The Emperor's Tomb

EIGHTY

MALONE TOSSED THE SPEAR ASIDE, FACED VIKTOR, AND ALLOWED his black mood to envelop him. “We finish this now.”

Viktor did not hesitate. He lost his weapon, too. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.”

They sprang into each other, both landing punches. Viktor’s caught Malone near the left temple and the room exploded in a whirl of lights.

He lashed out with his leg, catapulting Viktor, buying the moment he needed to plant a right jab into Viktor’s jaw.

A vicious kick to his lower leg twisted Malone sideways.

He absorbed a couple of blows, drawing Viktor closer. Before a third punch could be landed, he popped Viktor’s throat, then slammed a solid right into the rib cage.

The thin air sliced his lungs like razor blades.

He advanced on Viktor, who was coming back upright, one hand across his gut, his face contorted in rage.

“I’m going to kill you, Malone.”

CASSIOPEIA HEARD VIKTOR’S DECLARATION. EVERY NERVE IN his body seemed taut. He’d plunged into the hall intent on a confrontation. Cotton seemed likewise wired tight.

She was careful to stay behind the pillar, out of sight.

A sharp cry from below drew her attention.

MALONE HEARD A YELL AS VIKTOR’S SHOULDER SLAMMED INTO his chest. Momentum drove them both off their feet. Together they pounded into the hard floor and slid.

Something popped in his own shoulder.

Searing pain shot through his brain and heat surged at the back of his head. He smelled the pungent scent of burning hair.

His own.

Viktor was on top, hands to Malone’s throat.

TANG WAS SHOCKED BY PAU WEN’S VERBAL ATTACK. NEVER HAD the master spoken to him like that, outside of their scripted conversations, performed for Ni’s benefit.

He wondered if this were another—Pau doing what he did best, improvising. He decided to play along. “I was unaware that you thought me such a coward.”

“There are many things you are unaware of.”

“Like the imperial library you found decades ago? Or the fact that you looted Qin Shi’s tomb and brought everything here?”

“All done before you rose to any position of prominence. I, on the other hand, was Hegemon.”

“Why did you flee the pit in Xi’an, with the brothers, leaving Malone and Vitt alive? They should have died there.” That he truly did want to know.

“With all the attention that would have generated? Not even you, the first vice premier, could have explained that.”

“If you think me so incompetent, why are we doing this?”

“Tell him, Minister,” Pau said to Ni. “Why are we doing this?”

NI WAS NOT FOOLED BY PAU’S REBUKE OF TANG, BUT HE DECIDED to answer the inquiry with a question of his own. “How many people are you willing to kill for power?”

“As many as necessary,” Tang said.

“Then the answer to your question is clear,” he said in Pau’s ear. “You are doing this so that a great many people may die.”

A SUDDEN RUSH OF PAIN TO THE TOP OF HIS SKULL ENERGIZED Malone. He swung his right arm up and wrapped Viktor’s neck in a vise grip, rolling, reversing the situation.

Viktor landed atop the coals, which crunched beneath his jacket.

They rolled again, this time away from the heat. But Malone had a problem. His left shoulder hurt badly, and the pain robbed his right arm of strength.

And Viktor pounced.

CASSIOPEIA SAW COTTON REACH FOR HIS LEFT SHOULDER JUST as Viktor swung a fist upward, clipping his jaw, toppling him backward. Viktor seized the moment and found the gun that had slid away at the beginning of the brawl.

She had to do something.

So she reached for the knife in her pocket and tossed it over the rail, angling for the coals near Cotton.

MALONE HEARD SOMETHING LAND IN THE EMBERS.

His eyes darted right and he spotted a knife at the same moment Viktor found the gun.

His shoulder was probably dislocated. Every movement sent electric agony to his brain. His right hand gripped his left arm, trying to hold the joint in place even as he reached for the blade—warm to the touch—flipping the tip between his fingers, ready to toss.

Viktor’s eyes were two hard flints.

Icy sweat beaded on both of their brows.

Viktor aimed the gun.

TANG CRIED OUT IN MANDARIN, “NOW.”

And the two brothers in the shadows raced forward, leveling their crossbows at Ni.

“Your show of courage is over,” Tang said. He caught a look of satisfaction in Pau’s eyes and said, “I thought ahead.”

“You apparently think little of your master,” Ni replied.

“On the contrary. I regard him highly. Enough that if you kill him, we shall kill you.”

“You believe him?” Ni asked Pau. “Or will he kill us both?”

“Lower the blade,” Pau quietly said to Ni.

NI COULD SEE THAT HIS OPTIONS WERE GONE. HE COULD KILL Pau Wen and die right now, or he could lower the weapon and take his chances.

Tang, not Pau, was who deserved to die.

He withdrew the blade and tossed it to the floor.

CASSIOPEIA AIMED HER BOW DOWNWARD, READYING HERSELF. She was unsure of what was happening, other than the fact that Cotton was hurt, Viktor was pissed, Ni was in trouble, and she was in a position to do something.

“Don’t do it,” she shouted.

MALONE HEARD CASSIOPEIA’S VOICE.

His head spun toward its source and he saw a crossbow projecting from the shadows of the first-floor gallery, near one of the pillars, aimed at Viktor.

“Drop the gun,” she yelled. “Now.”

Malone stared at Viktor, who did not move, the weapon held tight with both hands, eyes sighting an aim straight at Malone’s chest.

“Shoot me and she shoots you,” he said to Viktor.

He doubted he could flick the blade before the gun fired.

“That’s my knife,” Viktor quietly said. “I gave it to her.”

“And she gave it to me.”

Which spoke volumes.

Viktor’s eyes closed, then opened. Malone caught a flicker of understanding, the gaze telegraphing a different intention from the aimed weapon. Then he knew. What Stephanie had said.

Actually, we’d like Tang dead.

“You take care of her, Malone,” Viktor said.

Then he swung around and adjusted his aim.

Straight at Karl Tang.

TANG GREW IMPATIENT OF VIKTOR’S FACE-OFF WITH MALONE.

What was he waiting for?

He grabbed the crossbow from the brother beside him and yelled, “Shoot him now, or I’ll shoot you.”

Viktor whirled.

Every fear he’d ever harbored for this foreigner now bubbled to the surface as the gun barrel focused on him.

He fired the crossbow.

An instant later the arrow slammed into Viktor Tomas.

The other brother, sensing danger, had likewise readjusted his aim. A second arrow pierced Viktor’s chest, the shaft sinking deep. Viktor choked, blood spewing from his mouth. The gun fell from his grip. A hand came to the throat.

His knees dissolved into jelly.

Then he collapsed.

CASSIOPEIA WINCED AS VIKTOR’S BODY WAS PIERCED IN QUICK succession by two high-speed arrows. Only a few seconds passed before he teetered, tried to find his balance, then collapsed to the floor with a grunt.

She stepped from the shadows to the balustrade, aimed her bow at Karl Tang, and fired.

NI REALIZED THAT CASSIOPEIA VITT WAS IN THE UPPER GALLERY and apparently armed. The two brothers had shot their arrows. The foreigner was down. Malone held a knife, but he was a long way away.

She was their only chance.

Vitt came into view, a crossbow in her hand, and she fired.

Tang, though, had anticipated the move, diving to his right.

The arrow found the floor and careened away.

MALONE COULD SEE THAT CASSIOPEIA’S SHOT HAD MISSED. HE held the knife, but little good it could do.

The gun.

Which lay near Viktor.

He had to get it.

TANG CAME TO HIS FEET AND DARTED TOWARD THE SWORD NI Yong had discarded. He gripped the hilt and commanded the two brothers to seize Ni.

He’d show Pau Wen who possessed courage.

He cocked his arm and advanced toward Ni.

NI TRIED TO FREE HIMSELF BUT THE TWO BROTHERS WERE strong. Pau Wen had drifted away, closer to the shelves, watching.

His gaze darted out into the hall.

Malone was searching for something.

Tang was less than three meters away, the arm holding the sword ready to thrust the blade into his gut.

MALONE FOUND THE GUN.

The pain in his shoulder was excruciating. He’d doubted he would have been able even to toss the knife. His right hand lifted the weapon, finger on the trigger. He wondered if there were more brothers in the hall, preparing at this moment to skewer him, too.

No matter.

He had no choice.

He aimed the gun and fired.

TANG HEARD A RETORT, THEN FELT SOMETHING POUND INTO his right side. Strange, the feeling. Nothing at first, then unimaginable pain, as if a surge of energy had passed through him, scorching his insides.

He stopped his advance and staggered to the right.

He stared out into the hall and saw Cotton Malone aiming a gun straight at him.

Another bang, and a bullet pierced his chest.

A third shot.

Then he saw nothing at all.