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Günter crept through the darkness, shining his flashlight on the wall in front of hiht beam reflected back into his eyes so intensely that he had to squint He moved closer and touched the surface of the twelve-foot tower of solid gold bricks There were thousands of them, some dented and battered, soold never tarnishes

There had been a tiold But that was before he knew the truth That was before his search for gold led him to thissound of water dripping onto the cave floor Aside fro him was complete and claustrophobic

He stood statue-still, awed and horrified by the quantity of gold stacked in front of hih that didn’t emanate from his body

Günter killed his light and waited in the pitch-black, straining his ears for the noise to repeat itself His heart pounded against his rib cage, and cold fear crawled along his backbone His testicles had retreated far into his body Maybe to the point of no return Not his biggest worry right now If he was found in the cave it would ht the faint rustle of cloth and the click of a light switch Harsh halogen work larotto

For the first tie space Golden walls had been erected, as if King Midas was building an undergroundlike the teeth of some subterranean monster, partially obscured the view

Günter was overwhelret He should never have coodforsaken place What the heck was he thinking? He was just a h blood pressure and low self-estee aone to the authorities as soon as he began to suspect Problem was, the authorities were the ones he suspected

There! He saw a shadow ure of a short race of a cat, his footfallsno sound on the cavern floor The h him, felt the contents of his intestines liquefy Theeyes Günter knew thefor his

Günter was hidden behind a stack of gold bricks He shrank back and scanned the area, looking for an escape route He crept to the end of his protective stack, turned a corner, and almost tripped over a body It was a woman Her dead eyes were open ith terror and the top of her head was caved in A gold bar lay beside her, matted with hair and blood

Günter gagged and clapped a hand over his nized the woman She was Yvette Jaworski And he kneas partly responsible for her horrible death He turned to run and came face to face with the bald man…and the shiny scalpel in his hand

“Günter, you picked the wrong place to go exploring,” the man said, in a soft, silky voice

Günter would have agreed if he’d had the chance

Riley Moon parked her Mini Cooper in the circular driveway and gaped at the house in front of her She thought it looked as if it had been designed by the witch fro in the stock les, odd turrets, and sprawling, ungainly porchand o private drive that wound through a heavily wooded section of Rock Creek Park It was one of the biggest ton, DC, and it was appropriately called Mysterioso Manor Eht, the resident owner, was appropriately known as a nutcase

Knight had ignored requests that he visit the bank to discuss his recently inherited fortune and to choose a new personal banker, so the bank had dispatched Riley to assure Eood hands

Riley htened the hem of her fitted cream-colored Akris jacket, and planted her four-inch Valentino heels on the gravel driveway It was her second week as a junior analyst at Blane-Grunwald, the a-bank that s and loan She’d taken the tirees froht she was finally ready to set the world on fire She was going to azillion student loans, and carve out a brilliant career And she was

She o steps from the massive porch when the front door to the mansion burst open and a frazzled woman stormed out, swept past Riley without a word, and headed down the driveway

A tall, rangy wory woive it one more chance!”

“No! No more chances!” Danielle yelled back “You’re all whacko And I’ up after no damn armadillo”

“At least let ive you a ride home!” the tall woman pleaded