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Pitt went taut from the bleak prospects In a few minutes the eruption would occur He wondered whether he had the strength left to fight another Dorsett He remembered his surprise when Boudicca had lifted and crushed his body against the wall on her yacht at Kunghit Island His biceps still ached fro to Sandecker, the acoustic ould strike the island in minutes, followed by the eruption of the volcanoes If he had to die, hebeaten to pulp by a wo cremated byhimself to believe harm had come to them, not with Giordino present They had to be warned of the co cataclysm if there was still any chance they could escape the island alive

Deep inside him he kneas no ht advantage of surprise The thought was still in his mind when he sprinted forward, head down, across the roo shoulder first into Boudicca's stouard, but it made little difference, almost no difference at all She took the full force of the blow, grunted froh she reeled back a few steps, she re Before Pitt could recover his own balance, she clutched hi around in a half circle and threw hilass doors Incredibly, he s instead of crashing to the floor

Pitt gasped in agony His whole body felt like every' bone was broken He fought off the pain and charged again, catching Boudicca with a bruising uppercut with his fist that drew blood It was a blow that should have knocked any woman unconscious for a week, but Boudicca si from her mouth with the back of one hand and smiled horribly She doubled her fists and moved toward Pitt, crouched in a boxer's stance Hardly correct posture for a lady, Pitt thought

He stepped in, ducked under a savage right-hand slash and hit her again with the last of his reainst flesh and bone, and then he was pounded by a treht his heart had been mashed to pulp He couldn't believe any woman could hit so hard He had hah h a bleedingbackhand that drove hi all the breath out of his lungs He fell and lay there grotesquely for several , he pushed hiathering himself for one final move

Boudicca stepped in and brutally caught Pitt in the rib cage with her elbow He could hear the sharp snap of one,pain in his chest as he crun in the carpet and wanted to hold onto the floor forever

Perhaps he was dead and this was all there was to it, a floral design in a carpet

Despairingly, he realized he could go no further He groped for the fireplace poker, but his vision was too blurred and his rasp it in his hands Vaguely, he saw Boudicca lean down, take hi and hurl him crazily across the floor, where he collided with the open door Then she walked over and picked him up by the collar with one hand and smashed him a hard blow in the head just above the eye Pitt lay there, teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, swi the blood flowing froash above his left eye

Like a cat toying with a a on a strength he didn't know he possessed, Pitt soled slowly to his feet for what he was certain would be the last time

Boudicca stood there beside the body of her father, s with anticipation Complete mastery was etched in her face "Time for you to join

"There's a nauseating thought for you" Pitt's voice came thick and slurred

Then Pitt saw the ently ease him aside as Giordino entered the Dorsett family study

He stared at Boudicca conteot is mine"

At thata pair of blond-haired little boys by the hands, one on either side of her She looked fro face to Boudicca to her father's body on the floor "What happened to Daddy?"

"He caught a sore throat," muttered Pitt

"Sorry I'm late," said Giordino calmly "A couple of servants proved overly protective They locked themselves in a room with the boys It took me a while to kick in the door" He didn't explain what he did with the servants He handed Pitt the nine-millimeter automatic taken from John Merchant "If she wins, shoot her"