‘I bloody was!’
‘Edward J. Chase, you’ve got a one-track mind.’ Nina kissed him, then sat up. ‘Seriously, though, time to move. I’ve got a meeting at nine thirty. And I’m sure you must have something to do as well.’ She cocked her head and gave him a mocking smile. ‘What exactly is it that you do at the IHA?’
‘Save the world and shag the boss, mostly.’
‘I can’t dispute that. Come on, get up.’ She pulled the covers off him, then eyed what was revealed. ‘Ah, I see you already are up.’
Eddie cackled. ‘I don’t hang about. So you just drop your kecks, then hop aboard…’
She gave the upstanding member a playful swat. ‘It’ll have to wait until tonight, sorry. But you hold that thought.’
‘If I do that, I won’t be able to walk all day!’
Nina laughed again, then tugged away from him and stood, checking her watch. ‘I’m out the door in fifteen minutes. And you will be with me. Preferably fully dressed.’
‘Oh, so I’ve got a choice?’
‘Ha! You’re a married man, you have no choice in anything.’
‘Yeah, I learned that in my first marriage.’ He huffed, then rolled out of bed. ‘Well, if the world needs saving again, suppose I’d better bloody do it.’
‘Hopefully it won’t need our services today,’ Nina told him. Now it was her turn to smirk. ‘Because I’ve got plans for tonight.’
Eddie grinned, then headed for the bathroom.
‘Can’t believe you’re still cold,’ said Eddie as they entered Nina’s office.
‘What?’ she complained, unzipping her coat. ‘It feels like the middle of winter!’ She pointed at the cityscape beyond the windows. The view across her native Manhattan from the United Nations’ towering Secretariat Building was still dappled with snow from an unexpected flurry a few days earlier, and a chill wind had whipped around them as they crossed First Avenue and the plaza outside the UN complex.
‘You were the one who wanted to take the subway rather than getting a cab.’ Eddie took off his battered leather jacket, looking entirely unfazed by the weather.
‘And you should have tried harder to convince me that was a bad idea!’
‘When have I ever managed to do that?’ He hung up his jacket, then watched with amusement as his wife shrugged off layers of clothing. ‘So what’s in today’s diary, then?’
‘Jeez, at least let me get to my desk.’ Finally shorn of wool, Nina sat and opened her laptop. ‘Okay, there’s the international relations meeting at nine thirty, the general accounting briefing at eleven—’
‘Count me in! Fucking thrilling.’
‘The IT upgrade group at two, and the interagency communications meeting at four.’ She leaned back, shaking her head. ‘You know what’s missing from all of those? Anything to do with actual archaeology.’
‘See? This’d be a good time to take a long break. There’s nothing new actually going on.’
‘It’s tempting. Very tempting.’ She started to check her emails, but was interrupted by the intercom. ‘Yes?’
‘Dr Wilde?’ said Melinda, Lola’s French replacement. ‘There is a Mr Trulli asking to see you. He does not have an appointment, but—’
‘Matt?’ said Nina. ‘That’s okay, let him in.’
Eddie raised his eyebrows. ‘Matt’s here?’
‘Must have come back early from down under.’ Before long, there was a knock at the door. ‘Come in!’
Matt Trulli entered. ‘Morning, guys!’ said the Australian cheerfully. The couple had not seen him for a few months, and in that time the Oceanic Survey Organisation’s chief engineer had topped up his tan and also acquired a sun-bleached beard and several extra pounds around his already ample midsection. ‘Great to see you both.’
‘You too,’ replied Nina, getting up to greet him.
Eddie shook his hand. ‘Welcome back! How was your trip home?’
‘Bloody brilliant, mate. Just what I needed to relax after everything that happened down at Atlantis.’ The previous year, Matt had almost died in a crippled submarine amongst the ruins of the lost city. ‘Spent the time designing a new sub — with a two-way release on the docking clamps this time! — and building a couple of ROVs.’
‘Your idea of relaxation ain’t the same as mine,’ said the Englishman. ‘That’s not what I call a holiday.’
‘It wasn’t really a holiday, mate — it was technically a sabbatical. Working holiday, the best sort.’
‘My thinking exactly,’ said Nina, embracing Matt. ‘Maybe I married the wrong man…’
‘Oi!’ protested Eddie.
Matt laughed. ‘Wouldn’t dream of splitting you two up, mate. For starters, I know you’d beat the crap out of me!’
‘So you’re back at the OSO?’ Nina asked.
He nodded. ‘Don’t start again until next week, officially, but I fancied coming in to clear the decks beforehand. I’ve been out of the office for months, so I hate to think what my inbox is going to look like! But I wanted to pop in and say hello to you guys first.’
‘Aw, thanks, Matt,’ she said with a smile. ‘Glad you’re back.’
‘Nice to be back. Although the weather’s a bit crook! So what have you two been up to? Got anything exciting going on?’
‘Not at the moment,’ said Nina. ‘Lots of meetings, bureaucracy, budgets…’
‘There’s no bloody pleasing her,’ Eddie scoffed. ‘When things are going smoothly, she complains. When she’s being shot at or thrown out of blimps, she complains!’
Matt looked surprised. ‘You were thrown out of a blimp?’
‘No,’ Nina assured him. ‘Although it’s about the only thing we haven’t been thrown out of.’
‘Yet,’ added her husband.
She jabbed a finger at him. ‘What did I tell you about jinxing things?’
‘Glad to see you two are the same as ever,’ said Matt, smiling. ‘Anyway, we’ll have to have a proper catch-up soon. If you’re free one evening this week, maybe we could grab a bite somewhere.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ Eddie said. ‘Lola yesterday, now you, and we were just talking about going to see Grant Thorn in LA — it’s like we’re getting the gang back together.’
‘If we see Grant, we’ll probably see Macy too — they’re an item now,’ added Nina. ‘Huh, wonder if we’ll catch up with anyone else?’
‘Probably Peter bloody Alderley, knowing my luck.’
She smiled, and was about to reply when the intercom sounded again. ‘Yes?’
‘Dr Wilde, Mr Seretse is here,’ Melinda announced. Nina and Eddie exchanged glances; the UN liaison was not one of their scheduled meetings for the day. ‘He says it’s a very important matter.’
‘Thanks, Melinda. Send him in,’ said Nina. ‘Wonder what he wants?’
‘Whatever it is, I doubt it’s any of my business,’ Matt said. ‘I’d better get going.’
‘See you later,’ said Eddie, clapping him on the shoulder.
‘No worries, mate. Catch you again soon, Nina.’
She kissed his cheek. ‘Bye, Matt.’ He smiled and departed, the door barely having time to swing shut before it was opened again by the morning’s second unexpected arrival.
Oswald Seretse was a tall and handsome black man in his late forties, straight-backed and aristocratic in bearing. He carried a slim, expensive briefcase. ‘Ah, good morning, Dr Wilde, Mr Chase,’ he said, his Gambian accent largely masked beneath the patrician tones he had acquired while studying at Cambridge.
‘Please,’ said Nina as she shook his proffered hand, ‘call me Nina.’ Seretse’s attitude was considerably more formal than his predecessor’s. ‘We don’t really stand on ceremony at the IHA.’