Private Rome

Chapter 87

After we’d eaten, Amr and Amina had left and Valentina had gone with them. Sci and I bunked in one of the bedrooms, Justine and Mo-bot had taken another, and Faduma was in the third.

By 2 a.m. I had puzzled through every aspect of this investigation and the picture still wasn’t any clearer. To get to the truth I needed a breakthrough and I had an idea how to get it, but it would involve a betrayal.

A small one, but a betrayal nonetheless.

I waited until I was sure Sci was asleep, his heavy breathing reverberating around the room. I grabbed my clothes and crept out.

I moved quietly through the living area until I was near the front door.

“Where are you going?” Justine whispered. I turned to see her fully dressed ready to leave.

She walked over to me and ran her fingers over my bare chest. Her touch felt good and I pulled her close for a kiss. Our lips met. For a time I forgot everything else.

“You’re so predictable,” she said, pulling away. “The moment you mentioned what Altmer had said, I knew where you’d go, and I knew you’d try and go alone, so as not to endanger the rest of us.”

“Wow,” I replied. “Am I that transparent?”

She had predicted my small betrayal: leaving my team so I could go out alone.

She nodded. “Put your shirt on,” she said, pushing past me. “We can’t risk waking the others.”

“We?” I asked, disappointed to be getting dressed, rather than undressed.

“Yes. I’m coming with you,” she replied, opening the front door.