His treasure was now within reach.
Licking his lips, he stepped over the water-bottle booby trap and eased down the railroad ties toward the backpack hanging on the ore car.
Like a spider Nathan waited, focusing on the opening below. The sudden blast of light startled him. From his elevated vantage point inside the short passage, he saw the rear half of the ore car flash for a split second, then nothing. Franco had activated his IR to look down this side of the passage. Since there wasn’t enough light coming from the light sticks on the opposite side to create a shadow, Nathan was 100 percent dependent on sound. He wanted to close his eyes, but he needed to know if Franco used his IR a second time. The tiny amount of light spilling in here from the two light sticks on the right-hand side of the crosscut wouldn’t allow Raven to see more than dark nebulous shapes in here.
When the plastic water bottle remained silent, Nathan hoped Raven had discovered it.
He waited through another minute of absolute silence, knowing Raven might be investigating the lighted side. Nathan thought he’d found the right balance between making the water-bottle trip wire too obvious versus too hard to find. He didn’t want Raven to trigger it; he wanted Raven to think he’d defeated it.
Completely blind, Nathan focused solely on sound and hoped his mind could overrule his aching body.
Moving deeper into the drift toward the ore car, Franco experienced a growing sense of calm. He knew he was backlit and vulnerable, but no bullets flew his way. Surely if the man he’d chased in here were looking down this passage from beyond the ore car, he would’ve fired by now.
In five more steps, he’d be within reach of the backpack and wished he had x-ray vision. He’d be pissed if the damned thing was empty. With each slow step he took, his belief grew stronger that his enemy had abandoned the fight and left the gold behind. A wise move.
He stopped about four paces short of his goal and held perfectly still. A field mouse couldn’t move in here without being heard.
After ten seconds of utter silence he took another step.
And felt the resistance on his right thigh.
He froze, but it was too late.
His skin crawled as he heard a rock slide, then fall to the floor. In the absolute silence, the sound was like a car alarm.
He’d been had!
Franco leveled his M-4 above the ore car, pulled the trigger, and swept it back and forth, spraying the entire passage.
Nathan heard the rock plummet from the alcove and knew exactly where Raven was. Half a second later, his world erupted again as Raven emptied an entire magazine.
Some of the bullets whizzed into the opening below him.
If he’d been standing there, he would’ve been nailed.
When the deafening salvo ended, Nathan tossed the stun grenade, started a mental countdown, and heard the grenade bounce off the wall next to the ore car.
Two seconds.
Nathan reached up and flipped on his IR.
One second.
Nathan timed it perfectly.
He dropped down at the same instant the M84 detonated.
The concussive blast took his breath away as white light bleached every surface.
As if shimmering from a mirage, the air seemed to throb for an instant just before the deafening concussion slammed his ears.
Nathan didn’t know how fast Raven would be able to reload his M-4, but no human being could withstand such a disruptive blast unscathed. The man had to be hammered into submission from the simultaneous assault on all his senses.
Sig in hand, Nathan rushed through the opening.
Raven appeared to be holding his stomach, bent over at the waist. His rifle hung uselessly from its sling.
Nathan painted his laser on Raven’s bowed head. “Show me your hands!”
Raven didn’t move.
“Do it now!”
Raven looked up a split second before Nathan saw the handgun.
Nathan fired.
The bullet punched Raven in the upper stomach. The man’s gun hand sagged, but he tried to bring it back up.
Nathan fired again.
Raven’s arm shuddered and the handgun fell. It clanked off the rail and came to rest on a wooden tie.
“It’s over, Raven, don’t make me shoot you again.”
“How do you… know that name?”
“Have a seat right there and don’t move.”
Raven plopped down and rested his back against the tunnel wall. His demeanor was that of resigned defeat. Blood poured from his arm wound, soaking his sleeve. His midsection was also getting wet. Raven had to know his wounds would be fatal without immediate treatment.
Keeping his Sig against the side of Raven’s head, Nathan reached down and cycled the M-4. Empty. He checked Raven for additional weapons, found a knife in an ankle sheath, and tossed it and the handgun down the tunnel.
“Who are you?”
“You don’t recognize my voice?” Nathan pulled out a light stick and activated it. Carefully, he removed Raven’s NV visor, then his own.
“Rojo? Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Raven smiled through the pain, his face a sickly pale hue in the green light. “I wondered if I’d ever see you again. I guess I have my answer.”
Nathan put the light stick down. “Why’d you do it? Why work for someone like Macanas?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Give me the short version.”
“I needed work.”
“The truth, Raven.”
“All right, I was bored.”
Nathan considered that, and although he didn’t want to admit it, he understood it perfectly. He nodded at Raven’s wounded arm. “You took a bad shot.”
“Brachial?”
Nathan nodded.
“Don’t tie it off.”
Nathan didn’t respond.
“How long?”
Nathan squinted. “Ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes,” Raven said slowly. “Will you stay with me?”
Nathan sat cross-legged between the rails.
Raven seemed remarkably calm given his circumstances. After a moment, he actually smiled. “Tell me something… Have you always wanted to be a sniper?”
“No, not really. It just sorta happened.”
Raven closed his eyes and didn’t say anything.
Nathan knew he was waiting for more. “I wanted to be a stage actor, but my high school drama teacher told me I was too tall. My father didn’t like the idea either. What about you?”
“I wanted to be an engineer on a train.”
“I can’t picture it.”
“It’s true, but it’s also ironic.”
“How so?”
Raven indicated with his head. “The train tracks.”
Nathan waited.
“The rails, they don’t let you stray.”
“No, I suppose they don’t.”
“Is Mayo here?”
“Yes, he’s down below with Estefan, dealing with your other men.”
“They’re dead then.”
“Perhaps not.”
“Is my cousin really going to die?”
“I just said that to rile you. He’ll be okay.”
“He’s had a tough life.”
“Haven’t we all?”
Raven went silent and closed his eyes again.
Nathan asked, “Did you like being a shooter?”
“If I say yes, does it make me a monster?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“There’s no simple answer to that.”
“We’re the same then?”
Nathan spoke with conviction. “I’ve been tormented by this subject for decades. Why should I feel bad about killing serial murderers and rapists, who included children in their sprees? I—we—ridded the world of the worst psychopaths imaginable. My mission down here wasn’t political; it was purely humanitarian.”