“You have maybe fifteen to twenty minutes to live. Make peace with whatever you believe,” Kruger said. “I wish you good luck in the next life, doctor. Hopefully, you’ll make better choices there.”

He noticed Zarina was at his shoulder now, rubbing his muscular arm, clearly aroused by the blood and death.

Turning toward his wife, he said, “Did you kill all the people in that camp? Did you do it on purpose? Against orders?”

She diverted her gaze a moment, but then Zarina nodded.

He stroked her platinum hair and asked, “Why? Why kill all those poor people? They were like us.”

She typed on her wrist and the electronic voice said, “That’s why I killed them. All those children. They would have grown up hated and broken. They were white children in Africa, and no one would have ever accepted them. They had no future but pain, simply because of the color of their skin. They would have been freaks. Many would have known the anguish of starvation and sickness. Just like you and me. I saved them from that pain. I protected the innocence that this terrible world would have stolen from them.”

Tears flowed from his eyes, and he pulled his wife’s small body close to him. Then he kissed her on the forehead and said, “You will always be my golden one. You should have told me sooner, but I forgive you. Let’s finish this and go home to our little girl.”

Chapter 95

Nic passed through the glass front doors of the dead casino, surprised that any of the glass was still in place. A few of the twenty-foot glass panels had been busted by vandals or strong winds, but almost all of them were still intact. He supposed it was a testament to Black Dog and their now-deceased commander that they had taken such good care of the abandoned structure.

The interior of The Jade Dragon was truly impressive. Marble colonnades supported a horseshoe balcony. The ceiling had been painted to look like a blue sky and the effect was amazing even in its darkened state. It made Nic feel like he was actually outdoors. The part he found unsettling was the 2,000 terra-cotta soldiers lined up in front of them like a defending army. The outer rim of the lobby was empty, clearly designed to hold gaming tables and slot machines. But the center was the realm of the emperor’s soldiers.

Behind the army was the statue that would have given the casino its name. The massive dragon statue made from pure jade was supposedly the largest jade sculpture in the world. Nic was surprised it hadn’t been removed, but he supposed someone still held hope that the doomed project would get off the ground. But even he had heard that the structure had fallen into such disrepair that it would take more money to remodel than it would to blow it all to hell and start from scratch.

It was a shame. He could see the original vision for the place even now, and it would have been truly impressive. He could imagine the feeling of being transported to the ancient orient, a place ruled by emperors and dragons. But he supposed vision didn’t matter when money was involved.