In frustration, Braun kicked over thebedside locker and it toppled onto the floor. He went to the window and idlylit a cigarette, and as he stood there something made him look down, The lockerhad rattled the wooden floorboards under the window and one of them felt looseas he stepped on it. He knelt and pried it with his nail. He saw the rustingbiscuit tin in the recess and opened it. After several moments examining thecontents he flung them away. Then he saw the file lying below. There were fourpages inside the folder headed "Joseph Stalin," and he read themquickly.

For several moments he stood there,guessing the value of his discovery, then he smiled to himself. Moscow wouldpay for what he had just found, no question.

He folded the file and tucked itcarefully down his trousers, then searched through the rest of the contents ofthe box before discarding them without interest. When he had finished checkingthe other rooms thoroughly he went back downstairs.

It was growing dark outside and Lombardiwas trying to light an oil lamp. He burned his fingers in the process and saidto the old man slumped unconscious in the chair, "Ain't you hicks everheard of fucking electricity?"

Lombardi looked over at Braun."There were only provisions downstairs, The rest of the place is clean.What did you find?"

"Nothing," Braun lied.

Lombardi said. "So what next?"

"We leave and take the woman withus."

"I thought we were going to wait forthe broad's friends'."'

"There isn't time."

Lombardi frowned. "Whatever you say.What about the old man?"

"He's seen our faces. Killhim."

The Seebee circled the lake in a perfectarc, then Barton nosed her down to three hundred feet above the water.

Dusk was falling rapidly and the lake wasin almost complete darkness, just a faint shimmering of silver light on thewater. Barton insisted on flicking on the landing lights briefly to see whatthe water surface looked like below. It seemed calm enough but toward the shorethere were choppy waves, and as Barton turned back he said to Stanski,"Better make sure you're strapped in and holding on, this could be a mitebumpy."

There was sweat on Barton's brow as hedropped down to a hundred feet and started gently to ease the flying boat down,They were headed toward a stretch of shore about a mile north from the cabin,coming in alongside the land, about a hundred feet from the bank.

At sixty feet the Seebee started to bumpwith the updraft over the water, a sudden gust hitting them and throwing themoff to the left, closer to the land.

Barton said, "Jeez ... . andcorrected, then continued to ease forward the control stick. At twenty feet hepulled back on the throttle and the Seebee hit the water hard, bumped, thensettled, and it was down, skimming and bumping over the lake as the propelleridled and Barton let out a sigh, easing the boat closer to the shore beforelooking back over his shoulder.

"This is as close as it gets. Youfolks are going to have to get wet."

They were twenty feet from the shore, andStanski was already tearing open the cabin door and climbing out, Massey behindhim. Stanski jumped out into the waist-hbigh water and started to wade towardthe bank.

Barton said to Massey, "I'm waitingno longer than half an hour, understand? What the hell kind of emergency isthis, anyhow?"

Massey didn't even reply but plunged intothe water after Stanski, who was already at the shore.

"You hear something?"

Lombardi had crossed to the open door,then he stepped toward the veranda and stood there, his head cocked to oneside. He looked back in at Braun. "I heard a fucking engine."

Braun came and stood beside him,listening. Finally he said, "I hear nothing,"

"It sounded like a plane."Lombardi cocked his ear again. "But it's gone."

Braun shook his head. "Forgetit."

He crossed to the table and picked up theoil lamp and said to Lombardi, "Untie the ropes on the old man."

"Why'? What you got in mind?"

Braun removed the glass cowl on the oillamp. The flame guttered for a moment, then burned brightly again.

Lombardi frowned. "You going to setthe place on fire?"

"As a lesson to our absent friends.The nearest town is five miles away. With this terrain no one will see theflames. First, go outside and shoot out the tires on the jeep and pickup."

Lombardi took the .38 from his pocket."You're not going to plug the old man?"

Braun smiled coldly. "I thought thatpleasure would be yours.

A mile into the woods and Massey was outof breath.

He saw Stanski racing ahead of him in thedusk, running like a man possessed as he scrambled through the forest. He wasrunning fast and silently, but Massey had trouble keeping up, tripping overdeadwood and fallen branches.

Five minutes on and he saw Stanski slowand look back, pointing to tell him he was going on ahead, and Massey wavedback. He saw Stanski give a burst of speed and then he disappeared.

A hundred yards on Massey had to slowdown to catch his breath, then suddenly, somewhere off in the distance backtoward the lake, he heard the roar of an engine and recognized the sound of theflying boat.

Massey swore. Barton hadn't waited long.

Suddenly Massey heard another sound, agunshot, then another, half a dozen shots one after another and then momentslater a couple more.

When Lombardi came back he undid theropes around Vassily. Braun lit a cigarette from the naked flame of the oillamp, then said calmly, "Move back."

Lombardi stepped back and Braun tossedthe lamp into a corner of the room and the fuel spread on the wooden floor andignited.

As the flames started to lick the cornerwalls, Braun said to Lombardi, "I'll take the woman to the car. Finish theold man."

"A pleasure."

Braun stepped out. Vince came back inmoments later and Stood at the door. "Mind if I watch?"

Lombardi handed him his shotgun and tookout the pistol again and held it by his side as the knife flashed in his other hand.

"You might learn something, kid.I'll show you how to gut a shitkicker. Watch closely, this is going to bequick."

As Lombardi went toward Vassily, hesensed a presence behind him.

Lombardi looked around as an angry voicesaid, "Touch him and I kill you."

A blond man stood there in the kitchendoor, his face covered in sweat. He had a pistol in his hand.

Lombardi said, "What the fuck ...?"

The pistol in Lombardi's other hand cameup and Stanski shot him in the eye. Lombardi screamed, then Stanski shot himagain in the head, and as Lombardi was punched back out of the door, the secondman fired both barrels of his shotgun in panic.

It went wide and the blast hit Vassily inthe chest and flung him back into the flames.

Stanski screamed, "No!"

As the second man wrenched out a pistoland went to shoot again, Stanski fired, hitting him in the head, then thechest, then the head again, a terrible rage in him as he kept firing.

The flames rose and spread in the cabinand smoke filled the room, choking the air, and as Stanski tried to movefrantically toward Vassily's limp and bloodied body engulfed in flames, healready knew there was nothing he could do.

Braun was hardly fifty yards from thecabin when he heard the shots and the scream, instinct telling him somethingwas terribly wrong.

He looked back and saw the flames lickinside the cabin but no sign of Lombardi and his bodyguard. The woman suddenlytried to struggle free and Braun grabbed her and dragged her at a run towardthe car, impulse telling him to get away.