“Dead after dark,” Fiona observed. “Reminds me of the town where I grew up. Except for the ruins, of course. Should we come back in the morning?”
“Probably,” Gallo admitted. “But we’re here, so we might as well have a look.”
Armed with only a pair of flashlights retrieved from the trunk of Gallo’s car, the two headed into the site, where by day, archaeologists were excavating the temple and re-erecting the limestone columns, restoring a small portion of the sanctuary’s former glory.
As she swept the columns with her light, Gallo explained the site’s history. “This temple was built in the fourth century BC, but it was built over an earlier shrine that dates back at least to the sixth century BC. After he killed the Lion, Herakles came here and offered a sacrifice to Zeus before returning to King Eurystheus with proof of his victory.”
“That’s the legend,” Fiona replied. “What do you suppose he was really doing?”
Gallo had no answer to that, nor was there anything noteworthy in the excavation. After twenty minutes of looking around, inspecting the columns for inscriptions and finding none, Gallo was ready to call it a night. “We’ll come back tomorrow and visit the museum. If we don’t find anything, we’ll head to Myloi and start looking into the Hydra legend.”
“Sounds good to me.” Fiona tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle another yawn. “I feel like I’ve been up forever. Oh, wait. I have.”
Gallo checked the GPS map on her phone, plotting the most direct route to the nearby city of Argos, where she had made hotel reservations earlier in the day. Although it was only a few miles away, in typical Greek fashion, getting there would require them to follow a circuitous route through the Peloponnesian hills, in this case, backtracking almost halfway to Corinth before turning southwest toward their destination, but navigating to the highway would be the trickiest part. She drove with one eye on the phone and one on the road.
Beside her, Fiona made a humming noise. Gallo glanced over and saw that she was looking back through the rear window. “What?”
“That car. It wasn’t there a second ago.”
Gallo felt a twinge of worry, but shouted it down. Fiona was just being paranoid. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
Nevertheless, she pressed down on the accelerator a little harder. A moment later, she reached the intersection with the highway, but on a whim she decided to ignore the guidance from her phone and turned in the opposite direction.
A few seconds later, a pair of headlights appeared in the rearview mirror. “Is that the same car?”
“Yep.” Fiona’s voice grew more anxious.
Gallo took the next right turn, dipping back into the maze of old Nemea, trusting her GPS to lead her back to the highway again. If the trailing car stayed behind them, there would be no doubt.
“He’s following us,” Fiona confirmed.
A cold numbness flooded into Gallo’s extremities, fear and adrenaline, but there was another emotion in the mix. Guilt.
Pierce had warned her, made provisions for her safety and Fiona’s, but she had ignored him. She had chalked his caution up to jealousy and over-protectiveness. And now both of them were in danger.
She made another turn without slowing. The Fox’s tires squealed. Gallo fought the steering wheel to maintain control.
She could just make out the silhouette of Doric columns against the moonlit sky. The Temple of Zeus. They had come full circle. At least now she knew where to go without consulting the GPS.
Their pursuer made the turn a moment later, his headlight beams filling her mirrors.
“Okay,” she said, trying to put forth a tone of calm determination. “They’re just tailing us. Maybe they’re hoping we’ll lead them to something.”
“Except now they know we know,” Fiona said.
“Damn.” I’ve made a mess of things, Gallo thought. One bad decision after another. So how do I keep from making this worse?
The answer was practically staring her in the face. Her phone.
She handed the device to Fiona. “Call the police.”
The European emergency services number was 1-1-2. Did Fiona know that?
“Uh, you’re getting a call.”
Wonderful. What else could go wrong? “From whom?”
“Unknown number. Should I answer it?”
Gallo felt the chill return. Kenner. Who else could it be?
She steered onto the highway, left this time, but suddenly she had no idea where to go. Part of her wanted to take her chances on the road, drive like hell and try to elude the pursuer. If she had been alone, she might have tried it, but she was not alone. She had to think of Fiona’s safety. She had to come up with a better solution.
Without letting off the gas pedal, she nodded. “Answer it.”
17
Liberia
Cooper regarded Pierce with a grave expression. “We ought to go, bossman. Dark soon.”
Pierce ignored him and headed after Carter, who was already striding away. “Five minutes, Dr. Carter.”
“I can’t guarantee your safety out here for five minutes, Mr. Pierce.”
“It’s Dr. Pierce, actually.”