Iris Johansen - Stalemate

Diaz began cursing. That bitch mother was trying to destroy him even from beyond the grave. No, he mustn't lose control. He was still master here. Soon his men would be pouring into the church and killing these vermin. He started crawling toward the door.

The floor shook as an explosion rocked the earth!

"What the hell?"

"It's your splendid castle, the center of your universe," Montalvo said. "Or at least it was. That blast should have turned it into rubble. By the sound of the explosion, Galen and Quinn did a good job of planting that dynamite."

"I'll build another one," Diaz snarled. "I have money. I have men. You can't-"

"You have no men," Eve said. "Armandariz was waiting to gather them up when they poured out of the castle. Another of his troops is setting the coca fields on fire now. You have nothing. They'll bury you in a pauper's grave."

"No!" he screamed. He began shooting at the corner where he'd heard her voice. "You're lying. You're lying."

"It's time to end it," Montalvo said. "Past time."

He was near the altar! Diaz turned and got off another shot. He didn't wait to see if he'd gotten the bastard. He had to get out. He had to see if it was true. He had to see-

His body collapsed on the floor as Montalvo jumped on top of him. He struggled to turn and lifted the gun. Montalvo knocked it aside. "No guns. I'm not going to shoot you. I've waited too long for this." His hands closed around Diaz's throat. "Is this how you were going to kill Eve, Diaz? You would have taken your time, wouldn't you? You like the pain to be slow and deep."

"Yes." Diaz glared up at him and began to curse. "I'll get out of this." He tore at his hands. "I'm stronger and smarter than you, than anyone. I won't let-"

"The hell you are." Montalvo's hands tightened, slowly choking him. "You're scum. Die, scum."

He was dead.

Eve could see the limpness of Diaz's body as she came across the church toward where Montalvo was still astride him.

She picked up Diaz's fallen flashlight and shone it down on his face. His eyes were wide open and staring up at her. Yes, dead. But Montalvo still wasn't moving to get off him.

She shone the light on Montalvo's face and inhaled sharply. Blood lust. She had seen that expression on Joe's face in the heat of battle and it still shocked and terrified her. "I believe you can get off him now," she said quietly.

He stared blindly at her and then shook his head as if to clear it. "Yes." He slowly released Diaz's throat. "It's… done." He got to his feet. "You should have gone out the back door as we agreed."

"I didn't agree. You told me to do it. I decided that wasn't what I wanted. I had to know for sure that Diaz didn't get away. He's hurt too many people."

"Yes, he has." He was still staring down at Diaz. "He believed until the very end that he'd be the one to survive."

Her lips twisted. "Survive and prosper."

"I wanted him to know he was defeated and going to die. I'm not sure he did."

"Unless it's a sudden death, I think everyone knows before the last breath." She paused. "There was an explosion. I saw the light in the sky. That wasn't supposed to happen. It scared the hell out of me. You promised me that Joe would be safe on that helicopter."

"He is safe. I set it up so that-"

"You can't be sure of that," she said fiercely. "What was that explosion?"

"I'll find out." He dialed the phone as he walked toward one of the arched windows. "It looks like something from that American movie Independence Day out there. Come and look."

She followed him to the window. The castle was engulfed in flames, and smoke wreathed the ruins and cast a dark haze over the village.

Men running toward the castle.

Screams.

Shots.

A machine gun mounted on a truck was driving down the street and spewing out bullets and death as Diaz's men returned the fire.

Montalvo had finally made a connection and was talking into the phone.

She tensed, her gaze on his face. No expression, dammit.

He listened for a moment and then said, "No, go back to the compound. We'll meet you there."

"What's happening?" she asked as he hung up the phone.

"Quinn is alive and free and angry as hell. That's what you wanted to know, isn't it?"

Relief poured through her. "That's what I wanted to know. It's not that I didn't trust you but-"

"But you didn't trust me." He smiled faintly. "Not entirely. But at least there was some trust there or you would have been hysterical instead of mildly suspicious."

"Sometimes the best-laid plans go awry."

"Not usually. I've never believed in that saying."

"What about the explosion?"

"The tower was too inaccessible to send a force in to bring down the sniper."

"You sent twenty men to meet Galen and take care of it. That wasn't enough?"

"There would have been casualties. It turns out that Galen has a horror of casualties. He camped out in the jungle outside the tower and checked out the missile launcher last night. He thought he could disable it. So he waited until the sniper left the battlements and went downstairs, presumably to piss and eat. Galen went into the tower, disabled the missile, and got out by the skin of his teeth."

"The explosion," she repeated.

"When the sniper fired the missile, it exploded as Galen intended. That was the tower blowing up."

"Thank God." She turned to once again gaze out at the turmoil in the streets.

"Independence Day?" Montalvo asked softly.

She nodded. She and Montalvo had caused this to happen. They had planned and worked and executed the plan and now it was happening. The knowledge gave her a sense of bonding and closeness to him that she had never felt before toward anyone.

She drew a deep breath and took a step away from him. "When can I get back to the compound?"

"Don't be impatient. We have a major conflict going on outside." He handed her a gun and headed for the door. "And I should be out there with my men. Stay here. I'll come back for you when it's safe."

"What about Nekmon and the other men staked out in the forest?"

"They should have been disposed of by now. I ordered them to be taken out as soon as the castle was blown." He stopped at the door. "I mean it. Don't leave here. There are bullets flying everywhere. I'm not going to lose you at this stage of the game."

"You can't lose what you don't-"

He had already run out of the church. She watched him duck down and keep low as he ran through the streets toward the castle. It was true; there were shots and grenades going off constantly. He'd be lucky if he reached his men before he took a bullet. The thought sent a thrill of panic through her.

"Keep safe," she whispered. "For Christ's sake, don't die now, Montalvo."

Galen met Eve in the courtyard when she arrived back at the compound. "Okay?"

"Of course I'm okay." She jumped out of the jeep. "How is Joe?"

"He had to have some stitches replaced and Diaz broke another rib but he's as good as can be expected. Where's Montalvo?"

"Still at the village. He and Armandariz are doing a cleanup. He sent me here as soon as he thought it was safe." She smiled grimly. "Some of Diaz's men are holed up and shooting everyone they spot. The idiot will be lucky to get out with his skin intact."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're very concerned about Montalvo."

"What do you expect? He's not a stranger, after all. We've been practically living in each other's pockets ever since I got here."

"Yes, I can see how that would promote a certain intimacy. A relationship born under the sword, so to speak."

"We're not intimate." Yet those moments in the church had possessed a strong sense of intimacy she couldn't deny. "It's over. May I see Joe? He's not under sedation?"