Iris Johansen - Stalemate

She stepped back out of Montalvo's arms. "I guarantee I wouldn't go to these lengths." She tried to steady her voice. "Would you please… get rid of it? I don't believe I can concentrate with that… thing lying there."

"Of course." Miguel was studying the snake. "What is it, Colonel? I don't recognize it. You could have left the head so that I-"

"No, I couldn't. It was a black mamba."

Miguel shook his head. "I don't think so. They're not common to this area."

"Exactly."

"Mamba," Eve repeated. She knew she had read about them somewhere but she couldn't remember any details. "Poisonous."

"Extremely." Montalvo said to Miguel, "Search the room and make sure it didn't bring a friend. Be careful."

"Don't worry I want to live to a ripe old age." He smiled slyly. "Like you, Colonel."

"You won't live another year if you keep jabbing at me." He pulled Eve out into the hall. "Stay here until he's finished. I don't believe there's another one but it doesn't hurt to check."

"I'm not arguing. 1 can wait." She tried to stop shivering. "I wouldn't want to run into another snake like that again anytime soon."

"I'll see that you don't. After Miguel finishes the library, I'll send him up to your bedroom."

She moistened her lips. "I take it you don't think this was a stray serpent that wandered in from the jungle."

"The odds are astronomical against it. Mambas are found almost exclusively in Africa. We have poisonous snakes here, but not anything as deadly as the black mamba."

"It's not black, it was sort of brown-gray."

"The inside of its mouth is black. I'm surprised you didn't notice."

"I wasn't color-oriented at that moment. Just how deadly is it?"

"It's the most dangerous snake in the world. If given a chance, it will slither away, but if it feels it's cornered, it will strike over and over. When you pulled off the cloth, it felt under attack. You were almost face-to-face with him. Its venom attacks the respiratory system and is almost a hundred percent fatal unless you can quickly get to a hospital that has the antivenin."

"Jesus," she whispered. "How does anyone survive a bite from one of them?"

"Most people don't. Particularly if they're bitten on the throat or anywhere on the upper body. The poison is closer to the vital organs and travels fast. Too fast to get to medical help that might save them." His eyes were narrowed on her face. "You're still pale. Sit down." He pushed her into a chair by the door. "I'll get you a drink."

"Coffee. Just coffee." She leaned back in the chair. "That snake should have struck my upper body. He was almost on a level with me. He must have been curled beneath the reconstruction." She shuddered as she remembered that triangular head darting toward her. "I didn't know I put my arm up to protect myself but that might have saved me. I had the drop cloth in my hand…"

"And the mamba bit into the cloth instead of you." He handed her the coffee. "Thank God."

She felt like echoing that sentiment. "How did it get there? The French doors?"

"Probably. But not under its own steam. Someone carried it into the library and placed it under the drop cloth."

"One of Diaz's men?"

He shook his head. "My security is too tight to permit one of his men to wander in out of the jungle and drop off a package like that."

"It happened."

"Not that simply. It stinks of a payoff."

"He bribed one of your men?"

"I hope I'm wrong." His expression was grim. "I don't believe I am. I can't see any other explanation."

"No other snakes." Miguel came out of the library. "The mamba was very large, over fourteen feet and probably carrying a big load of venom. Sendak?"

"I'd bet on it. He delivered the snake to Diaz's mole inside the compound to be tucked under the drop cloth."

"Who's Sendak?" Eve asked.

"An Ethiopian who sells his serpents for very high sums. I've run into him a few times over the years. One of his little friends killed a customer who was proving difficult for a rival of Diaz's. I'm sure Diaz was intrigued by the possibilities."

"I'll go up and check her bedroom," Miguel said as he started for the stairs. "We wouldn't want her to have a strange, exotic bedmate."

"No, we wouldn't want that." Montalvo's intent gaze was on her face. "You're frightened. That's what he wanted. He meant you to feel unsure of my ability to protect you."

"A mamba hurling itself at my throat would have a tendency to do that," she said dryly.

"How badly are you frightened? What's my damage-control ratio going to have to be?"

"You're impossible." She got to her feet. "Screw your damage control. I don't like snakes attacking me but I'm not going to be scared off by Diaz. You take care of my family and you find the snake charmer who put that mamba under that cloth with Nalia. I'll handle my part."

"I'm sure you will." A faint smile indented his lips. "And you can be sure that I'll know who the Judas is in my camp in short order. He won't bother you again."

That last sentence had an ominous ring. "I didn't tell you to kill him. I just want to be able to keep on working with no threat hovering over me."

"I can't promise you that will happen anytime soon. There will be a threat until Diaz is gone."

"Montalvo."

"Yes."

"You know what I said about how ridiculous you were to wear a gun in the house?"

He nodded.

"Erase it from your memory. I was damn glad you were wearing it tonight."

"So was I." He turned and walked away from her.

She drew a deep breath, braced herself, and went back into the library.

Everything in the room was as neat and orderly as if the incident had never happened, she noticed. Miguel had been busy. The remains of the snake had vanished. The lamp she had thrown at the serpent was back on the desk. Even the drop cloth had been whisked away.

She went over to the dais and gazed at Nalia.

Coffin-shaped, triangular head lunging toward her.

She tensed and instinctively took a step back. Christ, she couldn't work with that memory hanging over her.

All right, play it over so that it couldn't sneak up on her. She closed her eyes. Black mamba striking at her. The drop cloth falling from her hand. The lamp hurling through the air. The snake coming. Coming. Coming. Montalvo shooting the snake. The snake was dead. Nothing to fear. Nothing to fear.

Gradually the panic faded away and she opened her eyes. It might return but not with the same force. "It's gone, Nalia. We worked our way through it. But you'll have to help me keep it from coming back."

Get to work. Do your job. She examined the work she'd done that day. She couldn't see that any of the depth markers had been disturbed by the snake but she'd have to recheck them to make sure they were still accurate.

"Okay, here we go again," she murmured. "It was ugly using you that way. You had enough ugly things happen to you. You didn't need this."

She carefully began to measure.

"I hear you had a nocturnal visitor," Galen said when she came down the stairs the next morning. His expression was sober. "You were lucky. I ran into one of those snakes in Africa while I was on a job once. Nasty."

"I hope you don't mean that literally. If you did, Montalvo was lying about how deadly they are."

"He's not lying. The mamba slid into one of my men's bedroll. It bit him in the throat. He didn't have a chance."

"It didn't happen to me. I don't want to think about it any more." A sudden thought occurred to her. "How did you find out?"

"Miguel. He told Soldono and me last night after he searched your room. He thought we should check out our own rooms in case you weren't the only target."

"Does Joe know?"

He shook his head. "I didn't want to drive him nuts. I searched his room myself after he went to sleep. He's having enough problems getting himself in shape without having that to goad him on."