Death is Forever

that what the letter said?” Street countered.
    “How did you get the letter?”
    “I work for the Australian government, although you won’t find me on any civil service payroll form,” Street said. “Sort of like your father in that. He and I do the same kind of work. That’s why I’m here.”
    “Mistakes are made in your kind of work, Mr. Street. I believe my father made one. Cole Blackburn isn’t my assassin.”
    “Like bloody hell,” Street said. “Just because Blackburn has been in your pants doesn’t mean he won’t kill you. Chen Lai is his number-one woman. He’s been making jig-a-jig with Lai since you were in pigtails. He’s just using you until you give him the clues to Abe’s mine. Then you’ll be deader than tinned fish and the mine will belong to the Chen family. But I’m here to see that doesn’t happen. Now, did you find that bloody mine?”
    “I’m—I’m not sure.”
    “What do you mean?” Street demanded.
    She stood up quickly, bringing the rucksack with her.
    Street’s eyes flashed reflected light as he followed her movements, but the muzzle of his gun remained trained on the man who lay less than two feet away.
    She forced herself to go closer to Street.
    “I’m no geologist,” she said as she jerked at the buckles and ties on the rucksack, opening it up. “Here. Decide for yourself.”
    With that she stepped past Street and turned the rucksack on end. A sparkling, colorful cascade of rough stones poured through the hard white light of the electric lantern.
    “Sweet Jesus and all the saints in heaven,” Street said hoarsely, staggered by the sight. For an instant the gun muzzle moved aside from Cole.
    It was all Cole needed. He came off the ground in a lunge that ended only when he rammed the knife blade up underneath Street’s rib cage and into his heart. Death was instant and nearly bloodless.
    Cole caught the Aussie’s pistol before it fell from limp fingers. He jerked the knife free and stepped back. Street slumped face first across the dancing, rolling diamonds. Automatically Cole wiped the blade on his shorts before he sheathed it. He put on the pistol’s safety before he reached for the electric lantern.
    Swallowing against the bile rising in her throat, Erin said raggedly, “Is he dead?”
    “Pick up the diamonds.”
    The words were thick, almost slurred. Cole grunted as he dragged Street aside and left him facedown in dense shadow. Moving with uncharacteristic hesitation, as though he didn’t completely trust his own body, Cole went back to Erin. He held out the pistol butt first.
    “Can you use this?” he asked.
    “Dad made sure I could shoot anything I could get my hands on,” she said numbly, taking the gun.
    “Smart man.”
    His words sounded like they came from a distance. Vaguely she realized that she was on the edge of going with shock and cold, hunger and exhaustion. She was at the end of her strength, and all she had to trust was someone who had just killed Jason Street in front of her eyes.
    Street, who had been sent by her father to protect her from Cole Blackburn.
    “So you believed him after all,” Cole said harshly. “You’re a fool, Erin Shane Windsor. I’ve killed men, but I’m not a hired assassin.”
    At first she didn’t understand. Then she saw that the pistol in her hands was pointed directly at Cole…and she had taken the safety off. She let out a broken breath and lowered the gun.
    “You’re right,” she said bleakly. “If you’d been hired to kill me after the mine was found, I’d be facedown in a black lake right now.”
    His eyes glittered with pain and fury. “Such carefully measured trust—from the head, not the heart.”
    “That’s the way you trust,” she shot back. “It’s the way my father trusts. It’s the way the whole world trusts. I’m a slow learner, but I do learn eventually. And I’m damned tired of being fucked by men on their way to more important things.”
    Cole turned his back on her. “If you want the bloody diamonds, pick them up and come to the entrance. I’ll see if there are any more nasty surprises waiting outside.”
    Without a word Erin put on the safety and shoved the pistol into the rucksack. Then she knelt and began scooping handfuls of diamonds from the clammy limestone floor. The stones made secret, almost musical sounds as they clicked over one another and the cold steel of the pistol.
    She ignored the diamonds that had rolled into the darkness where Street’s