‘And what about the eitr? Did Thor’s Hammer work?’
‘Yeah.’ He gave the Swede a smile. ‘Ragnarök’s cancelled. We killed your Midgard Serpent, and didn’t even get poisoned by it. So we came out of it better than Thor. Didn’t we, love?’
He addressed that last to his wife, but got no answer. ‘Nina?’ he said, looking back at her.
Her face was turned slightly away from him. There was no relief or triumph in her expression, just a stricken horror. ‘Eddie, we… we didn’t get all of the eitr.’
He moved closer, feeling a rising sense of dread even without knowing why. He had never seen such a look on her face before — but he had seen it on others, in combat. It was the realisation of the trapped, of the wounded… of someone who knew they were going to die. ‘Nina,’ he said, now fearful. ‘What is it?’
Nina looked straight at him. On the pale skin of her left cheek was revealed a small red mark, as if she had been burned by a flying ember.
But there had been no fires in the pit.
Her voice quavered as she spoke. ‘When I poured out Lock’s eitr—’
‘No, don’t,’ Eddie begged her. If she didn’t say the words, it might not have happened…
But she continued, tears swelling in her eyes. ‘I got… I got splashed. It was only a drop, but… oh, God.’ What remained of her resolve crumbled. ‘Oh my God,’ she gasped, her voice breaking.
Eddie moved closer, but Nina backed off, turning her reddened cheek away from him. ‘Don’t touch me,’ she whispered. ‘There could be more of it on me, I might be… contaminated.’
He reached out, desperate to comfort her, to feel her skin — but stopped short, letting his shaking hand slowly fall. ‘Nina…’
‘We need to get out of here,’ she forced herself to say through her tears. She opened the helicopter’s hatch and climbed inside.
Eddie stared after her, for a long moment unable to move. Tova spoke, but he didn’t register her words. ‘I’m fine. Let’s go,’ he said in gruff automatic reply, taking the gun from her and stepping away to let her board the aircraft.
Hoyt’s mocking words returned to him. Just can’t protect your women, can you, Chase?
He looked back at the pit — then emptied the weapon at the sneering ghosts above it with a roar of fury and despair.
Epilogue
Oswald Seretse regarded the letter on his desk with solemn dismay. ‘Are you absolutely sure this is what you want to do, Nina?’
She had to compose herself before replying, emotions churning beneath her outward calm. ‘Yes, I’m afraid so. That’s my resignation from the IHA, effective immediately.’
‘Mine too,’ Eddie added curtly from a chair in the corner of the official’s office.
‘But why?’ Seretse asked. ‘You haven’t given me a reason.’
‘Do I need to?’ said Nina.
‘No, but—’
‘Then can you please respect my decision?’ He was taken aback by her hard tone; she softened it in apology. ‘Believe me, if the circumstances were different I wouldn’t be leaving. But… I have to. There are other things I want to do — need to do.’
‘Such as writing your book?’
She was a little surprised. ‘You heard about that?’
‘Having my own office at the UN does not isolate me from the latest gossip. And I would be a poor diplomat if I did not keep my ear to the ground.’
‘I guess so. But yes, I’ve already accepted the offer to write it. Don’t worry, I’ll vet everything through the UN before publication. The IHA’s secrets are safe with me.’
‘I never doubted it,’ Seretse assured her. ‘But on the subject of secrets, you clearly have some of your own. I am being pressured, particularly by the US State Department, to find out exactly what happened on your most recent operation. We know there was a gun battle at the lake in Norway that resulted in several deaths, and that according to Mr Trulli and the other survivors you left the scene with a Russian; but after that you vanished from the radar until reappearing in Moscow, then travelled back to Sweden… and finally turned up in northern Canada! All without a word of explanation beyond your decidedly sparse report. And Dr Skilfinger has been equally uncommunicative, except to say that you and Eddie saved her life.’ He leaned forward. ‘What is going on, Nina?’
‘I can’t tell you, Oswald,’ she replied. ‘I’m sorry. But part of the IHA’s remit from its founding six years ago was to make sure that potentially dangerous archaeological discoveries stayed out of the wrong hands. As director of the IHA, I made a decision to restrict all information about what we found, for reasons of global security.’
‘Even from the nations funding the IHA?’
‘Especially from them,’ Eddie rumbled.
Seretse eyed him. ‘I see.’ He leaned back. ‘Would I be correct in assuming that if the information were to be released, it could result in, shall we say, disagreements between certain members of the UN Security Council? Certain nuclear-armed members?’
‘To put it mildly, yes,’ Nina told him.
The diplomat nodded. ‘Then I had better accept your resignation immediately.’ He slid the letter across the desk to an out-tray. ‘After all, I can’t use my position as United Nations liaison to demand answers from somebody who no longer works for the organisation, can I?’
Nina managed a faint smile. ‘Thank you, Oswald.’
‘Oh, I don’t doubt I have not heard the last of this. But now that you both no longer work for the IHA, such matters are no longer your concern.’ He stood, straightening his immaculate suit before extending his hand. ‘I may have only worked with you briefly, but you both lived up to your reputations.’
Eddie rose and crossed the room to stand beside Nina. ‘Good or bad?’
Now it was Seretse’s turn to smile slightly. ‘It’s perhaps best that I do not say.’ He shook their hands. ‘Good luck, to the pair of you.’
‘Thanks,’ said Nina. ‘I’m sorry to have dropped this bomb on you’ — Eddie suppressed a sarcastic comment on her choice of words — ‘but we need to do this. We want to…’ She was more careful with her phraseology this time. ‘We want to spend as much time with each other as we can.’
‘Ah, yes, I can quite understand that. A job like this can keep us away from our families for too long.’ But there was something in Seretse’s eyes that suggested he had picked up a little more meaning from Nina’s remark. ‘I hope you do everything you want to achieve.’
‘So do I,’ she said, heartfelt.
He rounded his desk to show them out. ‘If I may ask, what are you going to do?’
‘Travel, for one thing. And not with my archaeologist’s hat on. I want to see new places, meet new people.’
Seretse nodded. ‘It sounds most agreeable. Where are you going?’
‘Vietnam first,’ Eddie said. ‘There’s a place I want to visit there. And then, well… kind of a world tour.’
‘We’re going to see some friends in Hollywood too, at some point,’ said Nina. ‘Do you know Grant Thorn? The movie star?’
Seretse shook his head. ‘I must admit to preferring French cinema to Hollywood blockbusters.’
‘Me too, actually. Although I don’t think I’ll ever talk Eddie round to my point of view.’
‘You know those Jason Statham Transporter movies technically count as French cinema, right?’ he said with a grin.
Nina sighed. ‘Yes, this is the man I’m going to be spending the rest of my… time with.’ She shook Seretse’s hand again. ‘Goodbye, Oswald.’