Midnight Jewels

her seat and concentrated on keeping her stomach under control. In the end she had to close her eyes against the images of deep ravines and clawing peaks. Once more she sought for the calm circle of light within herself.
    The trip wasn't quite as bad as she had anticipated, but the faint relief she felt on that score was wiped out by her fear of what awaited her at the other end of the trip.
    When she opened her eyes twenty minutes later, Mercy saw that Isobel was making her descent into the compound of Gladstone's estate. The sun had set and the last of the twilight was rapidly turning into darkness.
    "Inside," Isobel ordered as she shut down the helicopter. "Erasmus is waiting for you."
    "Geez, if I'd known that I would have hurried." Mercy slowly unbuckled the belt. She half expected Isobel to snatch
Valley
from her grasp, but the other woman made no move to do so. Instead she walked beside Mercy toward the main entrance of the house. The dogs barked from inside their wire pen.
    The door opened as the two women approached. Gladstone stood on the threshold, looking very much as he had the day he had welcomed Mercy and Croft to his luxurious mountain fortress. The difference this time was that he held a gun in his right hand.
    "Come in, my dear, I am relieved to see you again. You have given us a great deal of trouble."
    Mercy wrinkled her nose and glanced at Isobel, who was silently escorting her toward the door. "Do you really like taking orders from this bozo? You could do better than him, you know. I don't think Gladstone is the world's most reliable employer."
    "If you are wise, you will watch your tongue," Isobel advised coolly. "You are nothing but a nuisance in this affair. Now that we have the book, there is not much reason to keep a nuisance around."
    Mercy wondered when she should mention that the microfilm was no longer inside the spine of
Valley
. She decided to wait until she saw Croft. Perhaps he would have an idea of how best to play their last ace.
    Gladstone saw the book in Mercy's grasp and nodded approvingly at Isobel. "I see you have made up for some of your recent incompetence, Isobel. We now have the book and soon we will have this entire affair under wraps. Here," he handed the gun to Isobel. "You can take care of this. You know how much I dislike weapons. They are your responsibility. Give me the book."
    Isobel inclined her head in acknowledgement as she accepted the gun. She held the weapon with the ease of long familiarity as she motioned Mercy inside the house.
    Mercy held her breath as she saw Erasmus give
Valley
a cursory glance. He didn't seem concerned with what he saw. Probably because he didn't think she had the brains to have uncovered his secret, Mercy decided grimly.
    "You certainly are handy to have around the place, Isobel," Mercy remarked as she stepped into the marble hall.
    Gladstone chuckled. "Most useful, except when she makes a mistake as she did last night. Isobel is my bodyguard and my personal servant, Mercy. My safety is her responsibility. She is also in charge of making sure I get what I want. She knows that if she fails in either capacity she will no longer be of any use to me. You made her quite nervous last night, my dear, when you managed to pull your lover out of the swimming pool."
    Mercy stopped and turned to stare at Isobel. "What about Dallas and Lance? Just a couple of extra servants?"
    "Dallas and Lance reported to me," Isobel answered. "I made certain when I hired them that they could do no lasting damage to Erasmus in the event they screwed up and got picked up by the police. Their records are against them, you see. And we knew things about them that were not on their prison records, things that would have sent them back to jail for life."
    "So you kept them under control with blackmail?"
    Gladstone smiled. "I also paid them very well. They were reasonably content, I think, until recently."
    "You sent them to get
Valley
that night at the motel, didn't you?" Mercy asked.
    "When we learned you had brought someone with you Isobel became worried," Gladstone explained genially. "Falconer's presence raised several disturbing questions. She decided to find out what she could about your little surprise by sending Dallas and Lance to the motel to have a look through his room. She also decided that we might as well pick up
Valley
in the process just to make certain some elaborate switch hadn't been executed. If matters were falling apart unexpectedly, we would at