swallow. She reached up and touched her bruised throat. This time she’d thought he was going to kill her. She knew he’d been very close.
“What do we do?” Dalai whispered from the bed across the room as she scrambled to sit up. “Do we have to do what he says?”
Zahra had forgotten she was there. She whirled on her as she grabbed her gown. “You do what you always do. You obey my orders.” She slipped the gown over her head. “And my orders are that you do whatever he says until I tell you differently. I don’t want you causing me any trouble while I work this out. I might have to do some delicate negotiations with him before I get what I want.” She headed for the door. “Now get dressed and go down and get in the car.”
“Negotiations,” Dalai repeated numbly as she threw on her top and sarong skirt. “Then I’ll have to do what he wants. That’s what you mean?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it? Hurry. We have to get out of here. He’s a little crazy right now. He hurt me. The bastard almost killed me. I have no idea what he’s going to do next.”
“Yes.” Dalai’s voice was trembling as she hurriedly stumbled after Zahra down the grand staircase. “He’s very angry. I can see there’s no telling what he’ll decide to do now…”
* * *
Robaku
“Wake up, Jill!”
Novak, she realized sleepily. He was shaking her, and he sounded really—
Then she was wide-awake. Her eyes flew open.
Darkness, but Novak was kneeling above her with a flashlight. “What’s wrong? What are you doing here?” She sat bolt upright on her mat. “Is Eve—”
“Eve is fine as far as I know,” he said roughly. “You can check yourself as soon as we get to the museum. I’ve called Quinn, and they’re waiting for us. Put on your shoes, and we’ll get over there.” He pulled her to her feet. “Because there’s a hell of a lot wrong. I just got a call from my agent, Palmon, in Jokan to tell me to check my computer.”
“Jokan?” She was slipping on her tennis shoes. “What happened in Jokan?”
“What didn’t happen in Jokan?” He was pulling her toward the door of the hut. “I don’t believe there’s any doubt now that Zahra and Varak believe they know why Eve sent Quinn to Asarti to get corroborating evidence from Dobran.”
“Stop talking in riddles. Just tell me.” She tried to stop at the door of the hut. “And give me just a second to tell Hajif and his wife I’m leaving. I don’t want to frighten them.”
“I’ll send someone.” He was pulling her down the path toward the museum. “As for telling you, it’s not really necessary. That should give you a hint.” He gestured to the night sky to the north. “What do you think, Jill?”
She halted, frozen, her gaze on the baleful red glow that lit the entire horizon.
“Screw your hints,” she whispered. “What happened, Novak?”
“The entire block that the U.N. occupied was blown to kingdom come. Along with two of the side streets on either side. Pretty clear that whoever set those charges didn’t give a damn if they blew up the entire city to make certain of that U.N. building.”
“Casualties?”
He shook his head. “It only happened forty-five minutes ago. But my agent says that no one could have lived through the primary explosions at the U.N. site. Initial information from Wyatt’s staff is that he was the only one there tonight. But it’s a total inferno, and the soldiers and police can’t even get near it to try to recover bodies. The neighboring streets are even worse. There were definitely multiple deaths in those shops and houses. I’ll be given updates as soon as they’re available.”
“Why?” she asked dazedly. She swallowed to ease the tightness of her throat. “Why would they do it? An attack on a U.N. facility would cause an uproar. Zahra wouldn’t want to be associated with anything like that.”
“Unless it wasn’t her call,” Novak said grimly. “Unless she’s lost control of the agenda. We’ll probably know soon enough. This is her city, she’ll have to be involved in explaining and mopping up this disaster.”
“And soon,” Jill murmured. She couldn’t take her eyes off that glowing red horror in the distance. “I don’t see how she could possibly talk her way out of this holocaust.”
They had reached the museum, and Jill saw that it was ablaze with lights. Joe was throwing open the door.