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.Guardsmen quietly came forward to offer their support.“Will Lieutenant Sbordoni be joining us?” Murani asked.“Not inside the city, Your Eminence.” Corghi took the lead briefly and stepped into the small public study where the residents sometimes met to confer.“He’ll be joining us in Cádiz.”Murani nodded.“He’ll take command of the men we have on-site there?”“Yes, sir.” Corghi pressed the hidden release along the back wall.A section of a bookcase turned sideways and allowed entrance into the hidden space beyond.Murani took a flashlight from his robes and switched it on.Some of the catacombs had power lines through them, but the section they were going to use was decrepit and hardly traveled.He followed the beam into the darkness.Anticipation filled him to overflowing with every step he took toward his destiny.OUTSIDE LAGOS, NIGERIASEPTEMBER 11, 2009By the time Natasha held up a hand and signaled for a stop, Lourds’s back and shoulders were knotted with tension and his eyes burned from fatigue.Sitting hunched over a steering wheel, especially along a rutted and bumpy road while traveling at excessive speeds, was nothing like sitting hunched over a computer or manuscript in need of translation.Dirt and bug entrails only blunted some of the sunset as they’d driven into it.The motorcycle’s brake light flared ruby in the gathering dusk that pooled in the forest.Natasha swung her leg off the motorcycle as Lourds pulled in behind her.“What’s wrong?” Leslie woke in the passenger seat.She’d gone to sleep only a couple hours ago, and Lourds hadn’t had the heart to wake her.“Natasha wanted to pull over,” Lourds said.“It’s about bloody time,” Gary commented.“My bloody back teeth are floating.I thought I was going to burst a kidney on those bumps.” He opened the side door, got out, and trotted for the tree line.Diop and Adebayo got out as well.The old man carried the tribal drum with him.As Lourds watched the oba, he grew anxious that he might not see the man again.“He’ll be back,” Leslie said.Lourds looked at her.“That’s what you were worried about, right?” Leslie asked.Lourds nodded and smiled.“I guess my interest is pretty transparent.”“Solution of a mystery.Dead languages.And the possibility of the world ending.” Leslie shrugged and smiled back.“I’m pretty interested, too.” She glanced toward Natasha, who was approaching them.“Probably more interested than others I could mention.” She walked away before Natasha could join them.Instead of stopping, though, Natasha walked to the rear of their four-by-four and unstrapped one of the jerry cans of gasoline.A dark splotch of blood showed on her right shoulder.“What are you doing?” Lourds asked.“The motorcycle is out of gas.”“You could ride with us.”Natasha shook her head.“Two vehicles give us a better chance to react if Gallardo had another vehicle around that I didn’t see.”“He hasn’t followed us thus far.”“That doesn’t mean he’s not out there.”Lourds had to silently admit that was true.Gallardo had managed to keep finding them at every point in the journey so far.His uneasiness grew by the heartbeat.Natasha turned to grip the jerry can.“Let me get that,” Lourds offered.“I can do it,” Natasha insisted stubbornly.“I’ve no doubt of that.” Lourds stepped up to take control of the jerry can as it came free.For a moment he thought Natasha was going to hit him.Then she turned on her heel and walked back to the motorcycle.She took a water bottle from one of the motorcycle’s saddlebags and drank deeply.Knowing the woman wasn’t going to talk until she was ready to, Lourds put the jerry can down and opened the motorcycle’s gas tank.A quick rap on the side told him it was running on fumes.He hefted the can and topped the tank off without spilling any of the fuel.“I had him in my sights,” Natasha whispered.Lourds placed the cap back on the tank.“Who?”“Gallardo.I had him in my sights and I missed.” Natasha tucked a length of lank hair behind her ear.Lourds didn’t point out that she might well have another opportunity.That would hardly be comforting.Although there hadn’t been any signs of pursuit, he wasn’t willing to rule out the possibility.Like a bad penny, Gallardo had a way of continuing to turn up.“He killed Yuliya,” Natasha said.“You don’t know that,” Lourds said softly.“Not for sure.There were many men involved in that attack.”“I know it here.” Natasha put a fist to her heart.“In the part of me that is Russian, I know it.”“Let me have a look at your wound.”She shook her head.“It’s nothing.”“In this heat, with all the dust and grime we’re facing, not to mention the local flora and fauna, it’s dangerous to let it go untended.Infection could set in.”She shrugged.“Do whatever you wish.But make it fast.We need to keep moving.”Lourds called out to Gary, who had returned to the vehicle, to bring the first-aid kit over.Lourds took out a penflash and a bottle of antiseptic.“Need any help?” Gary asked.Before Lourds could answer, Natasha said, “No.”“Okay.Cool.I’m just going to be over to the lorry if you need anything.” Gary left the first-aid kit and retraced his steps to the vehicle.“Feeling antisocial?” Lourds asked.“If I hadn’t been concerned about all of you,” Natasha told him, “I would have stayed behind and killed Gallardo then.”Lourds said nothing.Her way of dealing with her sister’s death was very different from his.He wanted to carry her work on.Natasha wanted to end her sister’s killer.He couldn’t imagine cold-bloodedly killing someone.On some of his international hunts for artifacts and manuscripts, he’d sometimes crossed paths with professional soldiers.To a degree, he’d understood their mentality, but he never once believed he could have been one of them.But Natasha had made him realize there was a place for such people in this dangerous world.“Well, I’m glad you were concerned about us.” Lourds pulled at her blouse sleeve and realized he’d never be able to roll it up high enough to clear the wound.“Can you take off your shirt? I can’t—”Natasha slipped a lock-back knife from her pocket, flicked the blade open with her thumb, and sliced through the material.“Thanks.” Lourds ripped the material farther to give himself access to the wound.He played the light over her shoulder and quashed the queasiness that blossomed in the pit of his stomach.“It’s nothing to worry about.The bullet only grazed me,” Natasha said.Not trusting his voice, Lourds nodded.The ragged tear across the top of her shoulder looked nasty and painful, but it didn’t look life-threatening.However, he could not help thinking how much different things would have been had the bullet been six or seven inches to the left.It would have smashed through Natasha’s throat.If the wound hadn’t killed her outright, she would have drowned in her own blood.And she was acting as if it were nothing.She was amazing.“This may sting,” Lourds warned.“If I can’t bear it, I’ll let you know.”That was what Lourds was afraid of.Lourds poured antiseptic over the wound and flushed the blood away.He cleaned up the area as best he could without pulling at the edges, because he didn’t want to risk starting it bleeding again.Natasha never said a word.Once he was satisfied that the wound was as clean as he was going to get it, he applied an antibacterial ointment and a bandage.He taped everything in place.“Where do we go from here?” Natasha asked as he taped the ragged edges of her bloodstained shirt together.“I don’t know.We’ve got to make contact with the other two Keepers.”“Are they like the old man?”“His name is Adebayo,” Lourds replied.“And I don’t know [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]