“How?”
“Bribes. Murder. Intimidation. It’s a corrupt world. I’ll survive and climb to the top again.”
He believed it. And he was making Catherine believe it, too. He had survived her killing Delores and managed to get out of prison. He had caused the death of three of her friends and threatened others. If he got out of here, she had no doubt that threat would be realized.
“You wouldn’t abandon your Delores.”
“She will be fine until I can get her back. Montez’s work is a breakthrough. There will be people standing in line who will want to make sure that the formula and process of what he did with Delores can be used on others.” He added harshly, “But I’m not going to forgive or forget your making us go through this. I’ll go down the list, and everyone you’ve tried to keep alive will die. Luke, first. Then Hu Chang. And I’ll go from there. You might remember that in these last few minutes you have.”
She could tell he had moved again. Was he heading for that trapdoor?
No! He was to her left. Very close.
And he had a clear shot.
She dove behind the chair.
Pain.
She cried out.
The bullet had burned the flesh of her right shoulder.
“Got you.” Santos’s voice was triumphant, then more regretful. “I wish I had more time…” He was moving toward the trapdoor. “But if you’re not dead, you will be. And I still may have the pleasure of doing those kills while you watch. Just a postponement…”
She heard the trapdoor open.
No! She struggled to her knees. “Not a postponement, Santos. You’re through.”
But he was disappearing down the steps to the tunnel. She jumped to her feet and ran toward the door. “Cameron, dammit, do it!” She called, “How long?”
“One minute. No more.”
But in one minute, Santos could be out of danger and halfway to that dock.
She whirled back and ran toward the trapdoor. She could see Santos on the second landing of the spiral staircase. Make him stop. “Santos, come back here. I’m waiting for you. Delores is waiting for you. Do you know what’s going to happen? You know all those explosions that blew up your hill? Cameron still had some of his clever little devices left over. So he set a few outside the tomb at strategic points. Montez helped him to make sure the blast would be strong enough to send this tomb straight to hell. To send Delores straight to hell.”
“You’re lying. He wouldn’t destroy his work.” But he had stopped and was looking back up at her. “He was proud of it. Proud of her.”
“Maybe proud of his work, but he always knew what a monster he’d created.”
Thirty more seconds.
Distract him. Keep him talking.
“I have a present for you.” She took Jane’s gold dog tag out of her pocket and threw it at him. He automatically reached out and caught it. “I promised Eve I’d give it to you after you had Jane shot.”
He smiled. “And killed.”
“No, she’s still alive. You’ve been had, Santos.”
His smile faded. “I don’t believe you.”
“Yes, you do. You’ve failed all around. Including with Delores. You said she’d never be vulnerable. That blast is going to do considerably more damage than a bullet to that pretty coffin.”
“No.” His eyes were wide, glaring with rage and panic as he turned to face her. “Stop it. They can’t do that to her.”
Ten seconds.
“Watch us. She’s dead. So are you.”
Five seconds.
“Catherine.” Cameron had burst through the door and was by her side. “Get the hell out of here.” He was dragging her toward the entrance. “Leave him.”
“I am.” It was safe now. She had kept Santos away from the tunnel.
And time had run out.
As they reached the bronze door, she glanced back over her shoulder at the gleaming coffin, where Delores lay in pagan splendor. At the gaping hole where Santos was probably now scrambling for safety.
“Out!” Cameron pushed her ahead of him out of the tomb.
The earth was rumbling beneath their feet.
“Down!”
Cameron jerked her down and fell on top of her.
Crack.
Kaboom.
Searing heat. Debris falling around them like missiles.
Kaboom.
Another blast.
More debris.
Granite. It was black granite. The tomb …
The heat was intense.
She could see patches of fire igniting the grass around them.
And burning sparks on the shoulder of Cameron’s shirt next to her cheek.
She put them out, then pushed him away. “We’ve got to get out of here.” She jumped to her feet. “Come on. We’re too close.”
“Tell me about it,” Cameron said dryly, as they ran for the trail. “You’re the one who ran back in there. You’d better have a damn good reason.”
“Tunnel.” She was coughing from the choking smoke. “Escape tunnel. I had to keep Santos from using it.”
“And did you?”
She nodded as she looked back at the tomb.
Only there was no tomb.
It was a pile of granite rocks and blazing flames that were incinerating everything around them.
“She’s gone,” Catherine whispered. “Even Montez’s coffin couldn’t survive those blasts.”
“He made sure of it,” Cameron said. “He did the calculations even before I told him what we wanted. He was going to find a way to destroy them himself if we couldn’t do it. He told me that Santos and his Delores would probably be vaporized by the force of those explosions.”
“As you both almost were,” Dario said grimly as he strode down the hill from the bunkhouse. “You look like hell, Catherine. Blood…” He took a step closer and examined her shoulder. “Bullet wound. Do we need to get you back to Port of Spain for medical attention?”
She shook her head. “It’s only a flesh wound. I’m not going anywhere for a while.”
“Why not? We’ve about wrapped everything up here.”
“Not everything.” Her gaze went back to the burning pyre that had been Delores’s tomb. “I didn’t see him die. I can’t leave here until I know that Santos is dead.” She glanced at Dario. “There’s a tunnel beneath the tomb that leads down the hill to a boat dock. Will you have it checked to make sure that boat is still at the dock?”
He nodded. “Right away.” He turned and headed toward the beach.
“Come on,” Cameron said. “We need to find water and a first-aid kit to bandage that shoulder. It’s at least got to be cleaned if not—” The text ring on his phone went off, and he glanced down for the message. “It’s from Hu Chang.” He read her the text. “Situation resolved. Seth Caleb enjoyed his visit to the Victorian house. Lambell did not.”
Catherine drew a relieved breath. “Luke’s safe?”
“So it would seem. Now, as I was saying, let’s go take care of that wound.”
“Not now.”
“You’re just going to sit here and wait?”
She nodded grimly. “And hope to hell that Montez was wrong about Santos’s probably being vaporized. I need to know.”
He didn’t argue. He dropped to the ground and pulled her down beside him. “Then we’d better get comfortable. It’s going to take a long time before we can get back into that tomb.”
“You don’t have to stay with me. Dario may need you.”
“I don’t have to do anything. It’s pure choice. And I choose you.” He drew her closer and tucked her head into the hollow of his shoulder. “And you may never admit that you need me, but someday I’ll make you admit that you want me for something other than sex. For some reason that’s becoming important to me. Isn’t that strange?”
“Completely.” Strange and warm and frightening all at the same time. She didn’t want to deal with any of those emotions in connection with Cameron. She didn’t have to do it. Pure choice, as Cameron had said.