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She knew the voice A woun to suspect that it could have been this woman!

Who was not alone

Just how many people were involved?

Suddenly, theat her, their faces grotesque in the shadows

Painted faces, wooden faces, laughing faces and the leering eyes of a Dracula

She tried to remain steady, but tripped and fell One of the arms struck hers, and the Glock fell with her in the chaos She hit the floor

And soed to keep quiet

"Have you found your friend yet, Jane? Such a conspiracy! And so easy to figure out I an They sent you in, and then Kelsey and Logan showed up So easy when lawet involved Just like before!"

Jane felt for Kelsey’s pulse She was still breathing In the darkness, Jane patted her holster They’d taken Kelsey’s gun

She realized they’d never been alone in the theater

"We’re going to get you, Agent Everett! Oh, don’t go thinking it’s like the play--that the good guy’s going to save you We’ve been waiting for hi will all be here! And the gang will all be dead!"

Sloan let his eyes adjust to the darkness He raced to the stage and was startled to run into Cy Tyburn, who seeue

"Cy! Where is everyone? Has the a on?"

"Damned if I know! Everyone’s supposed to be in here What did you say? Who needs an ahse As he did so he heard the faun

He spun around Cy had a Colt ai to shoot ht, and you can hope for escape in the next fewto reach for his oeapon

Cy shot the stage floor in front of hioing down to the base with cops in about two minutes," he said

"I don’t think so" Cy indicated the aisle along the side of the seats

So--and he kneho it was Betty His trusted deputy Sweet, older, gray-haired

And lethal

"No, I just talked to Scotty and I called Newsome," Betty said "On your behalf, of course I assured hi is under control"

"Kelsey called for the aent," Sloan said

"And you kno those feds are, always trying to take control No, I assured hiainand it’s all good"

"Until they find us all dead, of course?" Sloan asked

"You’ve figured out the old story--you and your so-called artist So, figure this out When we’re done, it’ll look like you--the sheriff--and Agent Jane Everett got together and plotted to take the gold for yourselves You were going to shoot Brian and me and the others, but we’re not idiots We shot you first"

"Seriously? Who the hell is going to believe that?"

"We have our story down pretty well," Betty told hient one oodbye," Sloan said "And if we’re going to die, I think I’d like to hear how this all started Brian wasn’t involved, was he? Cy, you were the one who put live bullets in the gun, but when Jane did her little charade in the street, you really had no choice but to go along with it But why start this whole thing? Why kill people over gold when you didn’t even have it?"

"Caleb Hough found so like a big shot He called in that enforcer of his to keep the rest of us in line Can you believe that? Caleb knew Jay Berht we’d all be afraid of him, that we’d keep our mouths shut and obey his every edict But I think Caleb felt that his own enforcer got greedy--and that’s why he shot Jay Berman out in the desert Then, well--"

"Shut up, Cy Quit being such a dramatist!" Betty snapped "Get him downstairs"

"Not fair Not fair if I don’t know the whole story So, letout on you That’s why he wound up dead?" Sloan asked

"Get hi" Sloan turned, hands held high, and started walking toward the front of the rooun trained on hi hiot it, sht have stopped the county people froan taken by surprise--as he’d been

He didn’t waste a lot of ti himself; he’d made a mistake Now he had to fix it

"Why were you out at the h!" Cy said "He had us all convinced the gold was in the mines But it wasn’t And he admitted it"

"So, if you knehere it hy didn’t you just get it and take off?" Sloan asked "And, by the here is it?"