Page 88 of Sands of Sirocco
Victoria’s face flushed.“But, Noah, you know what they said.My father’s life could be at risk.”
“As is mine,” Noah snapped, irritated with her emotional response.Any guilt he might have felt at hurting her was mitigated by the fact that he was quickly running out of options.“I can’t do this alone.What’s more, the Aleaqrab is planning an attack and soon.One man last night mentioned a device that had been planted at a location.El-Masry responded it would only be there for a day.And I’m not sure where they mean or when.”
Victoria exchanged a glance with Alastair.“The sultan’s dinner?”
Alastair gave her a grave look.“That could be a good possibility.”
Noah straightened, alert.“What dinner?”
Victoria smoothed her skirt.“Sultan Fuad is hosting a large gathering at Abdin Palace tonight.I had planned on inviting you to come as my guest, but—” She broke off abruptly.A shadow crossed her face.“The who’s who of Anglo Cairo will be there.”
They were right.The dinner would be a perfect place to plan an attack.“Are the upper-class Cairenes invited as well?”That would determine whether Masry would be there.
“I don’t see why not,” Victoria said with a shrug.She seemed to have regained some of her typical cool composure over the course of the day.
Noah leapt to his feet.“Then I need to go to the dinner.When does it start?”
Alastair crossed the room.He opened a secretary on a desk and retrieved an invitation.“I sent my regrets …” He thumbed the envelope open.
Of course.Alastair loathed events like that.
Alastair checked his pocket watch, then looked at Noah.“In two hours.”
“That doesn’t leave us much time,” Noah said.Would Victoria be able to face society for something like this?
He didn’t have to ask.Victoria held his gaze.“I can take you as my guest.Knowing Alastair, he can outfit me well enough with what he has here.”
Alastair gave a smug smile.“Of course.”He kept disguises and clothes for every occasion and size.And had a knack for knowing what would fit.It was part of the reason Noah had tasked him with obtaining a trousseau for Ginger.
“Are you certain?”Noah came closer to her.“I know you may not be ready—”
“I’ll be fine, Noah.”Victoria smiled tautly.“If no one even knows I was missing, I won’t have to face their pitying looks.Besides which, if that Masry man you’ve mentioned is there and he plans to detonate a bomb, all those people could be at risk.My duty comes before my feelings.”
Duty before feelings.If one motto described Victoria and her father well, that was it.She wasn’t wrong though.“Alastair, I will need you to come out of your cave for this.Even if you’ve already given your regrets.Go to the CID.Or even those bumbling fools at the Cairo police.Gather a few people you can trust.”
Alastair gave him a mock salute.“Aye, aye, Colonel.”
“Just remember, no one is to do anything until I confirm Masry is present.This must be kept completely under wraps.If we’re wrong about this being the time and place and someone is indiscreet, Masry may hear of it and change his mind about attacking now and bide his time.Then we won’t have any lead at all about when he might strike.”
“Couldn’t we just arrest Masry?That might be the easiest course of action,” Victoria said with a frown.
“You know how these organizations work, someone else would just take up his role.And then where would we be?Besides which, we have nothing to charge him with yet.”If his uncle had more devious plans, arresting him on a charge that wouldn’t be likely to result in jail time might not be wise either.They needed more intelligence on him.
The dinner at the palace tonight seemed like a promising lead.But he couldn’t shake the nagging voice that told him he was missing something.Something that could doom him.
ChapterThirty
Giza was alive with tourists, no matter the season.But now that winter had arrived, the area was particularly crowded.Eager faces of nurses leaned out of carts, veils flapping in the wind.And there was a sea of khaki uniforms everywhere too—soldiers didn’t come to Cairo without checking off a visit to the famous pyramids.
Ginger remembered her first visit to the Great Pyramid.Even now it still took her breath away.The stones used to build the monuments were enormous.The first time she’d come, she’d stared at them in amazement, unable to comprehend how they’d been moved in ancient times.
As the driver of her hired carriage pulled to a stop, Ginger looked at the long line of motorcars, carriages, and other forms of transportation gathered near the pyramids.
The address for Paul Hanover was located just past the Khedive Abbas Bridge on the banks of the Nile.But when Ginger had called there, servants had directed her to the Pyramid of Menkaure, the smallest of the three Queen’s pyramids fronting the Great Pyramid.
Ginger paid the driver of the carriage and stepped out onto the open area of the desert, in front of the pyramids.Besides the tourists and dragoman guides, the area also boasted a few tents for archeologists on digs.One was set up near the Pyramid of Menkaure.
Ginger approached it hesitantly.She adjusted the hat she wore, squinting at the tent.As she did, a woman strode from the tent, wearing trousers and a simple cotton blouse.She was young, not much older than Ginger, and her long blonde hair was tied back with a ribbon.
