He knows most of the players in the government and police department. I worked with him during the nine months when I was covering riots in Cairo. He’s been there for years, and he knows where all the bodies are buried.” She grimaced. “And believe me, in Cairo, that’s a hell of a lot of bodies. He owes me a favor, and I could ask him to call a few people and maybe follow up with the police and security company.” She shrugged. “Or I could do both.”
“Yes, you could.” His lips were quirking. “And probably will.” His smile faded. “And I’m glad there’s someone who owes you a favor instead of your being obsessed with payback.”
“I’m not obsessed, there just has to be a code, or nothing makes sense.” She was taking out her phone and checking the directory. “And in my profession, I’ve found it’s always more valuable to have someone owe me. It just didn’t turn out that way with you.”
“And why does this Kimbro owe you?”
“I’ll never tell.” She grinned as she started to punch in Kimbro’s number. “Because that would be breaking the code.”
“I’ll find out, you know,” he said softly. “I can always find out whatever I need to find out. And there’s nothing I’m not going to know about you, Jill.”
“The CIA showing all its black hat–white hat power. You have a tendency to surround and conquer.” She met his eyes. “Did it occur to you that might be why you scare me? Who wants anyone to know everything about them? I’d feel smothered. Stay out of my private life, Novak.”
He was silent. “I don’t know if I can.” He paused. “I’ll have to see how it works out.” He turned and headed back toward the village. “When you finish setting up Kimbro, come and let me know, and I’ll give you something else to do. I wouldn’t want to waste your talents.”
* * *
The long facial bones…
Not right. But so close.
Eve could see them before her even though her eyes were still shut. She moved restlessly on the cot as she realized how close…Just like the shape of those orbital cavities…
Too close.
It seemed impossible that all those details could be that identical and not actually be Varak. It didn’t make sense, Eve thought frantically. Had she done something wrong? They all thought she was perfect. But she wasn’t perfect, she could make mistakes. And what if Varak was the biggest mistake of her life? She had told them the reconstruction wasn’t Varak, but the resemblance was too close. It didn’t make sense. But what had she done wrong? Why had she made that mistake? Why were those orbital cavities—
“The brother!” Eve’s lids flew open, and she sat bolt upright on the cot. “He has to be the brother.”
“Shh, go back to sleep,” Joe said. “Nightmare?”
“Only the same one that I’ve been living with while I’ve been doing this reconstruction. And I can’t go back to sleep. The minute I woke up, I started to worry about the shape of his damn eyes.” She threw aside the sheet and swung her feet to the floor. “When I was first looking at the photo of Varak, I thought that the reconstruction I had made had to be him. There were so many similarities. It was only when I actually compared them that I realized that I hadn’t been working on Varak’s skull.” She was moving across the museum to her worktable. “But I got caught up in the computer verification; and then Jill was upset with what you were forcing her to do about Novak. Things kept getting in my way.” She was dropping down on her stool and looking at the reconstruction. “And I didn’t make the connection. I should have made the connection, Joe. It was stupid of me not to realize who he was.”
“And it only took five hours of sleep to send the stupidity packing.” Joe was on his feet and strolling toward her. “Before you start working again, don’t you think you should put on some clothes?”
“I’m not going to work,” she said absently. “I just wanted to take one more look at him. I was so scared, I’d made a mistake. There was all that darkness and anger…And the bone-structure similarities. If you compare it with the photo, you can see it.”
“I’ll accept your word for it.” He put his hands on her shoulders as he stood behind her, gazing down at the reconstruction. “The brother? You think