The Final Cut

Legends. Stories meant to entertain men, to educate, to foster a desire to hunt treasures long lost to the mortal world.

One stone, cleaved into three pieces. One piece, now in her possession, sought after by a man who clearly believed in the magic of merging the three stones.

If the fragments of stories Saleem’s father had shared with her were true, his family had held the largest piece of the diamond for more than four centuries.

Kitsune knew where the third piece was hidden, because Mulvaney had told her.

Only a true descendant of the original Indian line would have the power to unite the stones.

Kitsune shook her head. She knew what the prophecy foretold, but it all seemed too incredible to believe.

She paid her bill and checked her watch. It was time to meet with Lanighan, then leave her old life behind forever.

64

Geneva, Switzerland

Hotel Beau-Rivage

Friday, early evening

One conversation thirty years ago had set him on an exhausting path. Unite the stones, and it will heal man.

To hell with man.

From his sixteenth year, Saleem wanted the god’s diamond, not for India, but for himself. Saleem’s father had been right. Saleem needed the stones united to heal himself.

He often wondered, if they had retrieved the Koh-i-Noor and its mate in time, would his grandfather have truly been healed? He’d seen the man’s face clear of its wretched pain and age when he held the one large piece, seen it with his own eyes.

Would his father, saddled with kidney disease, have lived beyond his sixtieth year?

Would Saleem himself have sickened in his teens, his body have been pumped full of the poison that put him in this desperate position now? Cured, alive, but unable to father a child?

And last month, at his a

With the three stones united, he would be healed and forever immortal. Not only would he have the Koh-i-Noor this very day, he also finally had in his possession the lost seventy-seven-carat stone from Antwerp. If his father had any idea his old friend Andrei Anatoly held his diamond all these years, he would have killed the man himself.

No matter. Anatoly was dead, and the smallest piece of the diamond was now safe in a Paris warehouse, awaiting its brothers.

He would return to Paris, open the locked box, marry the three stones, and be healed. Then he would sire a son.

Behind him, he heard a soft knock at his door.

65

Saleem opened the door to his suite. Two years since he’d seen her last, and she still took his breath away. But something was different, wrong. Her beauty was diminished. She was only a woman after all, not the mythical creature he remembered.

And then it hit him.

“Your eyes.”

She waved a hand in dismissal. “A necessary evil. May I come in, or are we going to do this transaction in the hallway?”

He stepped back and allowed her entrance. He stuck his head out the door, looking right, then left. The hall behind her was empty; she’d come alone, as instructed.

He shut the door and turned to see her watching him. She set her backpack down on the table and opened it.

“You have the Koh-i-Noor.”

“Of course. Let us do our business and go our separate ways. You are prepared to transfer the funds?”

“Let me see it first.”

She held out her hand. There was a small envelope, only a few inches big, inside her palm. “Money for the key.”

Saleem said, “Key? Key to what? Where is my diamond?”

“Safely stashed away where you will be able to claim it. As soon as I’ve confirmed the money is in my accounts.”

Was she indeed pla

Kitsune pulled back her hand.

“Did you honestly believe I was going to walk in here and hand you the stone? Do you take me for a fool, Lanighan? This is how business is done. You know the proper procedure. I see the weapon you carry under your coat. Did you plan to shoot me dead the moment you have your diamond?”

They were circling each other now, Kitsune watching his hand carefully for any sign he was going for the gun in his pocket. He was not the same man she’d met two years earlier. There was something different about him.

He’s desperate, she thought, finally recognizing the problem. But why? What had happened over the past two years?

It didn’t matter. Mulvaney had warned her she shouldn’t trust Lanighan.

“I will ask you once more. Where is my diamond?”

“The Koh-i-Noor is safe. You transfer my money, and I will tell you where to take the key. I keep my bargains. I always have. Do you?”

He was becoming enraged. She recognized the signs and took three steps back, put her weight on her back foot, ready to defend herself.

He whipped the gun from his pocket and jabbed it toward her chest. “I have been warned of your duplicity, your intention to take my money and the Koh-i-Noor. I will not allow you to do this. I want my diamond, and I want it now.”

She spun, pivoting on her left foot, and her right leg clipped the gun from his hand, sent it skidding across the floor. She followed with an elbow to his jaw, snapping his head back, knocking him into the table. She darted across the room to the weapon, raised it, aimed as he turned and started toward her.

Her voice was ice. “Stop. Right now. Or I will shoot you, Lanighan, and you will get nothing.”

He dropped his hand to his side. His rage was barely controlled. He said between clenched teeth, “It seems the warnings against you were correct.”

“Who would say that about me? I always play by the rules. You’re the one acting like an amateur. Now, I’m going to watch you transfer the money, then I will give you the key, and we will part ways, each satisfied our end of the bargain has been upheld.”

“Very well. Give me the key. An act of good faith.”

Without lowering the weapon, she tossed him the small envelope.

“It is a five-minute walk from here. Now transfer my money.”

“You will come with me.”

She shook her head. “If you try to walk out this door without transferring my money, I will shoot you dead and keep the diamond for myself.”

“Where is the diamond now?”

“Bank Horim. You can see it from here, Saleem. Go out on your balcony and look to the right.”

He considered her for a moment, then shrugged and went to the balcony. The outside air was biting, and the sun was disappearing rapidly. He turned to the right and saw the pulsing blue and white lights half a mile away.

“Kitsune. Come here.”

“So you can throw me off the balcony? No, thank you.”

“Come here now!”

She edged carefully toward the open door. She saw the lights immediately, realized there were police ears in front of the Bank Horim.

Her mobile rang, a secure number. It was Marie-Louise Helmut.

The older woman’s voice was a whisper. “People are asking about you.”

“What people?”

“An America FBI agent and an Englishman from Scotland Yard, plus a French FedPol agent. I am holding them off as long as possible, but they know you were here, and they are bringing warrants. I will not be able to stop them from opening the box.”

Drummond had found her. She’d known he would; deep down, she’d known. But how? How had he found her here?