But she knew where they were going. Iran.
She recalled from her time as the IHA’s director that the Iranian government would not cooperate with the agency, considering it too closely tied to the United States, and it was barely more willing to work with international law enforcement. Seretse relayed the news that the Iranians had been warned about the Nazis, for which Interpol was thanked and assured that the elite Revolutionary Guard would detain them. Zane, silently sitting in on the call, responded only with a sardonic shake of his head. ‘Leitz will already have paid off the local Revolutionary Guard commander to act as their escort,’ he said when it concluded. ‘The Guard like to parade themselves as the moral guardians of the Islamic revolution, but they’re corrupt from bottom to top. Especially the top.’
So now, instead of returning to New York as she had told Seretse, she was in a fishing boat that had set out from Astara at the southern tip of Azerbaijan, heading south-east across the Caspian Sea.
Eddie entered the small cabin. ‘I wouldn’t bother getting up,’ he told his wife as she sat up on the narrow bed. ‘It’s dark, and it’s pissing down.’ He wiped a hand over his damp hair and took off his ravaged leather jacket.
‘How long before we get there?’
He perched beside her. ‘A few hours yet. This isn’t exactly a speedboat.’
‘Unlike those things the Mossad brought.’ Zane was aboard the old trawler with them — along with a small squad of young and determined-looking Israeli agents.
‘Yeah. I’m still not Mossad’s number one fan, but they’ve got some pretty cool gear.’ He smiled, then rested a gentle hand on her stomach. ‘How are you faring?’
‘Fine. A little Dramamine works wonders.’
Another smile, but his eyes were serious. ‘I didn’t mean seasickness. I meant… everything else.’
‘I’m trying not to think about it,’ she said. ‘It’s… it’s too much to process right now. Especially…’
‘Macy?’
She nodded. ‘Seretse will have told her parents by now, but… I’ll have to talk to them when this is over. I’ll have to. But what am I going to say? “I’m sorry for your loss — oh, and by the way, it was all my fault your daughter was murdered”?’
‘No.’ Eddie’s hand moved firmly to her shoulder as he looked deep into her eyes. ‘No. It wasn’t your fault, and I’m not going to let you blame yourself for it. Okay? I know what you’re going through; I had to tell Mitzi’s parents what happened after she got shot in Austria. I blamed myself at the time, and God knows her mum and dad blamed me too. But now…’ He paused, the incident still emotional even after several years. ‘Just because she was with me didn’t make it my fault. It took a long time, but eventually I realised that. That punk-haired Russian bitch killed her, not me. And it was Kroll who killed Macy, not you. I know you want to blame yourself, but you can’t. I won’t let you blame yourself for the rest…’ He trailed off.
‘Of my life?’ Nina finished.
A grim nod. ‘It’s not fair. It’s not fucking fair!’ he said with sudden anguish. ‘Everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve survived — but you’ve still got that growing inside you.’ He jabbed his other hand towards her side. ‘Has anything changed?’
‘Yeah, but… not in any good way.’ She tugged up her shirt. Even over the short time since she had last examined them closely, when Kroll made his Faustian offer, the growths had become more malign.
The sight made Eddie sag. ‘Christ. It just gets worse.’
‘I know. I know.’ She wrapped both hands around his. ‘Don’t look at it. Don’t even think about it. I’m trying not to. I’ve got more than enough worries as it is.’
‘Me too. Although at the moment, one of the biggest is that we’re about to sneak into Iran with a bloody Mossad strike team. If we get caught…’
‘Thanks for reminding me; I’ve been trying not to think about that either!’ They both managed to smile. Nina pulled his hand to her lips and kissed it. ‘Thank you.’
‘For what?’
‘For being with me.’
‘Where else would I be?’ he said, with a mock shrug. ‘Like I said, you’re stuck with me to the end.’
She grinned, squeezing his hand. ‘I’m glad.’ Another kiss, then she regarded his bruised face. ‘God, you look tired. When did you last get any sleep?’
‘I had a bit on the flight from Argentina, but not much. It took ages to get hold of Hafez.’ Nina had long been impressed by Eddie’s extensive list of friends around the globe; Hafez was an Iranian whom she had met on her very first adventure with the man who would later become her husband. ‘You can’t just ring up someone in Iran and say “We’re coming in with a bunch of Mossad blokes, can you meet us?” There’s a lot of buggering around with code words and satphones. Before that? I dunno, probably when I went over to Argentina in the first place.’
‘So you’re planning to sneak into a hostile country on an hour’s sleep? Bad idea. If we’ve got a few hours, you should make the most of them. Come on, lie down with me.’
He seemed oddly reluctant. ‘I’m not sure there’s room for both of us. And you need it more.’
‘No, I don’t.’ Sleep was the last thing she wanted, knowing what visions waited behind her eyes. ‘Edward J. Chase, take off your clothes and get into bed, right now!’
The order was given with humour, and he smiled in response, but he was still reticent even as he peeled off his clothing. She soon realised why. He was covered in angry bruises and cuts. ‘Oh my God!’ she cried. ‘When did you get all those?’
‘Remember those Argie cops?’ he said as he unfastened his belt. ‘One of them was a Falklands veteran. He had a chip on his shoulder about Brits. So he tried to knock a chip off my shoulder. Took one out of my tooth, too.’ He slid his jeans down to reveal more after-images of a beating. ‘Also, jumping off a moving train while fighting Nazis really fucking hurts.’
‘But you came through it.’ Nina regarded him with loving sympathy as she pulled back the sheets. ‘And you saved me.’
Now naked, he stood before her, all the accumulated injuries to his muscular body exposed — not merely the most recent, but old scars too. He looked back in silence for a long moment, then spoke. ‘Get undressed. I want to be with you.’
There was no jokiness behind his words, just a heartfelt desire for closeness, intimacy, that he knew she shared. She said nothing as she slipped off her top. Her own wounds were revealed, but neither looked anywhere but into the other’s eyes.
Eddie climbed into the cramped bunk, tugging the covers over them. ‘Seems like forever since we were last like this.’
‘I know.’ Nina nuzzled against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, feeling his warmth. ‘Too long.’
‘I hope that bloody door locks,’ he said. ‘Don’t want a load of salty seamen coming in here.’
‘I might,’ she said with a grin that was more than merely suggestive.
He laughed as he reached up to switch out the light. ‘Now I know I can’t let you go,’ he said, running his hands down her body. ‘I’ve made you as bad as me!’
A knock on the cabin door forced the couple back to wakefulness. Nina raised her head, realising with surprise that she couldn’t remember falling asleep — or having any dreams, good or bad. ‘What?’ she called as Eddie sat up.