Rachel waited for a couple minutes, staring at the blank monitor screen before she asked, "So before Peseshet died, she told Natifah to hide her secrets from the Pharaoh?"
"Yes, but she also told her that the knowledge must not be lost. That she had to find a way to cheat him, yet give her legacy to those who needed it. So Natifah set out to do what she'd been commanded to do. She couldn't risk just hiding the tablets in a single place. Their location had to be a puzzle so complicated that no one in Pharaoh's court would be able to put the pieces together. So, like Hansel and Gretel she started scattering bread crumbs of information that would eventually bring someone to the tablets."
"If I remember correctly, Hansel and Gretel were almost eaten by the witch before they had the opportunity to make a try at getting home," Rachel said dryly.
"Yes." He smiled. "That comparison must have been a Freudian slip. Ben and I were almost devoured by Dawson because we followed Natifah's bread crumbs."
"And the first crumb told you to go to that tomb and find the chamber of Peseshet? She wrote that on the mastaba wall?"
"It wasn't that simple. But in the story she casually listed Kontar as a friend to Peseshet along with many others. And after Natifah said that about scattering information and setting her puzzle, I set Jonesy to work on developing my decoder. Translation of hieroglyphics and decoding combined was a monumental task. He finally picked up Kontar as a possibility and came up with this tomb."
"Do you think that the text you sent to this computer will point the way to the tablet?"
"She used the term 'scatter' and the word 'five.' I'd bet the most we can hope for will be another bread crumb." He pressed the access button again. "Why the hell aren't we getting anything?"
Rachel was wondering the same thing. "Maybe your decoding program isn't as good as you thought."
"I have more trust in Jonesy than you do. It led me to Kontar's tomb."
"This may be more difficult than—"
The words suddenly popped up on the screen.
No information available. External drive has failed.
"Son of a bitch." Tavak frowned. "It couldn't have failed. I built in so many safeguards that—" He stopped his gaze going to the lamp on the bedside table. He tensed. "That bulb is flickering."
"Why would—"
"Oh, shit!" Tavak jumped to his feet and grabbed Rachel's arm. "Out!" He was dragging her across the room. "Fast!"
"What are you—"
"Don't argue. Move!" He tore open the hall door. "He got fancy. He substituted the lamp. I didn't—"
The lamp exploded.
The force of the blast blew them into the hall.
Tavak covered her body as a storm of debris hurled on top of them.
She heard Nuri cursing and saw him pick himself up off the floor.
"Are you all right?" Tavak was looking down at her.
"I—think so." She drew a deep breath. She was dazed and shook her head to clear it. "It was a bomb?"
"What else?" He got off her and turned to Nuri. "Okay?"
"Yes, no thanks to you." Nuri straightened his shirt. "Why do people keep trying to blow you up? It's most unsettling."
"I'd say that was an understatement." Rachel got to her feet. Lord, her legs were shaking. She stared at the ruin of the hotel room. "What happened? I thought you said that detector would sniff out any explosives."
"Most of them. But lately there are a few explosives that have been formulated that don't have a common odor. They've been used in Iraq." He was brushing flakes of drywall from his hair and shoulder. "Dawson must have configured the computer as a triggering device that wirelessly set the bomb off in the lamp with a Bluetooth signal when the computer came online. Crafty son of a bitch. The computer had no explosive properties, and the lamp had no complex electronic triggering device to be detected."
"Bluetooth." She was trying to remember the details of those last confusing minutes. "The light was flickering."
"The compound was heating up in the lamp," he said absently, his gaze on the flames erupting in the room. "I have to get back in there before—" He started for the room, then stopped. Doors were opening, and people were streaming out into the hall. "Get her out of here, Nuri. Quick. Take the stairs. The hotel is going to be a little upset about this, and security should be up here any minute. I'll meet you down at that coffee shop two blocks away."
"Right." Nuri took Rachel's arm and led her toward the exit door. "Come along. I will take care of you."
Rachel looked back over her shoulder to see Tavak going into the room. "What are you doing?"
"I have to get something. If it didn't get blown to hell. I'll be right behind you."
* * *
It wasn't until Rachel and Nuri were walking down the street that it hit home what an idiot she had been. She stopped in her tracks. "I'm going back."
Nuri shook his head. "Not wise. The hotel will call the police, and they will not be kind to you. Better just to disappear."
"That's what Tavak is going to do. He'll just disappear and leave me without a hope of finding him again. I'm going back."
"It's too late. If what you say is true, he'll already be gone, and you'll be left to deal with the police." Nuri took her elbow. "Come, we will go to the cafe and wait. Maybe you are wrong."
"Not likely." But Nuri's reasoning was correct. Tavak would have had enough time to make his escape. She had no choice but to wait, on the chance that he might come. Dammit to hell.
She started toward the cafe a few doors down. "Let's go."
"He may come," Nuri said. "If it pleases him. It's hard to say. I find Tavak puzzling."
So did Rachel. Puzzling and infuriating… and intriguing. Dear God, the lightning speed of the way his mind had worked in that hotel room was astonishing. It had been only seconds from the time that he had caught a glimpse of that flickering light that he had put everything together and was pulling her out of the room.
Events had moved so fast since she had met him that she had barely been able to catch her breath. Her head was whirling with all the information he had thrown at her, and hope, confusion, and anger were fighting for dominance. She had come here on what she had thought was probably a wild-goose chase, and that chase was proving wilder than she had dreamed.
Yet, dammit, she believed what Tavak had been telling her. He was mocking, unscrupulous, reckless, and completely self-absorbed. But the confidence and intelligence that were present in his every move and word were fascinating. Intelligence always fascinated her, and Tavak had already proved that he was brilliant. She just had to control that brilliance until she got what she needed from him.
If she got the chance of controlling him.
How was she going to find him in this huge maze of a foreign city if he'd decided to run out on her?
SIX
Rachel and Nuri had been sitting in the cafe for over thirty minutes when Tavak walked in the door. He was wearing a white linen jacket that was too small and pulled taut over his broad shoulders.