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"Yeah, but it's the last time they'll come to one of our barbecues"

Zavala's voice rang out "Watch it, Kurt, there's another one"

Austin auto only to realize he had left the useless dueling pistol behind He froze as a shadow detached itself from behind the base of a crane off to one side He was out in the open The Boas empty He was dead He waited for a fusillade of hot lead to cut hi on the water's surface Zavala and the captain would be next

Nothing happened The figure was running away toward the starboard side where Austin had first discovered the grappling hooks

Austin took a step to follow, then stopped Unarmed, wounded, and just plain worn out, he could only stand there helplessly as an outboard hed into life He waited until the motor's buzz faded into the distance, then walked back to Zavala and the captain

"Guess our head count was off," Zavala said

"Guess so" Austin let out the breath he'd been holding He wanted to lie down and take a nap, but there was onehe had to do Mike was still on the roof of the bridge, and the crew and researchers were barricaded in the bow section

"You wait here I'll tell the others they can come up for air"

He picked his way around the charred bodies and made his way toward the bow section where the crew and scientists were hiding Austin was not a coldblooded man, but he reserved his coo the flesh-and-blood entities that had inhabited these s hi he could not let happen under any circurowing attachment It was as simple as that

This was obviously the saical expedition They had come to finish the job Austin and the others had just been in the way The assassins had been stopped, but Austin knew that as long as Nina Kirov was alive, this wasn't going to be the end of it

India

11 THE MONSOONS THAT SWEEP ACROSS India froe known as the Western Ghats By the time the moist air currents reach the Deccan in southeast India the downpour has diminished to a mere twenty-five inches As Professor Arthur Irwin stood in thedown from the slate-colored sky, he found it hard to believe this was supposedly the saets The afternoon shower that was just ending would by itself have been enough to float the Houses of Parliament

The cave opening was on a sloping hillside that overlooked a narrow valley choked by lush greenery The dense forest south of the Ganges River is the most ancient part of India and was once known as a reerous place haunted by demons

Iras less worried about demons than the welfare and whereabouts of his party It had been six hours since Professor Mehta had set off for the village with their taciturn guide The village was about an hour's hike along a e hadn't been knocked out in a sudden flash flood He sighed Nothing he could do about it; he would simply have to wait He had plenty of supplies andbetween a pair of pillars under a horseshoe arch into the cool central hall or chapel

Poor Mehta This was his expedition, after all He'd been so excited when he called and said, "I need a ist for a small expedition Can you come to India? At my expense"