Mike turned to Paulie, whose face was pale despite his bravado. “Hear her? I’ll sit on you if you don’t throttle down. You should see yourself with that big bandage on your head. You can’t go out looking like that, children will run screaming. So stop squirming and get comfy.”
“Eight stitches, Mike, that’s all. Only a scratch. Wow, what did she put in my IV? I feel like I’m floating. Is everyone all right? I remember Louisa telling me it was a good thing she was a woman, her head is harder than mine.”
Mike sat next to his bed. “Everyone’s okay. We haven’t much time, Paulie, before you go squirrelly, so tell us what happened.”
“Victoria was talking about the curse, told me to be very careful because only women are supposed to handle the diamond. I’d finally released it from the setting and was turning to hand it to Louisa, and Victoria said, ‘Sorry about this,’ and sprayed something in my eyes. Before I could even start yelling for anyone, wham, I was down. I don’t remember much after I hit the ground, outside of hearing the alarms. I’m sorry, Mike.” His voice was getting thready, and she could tell he was trying hard to hang on. His head swung back against the pillow. “Ouch.”
“Careful. Do you remember anything else?”
He shook his head.
“I’m mad, Paulie, really mad. If we don’t find her and get back the Koh-i-Noor, the Brits will declare war and take the White House again. Don’t fade out on me, think. Anything else?”
The drugs were working their magic. Paulie’s lids were heavy. He blinked a few times and his eyes closed.
Mike caught Nicholas’s eye and nodded toward the door.
Paulie’s eyes flew open and he sat straight up. “I remember now. She was talking to herself.”
He fell back, a hand to his head. “Ugh, that hurts. I was going in and out, but I know she said something like ‘Noon at the ark.’”
Mike said, “The ark? Like, Noah’s ark?”
“That’s what it sounded like. It’s all I remember, Mike. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, it’s wonderful information. We’ll track it down. Agent Savich is recovering all the video she erased, so maybe we can get more context. You rest now, okay? I’ll be back to get you in the morning.”
Nicholas’s dark eyes met hers as they rode the elevator down. “Noon. As in noon tomorrow? That would give us less than twelve hours to catch up to her. It’s going to take longer than that to get to Mount Ararat.”
She smiled. “I have faith in Savich. He’s a magician, he’ll figure it out.” She got on her cell as they left the hospital and called Zachery. “Sir, we really need Savich to lift the audio from the feed during Browning’s attack. Paulie heard Browning say something about noon at the ark after she hit him.”
36
New York, New York
250 West 50th Street, Apartment 2324
Archstone Midtown West
Friday, after midnight
Mike and Nicholas went with lights and sirens across town to the home address on file for Victoria Browning. The light snow had stopped, and the city looked frosted, park benches and wrought-iron railings silvered in the moonlight.
The streets were slick and nearly empty, and Mike was doing her best not to crash the car as she hurried around the south end of Central Park, then shot down Broadway toward the theater district. Usually jammed with people at all hours, tonight most everyone in Midtown was tucked up in bed, and the trip was going quickly.
Nicholas said, “You’re frowning. What’s wrong?”
She shot him a look. “I was thinking about what my father would do in this situation. He’s the chief of police of Omaha, Nebraska, that’s a state in the Midwest—”
“Thank you, they did teach American geography at Eton. And what would your dad have to say?”
“He always told me to check out the stripes first, even if I was sure it was a zebra.” She swung around a lone cab with one guy in the back who looked passed out.