She quickly stopped at the clerk’s desk and picked up her belongings from the security basket.
Don’t look to see if anyone is following.
Just hope that Zahra was now turning on the TV in that office to watch Eve Duncan and make sure Jill hadn’t lied to her.
Eyes straight ahead.
Jill called Gideon as she walked out of the palace. “The Kiya statue. It has to be in full view, somewhere close to Eve, while the TV broadcast is going on.”
Gideon cursed. “We don’t have time, Jill.”
“Make time.”
* * *
Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!
Zahra’s hands clenched into fists as she watched Eve Duncan’s face on the TV across the office. Eve was sitting at her worktable, and Zahra’s statue of Kiya was resting on the dais like a favorite ornament. Like it belonged to her. Zahra wanted to throw something at that image, which had no hint of the glamour or fascination that Zahra possessed. The only thing she could see in that woman was boring sincerity.
Maybe no one was watching her damned announcement.
But they probably were, and they’d probably watch her TV interview tomorrow, too. Jill Cassidy was right. Those news reporters were like hungry vultures.
She felt a rush of panic. Things had been going so well. She’d thought she had everything under control. Now she had to deal with the scandal that might come if Eve Duncan came forward, with Jill Cassidy standing beside her. That was going to be a media and diplomatic nightmare to straighten out. How was she going to handle it?
Her phone was ringing.
Varak. She hoped he hadn’t seen that TV announcement. But the bastard always knew what was going on.
She answered the phone. “Don’t blame me for this. It’s not my fault. I just found out about it.”
“It is your fault. I told you to fix it. What’s that announcement the whore is going to make tomorrow?”
“What do you think? According to Cassidy, they’re going to cause big-time trouble. I told her that no one would believe them, but she was raving about setting up permanent shop at Robaku to call attention to Eve Duncan and her reconstruction work.” She added the one threat that had frightened her the most: “And getting permission from the U.N. to tear down the schoolroom and build some kind of chapel. There’s no doubt that they’d find the treasure.”
Varak was cursing. “If you’d gotten rid of them earlier, this would never have happened. You’ve stalled me and stalled me until we’re down to this. I can’t afford for even one person to believe them. It’s my neck on the line, you stupid cunt.”
Zahra felt the fury surge through her. It was too much. He was talking to her as if she were one of the whores she provided for him. As if she didn’t have enough to worry about without these insults. “Then if you think I’ve done so badly, why don’t you take care of it yourself?” she spat out. “Maybe I was wrong to keep you from being reckless enough to take us both down. Get rid of all of them for all I care. Do what you like!”
She cut the connection.
She was breathing hard, panting, as her anger continued to rise. She should probably call him back and try to pacify him, but she couldn’t do it. It had gone on too long. The son of a bitch had actually almost strangled her the last time she’d seen him. Hadn’t Jill Cassidy said something about how dangerous it was to deal with him? As if she didn’t know that for herself. But she was smarter than Cassidy ever dreamed of being, and she could handle him.
If she wanted to do it.
Think. She slowly leaned back in her chair. The situation had turned critical. She could either face a nightmare of explanations and suspicions if Eve Duncan gave her interview tomorrow, or she could accept that in the end, Varak’s solution was best. Eliminate those troublesome people at Robaku who were a threat to her and Varak. And who’d had the nerve to steal her Kiya statue, she thought angrily.
Or she could handle the problem in a way that was infinitely more pleasing and satisfying in her eyes. A little more difficult, but it would eliminate giving that son of a bitch anything he wanted.