Mike’s lips pressed together in a grim line. “No, she wasn’t. And when we catch her, I’m going to beat the crap out of her.”
He wanted to laugh, but suddenly it all came back, and he started to sit up. “Did they find the diamond?”
“No, don’t try to get up. You’re hurt.”
She pressed on his shoulders and eased him back down. It took him a moment to control the pain. “The diamond. The Koh-i-Noor. It was in the box. The bomb surrounded it. The box was wired to blow the moment anyone opened it.”
“Are you sure, Nicholas?”
“I am. Have them look. Did the boy Tomas know about the bomb?”
“No. As I told you, he was totally freaked out. I heard him tell the police about Browning. He admitted she paid him well to direct us to the first box, the one with the account numbers in it. The one with the bomb was meant for someone else, a lone man, Tomas said, with dark hair and eyes.”
“The buyer,” Nicholas said.
“Probably,” Mike said. “I guess if things went wrong, she needed to take him out and destroy the evidence. But we forced Tomas to give us the second box—and kablooey. I better call Menard, tell him about the diamond.”
Mike made the call, and Nicholas allowed himself to float for a minute. She came back and sat down on the chair next to him. She didn’t touch him. “They’ll look, but it’s too hot to go in now.” She leaned forward, stared him straight in the eye. “Seriously, Nicholas, you scared me to death.”
“When we find her, after you beat the crap out of her, I’m going to strangle that woman. She’s tried to blow me up twice now. I’m starting to take this personally.”
“Tell me, what tipped you off? You realized there was a bomb and told us to leave.”
“I did?”
“You did.”
He didn’t remember, then, “Wait—the box felt wrong. Too heavy. I could tell something nasty was in there.”
Again, she touched her fingers to his face. “Let’s hear it for your fine instincts. You’ve saved my life twice in as many days. I owe you one.”
“Actually, you owe me two, but I’m not counting.” He tried to smile, but it hurt too much. On the other hand, he was alive, and he would heal. “Browning, the Fox, whoever she is, she’s upped the ante. A lot of people could have been hurt or killed today. Mike, we’re so close, we can’t stop now.”
She bent over him again, pushed his hair off his forehead. “We won’t stop. But you need to stay here overnight. The doctors think the concussion is mild, but they want to keep an eye on you. Let the drugs work. We’ve lost the trail, anyway; she’s gone for now.”
He wasn’t going to argue. Moving around was going to be difficult until his head cleared. He’d been concussed before, knew if he did too much too soon, he’d end up vomiting on the floor and right back in the bed. And since they’d shot something really good into his IV, he really didn’t want to move, because he was floating high, up there at the ceiling. Now Mike was lightly rubbing his temples, and it felt very nice. He felt calm, and let go.
He heard her voice from a distance. “That’s right. Relax. I’m here. Nothing bad will happen.”
Just like his mother, he thought, and slept.
71
H?pitaux Universitaires de Genève
Saturday, dawn
Nicholas passed a restless night, full of strange drug-induced dreams, and was vaguely aware of being poked and prodded every hour on the hour by the nurses. Mike slept awkwardly in the chair by his bed.
He awoke at dawn, his head still aching, but he could see much better. He searched the room until he spied a wall clock. Five in the morning. Twelve hours after they’d walked into the Sages Fidelité and all the fires of hell had burst into the world.
The Fox was certainly gone by now, Mike was right about that, as was the Koh-i-Noor.
Mike opened her eyes to see Nicholas sitting up in bed. She saw his eyes were clear, his face only slightly bruised.
“Hey, dude. Go back to sleep.”