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CASSIOPEIA SLUGGED HER ATTACKER IN THE FACE HE WAS weakened by her blow to his groin, stunned frohing, gasping for bits of air a the smoke

Another punch and he collapsed, not

The fire had now consu—and sful of carbon

Two gunshots echoed from down the corridor

“Cotton,” she called out

Another gunshot

“Cotton For God’s sake answer me”

“I’m here,” he yelled

“Can you get to the stairs?”

“No I’ out one of the s”

She should go to him and help He’d come for her

“Can you get out?” he called out over the flames

“It’s clear here”

She kept her gaze down the third-floor corridor, now cos ached The heat was stifling She realized there was no choice She had to leave But—

“I need the lamp,” she yelled

“I have it”

“I’,” she called out

“See you outside”

She turned and headed for the stairs, but so stood a rasp was a bow, an arrow threaded onto the string, pulled tight

Her gun was gone There was nowhere to run

The man kept his aim, his intentions clear

He’d come to kill her

THIRTY-ONE

NI HEARD ANOTHER OF THE THIRD-FLOOR WINDOWS SHATTER, followed by soht He watched as a chair crashed into the garden, then saw shadowyelse was tossed down Sraveled paths

“That could be e seek,” Pau said

Ahold of the vines that veined the ht size or build to be Pau’s minion

“He is the one who entered after the three,” Pau said

Ni agreed

Sirens were approaching Soon the area would be croith eency personnel

“We round,” Pau said

He agreed “I’ll go”

“Hurry”

Ni fled their hiding place and crossed the darkness back to the garden He kept one eye on thethe vines to descend Ni chose an oblique approach, advancing not along the graveled paths, cut with precision through the odorous flora, but down the edge, using the soft soil and a row of tall cypresses to mask his approach

He spotted the chair broken into pieces, then looked where he’d seen the sht of a dark form in the middle of one of the paths

He glanced up and saw thehis descent Head and eyes seee of the moment and crept to the object

He lifted it and found it warm

A dragon’s head on a tiger’s body with the wings of a phoenix

The lamp

MALONE GRIPPED THE STALKS AND EASED HIS BODY DOWNWARD He’d ed to re-retrieve the laarden He’d noticed on his initial approach that the gravel beloas fine, like ball bearings, so it should have provided a cushioned landing

He wasn’t sorry the man inside was dead No doubt once he’d turned over the lamp he would have been shot himself

He kept his attention on the vines, grateful that they’d apparently flourished a long time, their meaty stalks firmly attached to the exterior The second level had yet to catch fire, and the smoke from the top two floors spewed upward, away from him Definitely cooler and easier to breathe here