Stalemate

by Iris Johansen

  “But he finally did?”

  “After telling me that if I didn’t leave Colombia by the end of the week, I’d go home in a casket.”

  “But he didn’t give you the reconstruction?”

  “On the contrary, he threw it at me.”

  “You don’t have it with you.”

  “I hid it on the way back. I couldn’t chance Montalvo catching me and taking it away. I’ll pick it up on the way to meet Diaz.” She paused. “I’m going to need your help there too. Phone Venable and tell him to have one of his men pick me up here at ten tonight and drive me to the hill outside of Diaz’s village. I’ll make my own way from there.”

  “He’s already consented to giving you the helicopter escort. He might not want to—”

  “Just ask him.”

  “What about Montalvo? He’s no dummy. Won’t he know you’re up to something?”

  “I’ll be visible during the early evening and he won’t expect me to stick around later.” She added grimly, “He knows I’m mad as hell with him and our relationship has been very cool.” She looked up at the sky and started to trot. “It’s beginning to turn light. We have to get back to the compound….”

  11:55 P.M.

  Nekmon phoned Diaz at the church a few minutes before midnight. “She’s coming. She’s down from the hill and just came out of the forest.”

  “Alone?”

  “Yes, absolutely.” Nekmon paused. “She’s not carrying anything.”

  “She said she wouldn’t bring it to the church. She’d just better have it close by.” He turned to Joe Quinn. “She’s coming to rescue you. Isn’t that sweet? What devotion. I do love to see a woman protect her man. Too bad she believes she’s trading you in for a new model.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “I have a few doubts myself but since I have little faith in the human race, I think it likely she’s as faithless as most women. Montalvo had the reputation for being very good with the ladies when he was in the rebel army. Sex is sex.”

  “Shut up, Diaz.”

  “Ugly.” He backhanded him across the face. “Will you never learn? I really should take you back to the castle instead of proceeding with the current plan. I didn’t get my fill of you.”

  Joe’s eyes were blazing in his bleeding face. “Do it. Let’s go.”

  “So that I won’t get my chance at Eve Duncan? She really doesn’t deserve you. How can I convince you of that?”

  “You can’t.”

  “Nevertheless, I’ll try. Disillusionment can be a torture in itself, I’ve discovered. Women are instinctively self-serving, Quinn. They try to mask it by preaching fairness and goodness but it’s always to make their own position in life more secure. Christian behavior dictates that they be treated with kindness and tolerance. It doesn’t matter how they interfere with a man’s drive to better himself. It’s always best to use them and then walk away. You’ll know better next time.”

  Joe didn’t answer.

  “Providing you go on living after tonight.” Diaz moved over to the window. He could see the woman walking swiftly through the cemetery. She should be here in a few minutes.

  She was passing his mother’s tomb now. Do you see her, Mother? She’s another one like you. So sure she’s right. Despising me for being evil and yet she excuses her own sins. It’s going to be a pleasure killing her. Just as it was a pleasure killing you.

  Eve stood before the church door, hesitating.

  “Diaz.”

  “Come in,” he called. “We’re waiting for you.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said. “Come out into the open and bring Joe with you.”

  “You don’t trust me?” he asked mockingly. “I don’t know why. Haven’t I done everything you’ve asked?”

  “You’re entirely too fond of torture. What’s to stop you from grabbing me as soon as I walk through those doors and trying to make me tell you where I placed the skull?”

  “An excellent idea.”

  “Come out here.”

  “Did it occur to you that I could have had a sniper behind every tombstone in the cemetery to pick you off?”

  “As you must know, Venable’s helicopter pilot did a sweep before I left the forest.” She held up a small radio receiver. “He said that there were possibly two men in the forest but none in the cemetery.”

  He chuckled. “There are three in the forest. And any one of them could have killed you before you reached here.”

  “But that wouldn’t have served you. What about the skull?”

  “Yes, what about the skull? Where is it?”

  “Bring Joe out and we’ll talk about it.”

  He turned and said over his shoulder, “Come along, Quinn. The lady has a desire to see your handsome face.”

  A moment later he appeared in the doorway. “Here we are. Now tell me where the skull is.”

  He looked no different from the newspaper photo she had seen of him. A little heavier, a little older, perhaps. “I’m not going to—” She inhaled sharply as she saw Joe with hands bound behind his back, behind Diaz. “My God. What did you do to him?”

  “Nothing much. I had no time,” Diaz said. “He was unconscious at first and then I had to be careful to make sure I had something to trade you.”

  The bruises on Joe’s swollen face made him almost unrecognizable. “It must have been a real thrill beating up on an unarmed man.”

  “You shouldn’t have interfered, Eve,” Joe said. “Why the hell did you?”

  “If you don’t know the answer to that, then there’s no use talking to you.” She turned to Diaz. “The helicopter is going to land in four minutes. When Joe’s on board, I’ll tell you where to find the skull.”

  “Not good enough. I want it in my hands before I release you.”

  She had thought that was the way it was going to play out. “I’ll stay behind.”

  “No!” Joe took a step forward. “Hell, no.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not sacrificing my life for you,” she said. “He’s not going to kill me. If he did, Armandariz would hear about it and begin to suspect that what Montalvo said was really true.”

  “No!” Joe said.

  “This is no longer up to you, Joe.” She turned back to Diaz. “I mean it, no skull until you get Joe on that helicopter.”

  “You’re willing to trade your life for his?”

  “You heard what I told Joe. You’re not stupid enough to kill me and risk what you’ve been bargaining for.” She looked up at the sky. “I hear the helicopter. He should be landing soon.” Her glance shifted to Diaz. “Well?”

  He shrugged. “I’ll let Quinn go as long as I have you. If you try to cheat me, I won’t hesitate to cut your throat.”

  “I won’t go.” Joe’s eyes were blazing. “What do you think I am, Eve? When did you decide I was namby-pamby enough to let you run over me? There’s no way that—” He broke off as Diaz’s fist crashed into his stomach with brutal force.

  His knees buckled and he would have fallen to the ground if Eve hadn’t sprung forward and caught him. She was brought down to the ground with him by the heavy weight of his body. She glared at Diaz. “You bastard.”

  “I was tired of arguments. I’d already made my decision.”

  Her arms tightened protectively around him. The blow had knocked the breath from his body and he was struggling for air. “He’s wounded and helpless. Cut him loose.”

  “When he’s tucked into the helicopter. He’s not that helpless. Some men never give up. He killed three of my men before they took him.” Diaz raised his eyes to the sky to watch the blue-white light of the helicopter spear the ground. “Ah, here it comes.”

  The wind from the rotors was blowing her hair across her face as the helicopter descended. Just a few minutes more and it would be down and Joe would be safe.

  Hurry. Please, hurry.

  Joe was struggling, trying to sit up and get away from her. She could feel the anger and outrage in ev
ery muscle of his body. Who could blame him? She had damaged his independence and his pride and that was unbearable for him. “I had to do it,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, Joe.”

  “So am I.” He pronounced every word with precision. “Let me go.”

  She slowly released him. “It’s going to be okay, Joe.” She wasn’t sure if she was lying. Even if they got out of this alive, she couldn’t be sure that anything would be okay for them again. She got to her feet. “Try to believe me.” The helicopter had landed and the cockpit door was opening. Two men got out of the aircraft and came toward them.

  Diaz pointed his gun at the men.

  She stepped between them and jerked her head at Joe. “Untie him and then get him out of here.”

  “Wait until he’s in the helicopter to cut him loose,” Diaz told them. “She’s trying to save his dignity but it will be much easier for you.”

  The pilot looked at her. “Ma’am?”

  She turned away. “Just get him out.” She didn’t want to see him struggle. “Don’t hurt him.”

  She heard Joe’s muttered curse and then the closing of the door of the helicopter. A moment later she heard the whine of the rotors and glanced back to see the aircraft take off.

  He was gone. He’d be safe. Her relief was mixed with sadness. Jesus, she’d hated to do it this way.

  “The skull,” Diaz prompted.

  She tore her eyes from the helicopter. Get down to business. “Very well.” She turned on her heel and strode back through the cemetery in the direction from which she’d come. “Follow me.”

  “I wouldn’t think of doing anything else. But tell me where we’re going.”

  “Not far.”

  “Where?”

  “We’re almost there.” She glanced at the tomb they were passing, where Diaz’s mother was interred. “It’s really amazing that you were born to a woman, Diaz. I’d think that you’d be hatched by some vermin under a rock. It didn’t surprise me that you tried to use a snake to kill me since you’re so alike.”

  “Are you trying to make me angry? Why?”

  “Because I’m angry. I don’t like what you did to Joe. What you made me do to him.”

  “Too bad. Where’s the skull?”

  “Here.” She stopped just beyond the tomb. “But you’ll have to dig for it.”

  “Dig?” His eyes narrowed on her face and then went to the grave beside which she was standing. “The Armandariz woman’s grave?”

  “I thought it fitting that I return her skull to her resting place.”

  “You’re lying. How would you do that? I’ve had you watched since you reached the hill. You had no time to come here and plant the skull.”

  “And you probably had the church watched. If I’d done it myself, it would have been suicidal and I’ve already told you I’ve no desire to do that.”

  “If you didn’t do it, who did?”

  “Sean Galen. I told him where I’d hidden the skull in the jungle outside the compound and he went to get it. He slipped in under your nose and buried the skull.”

  “Galen.” He frowned. “He’s been causing me a good deal of disturbance. I believe I’ll have to deal very harshly with him.” He looked around the cemetery warily. “And where did Galen go?”

  “Are you afraid he’s going to pop out from behind one of those tombstones? You know he’s not here. Your men must have surveillance on the entire area.”

  “Yes.” He looked back at her. “But I never trust the predictability of a woman. They don’t think rationally.”

  “Do you want the skull?” She picked up a shovel leaning against the tomb. “Dig.”

  He stared at her for a moment and then leveled the gun at her head. “I think not. I don’t do hard labor. Suppose you do it for me?”

  Disappointment and fear surged through her. She’d hoped to distract him. There was no help for it.

  She started to dig.

  “The helicopter should be approaching the tower within the next ten minutes, Perez,” Nekmon said into the phone. “Bring it down. Blow it out of the sky.”

  He hung up the phone and brought the binoculars up to his eyes again. What the hell was happening down there? The woman was digging. Was Diaz making her dig her own grave? It was possible. He’d seen him do it before to those missionaries who’d made him so angry preaching against him to the farmers.

  Yes, that must be it. He remembered him threatening to bury her in the same grave with Montalvo’s wife and he was much angrier with her than he had been with the missionaries. There had been no doubt in Nekmon’s mind that Diaz would kill Eve Duncan and he had been bewildered when she had not been put on the helicopter with Quinn.

  Oh, well, it was only a delay and none of his business. Nekmon had done his part and couldn’t be blamed. Let Diaz toy with the woman to his heart’s content.

  In a few minutes Quinn and the CIA agents would be incinerated by the missile. The woman would be shot and disposed of and life could get back to normal. All this uproar since she’d arrived on the scene had been very annoying.

  She’d stopped digging and was glaring at Diaz. She was saying something to him.

  If her words were as provocative as her demeanor, she might not live to finish digging that grave.

  16

  The Tower

  12:32 A.M.

  Perez could hear the faint sound of the helicopter in the distance. It was still too far away but it would be on him before he knew it.

  He steadied the missile launcher on the stone sill of the window. He would probably only get one shot and it had better be a good one. Diaz did not excuse failure.

  He would not fail. He was the very best, Perez thought. Diaz would not have chosen him to take down the helicopter if he hadn’t known how good he was.

  The helicopter was closer. He could see it now, gleaming in the moonlight.

  Come a little nearer, little bird. I’m going to pluck your feathers….

  12:40 A.M.

  “If you want me to keep on digging keep your mouth shut,” Eve said. “I’m tired of that poisonous slime you’re spitting out.”

  Diaz’s lips tightened. “Have you noticed I have a gun pointed at your head? I’ll say anything I like to you.”

  “You don’t want me dead. Armandariz would know that—”

  “You think you’re safe because of that bullshit? I can get around it. Though it would have been better if you’d boarded that helicopter with Quinn. Keep digging.”

  She tensed and then sank her shovel into the earth again. “What do you mean?”

  “Presently. When you hand me the skull. If it’s truly buried here, as you told me. I’m beginning to doubt it.”

  “It’s here.” She shoveled more quickly. “A few more inches…There!”

  The dull gleam of the brown leather of the case was revealed as she scraped the dirt from around it. She picked up the case and held it out to him. “Now tell me what you meant when you said it would have been better if I’d gotten on the helicopter.”

  “Open it.”

  She unsnapped the case and lifted the lid.

  He shone the flashlight down at the reconstruction. He gave a low whistle. “Yes, that’s the bitch. You did a good job.”

  “What did you mean?” she repeated.

  “It’s true I don’t want to disrupt my very tentative relationship with the CIA. To kill an agent would bring pressure to bear to wipe me out.” He reached out and took the case. “But if Montalvo does it, then everyone goes after him. The helicopter should be blown out of the air in his territory in about three minutes.”

  “No!”

  “Yes. I don’t think we can hear it but we may be able to see the sky light up to the west. I believe we’ll wait and let you see it before I kill you.”

  She climbed out of the grave. “You son of a bitch.”

  “Of course, we’ll have to transport your body to the wreckage immediately so that you’ll be found with Quinn’s remains. A little gasoline
bonfire and your body should be similar to the other corpses.”

  “They’ll find the bullet wound when they do the autopsy. The burns wouldn’t mask it.”

  He snapped his fingers. “That’s right. What a fine scientific mind you have. I might have made a mistake. Let’s see, then I’ll have to break your neck, won’t I?”

  “If you can catch me, bastard.” She wheeled and tore down the path in the direction of the church.

  She heard him laugh behind her. “Run. You can’t get away. Nekmon has been watching us from the hill. He knows that I have what I need and he’ll be calling the castle to have my men come down to scoop you up. I may have them break a few more bodily parts other than your neck.”

  She glanced at her watch as she threw open the church door. Three minutes. God, she’d cut it close. “Sure, have them come after me,” she called back to him. “You’re too much of a coward to do it yourself. You beat up men who can’t defend themselves. You crucify boys who are better men than you’ll ever be. You think of yourself as a king of all you survey, but you’d be nothing without those goons.” She glanced over her shoulder. That had gotten him. He was stalking after her.

  Her gaze shifted to the castle. Activity. The gates were opening to let Diaz’s men stream out.

  And Diaz had almost reached the church.

  The sky to the west lit up.

  The helicopter!

  “No!”

  The Compound

  12:44 A.M.

  It was time. It was going to happen.

  Miguel tensed beneath the sheet. Sweet Mary, he had waited too long for this. He was actually trembling like a baby.

  Soldono stuck his head in the door. “How are you doing, Miguel? Dr. Diego said you couldn’t sleep and wanted some company. You’re lucky I’m a night owl.”

  Miguel nodded. “So is the Colonel. But I’m still being terribly neglected. He’s in the library, busy trying to arrange to send me away from here. And Eve didn’t even pay me a courtesy visit today.”

  “I believe she’s busy too.” Soldono sat down in the bedside chair. “We seem to be the only ones with a little leisure time.” He smiled. “Would you like a midnight snack? I’ll send for a tray.”