The road to Ankara stretched endlessly long, and I drifted in and out of sleep, jerking awake whenever we hit a (frequent) bump in the road or when my chin met my chest.
I woke fully when Thor mumbled. At the car. It was not a happy mumble.
In the past two days, I’d been attacked, twice, kidnapped, attacked again, then taken on a forced march through an Indiana Jones set. It took Herculean effort to turn my head, but I did it. “What did you say?”
“I told the car it’s wrong.”
“About what?”
“It says I’m too distracted to drive.” He pointed an accusing finger at the dash.
Was the car right? I proceeded with caution. “When did you last sleep?”
“In Greece.”
We’d managed four hours of sleep on the island before the invasion, and more than twenty-four hours had passed since then. The car was probably right. “I can drive.”
“I’m fine.” He dismissed my offer and doubled down on his scowl at the dashboard. “Where’s the box?”
I checked my cell. “It stopped moving.”
“Ankara?”
“Yes.” I considered the dark circles beneath his eyes and the car’s advice. “We should book a hotel, get something to eat, and spend the night. Sleep.” My head meeting a pillow? Yes, please.
“The box might be gone in the morning.”
Who cared about the box? Not me. The box was empty. Sleep was the name of the game. “If it’s gone, it’s gone. We’re in no shape to go after it now. I’ll book us a hotel.”
“Same place as the box?”
“Because that worked out so well last time? Somewhere nearby.” I studied my screen. “This one.” I swiped a few times. “There. I booked us a room.”
“A room or a suite?”
“A suite. A small suite.”
“I’m too tired to argue.”
Why would anyone argue about a suite?
Yip. Someone’s cranky.
“Hush,” I told her.
Even exhausted, Thor navigated the aggressive Ankara traffic and got us to the hotel. “This is the place?” He leaned forward and peered through the windshield.
I understood the doubt in his voice. The hotel looked like a Swiss chalet.
“It is. I’ll check us in.” Leaving Consuela in the car, I stepped into the lobby, where a grouping of burnt sienna leather couches seemed to float above a small pool. The hotel’s walls were rock and plaster with half-timbering that reached toward an arched two-story ceiling made of glass. The second-floor rooms opened onto a balcony that overlooked the lobby.
I pasted on a smile and approached the check-in desk. “Reservation for Fields.”
The man behind the desk had dark brown eyes, overly generous eyebrows, and a warm smile. “Welcome, Miss Fields.”
I handed over my credit card, paid a damage deposit and hefty cleaning fee for bringing Consuela with us, and collected our keys. “Room service?”
“Yes. There’s also a terrace restaurant with views of the city.”
The only view I cared about was the one from the bed. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”
Thor and I found our suite, and I collapsed on the bed. “Peek in the bathroom. Tell me it’s fabulous.” The suite was lovely. Hardwood floors, Asian antiques (real ones, not reproductions), good art on the walls, and a mattress that felt like a cloud.
“You’ll like it.”
“Oh, good.” I searched for the energy to get off the bed and see for myself. It wasn’t there.
Thor joined me on the bed, and we both stared at the white ceiling.
“What now?” I asked.
He rubbed his eyes. “We eat.”
“Heaven.”
He yawned. “We shower.”
I lifted my head a few inches off the pillow and frowned at my still-dirty feet. “Superb.”
“We sleep.” Thor had a solid plan. Especially the sleeping part.
“Bliss.”
“We figure out the rest in the morning.”
I turned my head and smiled at him. His profile was sublime. His dark blond hair was slightly longer than usual. His lips were slightly parted. His eyes were closed. “Have I told you that you’re perfect?”
“Not today.”
“Well, consider yourself told.”
Our fingers laced together. This was the moment to kiss, to act on the feelings we’d expressed in the car.
Except…Thor was asleep.
I considered joining him, but my feet were filthy. Somehow, I dragged myself out of bed and trudged to the bathroom.
Thor was right. I liked the bathroom. I liked the rain shower head. I liked the jasmine scented soap and shampoo. And, when I stepped out of the shower, I loved the soft, thick, thirsty towels.
Yip. Consuela waited for me outside the bathroom door. If you want your deposit back, you need to take me for a walk. Now.
“Really?”
She danced on her little paws. Yip. Really.
“Fine.” I pulled on my wrinkled pants and tee-shirt, grabbed her leash, and we ventured outside.
The late afternoon sun beat on my shoulders, and I dug sunglasses from my handbag. “Let’s make this quick.”
Yip. I’ve been in a car all day. I need a walk.
We found a nearby park, and Consuela sniffed every tree, every bush, every blade of grass. This was my punishment for allowing Thor to lock her in the bathroom. It was both cruel and unusual.
“Please,” I begged. “Can you hurry?”
Yip. Not a chance.
An eternity passed.
Consuela didn’t care about the time, or my tired body, or the way my eyes itched with exhaustion. She sniffed. She piddled. She barked at squirrels (gray with yellow bellies and tails) and preened when they skittered up palm trees and chittered their disapproval.
“Enough.” I scooped her into my arms. “We’re going back to the hotel.” I pitied anyone who dared come between me and that cloud of a mattress.
Minutes later, I stumbled into our suite, filled Consuela’s water bowl, and nose-dived into bed.
It was six o’clock.
I didn’t move for fourteen hours. When I finally pried my eyes open, I reached for Thor. His side of the bed was empty. And cold.
“I ordered room service.” He stood at the entrance to the bedroom.
“Coffee?”
“Of course.”
“Bacon for Consuela?”
“Of course. Also, I took her for a walk.”
“There was a reason I like you.”
His brows rose. “You like me?”
I measured out a short distance between my thumb and index finger.
He stalked toward the bed, and my skin flushed with anticipation.
I expanded the distance to the size of a business card. “Maybe this much.”
His knee hit the bottom of the bed, and he crawled toward me. “Is that right?” His voice was a low growl.
I giggled as heat flooded my veins.
He was on top of me. His lips were mere inches from mine.
“I may kill you with my morning breath.” It was a legitimate warning.
“I’ll take my chances.” He balanced on his left elbow as his right hand traced the length of my jaw.
With just his touch on my face, my body was alight. “Okay, fine.” I smiled up at him. “I might love you.”
“Might?” His eyes narrowed.
I totally loved him.
He closed the distance between our lips. “I love you, too.”
He kissed me. Deeply. I might have spent another fourteen hours in bed, but a knock at the door interrupted us.
With an aggrieved sigh, Thor stood. “I’ll get that.”
While he was distracted, I swung my feet to the floor, hurried to the bathroom, and brushed my teeth.
When I emerged, I found Thor and Consuela seated at a table on the suite’s terrace.
I sank into a chair, poured myself a cup of coffee, and asked, “How long have you been up?”
Yip. Forever. When did you get so lazy?
“An hour.” Thor raked his fingers through his hair and grimaced. “The files on the flash drive you found are encrypted.”
We were back to reality. Too soon. I wrapped both hands around my coffee cup and drank. “Where’s the box?”
He nodded at my phone on the table. “Still a few blocks from here.”
“What should we do?”
“Let’s eat breakfast before we worry about a plan.”
My stomach rumbled its approval, and I filled my plate with eggs, cheese, and a variety of vegetables. “Have you seen the news? Is there anything about what happened to Köse?”
“Not yet.”
I took a bite of eggs and gave a happy sigh.
Yip. Save some for me.
“You have bacon.”
Yip. Doesn’t mean I don’t want eggs.
Thor reached into his pocket, then put the flash drive on the table. “I assume the flash drive swe already found are related to the other items in the box.”
“Me, too. This one is different.” I was sure of it. “It was in a hidden drawer.”
“How much do you trust Yurgi?”
“Implicitly.” But that wasn’t entirely true. I trusted Yurgi to adore my mother and keep her safe. He wouldn’t put me in harm’s way. Not deliberately. “He didn’t realize the box would cause this much trouble.”
Thor did not look convinced. “Could this—” he pushed the flash drive across the table until it was next to my plate “—belong to him?”
“He said it didn’t. I believe him.”
“You’re certain?”
Maybe. Maybe not. Was Yurgi loyal to me or did his loyalties lie with men he’d known forever? I put down my fork. My appetite was gone. “What’s our next step?”
“We find someone who can access the files.”
Ignoring the flash drive, I took in the view. The bustling street. The park where I’d walked Consuela.
Thor helped himself to more eggs. “I have a friend at the embassy.”
“If we take the drive to the embassy, and whatever is on it is important, we may never get it back.”
“You don’t know that.”
I stared at him until a flush colored his cheeks.
“I have a friend in Istanbul.” Not exactly a friend. More like an ex. One who might not be thrilled to see me.
“A hacker?”
“White hat.” Most of the time.
“You don’t trust the government.” It wasn’t a question.
I answered anyway. “Right now, no one in Washington is thinking about the greater good. Instead, politicians on both sides spin everything.”
Yip. Is there more bacon?
Thor rubbed his chin. “Let’s check on the box. We can figure out the flash drive later.” He was offering a compromise.
I took it. “Works for me. Where is it?”
“A café not far from here.”
I grinned at him. “I’m always up for more coffee.”
Twenty minutes later, we left the hotel and stepped onto a broad sidewalk. Thor claimed my free hand, and we strolled toward the café.
“What do we do when we get there?” I asked.
“We see who has the box. Maybe take a few pictures. We don’t need to take it back. It’s empty.”
Yip. Whoever has the box can be tracked.
Consuela was right. We did not want the box.
“This way.” Thor turned right onto a street too narrow for cars. Cafés spilled tables onto the pavement, and fairy lights zig-zagged between the buildings. Potted palms separated the different cafés where tourists and locals mixed seamlessly.
I studied the buildings with their ornate stonework and delicate iron balconies and said, “This is charming.”
Yip. Look for the box, not at the architecture.
I pulled my phone from my pocket. “It’s here. We’re close.”
“Which way?” asked Thor.
I handed him the phone, and he led me to a café where wrought-iron chairs surrounded marble top tables. “We’re within a few feet,” he whispered in my ear.
I took the chair next to his, and Consuela settled at our feet. “Do you see it?”
“No.” Thor barely noticed the other people in the café. He turned his gaze on me and didn’t look away. It was almost as if he had no interest in identifying the thief. “Being obvious might get us killed.” His voice was barely audible. “They did murder Köse to get the box.”
“Fair point. Should we order?”
A waiter brought us coffee, and we surreptitiously studied the café’s other patrons.
An older couple. He read the paper. She played a game on her phone. Neither spoke.
Three young men who animatedly discussed a football match.
They ignored the two young women who made eyes at them from another table.
A man with deeply hooded eyes who drummed his fingers on the table as if someone had kept him waiting.
I sipped my coffee. “He gets my vote.”
“Why?”
“The duffel bag by his feet.” The leather bag was large enough to hide the box. “Also, he looks shifty.”
Yip. You got that right. Also, he smells like cats.
“Consuela agrees with me.”
The man bent and picked up the duffel, threw a few bills on the table, and exited the café.
I checked my phone. “It’s him. The box is moving.”
Thor stuck several brightly colored bills under his coffee cup and stood. “Ready?”
I took a last sip of coffee. “We’re following?”
“From a distance.
We kept a half a block between us and the man. When he stopped and made a call, we paused and looked in a shop window.
“Can you hear what he’s saying?” I asked.
“No.”
“What about the language? Is he speaking Russian?”
“Poppy, he’s too far away.”
“Then let’s get closer.” I gave up my perusal of brightly colored, boldly patterned pashminas and walked past the man. My ears strained to hear even a few words as I passed the man.
He was listening, not talking.
I tamped down my frustration and stopped in front of another shop window. This store sold clothing, and the dress on display had me reaching for the door. My current wardrobe was extremely limited, and the dress, a cotton popover in a light blue flower-of-life print, looked cool and comfortable.
Thor stopped me with a hand on my elbow. “You are not shopping.”
“Sorry.” Heat warmed my cheeks. “I got distracted.” I glanced over my shoulder.
The man had not moved. He stood like a rock in the stream of foot traffic. Passers-by walked around him.
A woman in a headscarf bumped into him, and he snarled at her.
She ducked her head and scurried past him.
His free hand tightened to a fist, and he barked something into the phone. A few seconds passed, then he slipped the cell into his pocket. The expression on his face was thunderous.
He took a step toward us, and I returned my gaze to the window before he caught me watching.
The reflection in the glass showed him walking to the curb as if he meant to cross the street.
His back was to us. He wouldn’t see me watching.
I turned as a dark sedan pulled up next to him.
A man the size of Mount Everest got out of the car.
Bang!
Our man crumpled to the pavement, and Everest grabbed the duffel, jumped into the car, and sped away.
Yip. That box is nothing but trouble.
Consuela made an excellent point.
Thor was already at the man’s side, crouching in a rapidly growing pool of blood.
A crowd formed around him as he put pressure on the dying man’s wound.
A weight settled on my shoulders. I picked up Consuela and said, “We’re in a world of trouble.”
She eyed the scene if front of us. The dying man. Thor covered in blood. The crowd. Yip. Amen, sister.