Horace took a deep breath and held it. Felix waited for Horace to make a move, imagining how he would plunge the knife into Horaces chest over and over, puncturing every organ he could reach as he took out every personal failure on this sorry excuse for a man.

Horace straightened slowly. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, glowering at Felix all the while.

Take a swing, Felix thought, his hand trembling with anticipation. Lets see how fast you are.

Tell your boss that if he wants my vote, Horace said, hell have to get it the old-fashioned way.

Felix watched with disappointment as Horace left the room with a sharp snap of his suit jacket. It was just as well, though. Felix would get his blood, one way or the other. A young woman tied hand and foot wasnt the same challenge as a grown man several inches taller than Felix, it was true, but maybe he would even the odds.

Maybe he would cut her loose, give her a head start before he chased her. Maybe he would even leave his night-vision goggles and hunt her in the dark.

There were so many possibilities.

As the last of the staff drove off, following the guests, Felix descended to the wine cellar. The long, vaulted room had originally been excavated as part of a copper mine. While building the villa, Mr. Roth had decided to incorporate the tunnel into the building, but he had planned to seal it off completely from the rest of the mine. Felix, however, who had overseen the construction of the building while Mr. Roth attended his numerous business affairs back in California, had decided it could prove useful to have an escape route, should they ever need one, and so he had instructed the builders to install a movable shelf.

Now, as he turned the shelf and exposed the rugged tunnel on the other side, he knew he had made the right decision. Without the tunnel, he couldnt have hidden the bodies nearly as effectively, and without disposing of those girlswell, he had known they would talk eventually, even if Mr. Roth had believed the blackmail would be enough.

Sometimes Felix had to protect Mr. Roth from himself.

A backpack rested on the ground just inside the tunnel. It contained everything he could need: two flashlights, a pair of night-vision goggles with spare batteries, a large coil of rope, duct tape, bottled waterand, of course, his AK-47. He would have packed snacks, too, but he couldnt leave food in the tunnel, not with all the rodents.

He closed the shelf behind him, donned the goggles, and then hefted the backpack.

It was time to take care of loose ends.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

When Harley saw the villas gate standing open, she floored the gas, kicking up a cloud of dust that obscured the train of police cars behind them. She fish-tailed into the courtyard, desperately hoping they werent too late.