Inca Gold

    Like some hideous wraith rising from the murky abyss of a watery hell, a human form slowly arose from the black depths of the river and moved toward the shore. The apparition, with black seaweedlike shreds hanging from its body, looked like something that belonged not to this world but to the deepest reaches of an alien planet. The effect was made even more shocking by the reappearance of the dead.

    Clenched under the right arm, as a father might carry his child, was the inert body of Rudi Gu

    Sarason's face looked like a white plaster death mask. Sweat poured down his forehead. For a man who did not excite easily, his eyes were near-crazed with shock. He stood silent, as the monstrosity left him too stu

    Amaru leaped to his feet and tried to speak, but only a whispered croak came out. His lips quivered as he rasped, "Go back, diablo, go back to infierno."

    The phantom gently lowered Gu

    The two men who were still pi

    The others bolted away from Loren as if she had suddenly acquired the black plague. Julio moaned in a far corner unable to see, his hands still over his injured eyes.

    Loren was beyond screaming. She stared at the man from the river, recognizing him but convinced she was seeing a hallucination.

    The shock of disbelief, then horror at the realization of who the apparition was, made Amaru's heart turn cold. "You!" he gasped in a strangled voice.

     "You seem surprised to see me, Tupac," said Pitt easily. "Cyrus looks a little green around the gills too."

    "You're dead. I killed you."

    "Do a sloppy job, get sloppy results." Pitt cycled the Colt from man to man and spoke to Loren without looking at her. "Are you badly hurt?"

    For a moment she was too stu

    "If there's another one, I hope they catch him before he signs our name to a lot of checks. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."

    She nodded gamely. "Thanks to you I'll survive to see these beasts pay."

    "You won't have to wait long," Pitt said with a voice of stone. "Are you strong  enough to make it up the passageway?"

    "Yes"yes," Loren murmured as the reality of her salvation began to sink in. She shuddered as she pushed the dead men away from her and rose unsteadily to her feet, indifferent to her nakedness. She pointed down at Gu

    "These sadistic scum did this to the two of you?"

    Loren nodded silently.

    Pitt's teeth were bared, murder glaring out of his opaline green eyes. "Cyrus here just volunteered to carry Rudi topside." Pitt casually waved the gun in the direction of Sarason. "Give her your shirt."

    Loren shook her head. "I'd rather go nude than wear his sweaty old shirt."

    Sarason knew he could expect a bullet, and fright was slowly replaced by self-preservation. His scheming mind began to focus on a plan to save himself. He sagged to the rock floor as if overcome with shock, his right hand resting on a knee only centimeters away from a .38-caliber derringer strapped to his leg just inside his boot. "How did you get here?" he asked, stalling.

    Pitt was not taken in by the mundane question. "We came on an underground cruise ship."

    "We?"

    "The rest of the team should be surfacing at any moment," Pitt bluffed.

    Amaru suddenly shouted at his two sound, remaining men. "Rush him!"

    They were hardened killers but they had no wish to die. They made no effort to reach for the automatic rifles they had laid aside during the attempt to rape Loren. One look down the barrel of Pitt's .45 beneath the burning eyes was enough to deter anyone who did not cherish suicidal tendencies.

    "You yellow dogs!" Amaru snarled.

    "Still ordering others to do your dirty work, I see," said Pitt. "It appears I made a mistake not killing you in Peru."

    "I vowed then you would suffer as you made me."

    "Don't bet your Solpemachaco pension on it."

    "You intend to murder us in cold blood," said Sarason flatly.

    "Not at all. Cold-blooded murder is what you did to Dr. Miller and God only knows how many other i

    "Without the decency of a fair trial," protested Sarason as his hand crept past his knee toward the concealed derringer. Only then did he notice that Pitt's injuries went beyond the bloody gash across the forehead. There was a fatigued droop to the shoulders, an unsteadiness to his stance. The skewed left hand was pressed against his chest. Broken wrist and ribs, Samson surmised. His hopes rose as he realized that Pitt was on the thin edge of collapse.

    "You're hardly one to demand justice," said Pitt, biting scorn in his tone. "A pity our great American court system doesn't hand out the same punishment to killers they gave to their victims."

    "And you are not one to judge my actions. If not for my brothers and me, thousands of artifacts would be rotting away in the basements of museums around the world. We preserved the antiquities and redistributed them to people who appreciate their value."

    Pitt stopped his roving gaze and focused on Sarason. "You call that an excuse? You justify theft and murder on a grand scale so you and your criminal relatives can make fat profits. The magic words for you, pal, are charlatan and hypocrite."

    "Shooting me won't put my family out of business."

    "Haven't you heard?" Pitt grimly smiled. "Zolar International just went down the toilet. Federal agents raided your facilities in Galveston. They found enough loot to fill a hundred galleries."

    Sarason tilted his head back and laughed. "Our headquarters in Galveston is a legitimate operation. All merchandise is lawfully bought and sold."

    "I'm talking about the second facility," Pitt said casually.

    A flicker of apprehension showed in Sarason's tan face. "There is only one building."

    "No, there are two. The storage warehouse separated by a tu

    Sarason looked as if he'd been struck across the face with a club. "Damn you to hell, Pitt. How could you know any of this?"

    "A pair of federal agents, one from Customs, the other from the FBI, described the raid to me in vivid terms. I should also mention that they'll be waiting with open arms when you attempt to smuggle Huascar's treasure into the United States."

    Sarason's fingers were a centimeter (less than half an inch) away from the little twin-barreled gun. "Then the joke's on them," he said, resurrecting his blasé facade. "The gold isn't going to the United States."

    "No matter," Pitt said with quiet reserve. "You won't be around to spend it."