The Oracle (Fargo Adventures #11) - Clive Cussler Page 0,94
the area was normally very safe, the three retreated to the Fargos’ suite, where Renee called Hank to let him know what had happened.
“Hold on,” Hank said. “I think we have a bad connection. Can’t hear a word you’re saying. Let me move to higher ground and call you back.”
Renee’s phone rang just a few minutes later, this time a video call. Hank’s face filled her screen, the ruins of Bulla Regia behind him. “Tell me I heard wrong, LaBelle. I thought you said someone tried to kidnap you.”
“They did,” she said.
“But you’re okay? Where were you? I thought you were at the hotel.”
“We were. At the pool. But we got away.”
“Thank heavens. How’d you manage that?”
“Remi grabbed one of my crutches and whacked the guy. And then Sam shot at them from the balcony. They both took off.”
His mouth dropped open. “From the balcony? Thank goodness he was even there.” He cleared his throat. “How are you otherwise?”
“I’m fine . . .”
Sam drew Remi to the side, out of their hearing. “There’s no way this is some random kidnapping. I think Makao’s got tentacles all the way to Tunisia.”
“That may be the case,” Remi replied, “but I’m not sure this has anything to do with Makao.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I remembered where I saw those two men before. In the restaurant the afternoon of Renee’s accident. I think this is the second time they’ve tried to kidnap us.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY
One who has been bitten by a snake lives in fear of worms.
– AFRICAN PROVERB –
You’re sure those are the same two men?” Sam asked.
Remi, not wanting to alarm Renee, who was sitting just a few feet away, kept her smile intact. “Almost positive.”
“That changes about everything. It definitely makes you wonder what Warren was really involved in.”
The officers took statements from the Fargos and Renee, talked to a couple of poolside witnesses, and asked for any surveillance videos management might have. After they left, Sam, Remi, and Renee retreated to the restaurant for lunch.
Renee, Remi noticed, kept shifting around in her seat anytime anyone walked in or out of the restaurant. “You’re safe now,” Remi said.
“How do you know anyone here isn’t one of them?” she asked, then nodded out the window toward the pool. “Or anyone out there?”
Remi again smiled. “Sam has his back to the wall. No one’s getting in or out without him seeing.”
When their food was served, Renee picked at the meal, unable to eat. Finally, she pushed her plate away. “I’ll call Hank to pick me up. I can’t stay here after this.”
“I’m so sorry,” Remi said, wishing she could reassure her friend that this was an isolated incident, not likely to repeat itself. “But we can take you back, can’t we, Sam?”
He drew his attention from the door, looking over at them, along with their unfinished plates. His plate was empty. “Might be for the best. Why don’t you two go up to the room, get her things, and meet me out front.”
They were on the road within fifteen minutes.
* * *
—
Renee, quiet during the drive, perked up as they neared the archeological park. “Since my ankle keeps me out of the field, I can definitely get some paperwork done. I don’t suppose you want to sit down with those books now, do you?”
Sam looked back at her in the rearview mirror. “If you think you’re up for it. It’s not like Remi and I have anything better to do.”
“Good. That’ll be a weight off my shoulders once we get everything reconciled.”
Sam pulled up in front of the small house at the bottom of the olive grove. The three walked up the graveled drive to the door, where Renee inserted a key in the lock. “You’ll have to forgive the mess,” she said, standing aside to let them in. “They sort of tossed the place during the burglary.”
“Anything stolen from the house?” Remi asked.
“Not that we can tell, thank goodness.”
Once inside, she leaned her crutches against the wall, switched on the portable air conditioner, and sat at the desk. “Pull up a chair,” she said.
Sam and Remi took the seats opposite her, while she swiveled around to look at the bookshelf on the wall behind her. “Okay, where is it?” She leaned forward, scrutinizing the shelves, pulling out several green ledgers, turning around and placing them on the desk in front of her. She opened each one, scanned the first page, then shoved it aside. “That’s odd. I don’t see it. The ledger with