Rachel tried to hide the relief that she felt.
Evidently she wasn't successful. Tavak made a tsk-tsking sound as he dropped into the chair. "You thought I'd done a flit? I keep my word, Rachel."
"I don't know that. All I know is that you're a tomb raider and a thief." She took a sip of her black coffee. "And people want to blow you up."
"It does seem incriminating." He motioned for the waiter. "But you usually look deeper than the surface."
"She was worried," Nuri said. "I told her you were an honorable man—maybe."
"Your endorsement touches me," Tavak said. "And I'm sure that it comforted Rachel."
"What are you doing in that jacket?" Rachel asked. "You look like a waiter."
"It is a waiter's jacket. I stole it from the linen closet on the second floor of the hotel. The back of my shirt was ripped from the blast, and I would have attracted too much attention. I would have been here sooner, but I had to slip out the back way and down the alley to avoid the firemen and police."
Rachel hadn't noticed his torn shirt. It wasn't surprising considering the shape she'd been in after that blast. And he didn't really look like a waiter, she realized. He wore the jacket with a casual elegance that reminded her of the movie heroes of the thirties. That was the only thing casual about him. His blue eyes were glittering in his tan face, and his every muscle seemed ready to go into action at any second. He was so alive that she felt as if she'd get a shock if she touched him. The disaster that had almost killed them had only served to energize him, she thought incredulously. "Why did you go back in the room?"
"To get my backpack. It was by the door, so it had a chance of not being totally destroyed." He nodded at the bag at his feet. "It's pretty torn and ripped, but my computer survived. The case of the computer is dented, but it still booted up."
"Why did you need it?"
"I have the original photos from the tomb still in it."
"But the external hard drive blew up. You don't have Jonesy to decode those hieroglyphics."
"Well, that's not exactly true."
She stared at him in surprise. "You had a backup?"
He nodded. "I'm a very careful man about some things. I made a copy of Jonesy's most recent decoding program on another hard drive and stashed it in a safe."
"Where?"
"Paris. But I'll have to activate the software package and start it working on the coded message we found here in Egypt."
"How long before it will be ready to give us answers?"
He shrugged. "It's fairly complicated. Four or five days maybe."
"That's too long."
"She is becoming angry," Nuri said. "I think I will let you deal with it, Tavak." He stood up and looked at Rachel. "It has been a great pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kirby. I will stay as long as you need me, but I believe he is no real threat to you. With your permission, I will go now."
"Yes, you don't need to stay. Good-bye, Nuri. And thank you."
Nuri turned to Tavak. "You were very interesting. It was pleasant protecting you."
" 'Protecting'? I thought I was a prisoner."
" 'Prisoner' is an ugly word. Did I not feed you and keep you entertained? I'm not even asking you to give me the money you owe me." He grinned. "It's a small world. We may meet again."
Tavak nodded. "Good-bye, Nuri."
Rachel watched him walk away before she turned back to Tavak. "Four or five days is too long to get answers. Can't you hurry it?"
"I might." He paused. "If you can give me more cycles, I can cut that time in half."
"Damn you."
"More power, quicker answers. Isn't that the principle on which you've based your operation?"
"Yes." She looked down in her cup. "Okay, you'll get them. I suppose I don't have to ask if you're able to siphon them off yourself."
He nodded. "I'll manage. Just tell your assistant, Simon, to ignore the loss."
"You know about Simon?"
"I know about Simon and Val and Allie and everything else that I could find out about you."
"Do you always research your victims so thoroughly?"
"No." He sipped his coffee. "You interested me. You're unique."
"Everyone is unique."
He shook his head. "I don't agree. I'm bored with most people after a while. It's my own fault. I have an analytical mind that can be a curse. I find myself studying everyone around me, trying to take them apart. Eventually, I can predict what they'll say, what they'll do." He gazed at her over the rim of the cup. "It's only occasionally you run across someone who has that spark of originality that never goes out. I don't think I'd ever find you boring, Rachel."
"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Yet she could see how boredom might be a problem for Tavak. With an IQ soaring off the genius scale, he would find few people who would be able to meet him at even half his level. "And you sound egotistical as hell."
"I probably am." He smiled. "You'll have to slap me down every now and then. Now I suggest we leave for Paris right away and take a flat there so that I can get to work."
"We're not going anywhere until we come to an agreement." She held his gaze. "If I help you, if I don't call in the police to arrest you, will you turn over the information on that tablet to me immediately? You won't hold out for the highest bidder?"
He didn't speak for a moment. "I get the rights to any medical finds, but I'll let your foundation have the formula or procedure first to develop it. Good enough?"
"Yes. But you also have to agree to show me every backdoor you created to get into Jonesy."
"Deal." He smiled. "Then let's head for Paris."
She thought about it, then shook her head. "We'll go to Paris to pick up that external drive, but we're not going to stay there."
His brows rose. "No? Then where are we going?"
"Las Vegas."
"What?"
"I have a job to do there. You said it would take you a few days to program the computer and get that information. I have to use that time. I promised Norton I'd give him back the cycles I took from him when you were bleeding me dry. It was the only way I could persuade him to get you out of that tomb." Her lips tightened. "And now you tell me you're going to take more computing power from Jonesy. I have to make it up somehow."
"In Las Vegas?"
"It's my best chance."
"Then you can go to Las Vegas and leave me in Paris."
"No way."
He smiled faintly. "You don't trust me? What a surprise."
"Until we find that tablet, we're joined at the hip."
"What an interesting picture that brings to mind." He nodded. "But I like it."
"I don't, but that's the way it has to be." She stood up. "Let's get to that airport."
"Not so fast." He got to his feet. "I have to stop at the hospital and check on Ben."
"Ben?" Then she made the connection. "The man who was with you in the tomb. Was he badly hurt?"
"Not critical, but it could have been. He's doing well." He smiled. "Thanks to you, he'll live to curse me for getting him into that spot."
"Sounds like an intelligent man." She turned and moved toward the door. "Okay, we'll stop on the way to the airport."
* * *
"It's about time you showed up," Ben said. "I've been lying here wondering if you'd gone after Dawson."
"I won't have to," Tavak said. "I'll only have to look behind me." He gestured to Rachel. "This is Dr. Rachel Kirby. I thought you'd like to meet the woman who got us out of that particular mess. Ben Leonard."