In this chapter, you finally find out where the diamond is. (grins) I know it's an odd place, but it delivers a deliciously complicated problem, because now she has to get it down.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the things I own. The things I own are the things not owned by Colfer. Colfer owns everything except the things I own. The things Colfer owns are the things I do not own. :) Try that one, all you people who think you're the next Artemis Fowl.


"Who's all dead?"

Valerie looked up at him accusingly. "Even the baby! Even him!" She drew her legs up underneath her, and set her head on her knees. "You should have shot him! Oh, you fool… you should have shot him."

For a while, Zane said nothing. He just sat there, and watched her struggle with herself, not even sure of what she was fighting with. Someone should have shot some child, and because they didn't, the child had told someone something, and a whole bunch of people were dead— even the baby. It made no sense, but he couldn't help feeling sorry for her.

Finally though, he reached out, and touched her shoulder. It was getting cold, and they needed to move.

Valerie started, and jerked her head up, staring at him. Her eyes were dry, but he could tell she desperately wanted to cry. Probably the only thing keeping her was him.

"You're just a little kid, aren't you?" Zane pushed back her hair, and leaned over to look her in the eye. "You're just a little kid, and the world was mean to you."

A sob shook her slender body, but still no tears came.

Zane sighed, and opened the door. "Come on. We need to keep walking. You know that."

Slowly, obediently, Valerie climbed out of the car, and waited for him to come around, head bent against the sharpness of the wind. When he set his hand on her arm, she didn't look up, but she fell into step beside him. She felt like a fool, but—- she wanted to tell someone. She wanted to tell him what had happened. She wanted to tell someone she was scared.

But that would be breaking her rules.

On and on they walked. Valerie did not look up, as the sun rose, and she did not argue with Zane when he pulled her into the tall, dry grasses that grew with the trees along the edges of the fields they were walking through.

Zane swished his way through it, pulling her along behind him towards a large oak. They wouldn't be seen here. The grass was up to his chin, and the tree would hide them from above. Quickly, he pushed down some of the grass into a mat, and ducked down, out of view.

"You need sleep, Madam. Lie down."

Valerie glanced up for an instant. "I'll take the first—"

"You will not," he said tartly. "I told you to lie down, and I meant it. You can't take much more of this. Surely you've realized that already? The way you've been acting?"

After wasting a few seconds of glaring at him, Valerie lay down. She was unwilling, but she did it. After all, he was right about the way she'd been acting. It was appalling— horrendously unprofessional. She was acting like the child she wasn't. She was acting like the child she wished she was, and should have been. But she had no time for childishness and children. A child was innocent, and she was not.

Zane nodded, and leaned against the tree, looking down at her. "What should I do if someone gets near here?"

"Wake me up." Valerie yawned, and twisted around at an odd angle, so that her arms did not bother her. "I don't think they will, but they might, and I'll need to see them to know what to do."

"Right."

By the time the sun had risen, Valerie was asleep. Zane stood leaned up against the tree, scanning the fields and sky all around them for any signs of a disturbance; for anything unnatural, that shouldn't be there. Nothing came however, and except for the hunger pangs in his stomach, his various hurts had settled down to a small ache.

He wondered if he ought to tell her where the diamond was. Perhaps it wouldn't be wise. Perhaps she already knew, though he sincerely doubted it. If she had, she would have dumped him long ago, no matter how ridiculous keeping him was. If she knew, she would probably leave him.

Not that he particularly blamed her— things were dangerous enough as it was, and he slowed her down. But life was life, and he didn't like to throw it away as though it were nothing.

Choices. He shook his head, and shifted with a sigh. They were always difficult.

Slowly, bit by bit, the sun dropped lower in the sky. It would be dark in about twenty minutes. Zane began to relax his vigilance, and was about to wake up Valerie when he heard the helicopter.

Valerie heard it too, because she started awake, and bumped her arm against a root.

"Are you alright?" He dropped down beside her, and pressed flat against the ground. "There's a copter coming. Just one, I think, though there are probably others in the area. What should we do?"

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and rolled onto her stomach with a groan. "I think we should get ourselves captured."

"You're kidding! After all that trouble we went to, to stay uncaptured?"

Valerie nodded. "Yes. We get some food, some medical attention, and probably a shower. The Tyrant will switch tactics. He'll try being persuasive, and attentive. And we will suck it up, and tell him where the diamond is."

Zane glared at her in frustration. "And we'll tell him where the diamond is. What are you trying to do?"

"Make things easier for us." Valerie stretched, and then curled back up comfortably. "Once he has the diamond, we steal it from him, and get the hell out of Russia. We live happily ever after as rich legends. End of story."

"That sounds too easy."

"You're right," yawned Valerie. "It is too easy. The Sun Ye On will want me dead. So the Mafia will probably fight with them over me, making things more difficult. And besides that, we have to make sure we aren't shot as soon as The Tyrant has his diamond."

"Well that makes things all better then." Zane pounded his fist against the side of the tree in frustration. "Stop playing with me, Madam! I'm sick of this! I want out!"

"What do you think I want?" Valerie looked up at towards the sound of the copter. They were flying slowly. Back and forth. They'd probably already detected them, and were waiting for backup. After what they'd done to the first copter, they wouldn't want to land alone.

Zane sighed. "Look: I'm sorry. But we've got to do something!"

"Do you trust me?" She reared up on an elbow, and look at him hard. "Do you trust me enough to tell me where the diamond is, and wait for me to come back and bust you out?"

"You mean, am I willing to trust you with my life."

"Yeah." Valerie brushed the hair out of her eyes, and strained to hear. Soon, the other copters would be here. They didn't have much time.

"I don't know."

Valerie shook her head, and stood up. "You'd better decide soon. The other copters are coming."

For a long moment, Zane didn't move. He lay there, and watched her back. He watched the way she held herself, so as not to jolt her arm, and cause anymore pain than was necessary for movement. Would she come back for him? Would she sacrifice him for the diamond and herself?

He could hear the other copters now, as they flew closer. She was right— they didn't have much time. Slowly, he got to his feet. He reached out, and touched her back.

"The diamond," he said quietly, "is in his mansion. The Tyrant will have guessed it's in the area, and that's probably where we will be taken. It's in the main meeting room, in the chandelier above the table. It's in the electric wires in the ceiling."

Valerie smiled. "That's a clever place to hide it. Even I wouldn't have chosen to look there. I think your employer is more clever than he looks."

"He is. He said people would assume he put it in an elaborately protected place— full of traps, and locks, and stupid things like that. But the diamond is protected enough there. You have to find away not to get crushed by the chandelier. You have to be careful not to get electrocuted; there's a lot of voltage in those wires. And, most of all, you have to get past the people in the room. It was used a lot. There's no way no one's going to notice a person who climbs out over the table and starts swinging the chandelier."

"There has to be a way." Valerie turned, and set her hands on his chest. "How did he tell you to get it?"

Zane winced, and stepped back. "Be careful. I still have those burns. He assumed there would be no one there. I'd get a ladder, unscrew it, and no one would hear the crash."

Valerie shook her head in frustration, and looked over her shoulder towards the field at the lights of the landing copters. There was too little time for anything. "I'll have to think of something later."

Zane stood there a moment, feeling like he had just lost— and he had. He'd played his last card, and now it didn't really matter whether or not it lived and died; at least not to the people who mattered.

"Stop that!" Valerie slapped him. "Don't just stand there! Hand me my gun, and get your own out!"

"I thought we were going to get captured," said Zane in confusion. "Why—"

"And who's going to believe that I wouldn't even put up a pretense of a fight? Come on! Wake up, and get me my gun! The last copter is landing now. Do think we can afford to stand around and chat like this?" Valerie motioned to the bag on her shoulder, and waited.

Reluctantly, Zane untied it, and pulled out two guns. One for each of them. All the others were in their various holsters. "Are we going to shoot anyone, or just hold the guns?"

"You don't do anything unless I tell you to." Valerie played with the safety of her gun for a few seconds, and then sighted down the barrel. "Oh yes— and when we've been captured, you're going to play dumb. Tell them that I'm the only one who knows where the diamond is. I want to make The Tyrant uncomfortable with the Sun Ye On."

"But if I do, they'll kill me!"

Valerie laughed, and shook her head. "Oh no they won't. I'm going to tell them that you're the only one who knows where the diamond is. That is, until we need a change. Then, you keep right on saying the same thing, and I'll do what needs to be done."

Zane squirmed uncomfortably, and glanced back at the field. The last copter had just landed. "I don't suppose there're any complications?"

"Yes, but it doesn't matter. You won't be dealing with them."

"You mean, you'll be?"

"What else?" Valerie jumped slightly, to get a better look over the grass, and came down with a jolt, that pulled a whimper from her mouth.

Hastily, Zane caught hold of her. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she panted. "I just… jarred things more than I should have. But I'll be alright."

Zane grunted something at her. "You're really in no condition to be doing any of this. I'd bet anything this is going to be the end of your career. You'll be too badly hurt to do anything else."

"If I am, will it matter?"

"No," he admitted grudgingly. "I suppose not. Not if you pull this off."

"That's just what I was thinking." Valerie pushed her way through the grass, ignoring Zane, as he sputtered at her to come back, and not be an idiot. It wasn't expected.

Valerie shoved her way out onto the open field, and was almost immediately found by a search light. She waited, good hand inside her jacket, very obviously resting on her gun, in case she needed to use it. She waited. They'd come and parley with her in a minute.

It was very quiet. Then, finally, the light was averted, and from the right, someone approached her.

Valerie waited without moving, careful not to focus too much on that one person, nor too little. Slowly, her blind spot from the light faded, and her eyes became accustom to the dark once again.

"I would like to avoid fighting," called the man. "May we talk?"

"We may."


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