Diamond Bay

"Sabin!"

"I’m thinking!" Kell yelled, keeping his head away from the window.

"Time is a luxury you can’t afford, my friend. You know you can’t win. Why not make it easy on yourself? The woman will go free, I promise you!"

Dubois’s promises weren’t worth the air it took to make them, and Kell knew it. Time. Somehow he had to buy a little time. He didn’t know what he was going to do, but every extra second gave chance an opportunity to step in. Timing was always critical, and if he could stall Dubois it might throw the man off in some way.

"What about my other friend?" he yelled.

"Of course," Dubois lied smoothly. "I have no quarrel with him."

Grant’s lips twisted back in a feral grin. "Sure. There’s no way he didn’t recognize me."

What a coup it would be for Dubois to capture both Sabin and the Tiger, the big tawny warrior with the wild, golden eyes who had ranged the jungle with Sabin and later been his prime agent. Each was legendary in his own right; together they had been incredible, so attuned that they acted as one man. Sullivan had had a run-in with some of Dubois’s men a few years back; no, Dubois wouldn’t have forgotten that, considering how Sullivan had made a fool of him.

A movement in the trees suddenly caught Kell’s attention, and his black eyes narrowed. "See if you can get him to say something else," he told Grant, sliding the barrel of the .22 just a fraction of an inch outside the broken window and keeping his eyes fixed on the spot in the trees.

"Come on, Dubois," Grant yelled. "Don’t play games. I know you recognized me."

Kell’s finger tightened slightly on the trigger as silence reigned; was Dubois really surprised to find out they knew who he was? It was true that he had always operated from the background rather than risk his own safety, but Kell had been after him for years now, ever since Dubois had begun selling his services as a terrorist.

"So it is you, Tiger."

There it was again, that slight movement. Kell sighted down the barrel and gently squeezed the trigger. The report of the rifle echoed in the small house, drowning out any cry of pain, but Kell knew he hadn’t missed. He also didn’t know if he’d hit Dubois or someone else.

A hail of bullets tore into the house, shattering all the windows and gouging long splinters out of the walls and window frames, but the steel reinforced doors held. "Guess he didn’t like that," Kell muttered.

Grant had ducked to the floor, and now his head came up. "You know, I never liked that nickname worth a damn," he drawled, then swung his rifle up. It was an automatic, and he fired it in the three-shot bursts of a well-trained soldier, making good use of his firepower without wasting his ammunition. Pistol shots came from both the bedroom and Rachel’s office; then all hell broke loose again. They were tearing the house up, and cold fear filled him, because Rachel was caught in this barrage.

"Rachel!" he yelled. "Are you all right?"

"I’m okay," she answered, and her calm voice made him ache.

"Jane!" Grant yelled. No answer. "Jane," he yelled again, his face gray as he started for the bedroom.

"I’m busy!"

Grant looked as if he might explode, and despite everything Kell found himself grinning. Better Grant than him. Still, Jane’s life was in jeopardy, too, and the thought of anything happening to her was almost as hard to bear as the thought of anyone hurting Rachel.

There was another lull, and Grant pulled out his empty clip and slapped another one into place.

"Sabin, my patience is at an end," Dubois called, and Kell grimaced. Damn, it hadn’t been Dubois he’d hit.

"You haven’t made the right offer yet," he yelled in return. Anything to buy time.

Jane crawled out of the bedroom, her hair all mussed and her eyes big. "I think the cavalry is coming," she said.

The two men ignored her, but Rachel scrambled to her side. "What?" she asked.

"Men on horseback," Jane said, waving her hand toward the bedroom. "I saw them, coming from that way."

Rachel felt like crying or laughing, but she couldn’t make up her mind which. "It’s Rafferty," she said, and now she had their attention. "My neighbor. He must have heard the shots."

Grant crouched low and ran through the kitchen to the back, where he could see. "How many?" Kell asked.

"Twenty or so," Grant said. "Damn, they’re riding right into automatic fire. Start shooting and draw Dubois’s fire!"

They did. Rachel crept up to a window, held the heavy pistol out it and fired until it was empty, then reloaded with shaking hands before emptying it again. Kell was making judicious use of the .22, and Jane was revealing remarkable skill herself. Had they given Rafferty enough time to get behind Dubois and his men? If they kept shooting, they might hit their rescuers.

"Hold it," Kell ordered. They lay flat on the floor with their heads covered while the walls were shredded by bullets. The light fixture crashed to the floor, sending glass flying. Grant cursed, and they looked over to see blood streaming down his face from a cut on his cheek. Jane gave a thin, high cry and made a move toward him, despite the continuing gunfire; Kell grabbed her and wrestled her to the floor.

"I’m all right," Grant yelled. "It’s just a little cut."

"Stay close to the floor," Kell told Jane, then let her go, knowing that she’d fight him like a wildcat if he tried to keep her from Grant.

Then, suddenly, it was quiet except for a few scattered shots, and they were abruptly halted, too. Rachel lay on the floor, hardly daring to breathe, the acrid smell of burned gunpowder filling her nostrils and even her mouth. Kell put his hand on her arm, his black eyes drifting over her pale features as if he would burn her into his memory.