Death is Forever

“Shotgun. Get it.”
    She leaned over and pulled the shotgun from behind his seat.
    “Is it ready?” he asked.
    She checked the gun, took off the safety, and said, “Yes.”
    Visibly he gathered the last of his strength. “Put it across my lap. Keep the pistol hidden but handy. If there’s a trap down there, no one will expect you to be armed.”
    Without a word Erin lifted the rucksack onto her lap, dug the pistol from beneath diamonds, and slipped off the safety. She would only have to open the rucksack and grab.
    Cole wheeled the helicopter and dropped into the muddy yard in front of the station. The landing was hard. One of the skids dug four inches into the red muck. The other slapped down a second later and vanished beneath mud. He shut down the engine, let the rotor free-wheel, and slumped forward.
    Erin scrambled out while the blades were still slicing overhead and went around to the other door to help him.
    “Get out,” she said, tugging at his arm. “You can’t stay here.”
    He didn’t move.
    “Get out!” she shouted. “I can’t carry you to the house. Come on, Cole. Help me. ”
    Slowly his head came up. He dragged himself out of the helicopter, shotgun in hand. Clutching the rucksack, she steered him through the mud to the station house, where Lai waited.
    “I’m so glad Mr. Street found you,” Lai said huskily, watching Cole with luminous black eyes. “We were very worried. Wing has been beside himself.” She looked beyond Erin and Cole. “Where is Mr. Street?”
    “Dead,” Erin said bluntly.
    “Dead? I don’t understand.”
    “He tried to kill Cole. He missed. Cole didn’t.”
    Lai’s breath came in with a soft, ripping sound.
    Erin pushed past Lai and guided Cole into the house. “Cole’s hurt. Get some blankets, a first-aid kit, and ice for the swelling.” She looked at Lai, who was standing as though bolted to the floor. “Move.”
    “But first,” Cole said thickly, “call Uncle Li and tell him to send in reinforcements. We found the mine.”
    For a moment longer Lai stared at Cole. He was swaying slightly on his feet, but his eyes were focused and his finger was on the trigger of the shotgun he carried. When Erin steered him toward the couch, he moved with a kind of ruined grace that spoke of willpower and muscle slowly losing control over injury and exhaustion.
    Lai turned and ran toward the back of the station house.
    Erin eased Cole down on the center of the couch. With a muttered curse, he slumped back and fought against closing his eyes. After a moment he pulled the shotgun across his lap. She set the rucksack at one end of the couch. As she knelt next to him to check his injury, her knee knocked against the butt of the shotgun.
    “You’ve got a bruise half the size of my fist,” she said.
    He grunted.
    “No more bleeding,” she continued. “The swelling isn’t any worse. Good thing you have such strong muscles in your neck. Otherwise, I’ve got a bad feeling we’d still be in the cave.”
    “Stone dead.”
    “How do you feel?” she asked.
    “It comes and goes.”
    “It?”
    “Nausea, double vision, dizziness.”
    She shifted again. Her knee hit the shotgun. “I’ll take that,” she said, reaching for the shotgun. “We’re safe.”
    “Not quite, Miss Windsor,” Lai said from the doorway. “But you soon will be. Move away from Cole.”
    Startled, Erin looked up and saw an automatic pistol held in Lai’s left hand. The muzzle was pointed directly at Cole’s heart. Nothing about Lai suggested that she wasn’t willing to pull the trigger. In her right hand she held a small battery-operated tape player.
    “Move beyond his reach,” Lai said. “Even wounded, he is still very dangerous.”
    Erin retreated down the couch toward the rucksack.
    “Put the shotgun on the floor and shove it away with your foot,” Lai said to Cole. “Move slowly or you will force me to kill you.”
    In slow motion he bent over, set the shotgun on the floor, and shoved it away with his foot. Black eyes and the muzzle of the gun followed him every inch of the way. Lai’s attention was so fixed on Cole that she didn’t notice Erin’s hand coming out of the rucksack.
    “Put down the gun,” Erin said in raw voice. “I’m too tired to care if I kill you.”
    From the corner of her eye, Lai saw the gun in Erin’s hands.
    “Don’t be foolish,” Lai said quickly. “It is your life I am trying to save!”
    “I’m damn tired of being called a fool—and