“Arrogant prick. Anyway, there’s quite a few of them, they know what they’re doing, and they’ll have decent weapons. Anton Balkon will see to that. He’s running this show for Volkov. I don’t want there to be even a chance that Volkov isn’t a dead man when this is over. Not only dead, but in the most painful way possible.” He added grimly, “And I don’t want to leave any of his men alive to tell the story or cause any future problems for Lara and Maria. Understand?”

“I understand you may be giving me what I want. Tell me how.”

“I’m going to lure Volkov into a poker game. It will take place in the mountains at that casino where Walker sent us that note. Volkov will almost certainly try to set up a trap, which I’ll counter. But as soon as Volkov gets angry enough, he’ll send in the big guns. At that point, we’ll have to turn the trap against him. You’ll have to take them out, either before or after that happens.”

“And he’ll get angry enough? Why?”

“It’s a poker game, Rennell. The reason he killed Sandrino was that he hated to lose.” He added bitterly, “And I guarantee to add considerable salt to the wound this time.”

“But you’re going to let me take him out.”

“No promises. You’ll have an opportunity.” He added grimly, “But I might get there first.”

“An opportunity is usually all I need. Who’s checking out the site?”

“Mallory. He’ll have a report today.”

“He’s good. But I might want to do an additional follow-up myself.”

“Go ahead. But don’t make the follow-up a sniper bullet into Volkov.”

“I won’t. You promised me extreme pain for him if I waited.” He added coldly, “For that, I can be patient.”

*  *  *

Volkov didn’t call Tanner until nearly eleven that night.

Lara tensed and then sat up straight on the couch. She looked across the room at Tanner. He nodded, waited for another ring, and then answered. “Hello, Volkov. Have you had a good day?”

“What are you trying to pull, Tanner?” Volkov broke out explosively. “Why didn’t you answer my call last night? You can’t play games with me. I made you an offer.”

“So you did. But I told you that it wasn’t going to be that easy. We have to deal with my loss before I consider your offer. I’ve been thinking for a long time about what I’ll need to make me happy.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Volkov said warily.