Black Harvest

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Outside Nick and Selena's hotel the wind had picked up. Nick stood in front of the windows looking out. The drizzle had changed into hard rain. The Aegean Sea was almost invisible through the sheets of water pounding against the window. Somewhere across the waters lay Homer's Troy. He could hear heavy surf driving up against the shore below. Selena sat in an armchair with her laptop. She'd been sitting there for the last hour.

Nick was beginning to think they were at a dead end, caught up in a wild goose chase. The chances of finding the urn or any part of Alexander's treasure were slim to none. How long could something like that remain hidden? This was Europe, plundered and pillaged and raped by armies, jacked up kings and brutal emperors for thousands of years. No one could conceal that kind of wealth for all those centuries. Then again, no one had ever found the Templar treasure. Maybe it was possible.

He watched Selena. Her face was a study in concentration. He thought about the condo in D.C. and moving in together. He had no clarity in his thoughts about it. The lease on his apartment didn't run out for another year. He decided he'd hold onto it for now.

"Look at this." Selena broke into his thoughts. He went over to the screen. It showed a tourist portal for Bulgaria.

"Bulgaria."

"Yes. Or Thrace, if you prefer."

"What did you find?"

"I went looking for something to match that inscription. Remember? 'By the springs of Thrace, where the two rivers cross.' I think I know the general area. There are a lot of springs in Bulgaria."

She moved the mouse, clicked. A picture appeared on the screen of a large city with big churches, cobbled streets and happy people. The churches were dome shaped and old. The people were young. None of them were dome shaped.

"Sofia?"

"It's Sofia, accent on the first syllable. The capitol of Bulgaria. It was settled in the seventh century BCE and built around a mineral spring."

"What about the rivers?"

"Sofia sits in a big valley at the foot of a mountain. There are two rivers that run through the city, the Vladaiska and the Perlovska."

"Two rivers crossing and a spring. I think you got it. But we're going to need more than that. It still doesn't pinpoint an exact location."

"It's all we've got. The inscription might have been left for someone besides the Romans."

"Someone who needed to know where the treasure was taken."

"Yes." She stretched.

"Doesn't mean it's still there or we can find it."

"No, but we're a step closer if I'm right. Maybe we could smoke out someone with this."

"How do you mean?"

"We could let the idea about Sofia slip out. Maybe someone turns up where they shouldn't and we can track them back to the source."

"And pin it down." He thought about it. "It's a good idea. We'll run it by Harker. She can decide how to do it."

She stood and walked to the window. It was still raining. The wind had died. The sea was gray and uninviting. She thought about Homer's description of the Aegean as the "wine dark sea". It was dark, all right, but it wasn't the color of wine today.

Nick came up behind her. "What's going on with Steph?"

"What do you mean?"

"She seems different somehow. Lighter."

"You really don't know?"

"Know what?"

"She's sleeping with Lucas. I think she's in love with him."

"You're kidding. He's CIA."

"What difference does it make?"

"Security comes to mind. Plus he works for Lodge."

"Lucas has high security clearance. And he doesn't work for Lodge, he works for Hood. Steph isn't going to tell him anything. I don't think he'd talk to her, either."

"Harker know about this?"

"I'd be amazed if she didn't. She hasn't said anything. Steph deserves to be with someone if she wants. It's not easy in our work. "

"Tell me about it."

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes." He reached for her and drew her close. He slipped his hand down inside the back of her skirt. "I'm hungry. For you."

"Me too."

They undressed each other. She ran her hands down his right side, down his leg, feeling over ridges and welts of scar tissue left by the grenade. She touched the puckered scar where a round had gone through his shoulder.

"You should duck more," she said.

"Don't have to, when I'm lying down."

It wasn't long before neither one of them was standing.