Blind Alley - Iris Johansen [112]
“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 earlier this evening and so did Joe. He must have stuffed some