Page 64 of Afraid to Hope

“What do I do with this?” Natasha pressed her lips firmly together, then spoke. “I’m thinking repatriation. Where should the book’s final resting place be? I want to honor that, but…”

Bane lifted his chin. His hands encouraged Natasha to face him. “But what?” He stood directly behind her and rested his chin lightly on the top of her head, his hands on her shoulders. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know how Pépé came to have the codex. Only that he did, and he apparently died because of it.”

“The answer may never surface, sweetheart,” he said quietly in her ear.

“Look. This is wholly unexpected. Emmet said this codex was of no importance unless it fell into our laps. It seems it might have.”

“Might have.” He stressed the words. “Say we delay and get a determination. Maybe this is the codex. Maybe not. TheHomo sapiensare whisked out of the country, like the Ouarzazate Codex apparently has been. What then?”

Natasha carefully rewrapped the codex in the tissue and returned it to the archival box, then placed the box and envelope back into the safe-deposit box and secured the lid. “We can address this codex later. I’m returning it to the safe-deposit box, along with Mémé’s letter. It’s not as if they’re going anywhere. I’ll talk to Gia about the codex, see what she thinks and can do to help. Since this is what she does, I imagine she’d love to take a look at it.” She pressed the button for the banker. “Before we get on the road, I want to return to theriad.I’d prefer not to have the key with us, given what has transpired.”

The sprawling capital city of Rabat rapidly disappeared behind them as the Jeep ate up the miles. Natasha stared out the window, lost in thought. She had not spoken since leaving Casablanca more than an hour earlier.

Behind the wheel, Bane asked, “Want to talk?”

She turned her head sideways, everything made darker by her dark sunglasses. “About how I feel?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I don’t think so. I don’t want to sound like an abandoned child instead of a thirty-six-year-old woman,” she said curtly, taking a deep inhale.

Bane inclined his head. Natasha felt his interest through the dark lenses.

“Eyes on the road, mister,” she admonished with an impish smile. “I prefer to remain in one piece.”

“Tough when you’re doing that.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you are a very lusty man?”

Bane rearranged his hands on the steering wheel. A deep laugh accompanied his words. “Only you.”

“Really? Difficult to believe.” She grinned, then her tone changed. “My grandfather isn’t who I thought he was.”

“It’s fucking surreal. For anyone. Emmet is concerned about you, and trust me, not much moves him off center.”

“He’s concerned about the mission.”

“Yes, and us. Just accept that he might care, beyond the mission.”

“Fine.”

“The two of you made major headway after you returned from theKasbah.”

“We did.” Natasha pivoted in her seat. “You and Emmet have a nice camaraderie, I’ve noticed.”

“Yeah. I’ve worked with him on other assignments.”

“And Matilda?”

A flash of white appeared in his tanned, handsome face. “She’s the woman behind the man. It’s important to keep her in the loop and happy, and I like her. You know, it’s okay to like the people that you work with, that you come in contact with.”

“Are you trying to psychoanalyze me?”

“Nope. I’m not qualified to do that, only trained to observe. As I shared that night after we patched up Rafiq, you keep people at a distance because of the tough shit that you’ve experienced. It’s totally understandable.”

“And you’re going to tell me again that it’s all within my control,” she said with growing annoyance.

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