Sands of Time (Out of Time #6)

by Monique Martin

  Ahmed was one of the bandits.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Jack scratched out another failed attempt at solving the cipher in Mason’s letter. He looked down at the pad in front of him and shoved it away in disgust. The little experience he had with codes was proving to be pathetically inadequate. It was one thing to read a coded message when you knew what kind of code it was and knew the key. Without that, without a key… This wasn’t exactly Enigma, but it might as well have been.

  101247.330523.550198.36533.451225.03244526…

  A line of numbers like that could represent anything—dates, coordinates, or it could be a substitution cipher where each number or set of numbers, or every third number, represented a letter or a phonetic sound or God knows what. The whole thing was starting to make his brain ache.

  There was a reason he had been a field operative and not stuck behind a desk. He was far better with people than paper. But Mason’s letter was the best clue they had so far. Other than Whiteside’s half papyrus, it was the only clue.

  As much as he wanted to be out there with Simon and Elizabeth, breaking this cipher was more important. He was beginning to wonder though, if he ever would. Judging from the heaping pile of crumpled paper in the trash bin waiting to be burned, and the fact that he’d made absolutely zero progress and had even fewer ideas, he might be right. He had a newfound respect for the men and women who broke Enigma and Purple.

  He reached for his coffee, but it had gone cold. Just as he was about to ring the bell to check on his order for a fresh pot there was a knock on the door.

  “I was just about to come looking—” he said, as he yanked the door open.

  Diana smiled. “Were you?”

  “Sorry, I was…” Jack, stepping back, waved her in. “Thought you were room service.”

  Diana stepped inside and fingered the splintered door jam. “What happened here?”

  “A little misunderstanding,” Jack said hoping she wouldn’t press him.

  He closed the door and went to the table and flipped his pad over to cover Mason’s letter. The room was still in a shambles and he started to tidy things up. “Sorry about the mess.”

  “Don’t worry,” Diana said as she sat down in one of the chairs at the small table by the window. “I had fun making it.”

  Last night had definitely been fun. “Right.”

  Relieved, she put it all up to their…robust evening, he tossed aside the shirt that dangled in his hand and smiled.

  He’d needed last night. Needed to be with a woman. The fractures in his heart were finally mending, but he wasn’t ready for more. He wasn’t sure he ever would be. “About that, I hope I didn’t do anything—”

  Diana raised her hand to stop him. “There was nothing wrong with anything you did last night,” she said with a wry smile. “Trust me.” Then she grew more serious. “I just hope that I didn’t mislead you.”

  “Mislead me?”

  “I like you, Jack. I enjoy being with you, but I’m not looking for anything more than this right now,” she said carefully. “I hope we can—”

  He burst out laughing.

  She frowned and he tried to control himself. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I was about to say the same thing.”

  Then the light dawned on her. “You mean…you were going to let me down easy?”

  He nodded and she joined in his laughter.

  “Well, aren’t we a pair?” she said.

  Jack smiled. “Well matched. Did you come here just to break the news or…?”

  “Oh! My necklace.” Her hand went to her throat and she looked about the room. “You didn’t find it, did you?”

  “You’re in luck!” Jack went over to the nightstand and opened the small top drawer. He’d found it when he’d started and immediately given up cleaning his room. He pulled out the necklace. “Found it this morning.”

  “You’re a life saver!” She walked over to him and took it from his hand. Her relief was palpable.

  She saw his unspoken question. “It was my mother’s,” she said simply and he didn’t press the point.

  Diana put it back around her neck and slipped the small gold cross beneath her blouse. She patted her chest between her breasts and then seemed to realize she was giving too much away.

  “So,” she said, easing seamlessly back into her less vulnerable persona. “Are you going to spend the day inside writing letters or look for Arthur’s missing papyrus?”

  Jack managed to hide his surprise at her question. Just as soon as he was back on sure footing with this woman, she pushed him off kilter again.

  “His papyrus?” While it wasn’t exactly a state secret, they didn’t want to broadcast what they were doing either.

  “I stopped by this morning to see how Christina was getting along, not well, by the way, and she mentioned that the Crosses were keen to find it. I just assumed.”

  “I’d like to, but…” he said looking at his pad of paper.

  “Is it anything I can help with?”

  “No,” Jack said quickly. “I’ve just got to stick with it.”

  “You sound frustrated,” she said. “Maybe some fresh air and time away would help?”

  Jack liked the sound of that. “It might.”

  “I have a quick errand to run, but if you come with me, I might know a few places we can check for leads on the papyrus and you can be back at,” she waved her hand toward the table, “whatever it is, in a few hours.”

  Her eyes lit up with mischief and he found it hard to resist. Besides, time away was probably the best thing. He was just spinning his wheels sitting here.

  “All right,” he said. “I’ll meet you downstairs in ten?” He had to burn the papers that contained his fruitless morning labors. He trusted her, but there were limits.

  “Perfect.”

  “What is this errand of yours?” he asked as she reached the door.

  She gripped the door handle. “Just have to pick something up.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Elizabeth saw the fear in Ahmed’s eyes the moment he realized she recognized him. Panic and fear and shame raced across them and he looked quickly at Simon. For his part, Simon seemed none the wiser. If he had recognized the boy, Elizabeth doubted he’d be asking him a question with anything other than his fists.

  The boy nodded at something and cleared his throat.

  “Elizabeth?” Simon asked, touching her arm and bringing her back to the conversation. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes? Yes, I’m sorry.”

  She glanced back at Ahmed, who swallowed hard as Simon addressed him. “Do you think you might have a lead for us?”

  Ahmed cleared his throat again. “I’m…” he coughed. “Bit of a cold,” he said, clearly trying to disguise his voice. “Perhaps. I will write it down.”

  Simon’s eyes narrowed. Elizabeth knew she should have said something. Why she felt compelled to protect this man, she didn’t know. He’d been part of a marauding band of criminals who’d kidnapped them for heaven’s sake. Sure, he’d promised to come back and help, but he’d ended up being a complete no-show.

  But now, looking at this clean-cut, handsome young man, it hardly made any sense even though she wanted it to. And he had been kind to her. He’d seen to her comfort and clearly, he was not a fan of the whole hostage taking part of the operation. Maybe he hadn’t had a chance to help them when Jack arrived.

  “You are in good hands,” Henri said. “I am afraid I must tend to other things.”

  He bowed to Elizabeth. “I hope to see you again soon.”

  With a more than slightly smug smile for Simon, he left.

  Ahmed quickly excused himself and hurried nervously over to a glass counter near the register.

  “Wait here?” Elizabeth asked Simon and despite his curious look, left him alone to join Ahmed.

  He looked up from unscrewing the cap to a fountain pen and cast a furtive glance back toward Simon.

  “Funny meeting you here,” El
izabeth said.

  Ahmed gave a small laugh, but grew serious again quickly. “I am so pleased to see you are unharmed.”

  “Yeah, about that…”

  “I am sorry,” he said in a rough whisper. “I could not come to you and by the time the alarm had sounded all I could do was delay them, but it was not long.”

  Elizabeth’s heart went out to him. He sounded so worried and sincere. “You helped us get away?”

  He nodded. “It was not much, but I’m relieved it was enough. I had to leave the camp the next day and your fate was unknown to me.”

  “What’s a nice kid like you doing with bunch of Hell’s Angels?”

  “Hells Angels?”

  She waved it off. “What I mean is you don’t seem like the marauding type.”

  He smiled and shook his head. “I want to help the revolution, but…” He looked at her, sincerity dripping from his light brown boy-band eyes with long dark lashes she would have killed for. “I had no idea things would go so far. You must believe me.”

  “I do,” she said and then glanced over to where Simon stood examining some of the museum’s artifacts. Her husband might be a different matter though.

  He followed her gaze and blanched.

  “I can handle him,” Elizabeth assured him, although in this case, it would not be easy. He tended to take umbrage at things like being kidnapped.

  “If my parents were ever to find out. The shame I would bring…”

  “I’ll keep your secret,” she said. “On one condition.”

  “Anything.”

  “No more hostages.”

  He laughed lightly and smiled. “Yes. Thank you. If there is anyway I can repay you. I have money—”

  She held up her hand to stop him. “Help us find the papyrus. All right?”

  “Yes, of course,” he promised. “If I can. This might not lead anywhere,” he said as he jotted down an address. “But I shall keep looking.”

  Simon, who’d grown impatient with waiting, came over to the counter. “Almost ready?”

  “Yes,” Ahmed said and slid the paper toward Elizabeth.

  Simon’s eyes narrowed, the wheels turning and catching on something.

  Elizabeth slipped her arm through his and raised the slip of paper in the air as she started to lead him out. “Thank you, Ahmed. Let us know if you find anything else that might be helpful.”

  Ahmed nodded quickly.

  Simon craned his neck back to get another look as Elizabeth forcefully escorted him from the room.

  “What are you doing?” he asked testily.

  “There’s something important I have to tell you,” Elizabeth whispered.

  Simon looked again at Ahmed, his frown deepening, but he let Elizabeth pull him away.

  Finally, she managed to get him outside where he decided he’d had enough and brought them both to an unceremonious stop. “Well?”

  “What?” she asked innocently.

  Simon scowled. “I’m in no mood.” His eyes shifted back to the museum door, those wheels turning again.

  “All right,” she said, giving up the pretense. “But try not to get angry.”

  Simon’s eyes narrowed. “Elizabeth…”

  She slipped her arm into his and started to walk them casually away from the museum. “You remember when we were out in the desert near Fayoum…”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Just have to pick something up?” Jack asked under his breath as two more men stepped out from the shadows and into the light that filtered into the small upstairs apartment.

  Diana shifted her gaze from the sweaty fat man with the broad smile sitting at the table just long enough to apologize. “Sorry. This wasn’t exactly what I had planned.”

  Her eyes fell on a small man with a white turban that was starting to unravel. Amir had been her contact until he’d been forced to betray her. He clasped his hands in front of himself, in prayer or begging for forgiveness, Jack couldn’t tell.

  Amir looked at Diana and shook his head sadly. Maybe a little of both. Jack kept his hands up in surrender and took stock of their situation. It wasn’t pretty.

  They’d come to Old Cairo to meet with Amir. He’d found a small piece Diana had been searching for. Sounded simple enough. She’d dealt with Amir before, even visited his home, where they were now standing. Except it hadn’t been a quick pick-up at all. The heavy-set man, Reza, and his band of not-so-merry men had crashed the party. Which might not have been so bad if one of them hadn’t had a gun and the room only one way out.

  Amir wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his sleeve. Reza said something to Diana in Arabic.

  “Ingilicze,” she said. “English.”

  Reza frowned, but nodded. “Very well. For your partner?” He grinned at Jack.

  “I’m homesick,” she said.

  He laughed. “Then you should go home, Diana. This is no business for a woman.”

  There was a subtle shift in the way she held her jaw, but she didn’t rise to the bait. Reza smiled anyway and unfolded the velvet cloth on the dining table in front of him.

  “That doesn’t belong to you,” Diana said.

  Reza admired the jeweled necklace. “It does now.” He wrapped the velvet covering back over it and handed it back to one of his men. “Now, the question is what to do with you.”

  Diana smiled and took a step forward. The man with the gun raised it from his lazy half-hearted position to one that would stop her in her tracks.

  “Reza,” she said, drawling out his name like a purr. “We’re old friends.”

  His smile dropped and Jack tensed.

  “We are not friends,” Reza said.

  “Business associates,” she tried.

  He laughed and turned to share his amusement with his men. In that split moment when they were busy laughing, she grabbed the edge of the table in front of him and flipped it over. It caught everyone, including Jack, by complete surprise. Reza and his men fell into a tangle behind it.

  Diana turned on her heels and grabbed Jack by the arm. “Run!”

  They were out the door in seconds. She turned left to go down the stairs, but the noise had alerted one of Reza’s men who’d been waiting downstairs. He was already nearly at the top of the short stairwell, and reached out to grab them. He would have if Jack hadn’t landed a quick right.

  It wasn’t flush, but it was enough to knock him off balance and send him tumbling down the stairs.

  “The roof!” Diana said and grabbed Jack’s hand again, pulling them back the way they’d come.

  They climbed a narrow, dark staircase and emerged into the bright Egyptian sun. Jack blinked against the bright light, then looked over his shoulder as the sound of the men coming up the stairs behind them grew louder.

  They were standing on a flat rooftop that Amir must have used as a makeshift patio. There were two small wooden chairs and a table. He grabbed one of the chairs and shoved it under the door handle. It would hold, but not for long.

  When he looked back Diana was at the edge. “Over here.”

  Jack joined her, but made sure to keep back from the edge. He could feel the world starting to spin the closer he got.

  She nodded toward the roof across the alley. “We can make that, right?”

  Jack eyed the gap between the buildings. It wasn’t that far. Six or seven feet, but it wasn’t the across that killed you. It was the down.

  “Come on,” Diana said and took several steps back.

  The men pounded on the door. The chair would give way any minute. Before Jack could suggest maybe there was another way, Diana took a running start and leapt. She swung her arms wildly in the air, before landing and stumbling on the other side. She quickly got to her feet and waved him across.

  Jack hesitated. He could face a dozen armed Nazi and not break a sweat, but this…He looked down over the edge despite telling himself not to. The ground telescoped away from him. Twenty-five feet looked like fifty, a hundred. His mouth went dry and his pa
lms were instantly slick with sweat.

  He panted out a few quick breaths to try to control himself. No problem. All he had to do was defy gravity.

  “Hurry!” Diana yelled and reached out as if she could catch him.

  Behind him the doorframe began to split as yet another shoulder was thrown against it.

  Jack took a deep breath and a few steps back. He had no choice. Jump or die. Or both, the wicked part of him echoed.

  He ignored it and the pounding of his heart and ran toward the edge. He jumped out and up as high and as far as he could. It felt like he hung in the air suspended until time caught up with him and he landed hard on the far side. He barely managed to, but he kept his feet.

  Diana ran over to him. The men broke through and spilled out of the stairwell and onto the other roof.

  Diana grabbed Jack’s hand. “Come on.”

  She pulled him away just as a gun shot pinged into the masonry of the stairwell enclosure near where he’d just been standing. They ran to the far edge of the roof and leapt again. This one wasn’t as far and, thankfully, Jack didn’t have time to look down.

  From here, he lowered Diana down onto the roof of a lower level room and then jumped down himself. They moved quickly to the next ledge. The ground was only about ten feet down now. Jack grabbed Diana’s hand and lowered her as far down as he could and let go. He clambered over the edge and dropped to the ground beside her, ignoring the rebellion in his stomach as he did.

  “This way,” she said, and they ran down the narrow alley, turning from one into another. They zigzagged their way through the old cobblestone streets. Finally, they turned hard to the right again and fell in with the crowd at a large, busy market.

  Jack looked back over his shoulder as they meshed with the surging foot traffic. No one seemed to be following them. They walked for another few minutes before he felt safe. Finally, he glared over at her. She smiled innocently back.

  “Ya know, I love a good run for your life as much as the next man, I just prefer to know what I’m getting myself into before I start running.”