That was when she noticed the cracked support directly over where Felix was hiding. She fired three times at the splintered wood. Then the hammer clicked dryly, the last bullet spent.

Felix stepped out of hiding. He flicked his wrist, and now a knife gleamed in his hand. His face split wide in a maniacal grin as he stepped forward, and it occurred to Harley that this face not the face he wore for Roth, his guests, or the rest of the world was his true face, the face of a scared little boy who had learned to take his hurt out on others.

And to like it.

You didnt kill because you had to, Harley said. You killed because you wanted to. And youll keep killing, wherever you go.

Felix shrugged, no longer deflecting. Its like the scorpion and the frog. Its just my nature.

He stepped forward. Harley waited, prepared to use the gun as a club. Maybe she could knock the goggles off his faceit would temporarily disorient him, at least.

Before Felix could reach her, however, there was a splintering crack overhead. He looked up, eyes wide in shock, as the support above him snapped.

His scream was cut off by an avalanche of earth. One moment he was there, the next moment there was only a pile of dirt.

The dirt was still coming down as Harley turned to Callaway.

Come on! she shouted. We need to get out!

Not without the girl! Callaway answered as he pulled his legs free. Crawling now, he began to paw with both hands at the dirt covering the girl. Harley dropped the spent pistol so she could help dig.

They uncovered the girls sneaker, then her ankle, then her calf. Callaway grunted like an ox, his powerful arms pistoning through stone, clay, and dirt even as he coughed violently.

The girl moaned. Harley dropped to the ground beside her face. Its going to be okay! she said. Were going to get you out of here, I promise. I wont leave you.

She stroked the girls face as more earth spilled down around them. She had failed Kelly, but she would not fail again. She would sooner be buried alive than leave this poor girl to die alone.

Callaway planted his feet and pressed both hands against a beam lying across one of the girls legs. With a sound that was half shout and half groan, he pushed, the toes of his boots digging into the earth, his arms trembling with the strain. Harley pressed her hands against the beam and leaned her weight into it, and together they managed to get it to slide off the girl.

Can you walk? Harley asked.

The girl did not answer.

Well carry her, Callaway announced, slipping his hands beneath the girl as gently as he could. Once she was in his arms, he looked at Harley and nodded. Lead the way.