Raiders

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Kiya’s cell phone rang. With Tekin at the wheel of the stolen BMW, she looked down and saw the Lion had responded to her request to identify the man she had fought with at the British Museum — the man who had snatched the codex from Dariush and driven him to take his own life. She would never forgive him for humiliating her in front of the Lion like this, and she would kill him for what he did to her loyal Raven.

In the soft, blue glow of the instrument panel, she stared down at the new message on her phone and a scowl etched itself on her face.

So, his name was Jedediah Mason.

Now that was an old name, a biblical name.

According to the Lion, he was a soldier once, and now ran a highly respected asset extraction company based in London. The others around him were the rest of his team. Between them they had a lot of experience, mostly in the military. Their skills included martial arts, urban climbing, mentalism, computer hacking, forgery — you name it. Quite the crew, and for some reason they were now looking for the Nectanebo codex. What would a man like Mason want with that?

“He’s working for someone else,” she muttered.

Tekin turned to face her. “What?”

She paused before replying. The only sound was the noise of the tires as the car cruised along the M40 on its way to Oxford. Tekin accelerated the car as they pushed through the chalk cutting known as the Stokenchurch Gap.

She sighed, and tapped a long, black fingernail on the screen of the smart phone. “I said his name’s Mason, and he’s working for someone else.”

“Whoever he’s working for, he’s dead,” Tekin said casually. “What difference does it make?”

Kiya tutted. “You will not make Bride with that attitude, Tekin. When you want to kill a snake you cut off the head. I want to know who he is working for, and the Lion is asking questions too — difficult questions. He wants to know why these people are pursuing the codex. He wants to know why we have not yet obtained the codex. He says the Persian is growing impatient with our lack of progress.”

“The Persian?” Tekin said nervously.

Kiya nodded. “We are being watched carefully by those at the top.”

“They are always watching,” Tekin said. “Probably right now, through these very CCTV cameras.”

Kiya glanced up at one of the cameras on the side of the motorway. Rumors like this could spread like wildfire in the Hidden Hand, but no one really knew if there was any substance to them or not and testing it would be taking that wildfire and playing recklessly with it. The Hidden Hand rewarded honesty and diligent obedience with lavish gratitude, but its punishments for failure and betrayal were too terrible to be contemplated.

“If they’re watching, then that’s all the more reason not to fail, Tekin.”

“And you’re sure about this professor?”

She managed an absent-minded nod. “He’s the definitive authority on Napoleon and he has a professional relationship with Starling. That’s where they’re going.”

“And they haven’t gotten to him yet?”

“Not yet. Their plane was delayed at London City. They’ll be landing in half an hour.”

“I hope you’re right, for both our sakes.”

“I’m right,” she said. “I feel it in my heart.”

“What you feel, I feel,” he said. “What you think, I think.”

She gave him a sharp look. “What’s your point?”

“I sense you are feeling doubt about the mission.”

“You know only what my head knows, Tekin. You cannot know my heart.” She closed her eyes, and saw the desert moonrise. “Just get us to Oxford Airport before they land.”