Page 109 of Grave Danger

Zahra pulled away in anger, climbed out of the bed, and covered herself with a silk robe. “You’re hopeless,” she said, and she started toward the bathroom.

“Zahra, please,” he said.

She stopped short of the bathroom door.

“Ava was my wife,” he said, his voice cracking. “I—I loved her.”

It took all her strength just to turn around and face him, her eyes lowering with anger that pierced the darkness. “No, Farid. You are stillin lovewith her.”

He looked away. But Zahra heard no denial.

“Mom, I saw the ocean from upstairs!” shouted Yasmin, stirring Zahra from her memories.

Zahra popped up from the couch, and Yasmin came to her.

“Can we go to the beach? Please, please,please?”

“Maybe tomorrow.”

“Aww. Why can’t we go now?”

“Let’s bake some cookies,” said Zahra, a surefire change of subject.

“Yay!”

“I just put a package of Toll House dough in the refrigerator. I’ll bet there’s a cookie sheet somewhere in that kitchen.”

“I’ll find it!” Yasmin said, and dashed from the room.

Zahra let her go. She needed a minute to make a quick phone call. She couldn’t tell anyone where she was, but she was in a borrowed car, and she’d promised to let the owner know she’d arrived safely, wherever she was headed. She owed him that much, and so much more. Meeting him had been the best thing to happen to her after leaving London and landing in Miami. He was her emotional support. Her financial support. Her rock.

Zahra’s cell phone was in her purse, but it was wrapped in aluminum foil to prevent the police or anyone else from tracking her GPS coordinates. Another tip from her rock. There was a landline telephone on the credenza. She checked it, got a dial tone, and dialed the number from memory. Her rock answered.

“It’s me,” she said.

“Hi, baby. How are you?”

“Okay,” she said wistfully. “I miss you already.”

“We can fix that.”

Zahra smiled. “Maybe. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Chapter 39

Jack was in his car, halfway home from Zahra’s town house, when Andie called.

“Jack, um. Change of plans.”

He stopped at the red light. The “um” gave him pause. Andie was not one for filler words. Self-assuredness was one of the things he found so attractive about her.

“You’re not going to the house?”

“No. Um...”

There it was again. “Andie, what’s going on?”

“I got called in to the field office. It’s better if you come here. You need to speak to Agent Logan, not me.”