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“Joe?” she whispered.
“I saw it in your notes,” he whispered back.
Julia’s eyes went to her iPad and she flicked through the notes she’d made. Page after page of them, all neatly organised.
Ryan whistled as the pages appeared on the screen. “That is seriously impressive, Julia.”
Her heart stuttered when she hit the page Joe was talking about. “This is the plan.”
The team were quiet as they read her detailed notes.
“It could work.” Ryan sounded impressed.
“It will work,” Joe said. “If we find the treasure first, Esteban will lose interest in Patricia, and that eliminates her from the threat of kidnapping. Which only leaves Alice to worry about, and we can trade the gold for her safe return.”
“I like this idea,” Ed said. “I’d be much happier if we had the treasure instead of letting Esteban get his hands on it. Gives us more options. Plus,” he grinned, “maybe we can skim something off the haul to make this worth our while.”
Patricia frowned at him. “There will be no skimming. That treasure belongs in a museum.” She looked at Joe. “I can see the merits of this plan, but what if Esteban kills Alice once he realises we have the treasure?”
“He won’t,” Julia said. “Otherwise we go public with the find and he gets nothing.” At least, that was the theory. Julia’s hands began to tremble as the consequences of her being wrong sank in. She was taking such a huge risk with Alice’s life. “Everything I’ve read about him suggests he’ll take the deal. It also suggests that he will probably try to kill all of us once the trade has been made. He doesn’t like losing, and he’ll see letting Alice go as a loss. Even after we get her back safely, we’ll all still be at risk. I haven’t thought of a solution for that part yet.”
“That’s because that part is our part.” Joe looked over at Callum. “We know what to do, don’t we?”
“Aye,” Callum said. “Elle, get me a name for our buyer. I’m going to bed.” He stood, and Julia realised he must have been wearing his prosthetics for far too long. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was in pain. She felt guilty, having put him through this.
“He must be in pain,” Julia whispered.
“He’s a big guy. He can look after himself. It was his choice to come here,” Joe told her as Callum strode from the room. Thanks to Patricia hiring the team and covering their expenses, they’d booked another suite on the same floor.
As soon as the meeting broke up, Julia scrambled off Joe’s knee.
“Where you going?” Joe said as he hooked her hand.
“Bed. It’s been a long day.” She kept her eyes on the floor.
“You’re sharing my room tonight.”
Julia jerked her hand out of his and looked him in the eye. “No.” Didn’t he realise that things couldn’t work between them? Didn’t Ryan’s revelations make him see how flawed she was?
She’d been foolish to hope, even for a minute, that she could give in to the pull she felt towards Joe. But she couldn’t let it happen. She couldn’t bear to look at him one day and see the disappointment he felt over her in his eyes. To feel his disgust when she didn’t fit him. His anger when she failed to live up to his expectations. It would happen. It always happened.
“I’m going to bed.” She turned from him and headed towards the room she shared with her gran.
When Julia looked over her shoulder, she saw his eyes on her and could almost hear his voice in her head.
You can run, but you can’t hide.
He was about to learn that she was very good at both. She’d had a lifetime of practice.
Chapter 15
Thomas Hayes. That was the name of the British expat who’d bought the mummy. Elle had dug up the information before breakfast and woken everyone with the news. Not that Joe had been sleeping. Nope. He’d being lying in bed wondering why Julia wasn’t there with him and trying to figure out what he could do to fix things. So far, he hadn’t come up with anything yet.
“Who the hell is this guy again?” Joe said to Ryan, who was by his side, but also to the rest of the team through his comm device.
Ryan and Joe were sauntering down the street in front of Hayes’ mini-mansion. They were decked out as tourists—small backpacks, easy-wash casual clothing, large cameras. Joe used his camera to snap photos of the glass and concrete monstrosity Hayes called home.
“I told you,” Elle said through the audio link in his ear. “He oversees the South American representatives of the British Council.”
