Uncover Me

by Linda Barlow

  "You're not actually going to shoot anybody?"

  "We shall see."

  "May I have one of your guns?"

  He raised his eyebrows. "Do you know how to use firearms?"

  "Yes," was all I said.

  When he hesitated, I reminded him that the odds were against us. He gave me a pistol, and briefly explained its action. I familiarized myself with it quickly. I was amazed at how calm I felt. I'd done the hardest thing by crawling through that narrow tunnel. Anything ahead of me seemed almost trivial in comparison.

  We waited several minutes, and then silently followed the men into the cave, crawling silently through the entrance and remaining deep in the shadows. As the cool, black darkness closed once again around me, I heard Nigel cursing. "They were right here. Here, in this spot. Both of them. They've disappeared."

  "What do you mean, disappeared?" Sir Avery said. "Put me down, for God's sake," he ordered the men who were carrying him. "There, on that flat rock. Watch Nigel. I no longer trust him."

  "This is a fool's errand," Nigel snapped. "We could be safely away from the island by now. You can come out now, coz," he said more loudly. "It seems the old man wants you alive, after all."

  Where was Nick? I hoped he hadn't fallen unconscious again.

  He must still be in the inner chamber of the cave where the treasure was. When they could not find him here, would they continue to search until they discovered the narrow passageway that led to the gold?

  "Nick?" Sir Avery called. "Where are you, my boy?" He was answered only by the echo of his own shout. "By God, Nigel, if you've been lying to me..."

  "They must be here somewhere, Avery bey," Sinan said, sounding genuinely distressed.

  "They must have escaped," somebody suggested.

  "They were here," insisted Sinan. "There on the floor of the cave. Nick was hurt. He could not have escaped."

  "How badly hurt?" Sir Avery's voice was thin and hard.

  "Nigel beat him," Sinan admitted.

  Sir Avery swore. "Is this true, Nigel? You claimed you hadn't harmed him."

  "I didn't hear you berating him for beating me."

  "You've killed him, haven't you?" This time Sir Avery's voice was low, broken, barely audible. "And Ellie. You've killed them both."

  "I should have," Nigel said. "They're in here. Look harder, you fools."

  While they searched, Metin and I edged forward, our weapons at the ready. The stalagmites near the entrance gave us plenty of shelter.

  "This tale of sealing them in the cave was fabricated in order to lure me away from the compound, away from the boat, so the few men who are still loyal to you would have the chance to steal some of the artifacts," Nick's grandfather said. "You probably planned on sealing me in the cave."

  "No," Sinan protested. "We left them here. They were alive."

  "Shut up. I'm weary of your lies." Once again, I heard the sound of a gun being cocked for firing. My eyes had adjusted to the dim light, and I could see Sir Avery's drawn face. "I never wanted Nick hurt. I was angry with him, yes, but one uses words when one is angry. Words, not fists or guns. You've never learned this basic lesson of civilization, have you? You're corrupt, Nigel. Your grandmother warned me often enough. So did Nick. I should have listened."

  "I kicked him a few times, that's all. The clever bastard is in this cave somewhere, listening to this conversation and laughing his head off."

  "You are a liar, a thief and a murderer. I begin to understand why Nick was so determined to stop you."

  "But you're not a murderer, old man," Nigel said unpleasantly. He took a menacing step forward. "So put the gun down."

  Instead, his grandfather raised it. "Any man can kill if he is pushed far enough."

  I touched Metin's shoulder. We needed to intervene now.

  But Nick beat us to it. Just as Metin and I were about to make our presence known, he emerged from the narrow crevasse that led to the treasure.

  "I'm here," he said in a clear voice. "For once, he's telling the truth."

  "Nick!" Sir Avery swung around, and even in the gloom, I could see the relief that marked his craggy features. His mouth worked speechlessly for a second before he managed to gasp, "Thank god."

  Holding his ribs, Nick walked unsteadily into the center of the cavern where his grandfather sat. He reached down and clasped Sir Avery's hand. Even through the darkness, I could see that the old man was overcome with emotion.

  "When your cousin came back without you, I realized what a fool I'd been to think he'd leave you unharmed."

  "He'd have killed us if Ellie hadn't stopped him."

  "He tried to get me to leave the island with him. He claimed you and Ellie were tied up on your boat, and that by the time you worked yourself free, we would be far away from here. But I couldn't leave, and Sinan finally confessed the truth."

  The archaeologist's throat sounded choked up. I felt pretty weepy myself. During the time I'd spent with Sir Avery and Nick, I'd seen the unacknowledged depth of the affection between them.

  Nick stooped beside his grandfather so their eyes were on the same level. "You should have trusted me. I've been trying to get you away from Nigel and save your scrawny ass."

  "What a touching scene," Nigel mocked. He seized the moment to dive toward his grandfather. He moved smoothly and fast, and his grandfather was not expecting it. Nigel wrested the gun from Sir Avery's hands and swung it toward Nick, snarling, "Die, asshole."

  Time slowed. There was no doubt in my mind that Nigel was going to kill Nick. I couldn't allow that. I acted without thinking. I steadied the gun Metin had given me, took aim, and squeezed the trigger.

  Metin fired at approximately the same moment, and Nigel went down.

  In the next instant, I stood staring at my own hands in shock, not quite believing what I had done. Sweat broke out on my brow. Nick was swaying but standing. Nigel had recoiled, obviously from the impact of bullets, and fallen. I could see blood.

  Was he dead? Had I just killed a man?

  Nick swayed a little more, and I realized there was blood on him, too. I dropped the gun. I could hear Metin calling out orders to the others, but the meaning of words didn't penetrate. Sir Avery was anxiously asking questions about his grandsons. I ignored him.

  On legs that barely seemed capable of holding me, I ran to Nick. He grabbed me and held me to him with his right arm, but his left arm hung by his side.

  "I think I'd better sit down, canim," he said, as his legs folded beneath him. We sank to our knees together on the cave floor.

  Chapter 43

  NICK

  She kept surprising me. When Ellie burst out of the shadows, pistol in hand, I was dumbfounded. I was sure I was dead this time, but she had saved my life twice. She'd shot my fucking cousin, although not before he got one bullet into me. My arm. Unless he'd hit a fucking artery, it wasn't gonna kill me.

  It took me a few seconds to realize that Ellie wasn't the only one who had fired. Metin, looking like a Middle Eastern Rambo, appeared beside her. He assessed my condition swiftly and efficiently, and then checked on Nigel. From the groans issuing from my cousin's fallen body, I concluded he wasn't dead.

  "One bullet wound in the right shoulder, another that's grazed his left hip," Metin announced. "If you were aiming for his balls, Ellie, you missed."

  She didn't seem to be listening. She was clinging to me, trying to stop the bleeding in my left arm. We were both sitting on the ground. I glanced down at myself, noticing that if it had hit me about three inches to the right, the bullet would have pierced my heart and I'd be history. The shot wouldn't have gone wide, either, if Nigel hadn't been winged in the shoulder while firing. Yep. My cousin wanted me dead.

  "Is he gonna live?" I asked Metin.

  "Looks like it. We will need medical assistance for both of you, though."

  Fuck medical assistance. I felt great. "You rock," I told Ellie.

  "Ssh. You're shot."

  "Flesh wound, no big deal." It was
beginning to hurt. I felt like a battered wreck. Why had I ever thought I could do stuff like this? Who the hell did I think I was, Indiana Jones?

  "I was so afraid for you," I confessed to her. "I can't believe you crawled all that way through the darkness. I wouldn't have wanted to tackle that tunnel, and I've never had an anxiety attack in my life."

  "All I cared about was getting back and making sure you were okay."

  "You just saved my life. Again. Fuck, Ellie. You're amazing."

  "I love you," she said.

  I shook my head, stunned. She'd said it before, but it seemed much more real this time. She had crawled through a narrow black tunnel and shot a guy for me. She must mean it. Something welled up in me, strong and a little bit scary. I hoped I wasn't going to start bawling or something. My eyes were stinging. Must be the concussion, right?

  Truth was, I loved her too. I hadn't known her long, but damn, somehow or other she had slid into my heart.

  I'd forgotten about Metin, who was efficiently cleaning things up. From somewhere he produced a couple of pairs of handcuffs, which he snapped on the wrists of Nigel and Sinan. Then, still waving his weapon, he herded everyone toward the entrance of the cave. "You will all come with me," he ordered. He proceeded to pull out an official-looking I.D. stamped with the star and crescent that symbolized the Turkish nation.

  While I blinked at him, stupefied, Metin continued, "I am an agent of the Turkish Customs Bureau, working undercover. I regret to inform you that I must arrest the lot of you—except Ellie—for crimes against the Republic of Turkey."

  "Metin?"

  "Sorry, Nick," my friend, associate, and sailing partner returned, not meeting my eyes. "That includes you."

  Chapter 44

  ELLIE

  "I'd like to have a chat with you, Metin," said Nick.

  The three of us were in Nick's bedroom at the compound, where I was taping his ribs. A helicopter had arrived on the island with the Turkish authorities, who had already rounded up Nigel and his cohorts and taken them back to the mainland. Metin and several other agents had been assigned to clean things up here, and both Sir Avery and Nick had been left in their custody. Nick had insisted that he was too weak to travel and his grandfather too elderly and frail. Metin backed him up, while at the same time making it clear to everyone that both men were still technically under arrest.

  Weak though he was, Nick was not behaving like a chastened criminal, I noted. He was treating Metin the same as ever, despite the younger man's change in status. "Rob Hepburn threatened to put a man on me," he went on. "That man was you?"

  "You could say so. Our agency is cooperating with Mr. Hepburn, although I do not personally know the man."

  "Jeez." My lover's tone was a cross between annoyance and self-deprecation. "And here I thought I was livening up your uneventful life by giving you a much-desired taste of adventure. What a blind, trusting amateur I am."

  "I'm truly sorry, Nick," said Metin who now admitted to the age of twenty-five and several years' experience as a customs agent. His eyes looked anywhere but at his erstwhile employer's face. Although Nick had initially been furious with him for his betrayal, I could tell he was most of the way toward forgiving him now, simply because Metin looked so miserable. "I was only doing my job."

  "I know, and I can't really blame you. You did it damn well. I certainly never suspected."

  "I'm sure Hepburn will make a deal to get you off," Metin said earnestly. "My agency owes his several favors. You won't be prosecuted, Nick."

  "If there's a deal to be made, I'd rather make it directly with you."

  "And is there?"

  "Maybe. I presume, since you've shown no interest in the subject, that Ellie didn't happen to mention the discovery we made?"

  I hadn't, of course. The hidden cache of ancient treasures was a secret known only to Nick and myself. "Nope," I said. "I was preoccupied with getting you safely out of the cave."

  "What discovery?" Metin asked.

  "The treasures of Troy exist, my friend. Jewelry and gold objets d'art, of rare beauty and ancient workmanship. My grandfather was right." Nick paused a moment to let the news sink in. "There's loot on this island, all right, and it's been hidden for nearly three thousand years. Ellie and I are the only two people alive who know where these treasures lie."

  "In the cave?" Metin guessed.

  "Did you see any indication of that?" Nick scoffed. "Be sensible, Metin. We would have found the stuff long ago if that's where it was."

  I blinked over this blatant lie.

  "I don't think I'm going to give you any further hints," Nick continued. "Let's just say that somewhere on the island is a collection of extraordinary artifacts, including the golden dolphin after which the island was named. But they are well concealed and will remain so."

  "Unless?"

  "Unless the government of Turkey is prepared to deal justly with me."

  Metin grinned, his dark eyes sparkling. "You devious dog. What do you want?"

  "You know what I want. What I've been working all these months to achieve. My grandfather's freedom. He's too old and ill to spend his remaining days in prison."

  "And your own freedom? Surely that, too, is important to you?"

  "Well, yes, of course," Nick acknowledged with a smile.

  "How do I know you're telling the truth about this?"

  "I'm not lying, Metin. The treasures exist."

  "I believe you. Still, if you found them, so can I. I can order a troop of men to comb the island until they turn up. Then you will have nothing to deal with, Nick."

  "You can do that, yes." Nick met Metin's eyes implacably. "But I don't think you will. You owe me something, at least, for the entertainment I've provided you with during the past six months."

  Metin flushed. "It was more than entertainment! You have been my friend."

  "Yes, I thought so, too."

  "I had a job to do," the young man repeated mechanically. "I haven't always liked it, but there was no choice."

  "Metin." Nick's voice was gentler now. "We are friends still, as far as I'm concerned." He extended his hand. "You are my brother, my kardesh."

  Metin grasped his hand and held it hard. "I will go downstairs and consult with my superiors."

  "I'd appreciate that," said Nick.

  "He's in a quandary, I think," I noted as I wrapped the last piece of tape around Nick's chest, hoping I was doing it properly. We could hear Metin bounding down the stairs. "He's proud of having accomplished what he set out to do, yet he's sincerely fond of you."

  "I know. Poor Metin. I wonder if he's tough enough to last at this job."

  "Will he make the deal?"

  "If his superiors don't balk, yes, I'm sure he will. He doesn't want to see me go to prison. He knows it wasn't loot I was after. I'm not too worried about myself. The Turkish government isn't unreasonable. Once the facts come out, they'll be lenient."

  "It's Sir Avery you're worried about."

  Nick nodded, his expression grim. The old archaeologist had been philosophical about his probable fate, but Nick was taking the prospect of his grandfather's incarceration very hard.

  "It'll be all right," I soothed him. "Metin will fix things. I have a feeling everything's going to work out okay."

  "Inshallah." God willing.

  I helped him into bed, and then sat beside him on the mattress, stroking his golden hair. "It's odd about Metin, isn't it? I've always thought of him as a kid. But he's older than I am. When I made it safely to the yacht and asked for his help, I had no idea he would return with me to the cave and arrest you."

  "How could you know? I spent six months in virtual seclusion on the yacht with him and I had no clue." He looked up at me and grimaced. "Some undercover agent I turn out to be. You'd built up this fantasy of me as a rough, tough criminal, with lethal talents in the martial arts and the brain of a corrupt intellectual. So how do I end up? Beaten to a pulp by my cousin, rescued from death by a woman, and outwitted by a ki
d!"

  "You did that kick-ass thing with your feet while your hands were tied behind your back. And your amorous talents are considerable," I teased him.

  "Yeah, well, do I look like I'm capable of hauling you into bed? The only thing I'm going to be able to do right now is sleep."

  I put my arms around his shoulders and kissed—gently—the sore spot on the crown of his head. "I must love you very much, because I want you to sleep. I want you to rest and get better. You can worry about impressing me with your devastating sexual prowess at some later time."

  He smiled. "With that as my incentive, I'll start resting immediately."

  "I'd rather see you human and vulnerable than that cold, controlled scary guy you seemed to be when first we met."

  "Mmm," said Nick, closing his eyes.

  He was nearly asleep when Metin burst into our room. "You've got your deal, Nick. We'll trade the gold for you and Sir Avery."

  Nick jerked back to a sitting position, rubbing his eyes and swearing.

  "There's one condition, though," Metin added with a grin. "If you steal so much as a gram of the treasure before you turn it over, we'll toss you into the deepest, darkest prison Turkey has to offer."

  Nick groaned. "Don't worry, Metin. I swear to you I'm going straight from now on."

  "And you'll accept full responsibility for that sly old fox, your grandfather?"

  "My grandfather will doubtless spend his declining years writing a book about the treasures of Troy. Yes, I promise you, his relic-stealing days are over."

  Once again Metin clasped Nick's hand. "Then it's a deal."

  "What about Nigel?" I asked.

  "He's going to hospital first and then to a secure lockup," Metin said. "He can expect a stiff sentence. Our judges are harsh with thieves who ravage Turkey's cultural and historical heritage."

  "With any luck, he'll be imprisoned for a long time." Nick's expression was one of pure satisfaction. "Rob Hepburn will probably suggest that the Turkish authorities search his boat. They're likely to find all sorts of evidence there."