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time intercepting you. When you were keeping away from the Shans, you also
kept away from us.
Annja spit. Her mouth felt like an old gym shoe.  Qiangsha said Jerry
Cromwell s dead.
 Oh, yes. Easy smiled and nodded.  Curiously enough, the wound proved
instantly fatal. I rather feared he d live on for days without his head, like
a roach.
Annja shook her head.  And the Wa?
 Gone with the proverbial wind. Apparently they took their prophet being
struck down in their midst as a sign the Lord had withdrawn his favor from
them. The GSSA did their brutal best to reinforce the impression. The last
living Wa was off the mesa by sunset.
 Last living?
 A few were unwise enough to straggle. The Protectors can be remarkably
vindictive. They aren t given to torture. Inflicting sudden death that s
another thing.
She stooped to wind Annja s arm over her shoulder.  And now we d best be
getting back. While our Shan friends are occupied killing each other, the
Protectors are going to encourage them to move their dispute elsewhere.
 But they still outnumber the Protectors! Annja said.
 To be sure, Easy said. With surprising strength she pushed off, hoisting
Annja to her feet with little help from the larger woman.  But with them split
into multiple factions, demoralized by recent events, and with the Protectors
fighting the sort of battle they know best sniping from the trees and the
like I doubt they ll have much stomach for staying where they re so obviously
unwanted.
31
 Seriously, Easy, Annja said.  We need to work this out.
 Well, Easy said. Was the lightness in her voice real or feigned?  The
villagers did give us free rein to do as we will up here.
It had been a brisk climb through stinging morning sun up the sheer face of
the red pinnacle to the Temple of the Elephant. Despite their bruises and
residual exhaustion from their recent adventures, the two young women had
climbed with vigor. We re nothing if not resilient, Annja reflected.
 I doubt that means they ll let us steal their price less idol, Annja said.
It gave her a jolt to recall that she had come here at great personal cost and
as she could never forget, far greater cost to her companions to do exactly
that. But I didn t know about the Protectors then, she thought.
It sounded lame even inside her head.
 We agreed, did we not, Easy said,  that we d get up here and then see what
we might see? After all 
She started to say more. But then they mounted high enough on the steps inside
the temple s spacious foyer to behold the Golden Elephant itself, its golden
glory brilliantly lit by a ray of morning sun through the arched entryway.
Annja stopped. She couldn t seem to breathe.
 Oh, my God, Easy said.
 This changes things, Annja managed to say.
 Quite.
 Ladies, a male voice said in musically accented English from behind them,
 there s no need to fight. As entertaining as that would be to watch, I m
afraid I cannot take the risk.
The two young women spun in place.
 Giancarlo? Easy said in a breathless schoolgirl gasp.
 Giancarlo? Annja said in shock.
The archaeologist smiled a smile as radiant as the idol itself still out of
his view beyond the high temple steps.
He stood limned against electric morning dazzle. He was flanked by pairs of
burly men in expensive expedition wear. They pointed handguns at Easy and
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Annja.
 You son of a bitch, both women said at once.
He spread his hands innocently.  Ah. Harsh language does nothing to help us
here.
Annja s throat was suddenly so dry she had to work her mouth to summon saliva
and swallow before she could force words out.  So you re behind this, she
said angrily.
 Not exactly, he said, still smiling benignly. He wore no pack, but his
normally svelte figure looked oddly bulky beneath the lightweight tan jacket
he wore. Despite a bit of a breeze it was hot as hell out there in the
morning; Annja and Easy alike were sheened with sweat from their own exertion
scaling the seventy-foot sheer precipice. Giancarlo looked as cool as if he
lounged in an air-conditioned private club in Buenos Aires.  Let s say I
accepted a commission similar to the one that propelled you both here.
 So you set us up, Annja said as mental tumblers fell into place with clicks
she thought Easy ought to be able to hear beside her.  You& got the red ants
and the black to fight.
 Competition, the current wisdom avers, works wonders. And in any event, by
the time I was offered the commission you both had attained a substantial
lead. So I thought  he shrugged   why wastefully duplicate effort myself,
when not just one but two brilliant and ingenious young women were already on
the trail? Simpler to let you do what you did so well, and follow in your
tracks.
 But I slept with you! Easy wailed.
Annja shifted her weight uncomfortably.  You, too? Easy asked her.
 No, Annja stated emphatically, relieved it was the truth.
Giancarlo cleared his throat.  Ladies, he said, raising his voice only
slightly. It echoed within the high arched foyer of the Temple.
The professional-archaeologist part of her mind, still working below surging
tidal layers of despair, outrage and fury, told Annja that must be a mark of
sophisticated acoustic design.
 I fear we ve no time for recriminations. Or rather, you ve no time for
recriminations.
 Not so fast, pal, Annja said.  You killed Sir Sidney. And poor Isabelle!
 And set those dogs on me in Montmartre, Easy added.
 Whom you dispatched with admirable ruthlessness, my dear, Scarlatti said.
 As for Professor Hazelton, do these look like hands that could beat a gentle
old man to death? No, it was Luigi, here, who did in the ridiculous old
blatherer. His head flip indicated a goon on his right, who had a slab jaw
and a black-browed scowl.
 And a fearful mess he made, although I scarcely blame him. An unavoidable
by-product of such work. As for Professor Gendron, though, I admit I pulled [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]