Stones of Fire

77

It was a moment of quiet intimacy. Of murmured endearments. Life slowed down to its simplest, most lovely, facet.

In the midst of the quietude, Edie felt a spark. She snuggled closer to Cædmon, burrowing her head into the crook of his bare shoulder. This not being the first time she’d felt the spark, she wondered if anything would come of it.

Could anything come of it?

On paper she gave their relationship the shelf life of a carton of milk. If that. They were simply two sexually healthy people caught up in the excitement of the moment. Although, glancing at the small clock mounted on the wall, she could see that the excitement had lasted quite a few hours.

‘You do know that this… this attraction is nothing more than a primitive urge,’ she said, propping her head on his chest.

‘Perhaps it must be primitive in order for us to forget our preconceived notions of what should and shouldn’t be.’

Hmm… it sounded as though he’d given their relationship more than a passing thought.

‘And maybe Freud was right — about there being no such thing as pure unadulterated love. Maybe there’s sexual need and nothing else,’ she countered, testing him.

‘I suspect Freud was an impotent bugger who wouldn’t have known love if it had slapped him in his bearded face. Let’s not analyze it; let’s just accept it, whatever it is, as a beginning. Tentative and tenuous perhaps, but a beginning nonetheless.’

She smiled, Cædmon having passed the test with flying colours.

‘Agreed. But if you think I’m one of those women who’d settle for a man just because he puts down the toilet seat, think again.’

‘Point taken. Although I hope I get several bonus points for being considerate.’

‘Change of subject,’ she announced. ‘I’m curious as to what would have happened if you had stayed at Oxford and received your doctorate?’

‘You mean how my life would have unfolded?’ When she nodded, he said, ‘In a very conventional way, no doubt. I would have got a college post, most likely at Queen’s. At which point my life would have become a steady stream of tutorials, committee meetings and university functions.’

‘You know, I’m one of those people who believe that things happen for a reason. Personally, I don’t think you were meant to live a sheltered life. Just look at Sir Kenneth Campbell-Brown. Okay, the man is brilliant, but he’s also a confirmed alcoholic bachelor. You were meant for a better life.’

Smiling, Cædmon brushed his lips against hers. ‘At the mention of the path not taken, I feel strangely glad.’

‘Me too.’

‘Bloody hell,’ he abruptly exclaimed a half-second later. ‘How do terrorists communicate with one another?’

Surprised by the unexpected question, she lifted a shoulder. ‘Beats me. Although I suspect the answer is not carrier pigeons.’

‘Correct. They communicate via the internet,’ he informed her, his blue eyes shining. ‘Which enables them to pass messages to cells and operatives all over the globe. Perhaps MacFarlane and his Warriors of God are no different.’

‘Okay, suppose that’s true. How does the message on Sanchez’s cell phone fit in? I thought that was how MacFarlane was communicating with his men.’

‘When we first received the flash message, I thought that a communiqué had been encoded into the numbers and that an encryption key would be needed to decipher the message. But what if the list of numbers is the encryption key?’

‘Sorry, I’m not following.’ Edie propped her head on her hand.

‘Knowing he can’t be too careful about sending messages across the globe, MacFarlane might have devised a two-part mode of communication. The first part being the numeric list that was sent to Sanchez’s mobile phone.’

‘And the second?’

‘Mind you, this is mere speculation, but the second piece of the puzzle might be the Warriors of God website.’

‘You’re talking about the website we checked out back in DC, right?’

Cædmon shrugged. ‘As I said, it’s only a theory.’

‘So, let me make sure I’ve got this straight,’ she said, still uncertain how all the pieces fitted together. ‘You think there might be a message encoded in the Warriors of God web page and that this message can only be decoded using the numeric list from the text message.’

‘There’s only one way to find out. Unless I’m mistaken, this boat is equipped with Inmarsat.’

‘What’s that?’

‘A mobile communications system that enables internet access while at sea.’

Throwing back the sheet, Edie swung her feet to the floor. ‘Well, what are we waiting for?’