He moved closer to the entrance. He could see shadows moving closer. Good. There was a slight bend in the cave, and the entrance was a narrow slit, so his aim and timing would have to be just right.

“Here's your money,” he said, and pulled the pin from the hand grenade.

As he stepped forward to toss it out of the hole, his injured right leg buckled and he fell, slamming his head against the wall of the cave. He almost blacked out. As his eyes were closing, he saw the grenade hit the ground and roll to a stop only a few feet away. He pulled himself back to consciousness and forced himself to hang on. He lunged for the grenade, felt the hard metal in his hand and again tossed it to the entrance.

His aim was better this time, but the grenade glanced off the wall and came to rest in the dead center of the opening.

Schroeder threw himself deeper into the cave and around the bend, where he gained the shelter of the wall. He clamped his hands over his ears just as the grenade exploded. There was a flash of light and a burst of white-hot metal as the shrapnel peppered the cave in a deadly fusillade. Then came a secondary roar as the entrance collapsed.

The cave was filled with dust. Schroeder lifted his head up and crawled toward the sound of coughing. The light flashed on, but the beam was diffused by the brown curtain of dust that hung in the air.

“What happened?” Karla said after the dust settled.

Schroeder groaned and spit out a mouthful of dirt. “I told you I'm getting too old for this sort of thing. I was about to toss out the grenade when I tripped and banged my head. Wait.” He took the flashlight and made his way to the entrance. He came back after a minute and said, “I did a good job. We can't get out, but they can't get in.”

“I don't know about that,” Karla said. “The leader of those men said they have a portable jackhammer.”

Schroeder considered her comment. “We'll have to go farther into the cave.”

“This place could go on underground for miles! We could become hopelessly lost.”

“Yes, I know. We will only go as far as we need to set up an ambush. I will try not to be so clumsy next time.”

Karla wondered if she was talking to the same man who had bounced her on his knee so many years ago. He had cleanly dispatched the man who tried to rape her, calmly negotiated with a band of murderers, and then, in a businesslike fashion, tried to kill the gang.

“All right,” she said. “But this secret you mentioned. What do you know about it?”

Karl fished a candle out of his pack, lit the wick and stuck it onto a ledge using melted wax.