“Then wouldn’t it be wise to stop thinking and start acting?”

Millet hung up on him.

Bastard. Roland pressed the disconnect and stuffed his phone into his jacket pocket. He should have handled Millet better, but his anger had erupted, and he hadn’t been able to control it. It would be easier trying to reason with an orangutan. And the primate would probably have been more intelligent in getting his hands on Jane MacGuire.

Forget him. He was expecting an important OPEC oilman to come to see him today, but he’d call and cancel. It was time he stopped relying on Millet and started to take all the reins in his own hands. This sudden move on Jane MacGuire’s part was making him nervous. His every instinct was screaming that she was going after the coins.

His coins. All the years of searching, bribing, manipulating, and he might lose them to that bitch.

No! He would not let her have them. They belonged to him, and he would slice her to pieces himself if she tried to take them.

But first he had to find her. What are you up to, bitch?

Day Six

JANE CALLED EVE AFTER THEY landed in Edinburgh. Eve listened quietly, then said, “You could have awakened me. We both know why you didn’t.”

“Yes, I knew you’d be upset.” She paused. “But it’s not as if I’m going after Millet or Roland. This is much safer.”

“Tell that to the Israelis and Palestinians,” she said dryly. “That area is so volatile that it changes from minute to minute.”

“I’ll call you as often as I can.” She was silent a moment. “I wanted you to be safe. That’s the only thing that’s important to me, Eve.”

“If I didn’t know that, I’d be much more pissed than I am right now.” She added thoughtfully, “Twenty-eight pieces of silver instead of thirty. And the potter’s slave’s name was Dominic. Didn’t you tell me that in your dreams of Cira years ago, her servant’s name was Dominic?”

“Yes.”

“Stop closing up on me. I can feel it even over this phone. All I’m saying is that it’s odd that this servant, Dominic, appears in Hadar’s Tablet as having received two of the Judas coins. And that a Dominic appears a little later in Herculaneum as Cira’s servant. Those two Judas coins could well have been added to the treasure chest Cira brought with her when she fled Herculaneum. Interesting connection.”

“Connection. You sound like Caleb. He’s been probing and searching ad nauseam. Do you know he even thinks there’s a possibility I do some kind of weird remote viewing and can actually mentally go to a place like that temple? Crazy.”

“I can see how he’d be looking for the way the puzzle is fitting together.”

“You told him about the Cira dreams.”

“And you resent it. Tough. I’ve been tiptoeing around the subject for a long time. Those dreams are too closely founded on historical fact not to be accepted on some level. It’s time you came to terms with them.” She paused. “And I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m finding it curious that both the Cira dreams and the ones you’ve had recently have a bond with these Judas coins. It’s as if there’s a kind of reaching out… Oh, I don’t know. Just think about it. Don’t reject it because you don’t want to believe that you could be a little less than totally grounded in reality. What the hell is reality anyway?”

“You’re real. Joe is real. I’m real. I’m working on accepting all this other eerie crap, but I have trouble when it applies to me.”

“Keep working on it.”

“I will. I promise.” She changed the subject. “Will you take care of Lina? She’s going to be as upset as you when she finds out we left her. I don’t want her leaving the Run and setting off on her own toting that AK-47. By now Millet and Roland know she’s been doing the translation for us. They mustn’t get their hands on her.”

“I’ll see what I can do. But she seems to be very determined.” She added ruefully, “If I stand in her way, she may turn that AK-47 on me.”

“She won’t do that.” Jane hesitated. “She’s… solid, Eve. She’s abrupt and sometimes rude, but I feel as if she’s-” She tried to put her thoughts into words. “She’s a survivor, but she doesn’t know how to enjoy that survival. She hardly ever smiles. I want to-”

“Help her,” Eve finished. “Another lost puppy, Jane?”

“Tiger, maybe.”

“Good comparison. Tigers are beautiful, and Lina is exceptional.” She added, “I like survivors. I feel a kinship for them. I’ll see that your Lina doesn’t run afoul of Millet.”

“Thank you. I have to board the plane now. I’ll call you from Israel.” She hung up.

Eve slowly turned away as she pressed the disconnect. Jane had better call me from Israel, she thought grimly. She was getting tired of staying behind and watching Joe and now Jane go off into heaven knew what danger. She wasn’t going to put up with it for much longer.

“They’ve gone.” Lina stood in the doorway, her hands clenched at her sides. “Jock just called me. I told Jane what she needed, then she left me.”

“We seem to be in the same boat,” Eve said. “I just spoke to Jane, and she was all apologies, but it all came down to the fact that I wasn’t wanted.”

“She had no right. They burned my home. I had the right to go after them.”

“She was very clear that wasn’t the purpose of the trip.”

“Purpose? It doesn’t matter. One thing will lead to another. Millet and Roland will go after them.”

That was what Eve feared. “Then we have to hope we’ll be able to join her before it’s over.”

“ ‘Hope’?” Lina’s eyes were blazing. “I’m not going to wait here and hope. I’m going to go after those bastards. I don’t need anyone to help me.”

This was just what Jane was afraid would happen, Eve thought. And she had left Eve with the task of dissuading this angry woman from doing what she thought was her right.

And it was her right. She was protecting her way of life and avenging the loss of her home. Eve was in perfect agreement with her. She would have felt the same.

“Jane was mistaken. She took it upon herself to try to protect both of us.” She stared Lina in the eye. “That’s Jane’s way. She can’t help herself, but it was wrong of her arbitrarily to try to run your life.” She shook her head. “And mine. But we’ll have to reclaim them. Together.”

“You have nothing to do with my life.” Lina was gazing at her warily. “And you mean nothing to me.”

“But you came here with Jane and the others because you could see that you’d be more effective if you had a backup. Isn’t that true?”

“Partly.”

“I’m a very good backup, Lina. Suppose we team up and see what we can do about getting Millet?”

“I don’t need you. You’d get in my way.”

She shook her head. “You’ve heard Jane talk about Joe Quinn. He’s with the CIA in Rome right now. We could join him there.”

“The CIA,” Lina repeated. “I knew someone once who worked with them. He got me out of Afghanistan. They can help… if they want to do it.”

“Joe will make sure that they want to do it.”

“When would we go?”

“As soon as I contact Joe and make arrangements. Perhaps tomorrow morning?”

Lina thought about it. “I guess I can wait until then.” Her gaze narrowed on Eve’s face. “You’re not fooling me? You’re being honest?”

“I’m being honest. I admit I’m like Jane in that I tend to be overprotective, and I understand her reasons. But it’s time I stopped letting her run the show.” She was feeling an overpowering relief at the decision. It had been completely uncharacteristic of her to have been so patient when she had only wanted to dive in and help Jane. “Yes, I think going to Joe would definitely be for the best.” She smiled. “You help me. I’ll help you. And Joe will help both of us. We can’t lose.” She got to her feet. “Now let me go and call Joe. It will take a little persuading to make him see we should leave here. Joe is very protective, too.”

“But it will happen?” Lina asked. “Men like to have it all their own way.”