Find a weapon, any weapon.
He started again. “I paid him a visit and persuaded him to come down here with me and stroll around a bit. He was very cooperative. He even pointed out the secret passage and ledge he'd shown Trevor. After I got copies of the maps from him, I decided that he'd outlived his usefulness.”
“So you killed him.”
“I couldn't risk him running to Trevor. He had Sontag very intimidated.”
Another turn in the tunnel. She must be getting close to the end. She might run into a blockage at any moment. “You would have killed him anyway.”
“That's true. I admit it was a release. I've been very frustrated lately. Now that's at an end.”
“Even if you kill me, the coffin is buried under all that rubble. You won't be able to destroy that skeleton.”
“I'm in no hurry. It will take time for anyone to get past those rocks blocking the entrance. I'll have my chance. I hear you breathing. Hard. Very hard. You told me you were strong. How strong are you now, Cira?”
“Strong enough.” The rock was looser here. Shards were lying on the ground. She must be coming closer to the site of the explosion.
She'd be trapped. Find a weapon.
Get out of his sight.
She put on speed and dashed around the next turn. Her gaze searched wildly.
There!
She picked up an eight-inch shard and thrust it in the waistband of her trousers. Was it sharp enough?
Run.
Hot. Smoky.
Night without air.
“You're almost at the end,” Aldo said. “I have my knife in my hand. It's a surgeon's knife. Beautiful. Sharp. Efficient. One last face to remove. Do you know how much it hurts?”
“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