‘I trust you a lot, as it happens. In fact, I think I’m the only one who trusts you.’
‘Probably.’ Cleena glanced at the notes he had at the side of his plate. ‘Still haven’t figured out that scroll?’
‘Not yet, no.’
‘I have faith in you,’ Cleena said simply.
‘What’s your errand?’ Lourds took a bite of melon and found it sweet.
‘I’ve got to go somewhere.’
‘Where?’
Cleena gave him a wan smile. ‘Running out of trust, Professor?’
‘It appears to be a scarce commodity these days.’
‘Old Mother Hubbard and her cupboard, eh?’
‘Something like that,’ Lourds replied. ‘You’ve been around our group for four days, and you’ve talked less than anyone.’
‘I’m a private person.’
‘Private people don’t force their friendship on others at gunpoint.’
Cleena smiled. ‘You have to admit, it’s a lot more effective and it gets quicker results.’
‘There’s something to be said for people who take the long way to do things.’
‘There’s not always time for that.’
‘You’re asking for a lot and are giving only a little.’
‘Maybe I’m giving you more than you suspect.’
Lourds took a breath and let it out. ‘We’re coming to a critical juncture in our partnership. Trust is getting to be a hard thing to come by, so maybe it’s time you started trusting me.’
‘Are you forgetting who you’re up against, Professor?’ Cleena pinned him with her gaze. ‘You’ve got a phantom army on your tail, judging from those ghosts who have wandered out of Iraq. You’ve got Qayin and his people on another side. Then there are the monks.’
‘They’re on my side.’
‘For the moment. But you have to remember: they didn’t tell you everything at the beginning. Neither did your girlfriend. In the Church I was brought up in omission was considered a lie. If you’re not going to trust me, do yourself a favour and don’t trust them either.’
Before Lourds could respond, Cleena picked up her plate and coffee cup and departed. He sat in the chill morning shade and watched her walk away. He didn’t know whether to be more afraid of her or for her.
‘Where you like to go, miss?’
Cleena pulled her attention from the ocean and peered along the line of shops and bars on the left side of the street. Cruise ships lined the docks and tourists were out in force. Hawkers called out their wares from doorways and carts. Small bazaars had opened beneath cargo tents in alleyways. The crowds of people would make it difficult to keep an eye on her surroundings, but she hoped they would also provide an easy way to disappear if it came to that.
‘There.’ Cleena pointed to a cyber café that advertised battling robots rendered in neon tubing. Popular game names and posters littered the windows.
‘Of course, miss. At once.’ The driver cut across two lanes of traffic, narrowly avoided locking bumpers with another taxi trailing too close, and skidded against the curb.
Cleena paid the man and tipped him well enough, but not so well that he would remember her, and got out. She stepped into the flow of human traffic and looked around.
‘Sevki,’ she said.
‘I haven’t seen anyone yet.’ Sevki sounded frazzled and she felt badly about asking him for so much.
‘None of the monks?’
‘Not one.’
‘I don’t think they let me go alone because they trusted me.’
‘They probably thought you were going to lead them into a trap.’
Cleena grinned at that. The thought of the monks being afraid of her rocked her world a little. They were smug with their holier-than-thou attitudes. But they weren’t the ones she was intent on trapping.
‘You’ll see someone soon. Just keep a close watch over me.’
‘Always. But you know, I really have to protest this course of action.’
‘Again?’ Cleena pulled open the café door and entered the darkness. She slipped her sunglasses off and surveyed the large room.
Patrons occupied most of the three or four dozen computers scattered around. Nearly all of them were involved in online gaming or surfing porn sites. Sometimes they did both.
‘Yes – again,’ Sevki said. ‘You didn’t listen the first few times.’
‘It wasn’t a few.’ Cleena went to the front desk and negotiated for a computer. She showed one of the fake identifications Sevki had arranged for her and paid cash, English pounds.
‘It wasn’t enough,’ Sevki countered. ‘These guys you’re playing with, they’re out of your league.’
‘I got drafted into this.’ Cleena sat at the table and swiped the card she’d been given through the data reader. The computer powered up and allowed her access. ‘If it had been up to me, I’d still be playing in the minor leagues.’
‘I know.’
‘These aren’t the kind of guys who will simply let you fade away once everything is said and done. You know that.’
Sevki sighed. ‘I know.’
‘All I can do is increase their cost to play. The same way we did when you stepped wrong round the Russian Mafia.’ Cleena felt badly about bringing that up, but she also felt she didn’t have a choice.
‘I know. I still owe you for that.’
‘No, you don’t.’ Cleena took a deep breath. ‘But I could use help now. I can’t do this by myself. If I can’t be safe, I want my sister to be.’
‘She will be. Are you at the computer?’
‘I am.’
‘Then go to this IP address.’
Cleena did, and once there, she downloaded all the programs and applications Sevki had waiting. The computer protested just for a moment, then the warning screen for the firewalls quieted and went away. Within seconds, Sevki had the machine slaved to his own.
‘We’re set up,’ Sevki said a short time later.
Tension knotted Cleena’s stomach. She forced herself to pick up the phone handset on the table and slot it into the USB port. In seconds, the internet phone connection linked up. She dialled the number she’d been given, then settled back to watch the front and back doors. If she was right, and she felt certain she was, things would happen very quickly. She just had to make certain they didn’t happen to her.
The phone rang.
When CIA Special Agent in Charge James Dawson heard the strident ring of the phone on the nightstand beside the bed in his hotel room, he held up a hand to the young woman straddling him. She stopped her wild gyrations but continued a gentle rocking that held him right at the brink.
He checked the number and saw he didn’t recognize it. There was only one person who could possibly be calling him from a phone he wouldn’t have the number for. He flipped the phone open confidently and ran his free hand over the sweat-slick body of the young woman atop him.
‘Ah, Miss MacKenna,’ Dawson greeted Cleena. ‘Just when I had almost given up on you.’
‘Your goons at the Hagia Sophia nearly did their job too well,’ she said.
Genuine puzzlement nagged at Dawson. ‘I wouldn’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘I didn’t think that you would. But their attack created a problem.’
Some of Dawson’s confidence oozed away. ‘Is the professor all right?’
‘He is. But only just. And not for the lack of trying on the part of your hired help.’
‘I must protest, Miss MacKenna. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Dawson didn’t know what she was talking about, but she seemed awfully sure of herself.
‘Did they tell you that the professor found a scroll?’
That caught Dawson’s attention. ‘What scroll?’
‘I don’t think it’s the main one,’ she continued. ‘Everyone here seems a bit disconcerted that it hasn’t turned up yet. But they also seem convinced that the professor will find it soon enough.’
‘Good. When he does, you’ll be out of this situation. So will your sister.’
‘My sister’s already out of it.’