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“Julia?” Elle said, coming over to them. She looked as shocked as Julia still felt. “What about the plan we talked about on the plane?”
Julia shook her head. “No more plans. They backfire and people get hurt.”
“No.” Joe put his fingers on her jaw to turn her face to him. “You can’t think like that. In this business, we plan, we try, and sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t. But we always try, because our chances of succeeding when people need us are higher than the failure rate.”
“I can’t…” She closed her eyes and saw Alice.
“Right now,” Joe said, “our only option is to give him the mummy. You know if we do that, we may as well be signing Alice’s death certificate. And Esteban won’t stop until he has the only person on the planet who can read the map. If you have another idea, we need to hear it. You owe it to your gran, to Alice, to give us everything you have.”
Julia felt her vision blur as she looked up at Elle.
“I thought it was a good plan,” Elle said. There were te
ars in her eyes too.
“What if it gets everyone killed?” Julia whispered.
“What if it doesn’t?” Joe said. He leaned in until his lips brushed her ear. “You’re stronger than this, Jules. You had a shock, but you can do it. Tell us your idea. Let the team decide if it’s a good one. Trust us. Trust yourself. Trust me.”
He leaned back then pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. When she opened her eyes, she saw the strength that was Joe.
“I’ll get my iPad,” she said.
His smile was beautiful—just like the man.
“Then I’ll get Callum. He’s making calls in his room.” He lifted her and placed her on the sofa, the blanket still around her. “You need Elle’s magic cube?”
Against all odds, he made her smile. “Yes, I do.”
“Okay, you two sort out your notes. And don’t forget to drink your tea.”
“Yes, sir.” She gave him a mock salute.
His eyes sparkled. “I like the sound of that. Use it often.” And then he strode out of the room to fetch Callum.
“There’s a team in the area who can assist if you’re desperate,” Lake said in Callum’s ear.
Callum rubbed his thigh and looked out over the red roofs of Cusco. “We’re past desperate,” he told his business partner and friend. “They’re chopping bits off their hostage.”
“She knows who’s holding her?”
“Aye.”
There was silence for a fraction of a beat. “Then they’re going to kill her.”
“Aye. My guess, knowing Esteban’s history, is that he’ll tire of playing and get rid of her sooner rather than later. Then he’ll wage an outright war to get Patricia and the mummy. It’s Patricia he really wants. He isn’t going to wait much longer.”
“You said Alice is in a new location?”
“They moved her out of the compound. She’s in a village up in the mountains. A village Esteban rules. It bothers me that he moved her. I can’t see his reasoning. She was secure in his main complex.”
“Unless…” Lake said, and Callum could almost hear his brain work. “Unless Elle triggered an alarm when she tracked the last IP address.”
“I’ll talk to her. Get her to backtrack, see if she missed something.” Callum rubbed his chin, feeling the weight of the situation bear down on him. “She’ll be devastated if she did.”
“We all make mistakes. It’s how we learn.”
“Thank you, Master Yoda. I’ll make sure to pass that on.” He took a heavy breath. “Who’s this team that can help?”
