Death is Forever

the oldest big land surface on earth, which means the diamonds that were eroded out of their mother pipe could still be around somewhere, rounded off and gathered into placer pockets, waiting for us to find them.”
    He twisted the collective control, dropping the helicopter toward the ground between the ragged ranges of hills. As the chopper descended into a clearing in the gum trees, dust and grit boiled up from the ground.
    As soon as the rotor settled into a lazy rhythm, she reached for her harness.
    Cole’s hand locked around hers. “Wait.”
    Eyes narrowed against the brilliant light that penetrated even the sunglasses’ deep orange tint, he looked at the patches of dappled shade thrown by trees and at the thicker shadows cast by rocky knobs.
    One of the shadows separated and began to move toward them.
    Cole put his hand back on the controls. “See it?” he asked.
    For a time she didn’t. She stared intently at the dappled light and shade beneath the gum and acacia trees. Then her breath came in hard as she recognized the dusty black hide and thick curving horns of a water buffalo.
    The animal lowered its head, preparing to drive off the interloper.
    “My God,” she said. “It’s huge!”
    “Mean, too.”
    Cole brought up the revs and held the helicopter at a hover a few feet off the ground.
    The sudden sound and movement made the water buffalo cautious. It stopped and watched balefully.
    “Are there any more around?” she asked.
    “No. The bulls are solitary except at mating time.”
    “Like men,” she said coolly.
    The bull charged before Cole could answer.
    He raised the helicopter until the skids were ten feet off the ground. The water buffalo passed beneath the hovering craft, slowed, and slewed around to face its elusive enemy.
    Cole held the chopper tilted in a position that sent the maximum amount of dust and grit in the animal’s eyes. After a few minutes the bull turned and trotted away in disgust.
    “Reminds me of Abe,” Cole said over the noise of the engine. “Angry, alone, and working hard to stay that way.”
    “When Abe’s anger wore thin, he must have been a desperately lonely man.”
    “What makes you think it ever wore thin?”
    “Anger always does.”
    He looked closely at her face, but her sunglasses still concealed any emotion. “Is that why you left Alaska?” he asked. “Did your rage at life finally wear thin and leave you lonely?”
    She tilted her head, thinking about it. “I suppose that’s part of it. What’s your excuse, Cole? What did life do to you that turned you into a solitary rogue?”
    “I trusted a woman who said she loved me.”
    Erin became unnaturally still. “Lai?”
    “Lai,” he agreed.
    “What happened?”
    “The usual. She didn’t love me.”
    “Did you love her?”
    He shrugged. “What’s love? I wanted her.”
    With that Cole landed the helicopter. Instead of getting out immediately, he cut back on the revs and watched the bush where the bull had disappeared.
    Nothing moved but leaves tossed by the rotor’s artificial wind.
    After a time he throttled down to an idle. No shadow came drifting up from among the trees to challenge the helicopter’s right to land.
    “Stay here,” he said.
    She would have argued, but without the fanning action of the rotor, the heat was unbearable. She didn’t want to get out and slog over soft ground beneath the full weight of the sun for no better reason than defying Cole Blackburn.
    Keeping one eye on the bush where the bull had disappeared, Cole walked toward one of the many unremarkable dark rocks that poked through the soil. The sound of steel on stone rang through the wilderness as he chipped off a sample with his rock hammer. Beneath the rough black exterior, the stone was a smooth shade of cream. He took samples from other black rock knobs before he returned to the helicopter.
    By the time he climbed in, he was as wet as if he’d been swimming.
    “Well?” Erin asked.
    “Looks a lot like the Windjana formation, which means a reef. I won’t know for sure until I look at these under a microscope.”
    “Do you have one?”
    “Back at the station. Wing is a thorough man. What he doesn’t think of, Uncle Li does.”
    “Anything to keep their diamond prospector happy, is that it?” she asked, trying to keep the acid from her voice.
    “That’s it,” Cole agreed curtly. “Unlike some people, the Chens know just where their bread is buttered.”
    The chopper leaped into the hot,