Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
Valletta, Malta
“You have that distracted look in your eye again,” Ginger said as she leaned into Noah’s arm at the café. They sat on an open square with Jack and Sarah in Valletta, drinking tea and coffee with sandwiches and pastizzi—Maltese pastry filled with cheese.
To an outside observer, the group would probably have looked relaxed, like tourists enjoying the perfect weather.
The city emerged from the crystal sea like a giant sandcastle perched on a cliff.
The sandstone carried over to the buildings that rose on each side of the narrow streets. A perfect place for a holiday.
But Ginger was close enough that Noah was certain she felt his tension and saw his concern.
He’d feel better once they’d recovered the concession paperwork from the Hypogeum of ?al Saflieni.
They’d stopped for food after disembarking from their ship just a couple of hours earlier—it was irrational to think anything could happen to the paperwork in the meantime.
“I’m fine.” He gave her a patient smile. She wanted to ask more than she did, that much was obvious to him. But he appreciated her understanding how much he didn’t want to discuss the darkness of his thoughts.
Osborne had awoken something in him. A dark shadow that crossed through his mind. He rarely felt as calm as he acted. Every time he went out, he examined his surroundings for potential threats.
The beggar on the corner.
A woman pushing a baby’s pram.
Two soldiers playing cards and smoking a few tables down.
Noah scooted his chair closer to Ginger’s, his knee brushing against hers. At least he was free to love her in public now. And the value of that benefit wasn’t lost on him.
Across from them, Jack stared at him a beat too long, then shook his head. “Disgusting. Stop dangling your love in front of those of us less lucky at it.” He winked at Sarah. “Unless you’re interested in strolling arm in arm with me to see the view.”
Days of quinine treatment had Jack on his feet once again, but the jaundice hadn’t completely faded from his skin.
Even though Sarah claimed she wanted to come to Malta to see about getting the concession paperwork, Noah wondered if Sarah had come, in part, because Jack was coming.
Sarah had been at his side since they’d rescued him at Saqqara.
Sarah laughed. “No, but I’m interested in grabbing a few things from the market before we make our way to the Hypogeum. Do you want to go with me, Ginger?”
Ginger squeezed Noah’s hand. “Can I have some money?”
Noah pulled out a few bills. “Enjoy. But don’t take long. The man we hired to take us to the Hypogeum should be here in twenty minutes.”
She pressed a kiss to his cheek, then rose. “We’ll be back soon.”
As Noah watched Ginger and Sarah disappear around the corner, he straightened under the weight of Jack’s gaze. “What?” He sipped his coffee.
“What do you think the chances are of Sarah being an American spy?”
Trust Jack to have noticed. “I’d say about a hundred and ten percent.” Noah had suspected it immediately. “She made a mistake. Claimed she’d met me with you in Aswan. She may have been testing me, to see what I knew. Then she casually showed me her collection of hand grenades and dynamite.”
“You think her husband was too?”
“Most likely.” Noah paused as the waiter came by and poured another cup of coffee.
“That’s not to say I don’t believe her husband’s business dealings with Lord Braddock weren’t legitimate.
God knows how many archeologists they have drafted into Intelligence.
I don’t think she was expecting to get pulled into any of this. ”
Jack shifted back into his seat. “But you think she’ll probably tell the US government about the concession and paperwork. Maybe even try to take them?”
“I think …” The distant blues and whites of the harbor were dazzlingly bright, and Noah squinted. “I think I’m not willing to trust anyone with the ease I used to. Save for you and Ginger. And maybe Alastair. He gave me the documents to get me this far, at any rate.”
“The question is, have you told Ginger your suspicions about Sarah?” Jack smirked, then watched as the waiter poured steaming black coffee from a carafe into his cup.
“She needs a friend.” Noah adjusted the hat on his head. “What difference does it make? Planting seeds of doubt about her won’t help. We’ll find out soon enough what her interest in that oil concession is.”
Jack’s expression sobered. “Just be careful. I don’t know a lot about women, but I know Red won’t like it if she finds out you lied to her.”
Noah sighed. He hated to add anything to the list of things that Ginger might learn of later and be angry about.
But it was also the safest decision for all involved, including Sarah, if she really was a spy.
The Americans were their allies, after all.
“I know. But right now Sarah Hanover is barely a concern of mine. I must decide how I’m going to survive the next few weeks.
The money I brought with me won’t last forever. ”
“You know I’ll loan you some.” With a shake of his head, Jack said, “Just don’t be tempted to go back to Cairo.
Go … live in America. Make up a new name, a new life.
Take Red with you. She’ll go with you anywhere.
” Jack clasped his hands together. “Love like that, that’s luck. You don’t need anything else.”
“I don’t. And maybe we can go to America until the war is over.
” Noah stared in the direction Ginger had gone.
“But Ginger has lost everything because of me, including her family. The day will come when she wants to make things right with them. And I worry if I deny her that, she’ll always look back at our marriage with regret. ”
Jack sucked a breath in between his teeth. “You should have shot Stephen in the desert when you had a chance.”
Noah let out a sardonic laugh. “And that’s what I have to regret.
” Noah held his gaze. “I’ll be fine, Jack.
Just focus on getting your health back for now.
And enjoy your time with Sarah. She may not be Kit, but I think she’d make you happy.
” The great love of Jack’s life wasn’t a name he dared to mention often. But Jack seemed to take it in stride.
“People like Sarah and me—we don’t get to pick that sort of happy. But I think we’ll enjoy our time together regardless.” Jack’s eyes gleamed. “You’re the lucky son of a bitch.”
Noah sat back in his chair, the weight of his discussion with Jack hanging over him.
Jack couldn’t know the darkness of his thoughts, the blackness his soul had felt recently. And Noah wouldn’t tell him, either. Even Jack couldn’t help him there.
Then Noah thought of the woman who’d literally borne his weight on her shoulders, to save him, to keep him safe.
A smile curled Noah’s lips. “I can’t argue with that.”
At the entrance to the Hypogeum, they disembarked, and Jack paid the driver extra to wait for them to return.
Ginger turned toward the entrance, which seemed almost unremarkable compared to the structures she’d grown accustomed to seeing in Egypt.
The way to the Hypogeum was marked with wooden signs, and a few other tourists milled about in the area.
“Will we be able to access the area where Paul left the paperwork?” Ginger asked Sarah. There were a few guards posted, but nothing looked very official.
Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know. But I’m sure we can come up with something if not.”
They stepped through a roughly hewn entrance cut into stone. It revealed another doorway beyond that, with curved stone ceilings and remarkably straight pylons on either side of the open doorway. Ginger arched a brow at Jack. “This reminds me a bit of the Serapeum.”
“I didn’t choose that by accident, Red. When I guessed the cipher would lead here, I decided I’d rather not be stuck in Malta. Of course, I assumed my best friend was trying to break me out of prison.” He gave Noah a teasing smirk.
The stone pathways were straight and flat, resembling a prehistoric temple of squared archways and chambers. Swirls in red ochre decorated some walls, and skeletal remains jutted out amongst the stones.
“I had every intention of going back for you right away,” Noah said to Jack.
“But you didn’t.” Jack raised both hands with a shrug.
“Keep your voice down,” Ginger hissed, even though she noticed the twitch in Noah’s smile. “You’ve forgotten how to behave in public, Lieutenant Darby.”
“I haven’t forgotten anything, Red.” Jack’s eyes shot to Noah. “Least of all how I rotted in a prison trying decipher Greek codes while dying of malaria while my friend was busy getting married and rescuing some other girl.”
The sarcastic tease was in form for Jack, but Ginger winced inwardly. Didn’t he know how guilty Noah felt about that? She’d have to tell him later, if not.
“Coptic,” Sarah corrected with a lift of her brow.
“Whatever. It’s all Greek. You’re a genius or insane. Either way, marry me.” Jack gave her a wink as they moved further underground.
“I’m never getting married again.” Sarah pulled her notes from her bag, checking them against the light of an oil lamp set on the pathway.
“I think we’re close. But we may draw less attention to ourselves if I go on my own.
In case someone comes by and wonders why I’m inspecting the crevices in the stone. ”
“I’ll go with you,” Jack said. Sarah offered no argument and they pressed onward, as Ginger and Noah hung back.
Ginger watched as their shadows faded. “Do you think Jack cares for her?”
“Maybe. He’s had his heart set on someone unobtainable for years.”
Ginger’s heart squeezed with sadness for him. Jack deserved to be happy.
Noah’s gaze fixed on the ochre paintings on a wall. “This is one of the oldest known manmade structures ever discovered. Likely built almost two thousand years before the pyramids at Giza.”
She studied his profile. “Do you think you’ll ever go back to archeology?”