"But, Bill, there is still time—"
Parker didn't hear her. He was moving with Rozeno and Ulnar through another opening. "At least," Rozeno was saying. "We have this advantage. We know our way around here."
They moved silently, by side passages, through the rooms. "Find Retch," Parker whispered over and over again. "He's the heart and the core of this business. With him out of the way, we can handle the others."
"Do you see anybody, Pfluger?" Retch's voice came from somewhere.
"Naw. I think I got the old gink but he ducked out of sight somewhere."
"Retch is on the other side of the corridor," Rozeno whispered. "The man who spoke last is in the next room."
They slipped to the opening, peering into the next room. A man in there was crouching against the wall and watching the opening into the corridor. At the sight of the man, Ulnar went berserk. This was the man who had killed Pedro.
A shrill battle cry pealing from his lips, massive axe uplifted, Ulnar charged through the door.
The crouching man whirled. Smoke and thunder rolled from the gun in his hand. Ulnar had taken death wounds before he was halfway across the room. But death wounds or not, he kept going.
The heavy axe came down on the head of the man who was desperately trying to fend it off. The man went down. For an instant, Ulnar's battle cry of triumph, wild and savage and fierce, roared through the honeycomb of passages, then went into silence with Ulnar, forever.