“I told you, I saw his face.” Her lips were curved in a bitter smile. “And I knew his name. It was Anton Balkon, my dear departed husband. You might have heard a few stories about him. They were all true. So I won’t pretend to be sorry about the bastard. He was probably on his way to torment Lara. He and Volkov had a habit of—” She stopped. “I didn’t think—what happened here might change things. Why are we standing here? Shouldn’t we go and help Lara and Tanner finish this?”

“Yes, I was just waiting for you to stop talking so that we could get on the road. We should probably head for Mallory and his guys and see if those charges are really going to work.” He gazed at her, deadpan. “If you’re truly finished mourning…”

“Bastard.” She headed for Rennell’s car. “I’m definitely finished mourning.”

* * *

Lara held tight to the seat belt as Tanner gunned the Mercedes over the rough, rocky terrain of the ridge road. “I’m glad I didn’t volunteer to drive,” she shouted over the rattling noise of the metal. “Mercedes are supposed to be very sturdy, but this doesn’t feel like it.”

“It’s a good car. I’m punishing it,” Tanner said. “I want to get to the pass where we’ll be able to see the copter. If Volkov took the bait, then the timing should be just about right in another three minutes. He’ll be arriving at the pass about the same time as we do.” He grinned. “Of course, he’ll be driving up to the copter pad, which will be about a hundred feet below where we are on this ridge road. And the point will be to encourage Volkov to come up and join us, preferably in that helicopter.”

Lara was bounced against the side of the door again. “I wouldn’t want to insult that great numeric gift you have that everybody keeps telling me about, but I may end up outside this car before we get to the pass if you keep jouncing me around.”

He nodded. “One more minute. But I can make the call to Volkov now.”

“I want to make the phone call to Volkov,” Lara said quietly. “You closed me out the last time and I gave in. But not this time, Tanner. I want him to know that it’s ending for him, and it’s partly because of me that it’s happening. There’s no slick card game nor even your very impressive gift of gab. There’s just me and the man who’s hated me most of his life…and made me pay.” Her voice was low and emphatic. “How he made me pay.”

He looked at her for a moment and then reached for his phone. “I hear you. In the end, it only matters that we get Volkov on that helicopter. Then we’ll leave it to Rennell to do his job. I’m just checking to see if he’s reached the pass yet.” He dialed. “Rennell, are you at the pass? Is Volkov there?” He hung up the phone. “Volkov took the bait. He’s driving up to the helicopter pad now.” He smiled at her as he handed her his phone. “Just press the button. It will bring up Volkov’s number. And it will show my name as the caller. I believe that will goad him to answer since he was ready to behead me when we walked out of the casino. But I’ll be glad to share it with you. I don’t want to be selfish.”