A light breeze from the river sent ripples through her long black hair. It shone with highlights in the Tuscan sun. Healy felt himself stiffen.
Damn, he wanted her.
Mandy saw the bulge in his trousers and laughed. "Better hadn't let Malcolm see that."
"He doesn't produce the same effect."
She stood. "We have to be careful for a while. I think he's getting suspicious."
"One day I'm going to kill the bastard."
"Kill the golden goose? I don't think so." She fingered the jeweled choker. "At least not until you can provide the same benefits. And we both know that isn't going to happen, don't we?"
"You're a greedy bitch, Mandy."
"No, darling. Just practical. Be grateful for what I can give you." She gave him a peck on the cheek. He wanted to choke her.
"I'll go see what the great man wants."
Healy watched the movement of her body under the dress as she walked away. He'd never had a woman tie up his mind like Mandy did. One of these days he would do something about Malcolm.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Selena's sneeze echoed across the plaza. Birds flew shrieking into the air. The figures on the steps froze. One of the men near the tents shouted something and swept his rifle up and began firing blindly in their direction. A storm of bullets ripped through the leaves over their heads with a sound like the world tearing apart.
To Selena, everything happened at once. Ronnie, Lamont and Nick opened fire. The men near the tent shot into the jungle. The others scrambled down the last steps. Two of them unslung their rifles and fired. Selena brought her MP-5 up, felt herself pull the trigger, watched one of the figures by the tent fly backwards from the impact of her rounds. The men on the steps reached the ground and scattered to both sides. The man carrying the bundle ran around the corner of the ruin. Chips flew from the stones behind him. He disappeared into the trees.
She felt the recoil of her gun. Some piece of her noted the empty shells flying into the air. The bolt of her MP-5 clacked on an empty chamber. She reached for a magazine.
Something hit her hard, low on the right side. The blow spun her around and knocked her onto the moist jungle floor, face down in the dirt and leaves. For a second she felt nothing, then deep, frightening pain that cut through her. She gasped, unable to call out. There was liquid warmth under her clothes.
She was vaguely aware the noise of the guns had stopped. Nick knelt over her. He was saying something. His voice faded in and out.
"Selena," he was saying. "Selena, stay with me."
She tried to speak. Then the world went black.
Nick fought down his panic. He held his hand against the wound and looked at Ronnie. Blood welled between his fingers.
"She's hit bad. Get a kit. Lamont, call Harker. Get a chopper."
"They can't make it in here. We'll have to go back to the truck."
"No time. Tell them to home in on our beacon and drop a litter and a medic through the canopy. We don't get her to a hospital fast, she'll die."
I forgot the fucking vests. This is my fault. My fault. One fucking round.
Selena was unconscious. Nick reached around her back and felt for an exit wound. The high-velocity round had gone through and come out the other side. He pressed his hands against the wounds. The flow of blood through his fingers was a steady trickle.
"God damn it, Ronnie, hurry up."
Ronnie cut her shirt away. The 5.4mm round had made a small, red hole in her abdomen, then ripped out through her back. Blood flowed from the wounds.
Ronnie applied pressure bandages. Neither man spoke. She wouldn't live if the bullet had clipped an artery. She might live if they got her to a hospital in time. They'd both seen wounds like this before. They both knew she might not make it.
"The bleeding's slowed," Ronnie said. "Nothing to do but wait for the bird."
"Chopper's on the way," Lamont said. "Twenty minutes."
"We didn't get them all," Ronnie said. "The guy carrying something got away."
Nick cradled Selena's head in his bloody hands. He made an effort to focus.
"He's here somewhere. Watch out in case he thinks he's a hero. Search the bodies. See if there's anything that will help us ID them. Grab one of those AN-94s. Once Selena's safe, we'll figure out what they were doing here. "
He looked up at the indifferent green canopy above.
"I hate jungles," he said.
Selena's face was an unnatural white, her eyes slightly open. Her breasts rose and fell in labored gasps.
Christ, I'm losing her.
"Don't give up," he whispered. "You can do it, help's coming. You'll be all right. Don't give up."
You forgot the vests. He waited for the sound of the helicopter, his mind black with guilt.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The atmosphere in Harker's office was depressing.
"After we got her out." Nick stopped, began again. "After the chopper left, we climbed the steps. There was a temple at the top and a second room inside, sealed up a long time ago. Maybe when the Spaniards were coming. The bad guys broke it open. It took them a while. The walls were three feet thick, solid stone."
Harker began tapping, impatient.
"We found an altar in there, made of jade and inlaid with turquoise and gold. A round shaft goes right through the middle and down into the pyramid. I dropped a rock into it and never heard it hit bottom. There was a hole in the roof over the platform, same size, circular. Perfectly lined up with the shaft."
"Go on."
"Everything was black with mold and stained from the rains, but you could see where there'd been something on the altar, right over that shaft. One of the bad guys got away. He took whatever it was with him. There was a lot of gold, but they didn't bother with it."
"I wonder what was more important than gold?"
Ronnie said, "We got back to the truck and found it shot up. You're going to hear about it. The Consul wasn't happy."
Harker's pen beat a nervous tattoo on her desk. Time to deal with the elephant in the room.
"About Selena," she said. "She's stable, but the round clipped a vertebra. A bone fragment is pressing against the spinal cord. It has to be removed. She's been airlifted to Bethesda."
"She's here?" Nick said.
"Yes. They're going to operate today." She paused. "It's risky. The doctors say she could end up paralyzed from the waist down. They won't know until after the surgery."
Nick felt something clench in his gut. "It's my fault."
Ronnie shook his head. "Come on, Nick. She sneezed. They heard it." He shrugged. "Like they say, shit happens."
"That doesn't help. I fucked up. I forgot to pack the vests. She'd been wearing one, she'd be all right."
Harker's pen stopped moving. "Nick. I need to know you've got your head on straight."
He took a deep breath. "Don't worry. I can handle it. I want to get the bastard behind this. Foxworth. And his Russian buddy, Ogorov. Who else could have provided those weapons?"
"That's what I want to talk about today. You might get your chance. I met with General Vysotsky while you were in Mexico. We're considering a joint operation."
"In Russia?"
"Not yet. He has to be careful about moving against Ogorov."
"If we don't have to go to Russia, why do we need Vysotsky?"
"He needs evidence Ogorov is a traitor. Vysotsky still isn't convinced Ogorov is part of AEON."
"What does he have in mind?"