Death is Forever

being taken for one. If Cole wanted me dead, he could have killed me a hundred times over by now.”
    “You don’t understand what is at stake.” Lai spoke in a calm, low voice, and her attention never wavered from the man on the couch. She knew very well his strength, coordination, and intelligence. Obviously Street had underestimated Cole.
    Lai never would.
    “Street was playing the Chen family against ConMin,” Lai said, “hoping to gain control of the mine for Australia. The Australian government wouldn’t have ordered your death, Miss Windsor, but if you and Cole died in the bush and Street came to his superiors with the coordinates of the mine, the government would have registered the mine, declared you dead by accident—or by Cole’s hand—and ridden out the storm of protest from the CIA.”
    “I’m alive,” Erin said, “and planning to stay that way. Put down the gun.”
    “If I do, Cole will kill you. Listen to me, Erin. Your life depends on it. Cole has a forged gambling note from Abelard Windsor giving him half of the Sleeping Dog Mines.”
    “How do you know?”
    “I oversaw the forgery,” Lai said simply. “Now Cole controls half of the mine outright, plus half of your half. Don’t you, Cole?”
    “Whatever you say,” he said. “You’re the one with the gun.”
    Erin looked quickly at Cole. He was watching Lai with predatory focus, waiting for the least flicker of distraction on her part.
    “Fascinating,” Erin said, “but Cole never said one word to me about any gambling note.”
    Lai’s mouth tightened. “He did not have to use the note. He had a much better lever against you: his body. He is a skilled, powerful lover and you are a woman of little experience. A very easy conquest. He has probably asked you to marry him already. If not, he soon would. And when you died a few months later—and you would die—Cole would have control of the mine in a way no man or government could question. You don’t want to believe me,” Lai said quickly, “but you will. Listen carefully, Erin Windsor. Your life depends on it.”
    “Cole?” Erin asked.
    “Do as she says. You’ll hear it all sooner or later. Divide and conquer. The oldest game of all. But whatever else you do, Erin, keep pointing that gun at Lai. The second you flinch, you’re as dead as diamonds.”
    Lai pressed a button on the small machine. The tape started moving.
    “The first speaker is my brother, Wing,” Lai said. “You will recognize the second man. Cole Blackburn. The conversation took place the day before Cole came to you in Los Angeles.”
    After a brief silence, a voice came from the speaker.
    “The Chen family didn’t hire you merely because you’re a brilliant prospector, although you are. We brought you into this because you have a verbal promise from Abelard Windsor of a fifty-percent interest in Sleeping Dog Mines Ltd. as a full repayment of gambling debts incurred by him during a night of playing Two Up. Do you have an IOU?”
    “Old Abe wasn’t that crazy.”
    “This was found at the station.”
    “Wing is referring to the IOU,” Lai said in the silence that came when the men stopped speaking. “The IOU said, ‘I owe Cole Blackburn half of Sleeping Dog Mines/Because I lost at 2-up one too many times!’”
    After a few more moments of silence, Wing resumed speaking.
    “The Chen family has taken the liberty of having two handwriting experts certify this document, so you need not fear embarrassment on that score. Even without the note, it is a legitimate gambling debt. With the note, the debt will be promptly recognized by the Australian government when you press your claim.”
    The tape went silent.
    “There is more,” Lai said.
    She watched Cole with unblinking attention. He watched her in the same way.
    After a few seconds of silence Wing’s voice came again.
    “If a woman was all that stood between you and ‘God’s own jewel box,’ what then?”
    “I learned long ago that diamonds are more enduring than women.”
    “And more alluring?”
    There was a brief pause before Wing continued.
    “Whether you seduce her or not is your choice. Your job will be to keep her from getting killed while she unravels Crazy Abe’s secret or until you find the mine yourself. After that, Miss Windsor no longer matters. Only the mine itself is important. That must be protected at all costs.”
    “Even at the cost of Erin Windsor’s life?”
    “Next to that mine, nothing else is