CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

October 1, 8:00 P.M.

Warehouse, Cusco, Peru

RELIEF OVER HEINRICH and Marabout’s return swept over Zara as she held the eleventh crystal in her hands. The uncertainty she experienced while waiting for them to return, knowing they possessed a relic, nearly drove her crazy. They could have made it back to Cusco sooner, but they waited in Arizona until Cash and two others left the Navajo woman’s house and followed the group to the airport to verify which flight they boarded.

To Zara’s surprise, Cash was coming to her. She wanted to greet him upon landing in Peru, but she was forced to take a quick trip to Salta, Argentina instead. When Mustafa uncovered the disastrous outcome of Reza and Ahmed’s surveillance operation, she decided to clean up the mess in person.

By the time she arrived, Diego was already en route to Buenos Aires, so no one from his agency was present. The only obstacle between her and Reza was local law enforcement, which proved a minimal complication.

She had easily obtained information from the gossipy hospital staff. Ahmed was dead on arrival and transported straight to the morgue. Reza came in and out of consciousness. His attempts to communicate were interpreted as gibberish, since no one recognized his words as an actual language.

A single guard stood outside the door of Reza’s hospital room, primarily to make sure he didn’t wake up and try to leave. No staff was available to relieve the man when he left his post to use the restroom, making it easy for Zara to walk inside the hospital room without being seen.

She waited until Reza stirred and questioned him about what had happened. He reported that the woman shot Ahmed and he was unaware whether or not the crystal had been found. The relic was either in the woman’s possession, or still hidden in the cathedral, assuming the information obtained from the museum historian was accurate.

Gauging by his condition, Zara doubted Reza would be able to leave the hospital any time soon. The extensive damage done by Diego’s bullet would limit his future usefulness, and she was certain he had told her everything he knew. He was now a liability, and she had no intention of leaving him vulnerable to the authorities.

Zara sat with him in the dark, trying to ease the tension her unexpected visit clearly brought. Describing the latest relic, her calm informative tone soon coaxed him back to sleep. She removed a syringe from her pocket and injected the poison into his IV, ensuring his unending silence.

Back in Peru, Zara placed the crystal Heinrich and Marabout obtained in Arizona into the heavy chest and pondered her next step. She saw no point in sending anyone back to Argentina. With Cash and his two colleagues in Cusco, they merited her undivided attention. If a crystal had been found in Argentina, Cash would know. If not, she would return to Argentina after she figured out what Cash was doing in Cusco, and after she made him pay for his betrayal.

In the meantime, she decided to obtain a little insurance, in case Cash proved to be as uncooperative as usual. From what Marabout and Heinrich reported, having the beautiful Navajo woman in her possession might coax Cash into a more agreeable frame of mind.

“Mustafa, how would you like to meet Desert Blaze in person?”

Mustafa looked up and smiled. “She is quite lovely and seems like a very interesting woman. Escorting her to Peru would be my pleasure.”

Zara placed her hand on his shoulder as her mind wandered to Cash. Her grip tightened the more she thought of him with Desert Blaze, until Mustafa flinched and sunk down in his chair. Releasing her hold, she strode out of the room, cursing any man too weak to tolerate a small woman’s grasp, and condemning the one who had slipped through hers all those years ago.