Page 27 of Troy Story
Dusty’s breath caught. Why hadn’t she heeded Em’s advice and kept her mouth shut? Now she’d put herself at risk. “You can’t fire me. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I disagree. Your behavior tonight—barreling in here, swearing at me, calling me slimy—has been completely unprofessional. I can’t afford such a loose cannon on my team.”
Fuck.In all her years of digging, she’d never been kicked off a job. She couldn’t get fired. Not when she hadn’t accomplished any of her goals. She had yet to make inroads on her dissertationorher relationship with Stuart. If she got sent home now, she wouldn’t see him again until September. By then, he would have spent the entire summer with Clarissa. More than enough time for him to fall in love with her and decide she was the one.
She’d have to suck it up and apologize. “I’m sorry about my outburst. I promise it won’t happen again.”
“Too late. The damage has been done.” Dr. Hughes leaned back in his chair. “Unless…”
“What?” Her heart was pounding, her mouth dry. She licked her lips, tasting cayenne, and longed for a drink of water.
“Unless you’d be willing to do me a huge favor.”
With a shudder, she shrunk back toward the door. “What kind of favor?”
“If Clarissa is so anxious, why don’t you lend a hand? Go with her and help her gather the information I need.” When Dusty hesitated, he gave an arrogant laugh. “What are you afraid of? Mort told me about your exploits in Egypt. Clearly, this type of subterfuge is right up your alley. Do this for me, and we’ll be good.”
“You won’t fire me?” She hated that she was putting herself at his mercy. Hated that she was bargaining with such a loathsome, immoral asshole. But she didn’t want to leave Troy.
“If you pull this off, you can stay. But no betraying me, understand?”
“I understand.” She relaxed her stance but was unable to dispel the tension coiled in her belly. “What about Stuart? He’d never agree to this.” Few people she knew had a moral compass like his.
“I’d rather keep him and Kerim out of this. But if you do a good job, I might throw Stuart a bone. I could email Dr. Fiorelli and tell her what a splendid job he’s been doing. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Dusty let out a long breath. She didn’t want to do Dr. Hughes any favors. But if she went along with his scheme, she wouldn’t have to worry about losing her spot on the dig. If she could help Stuart, all the better. “Okay, but we’ll need a foolproof plan.”
He smirked. “That’s just what I was thinking.”
* * *
When Dusty returned outside,Clarissa and Emilia were still sitting on the patio. Emilia had started on her second beer while Clarissa was drinking from her water bottle.
“Finally!” Emilia said. “Did you give him hell?”
“Um…” Dusty plopped down on a chair. “I tried to, but he had serious leverage over me, and…” She didn’t want to reveal that he’d threatened to replace her with Clarissa. No sense making the other woman feel guilty. “I caved and said I’d help him out.”
“What kind of leverage are we talking about?” Emilia asked.
Dusty raked her hand through her hair. “I’d rather not say, but we came up with a plan. Clarissa, if you’re game, I’ll go with you. We’ll need to wear disguises and pretend we’re visiting students from the University of Cologne.”
Emilia’s jaw dropped. “Are you out of your mind?”
“I know it sounds risky, but it could benefit all of us. If Hughes finds out what the Germans are up to, he might stop obsessing over them. Kerim and Stuart would love it if they didn’t have to worry about him causing any more trouble.”
And I won’t get fired. But she didn’t say it. Better to have them think she was doing this mission for the good of the dig than reveal how much she feared being replaced.
Clarissa gave her a beatific smile. “Thank you so much. I think I could handle this if we did it together. I used to spend my summers in Berlin with my mom’s relatives, so my German’s decent. What about you?”
Dusty’s shoulders loosened in relief. She hadn’t expected Clarissa to agree so readily. Then again, she got the sense Clarissa would do almost anything for her dad. “I’m fluent in German. Learned it as a kid from one of my tutors. It’s also a requirement for a PhD in Classical Archaeology.”
“Humblebrag,” Emilia muttered.
“Seriously, Em? You and TJ had a brag-off two days ago about your linguistic fluency.”
“For the record, I won. He only speaks three languages. What a lightweight.”
“If I may continue?” Dusty said. “Not only do I speak German, but I also know Professor Schultz from the University of Cologne. He’s an Egyptologist who worked with my mom ten years ago, so I could easily pretend to be one of his students. You want to come with, Em? German’s one of your languages.”
