer.
“I can feel your eyes on me. Coward.” She took another step forward. “It's just as I thought. You're afraid of me. Your father was afraid, too. But he still loved me. More than anything. Much more than you. You didn't matter at all to him.”
No answer.
“Not that I blame him. He needed a son he could be proud of, not a stupid coward like you.” She started for the coffin. “Well, if you're not going to show yourself I'll just take a look at the reconstruction and make sure it's okay after the trip down that ladder. Eve did a magnificent—”
“Get away from the coffin. She's mine now. And soon she won't exist.”
She whirled toward the tunnel to her right from where the voice had come. She could see nothing but darkness. “Aldo?”
“Get away from the coffin.”
“Why should I?” She moistened her lips. “Come out from under your rock and stop me.”
He laughed. “Under my rock? That's very apropos. As it happens, I deposited a troublesome bundle under a rock very recently. Well, he was partially under, mostly behind. I had to take what I could get. It's difficult to find large loose boulders in these tunnels. The thieves who dug them were very efficient in clearing them.”
She stiffened. “He?”
“It wasn't your Eve. Not yet. She'll have to take her turn. But that turn will come very shortly. Let's see, only a few minutes . . .”
It could be a bluff. “I don't believe you.”
“Too bad. It will come as such an unpleasant shock. . . .”
Christ.
Trevor tore through the tunnel toward the ledge.
He'd promised her Eve would be safe.
Blood.
Throat slit from ear to ear.
Run faster.
Next turn.
Faster.
NINETEEN
One more minute,” Aldo said. “I hope you said your good-byes to her.”
Fear surged through her. He had to be bluffing, but the threat was terrifying her. She had to force him to come into the light. She stepped toward the coffin.
“Don't move.”
She took another step.
“Don't take another step. I don't have to wait. I can make it happen now.”
What could Aldo do that—?
And then the realization hit home.
Oh, God.
“Eve! Joe!” she screamed. “Get out of—”
The earth bellowed and shook as the tunnel exploded around her!
She fell to the ground.
Flying rocks.
Blood on her cheek.
Darkness.
The explosion had shaken three of the torches from the wall.
Dear God, and the wall and boulder behind which Joe and Eve were hidden were no longer there. It was a pile of rubble and stone.
Get up.
He'd be coming.
He was already coming. She saw his shadow move in the opening of the offshoot tunnel where he was standing.
The guns.
One underneath the cloth. One in the coffin.
Dear God. Both the coffin and the cloth were buried under rocks and rubble. She'd never be able to get to either gun in time.
She heard his footsteps. “We're alone now, Cira. I set the dynamite too close to the opening for them to survive.”
She was on her feet and running back toward the main tunnel.
Pain.
In her cheek. The back of her neck. Her shoulder.
Forget it. Get to the main tunnel. Get to the ladder to the villa.
Don't think of them. It hurt too much.
Death.
Stop crying. Run faster. Get out of here so that you can kill the bastard.
“Not so brave now.” Aldo's voice was mocking. “Run, little rabbit.”
She should be near the passage where Trevor had crawled into the auxiliary tunnel and left her. The main tunnel leading to the villa was four turns beyond it.
Yes, there was the opening. Go faster. Only a little more distance and she'd be past it and—
Rumbling.
