Death is Forever

important.
    Nothing.”
    A pause, then, “All right, Wing. Tell Uncle Li he has his man.”
    The silence hissed with unused tape.
    Lai waited, never looking away from Cole.
    “I would like,” Erin said hoarsely, “to hear that tape again.”
    Lai groped one-handed for the rewind button, then glanced aside to find it.
    Cole’s foot lashed out and connected with her wrist. The gun went flying. When his hand wrapped around Lai’s delicate throat, she went utterly still. In a gesture that could have been a caress or a warning, he ran his thumb over the pulse beating visibly in Lai’s neck.
    “You’re just one surprise after another,” he said to Lai. “How long have you spied for Street against your own family?”
    A shudder went through Erin as she heard Cole’s voice. There was no hatred, no passion, no anger, no emotion of any sort, simply a ruthless patience that owed nothing to civilization or humanity. It was the same for his eyes, icy in their clarity and lack of mercy.
    “I began planning my revenge the moment I was forced to abort your child and marry a man three times my age,” Lai said. Her voice was low, soft, husky, the voice of a woman talking to her lover. “I was the one who approached Jason Street. I was the one who sabotaged the helicopter and the Rover. I was the one who told Jason to have one of Abe’s Aborigines follow you and report the instant that you died. Then Jason and I would fly in and fix the Rover, discover the tragic deaths, and take out new leases in our own names.”
    Slowly Erin’s hand tightened on the heavy gun.
    Lai didn’t even notice. Her attention was fixed on the ice-pale eyes of her former lover. She kept speaking, her voice sweetly musical, as though talking of love rather than vengeance and death.
    “On the day I owned the mine, the family of Chen would count the cost of using me as a pawn,” Lai said. “I am queen, not pawn. And the man by my side would be king.”
    Cole’s strong fingers ran caressingly over Lai’s neck. “Queen of lies.” He glanced over at Erin. Her face was pale, her eyes so dark they looked more black than green. “I don’t suppose it would do any good to say I fell in love with your photos before I ever met you.”
    “Love? You?” Erin made an odd sound that could have been a laugh or a sob. “Sweet God, Cole, credit me with enough sense to come in out of the rain.”
    “Yeah, I figured that’s how you’d look at it. Congratulations, honey. You’ve finally learned to be a survivor. Now you’ll have the same problem I had—finding something worth surviving for.”
    Erin looked away, unable to meet the bleakness of Cole’s eyes.
    “I’m going to call Chen Wing and tell him to come and get his ever-loving sister,” Cole said to Erin. “If you don’t like that idea, you’ve got a gun. Use it.”
    Swaying, Erin fought the slow trembling that was taking her body.
    “You saved my life out there,” she said raggedly, lowering the gun. “I kept Lai from killing you. We’re even.”
    Cole’s smile made ice slide down Erin’s spine. “Lai wasn’t going to kill me. She was going to have me sign a marriage certificate—right after she killed you.”
    Lai’s head dipped gracefully as she brushed her chin caressingly across the powerful hand that was still holding her prisoner.
    “If the baby had been male,” Lai said huskily, “I would never have aborted it. But the child was only female and you were in Brazil. It is not too late, beloved. She will not shoot you. Take the gun from her. Together we could rule the diamond tiger.”
    In the stretching silence, the sound of Erin’s broken breathing was far too loud. Cole watched as the gun muzzle shifted to Lai’s head and Erin’s finger tightened on the trigger. He made no move to interfere, simply waited with inhuman patience for whatever Erin decided.
    “You’re better at handling snakes than I am,” Erin said hoarsely, lowering the gun. “Kill her or keep her for a pet, it makes no difference to me.”
    Erin walked out of the room without looking back.

47
Los Angeles Several weeks later
    “It was good of you to come here,” Chen Wing said to his guests.
    The man nodded. The woman ignored him.
    Wing closed the door of BlackWing’s Los Angeles office behind Erin and Matthew Windsor. Wing’s dark glance came back to Erin and stayed. She looked different from her photo. Older. More reserved. More controlled. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek chignon.