Death is Forever

gesture that ended up with her fingers plucking at her damp top.
    He glanced quickly at her, silently encouraging her to keep talking. It was the first time in days she’d been willing to discuss anything personal.
    “When I catch up with my generation,” she said, “I’ll be able to hand my body over to an attractive man and keep my mind in reserve. But until I catch up, it’s a complete package. My mind looks at you and sees an emotional attachment to Lai I can’t compete with.”
    “You’re crazy,” he said flatly. “I don’t love her.”
    “I didn’t say you did. Hate binds every bit as closely as love. Either way, hate or love, Lai has a hold on you.”
    “Shit.” Cole lifted his bush hat, wiped sweat that had been dripping into his eyes, and put the hat back in place with a yank. “Don’t you see how easily you’re letting the Chen family manipulate you? You’re a lamb among some very experienced wolves, and I’m damned if I’ll let them cut you up for a snack. If I wanted Lai, I’d be screwing her right now. I don’t want her. I want you. And I know I can make you want me.”
    Erin’s breath came in and filled her throat until she ached. “We’ve been around this track before. You won’t rape me and we both know it.”
    “That leaves ninety-nine point nine percent of the sexual field wide open. Think about it, Erin. I sure as hell have.”
    They drove in silence through increasing heat and humidity while hot air rose in columns from the land, creating an updraft that sucked in moisture from the Indian Ocean in an endless river of clouds that would grow through the day until it slowly consumed the sky.
    That was when the climate went from ugly to unbearable.
    That was when the anticipation of rain hung in the air and lightning winked across distant horizons and veils of rain hung down, only to evaporate before touching the steamy land.
    That was when friendships and marriages broke apart.
    That was when men went troppo and killed their mates.
    Divided we fall.
    And there was nothing Cole could do about it except what he’d already done—grab Erin and vanish into the lethal, sultry, unlivable outback.

36
Kimberley plateau Same day
    Cole braked just before the track twisted away from the flats and termitoriums whitewashed by bird lime. The pedal responded sluggishly. He wasn’t surprised. There had been a slow leak in the system since the Rover had crashed through the brush to avoid the roadtrain.
    He pumped twice and the brake pedal firmed. The Rover stopped close to a termite mound that was as tall as a man. He jumped out, took a rock hammer from the Rover, and began chipping away at the top of the mound. Beneath the white bird lime the mound was a faded rusty shade.
    Erin picked up her camera, got out, and winced as the sunlight hammered down on her. She walked out among the mounds with a determined stride. Within minutes she’d forgotten the brutal heat. She was completely caught up in angles and exposures, trying to capture the alien, sun-beaten world where billions of insects built a towering mud metropolis.
    When Cole finished hacking at various mounds, he looked around for Erin. She wasn’t anywhere in sight.
    “Erin,” he called. “Where the hell are you?”
    A languid, muggy breeze stirred nearby spinifex. The narrow, rasp-edged blades of grass made a secretive sound.
    “Erin!”
    “In a minute,” she called back.
    From her voice, she was several hundred feet away, hidden among the towering, broad-based mounds.
    He looked at his watch. He’d spent half an hour grubbing around in the termitorium. He hoped she had more to show for the time than he did. Lifting his hat, he wiped his face on his short-sleeved khaki shirt. The cloth was already dark with sweat from collar to hem. He unbuttoned the shirt, mopped his chest with it, and tossed the damp khaki in the Rover.
    “Time’s up,” he called.
    No answer came.
    “Erin!”
    “I’m coming! Just give me a minute!”
    Her voice was farther away than it had been before.
    He went looking. It took him ten minutes, but he found her crouched amid the termite mounds with her camera at the ready. Her hat was on the ground beside her and she was staring through the viewfinder, heedless of her surroundings.
    Cole picked up her hat and stood nearby, waiting until she finished the roll of film. Then he stepped in front of the lens and stuffed her hat down on her head.
    Startled, she looked up, realizing for the first time