No, Trevor had positioned Bartlett outside the tunnel to keep an eye out. If Aldo was in this tunnel, he was ahead at the vomitorium. Waiting for her.
Her heart was pounding so hard she felt as if it were reverberating like thunder through the tunnel.
It was going to be all right. Joe would warn her if Aldo were waiting for her at the vomitorium. He'd either shoot Aldo or he'd fire off a warning shot if that weren't possible.
She drew a deep breath and started forward. Right ahead, Trevor had said. Look straight in front of her, move fast, and it would soon be over.
Christ, how she hated this darkness.
Is that how you felt, Cira?
Shit. Shit. Shit.” Trevor ground out the curse like a mantra as he ran through the tunnel, playing the powerful beam of the flashlight on either side of him. She'd been afraid. Of course she'd been afraid. She was only a kid.
Aldo didn't think of her as a kid. He thought of her as a demon. He thought of her as dead meat. Damn him. Damn him.
Why was he damning Aldo? Trevor was the one who'd let her walk down that tunnel alone.
It should be safe. He'd taken every precaution he could.
No, he could have taken another precaution. He could have found some way other than using Jane as bait. He could have forgotten Pietro and remembered that she deserved to live a—
Red.
He skidded to a stop.
The beam of his flashlight had picked up something red on the ground near a boulder up ahead. It was just a 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.”
One more minute.
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.
Joe. Eve.
Don't think of them. It hurt too much.
Trevor. Trevor had been in that tunnel with them. . . .
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.
Falling rock.
The ground shook beneath her feet.
Another explosion!
“That should take care of the main entrance,” he said mockingly. “Did you think I'd let you get back to your fine villa? I always knew there was a chance you'd try to trap me. But I'm too clever for you.”
He was still far behind her. He was showing his contempt by walking slowly, strolling, she realized in a fury.
The passage. She fell to her knees and dove into the tunnel Trevor had taken. Aldo had said he'd set the charge close to the ledge near the vomitorium. Let this passage not be totally collapsed, she prayed. Let her be able to—
She could straighten, stand up. She could run!
“But how are you going to get out of here?” Aldo's voice was mocking as he crawled after her. “The other end has to be blocked by stone . . . and bodies. Are you going to crawl over them?”
“And how are you going to get out?” she
called back to him. “That explosion closed your way out too. Trevor said it was like a maze down here. You'll get lost and die.”
“There are other ways out. I won't get lost. I know everything about these tunnels I need to know.”
“You lie. It would have taken you weeks to learn them.”
“Is that what Trevor told you?” He was closer behind her. Moving faster. “Wrong. You'll see why in—”
She stumbled over something . . . soft.
A body!
Blood. Throat cut.
The intake of her breath was almost a sob.
“Oh, you found him,” Aldo said. “Actually, I thought I'd have to point him out to you. I hid him behind that boulder. Someone must have moved him. Perhaps I'd better get on with this a little more quickly.”
She forced herself to move beyond that grisly body. “Who is it?”
“Quinn, of course.”
She forced herself to think, remember. Relief soared through her. “It's not Joe. Joe is thinner, tougher looking. So is Trevor.”
Aldo chuckled. “You're right. Just a little joke.”
“Sadistic bastard.”
“I'm entitled to my enjoyment of the situation. I've waited a long time for this.”
“Who is it?”
“Sontag. I looked up the real estate records in my computer and found the deed to the villa under Sontag's name. If Sontag owned the villa, then he must have known about the tunnels. My father told me he was a crook and there's no question he'd use those tunnels for his own ends. But when I realized you were going to use the vomitorium for that foul photo shoot I knew what a monumental task it would be to familiarize myself with this tunnel. I knew I had to go to the source.
He sounded closer. Find a weapon, any weapon.
He started again. “I paid him a visit and persuaded him to come down here with me and stroll around a bit. He was very cooperative. He even pointed out the secret passage and ledge he'd shown Trevor. After I got copies of the maps from him, I decided that he'd outlived his usefulness.”
“So you killed him.”
“I couldn't risk him running to Trevor. He had Sontag very intimidated.”
Another turn in the tunnel. She must be getting close to the end. She might run into a blockage at any moment. “You would have killed him anyway.”
“That's true. I admit it was a release. I've been very frustrated lately. Now that's at an end.”
“Even if you kill me, the coffin is buried under all that rubble. You won't be able to destroy that skeleton.”
“I'm in no hurry. It will take time for anyone to get past those rocks blocking the entrance. I'll have my chance. I hear you breathing. Hard. Very hard. You told me you were strong. How strong are you now, Cira?”
“Strong enough.” The rock was looser here. Shards were lying on the ground. She must be coming closer to the site of the explosion.
She'd be trapped. Find a weapon.
Get out of his sight.
She put on speed and dashed around the next turn. Her gaze searched wildly.
There!
She picked up an eight-inch shard and thrust it in the waistband of her trousers. Was it sharp enough?
Run.
Hot. Smoky.
Night without air.
“You're almost at the end,” Aldo said. “I have my knife in my hand. It's a surgeon's knife. Beautiful. Sharp. Efficient. One last face to remove. Do you know how much it hurts?”
“It won't be the last. You talk as if you have a mission but you're only a murderer. You like it too much.”
“It's true, it's my pleasure as well as duty to remove your face from the universe.”
“You see? But killing me won't do you any good. The skeleton in that coffin isn't Cira. Her name is Giulia.”
Silence. “You lie.”
“It was all a con.”
“Bitch,” he snarled. “You're lying. It's my time. My destiny.”
“You're a loser. Trevor got her skeleton from a museum in Naples. You can check it yourself.”
The walls were closing in on her.
No air.
Antonio . . .
The rubble was getting heavier, deeper here.
He was right behind her.
Jesus, she could see a wall of rock ahead!
Don't wait until she came to the blockage. Give herself time to maneuver.
“You're a fool. It was so easy to deceive you. You haven't won any—” She cried out as she stumbled and fell to the ground.
She heard his grunt of triumph. “Who's the fool?” His hand grasped her shoulder and jerked her over. “Even if I believed you, I'm still too—”
She drove the rock shard up into his chest with all her strength.
He screamed!
She rolled sideways and struggled to push him away from her. Lord, he was heavy, a deadweight.
But he wasn't dead. He was moving, the knife in his hand gleaming in the dim light of the flashlight she'd dropped on the ground.
She scooted away, searching wildly for another shard, anything she could use as a weapon.
“I won't die,” he whispered. “I can't die. It's not . . . meant. You're the one who has to die.”
“The hell I will.”
That rock—it was lying within reach. She crawled toward it.
Pain.
His knife had entered her calf.
Ignore it.
Her hand closed on the rock and she rolled over.
Hit him. Hit him. Hit him.
But he was close, almost on top of her again. The first blow she aimed at his forehead barely touched him.
His knife was raised.
She struck his arm with the rock. Weak blow. It deflected the thrust but he still held the weapon. Try again.
“You're fading,” he muttered. “Where's your power now?” He raised the knife again. “Burn in hell, Cira. I'm the one who has the—”
A shot.
He jerked as the bullet struck him between the eyes. He fell on top of her.
Bullet? she wondered dazedly. She could feel the cold metal of Aldo's knife pressed against her breast. She half expected him to move, attack her again.
Then he was gone, pulled roughly off her body, and thrown aside. “Are you hurt?”
Trevor. It was Trevor, she realized numbly.
“Answer me. Are you hurt?” His shirt was torn half off his body. His face was covered with dirt.
“You're alive.”
“I won't be for long, if you're not all right. Quinn will strangle me. What hurts? Answer me.”
She tried to think. “Shoulder. The rocks.”
He shone the light on her shoulder. “Bruising. It doesn't look like anything is broken. Anywhere else?”
“Right leg. Aldo . . .” She shook her head to clear it. “Where did you come from?”
“I burrowed my way through that cave-in up ahead. I was working my way through it when I heard your voice.” He was tearing her khaki trousers. “It nearly drove me nuts. I could hear you, but I couldn't get to you. I didn't think I'd be in time.” He examined the wound. “He missed the artery. Not too much bleeding. It will need stitches.” He made a pressure bandage with his shirt. “But maybe I'm safe from Eve's wrath.”
“Eve?” She forgot to breathe. “Eve's alive?”
He nodded. “We couldn't get to her but she said she wasn't hurt.”
“Joe?”
“Minor cuts, I think. I didn't take time to check.”
“Why not?”
“The vomitorium entrance was blocked by the explosion. I had to try to go the long way round to get to you. Joe was digging Eve out of the rubble so I told him I'd go for you.”
“Aldo said— You shouldn't be alive. None of you should be alive. Aldo said that he set the explosives close to the ledge by the vomitorium.”
“He did, but we weren't there when they went off. I got to Eve and Joe in time to get them out of the immediate area. Dammit, I checked that ledge e
arlier this evening and so did Joe. He must have stuffed some plastique in a crevice and camouflaged it. It's so dark back there that without instruments we—”
“I don't care about the plastique. Then Eve and Joe got out safely?”
“Not exactly.” He finished the bandage and sat back on his heels. “We got out of ground zero, but not in time to avoid the blast. Eve was ahead of us and got caught in a rock slide.”
“Then she must be hurt. We have to get to her.”
“You're not going anywhere. Joe is digging her out.”
“We have to go and help.”
“She's okay. I'm going to get to the main tunnel and get men and—”
“Aldo blew the Via Spagnola entrance, too.”
“Bartlett is probably trying to get a rescue team in operation. If he can't get through the blockage, I'll have to make my way through that maze of tunnels to find the way out.”
“That's what Aldo was planning. He said he knew the way. Sontag told him.” She shuddered. “Sontag's dead. His throat . . .”
“I know. I saw his body and it scared the hell out of me. I knew if Aldo had gotten to Sontag that he would have told him everything he knew. And since I found Sontag in this passage of the tunnel, Joe and Eve were clear targets. I didn't know what he had in mind, but I knew I had to pull them out quick.” He got to his feet. “Stay here and try not to move. You don't want to start that bleeding again.” He was heading back down the tunnel. “I'll get help to you as soon as I can.”
His voice faded as he went around the turn of the tunnel.
Stay here?
She looked at Aldo's body only a few feet away and felt a shiver of revulsion.
Eve and Joe.
Her flashlight suddenly went out and she was in darkness.
That settled it.
She started to cautiously crawl toward the blockage Trevor had broken through. If he'd been able to wriggle through that cave-in to get to her, then she could get to Eve and Joe.
She heard Joe tossing rocks aside and talking to Eve before she'd gone fifty yards past the blockage.
She called, “Joe, my flashlight's out. Keep talking.”
He was silent. “Jane? Thank God.”
“Trevor said Eve was trapped but okay. Is she still—”
“Fine.” It was Eve's voice. “Are you hurt?”
“Not much.” Relief flooded through Jane. Eve sounded as fine as she claimed.
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