Iris Johansen - Blind Alley

“Then I'm crazy.”

She looked up at him. “No,” she said firmly. “I'll do anything you say to keep safe, but I'm going to be there. Get me a gun. You know I can use it. You're the one who taught me.”

He shook his head.

“You're going to be down in that hellhole. So is Jane. Do you think you can keep me away? Either take me yourself or watch me go down alone.”

He sighed. “I'll take you.” His lips tightened. “You'll go into the passage with me. You stay quiet. You don't move a muscle no matter what you see happening. You let me take care of it. Understand?”

She didn't answer.

“If you don't, the first thing I'll do is knock you out to make sure you don't get yourself killed.”

“I wouldn't forgive you for that.”

“I'd take my chances. It's better than the alternative.” He smiled recklessly. “You forgave me for doing something a hell of a lot worse. Well, maybe not entirely, but you let me stay with you. And after all I've done to mend my fences, I'm not losing you to that son of a bitch.”

“It's Jane you have to worry about.”

“No, it's you. First, and always. Then it's Jane and the rest of the world.” He kissed her, hard. “I can't be any other way. You should know that by now.”

Yes, she knew, and that knowledge had been her shelter and her armor all these years. Dear God, she loved him. Her arms tightened around him. “Me, too. You first, Joe.”

He shook his head. “Not yet. Someday, maybe. I'll take my turn.” He rubbed slowly, sensuously, against her. “But in the meantime . . . I've never made love to you in Herculaneum or any other ancient city. Don't you think we should rectify that?” He glanced at the skull on the pedestal. “Since this lady's first reconstruction's not going to furnish any surprises, I definitely think Giulia would approve.”

“So do I.” She started unbuttoning his shirt. “And, anyway, I need to show you. You first, Joe . . .”

EIGHTEEN

October 20

10:40 A.M.

He found the vomitorium.” Trevor strode across the parlor and popped the tape into the player. “At four-seventeen this morning. I do love cameras with all the bells and whistles.”

“You're sure?” Jane asked.

“Oh, yes.” He pressed the button. “It's dark as hell but the camera's built for low light. You can make him out.”

Yes, she could make him out, Jane thought numbly as she watched Aldo bend and touch the red velvet throw. Dear God, his expression . . .

“Evil,” she whispered. “How could anyone be that evil?”

The picture disappeared from the TV screen. “That's enough,” Trevor said curtly. “I just wanted you to know that we weren't doing all this planning for nothing. He found the bait and now we have to get him to go after it.”

“No, I have to get him to go after it.” She swallowed to ease the tightness of her throat. “It shouldn't be that difficult. He wants Cira and me so bad he can taste it. He's . . . hungry. When he reached down to touch that cloth he looked like a cannibal.”

“Then it's our job to give him a bellyache.” He headed for the door. “I'll show this to Joe and Eve. They'll be glad to know we're on target.”

“Is that the only time you caught Aldo on tape?”

“Yes, no more sightings at the vomitorium, but you can bet he was exploring those tunnels after he found it.”

She sat there for a moment after he'd left, staring blindly at the blank TV screen. She shouldn't be this shocked by that brief glimpse of Aldo. She knew exactly what he was. She didn't need this reminder.

But, God in heaven, his expression . . .

Jane was sitting in the parlor when her phone rang at two-thirty the next afternoon.

She tensed.

“Answer it,” Trevor said from across the room. “You know what to say.”

Yes, she knew. She'd rehearsed it enough mentally since she'd blown that other opportunity. She pressed the talk button. “Aldo?”

“You've been waiting for my call? That's good. That's the way it should be. I've been waiting a long time for you. Years.”

“You can wait forever. It won't do you any good. I'm too close. In another two days you can kill all the women with my face on earth and I'll still survive. My face will be everywhere.”

There was a silence. “Two days? That's not the truth. You told me only two days ago that Duncan had only started the reconstruction and that you needed—”

“Two days is a long time for Eve when she's motivated. And you can bet that I motivated her. I was hoping you'd believe you had all the time in the world so we could complete our plans. Trevor managed to get the reporters from all the major newspapers to commit to the great unveiling. Eve's doing a wonderful job. The face of the reconstruction looks young and strong and when I look at it I see myself.”

“You see the devil.”

“No, you see the devil. I see life and power enough to rid myself of enemies like you.”

“You'll never rid yourself of me. I'm your nemesis.”

“You're a poor, pitiful pervert who has delusions of grandeur.”

“You're not going to make me angry again.” He was silent a moment. “Where is this photo shoot going to take place?”

She waited a moment before saying, “Here at the library in the villa, of course. At nine o'clock in the evening, day after tomorrow.” She tried to make her tone mocking. “You have an invitation. Don't you want to see the huge splash the reconstruction makes?”

“You're lying. It's not going to be at the villa.”

“No? Then where is it going to be held?”

“Did you think I wouldn't find all that equipment at the vomitorium?”

“Dear me, you must have been doing a little spying. You're right, of course. We think the photo shoot will be much more effective down in the tunnels. That should be to your advantage if you decide to join us.”

“Do you think I don't know you'll all be waiting for me?”

“All? I don't need anyone else to rid myself of vermin like you. But I'll be waiting for you. I need to destroy you before you destroy me.”

“I won't be there. I'm not a fool.”

“But you're a coward.” She paused. “Okay, don't come to the press conference. I'll meet you at the vomitorium tomorrow night at nine o'clock. I'll have Trevor take down the coffin with the reconstruction and then leave. You'll have us both, if you're man enough to kill me and destroy the skeleton.”

“Tomorrow night.”

“Tempted? No skeleton for the press conference the next night and you rid yourself of me.”

“It's a trick.”

“If it is, are you clever enough to turn it against me? I don't think you are. You won't be there. You'll be too frightened. You know I've beaten you all your life. I took away your father. I took away your childhood and now I'm going to show you what a sniveling failure you really—”

“Shut up.”

“Why should I? You're nothing. You're weak. I don't have to have help to crush you.”

“No, you're so proud of yourself.” He sneered. “You've been preparing yourself to meet all comers. Do you still have that thirty-two Smith and Wesson Quinn gave you?”

She was silent, surprised.

“See? I know everything about you. I know you can fire a gun and you were issued a hunting license when you were sixteen. The computer is a wonderful source of information and I even know the name of the firing range where Joe Quinn took you to teach you.”

“If you're so sure that destiny is on your side, then that shouldn't bother you. Don't you think you're smart enough to find out if there's anyone down there but me?”

“Of course I am.”

“Did that sting? Good. You deserve it. Poor bastard, afraid of a seventeen-year-old girl.”