Page 121 of Sands of Sirocco
Sarah had closed her eyes and was half asleep.She must be exhausted.Yawning, she said, “And if we show up without the location for the concession?”
Ginger raked her fingers through her hair.“I don’t know.All I know is I have to try to help my husband.”
Sarah stood and approached Jack.She sat on the bed beside him and shook his shoulder.Jack grunted, then blinked toward her.“Jack, we need you.Noah said they gave you a code of some sort.Do you remember it?”
Jack mumbled and flopped onto his stomach.
Sarah went over to their bags.She lifted her canteen and poured some water onto her hand.Then she splashed it onto Jack’s face and patted his cheek.“Get up, Darby.We need you.”
Ginger frowned.The familiarity with which Sarah seemed to address Jack was curious.But, then again, she’d admitted freely to knowing Jack.Not everything had to be a secret or a mystery, but Ginger had spent so many months surrounded by events shrouded in deception that her mind seemed to go there naturally.
Sarah shook Jack again.“You want to save Noah Benson, don’t you?I need the code Osborne gave you.”
Blinking blearily, Jack opened one eye, just barely.“Notepad.”
Would Jack remember anything with accuracy in this state?His fever seemed to have improved since she’d started him on quinine—but enough for something this important?
Ginger dug through Noah’s belongings and found a notepad and pencil.She handed these to Sarah, who set the pencil in Jack’s hand.She slid the notepad under his palm.
Jack made a few scribbles, then the pencil jerked downward, uselessly.
This is hopeless.
“Can we use smelling salts?Anything that will wake him more?”Sarah asked hopefully.
“I can try.”Ginger found a container in her medical kit.“I can’t remember the last time I needed these.”She uncapped it and held the bottle under Jack’s nostrils.
He drew in a sharp breath, then opened his reddened eyes more fully.He looked at Ginger, then Sarah, then closed his eyes.“What?”he asked.
“The code, Jack.”Ginger put the salts under his nose once again.
He opened his eyes, drawing his face back.“Stop it,” he said through gritted teeth.Then he lifted the pencil.Scribbling once again, he wrote a few lines of text, then set the pencil down.It rolled off the notepad and onto the floor.
Ginger’s heart fell.What he’d written looked like complete gibberish.
Sarah lifted the notepad, then stiffened.She lowered the paper to her side.
“What is it?”Ginger asked.Jack let out a soft snore.
“It’s my code.”Sarah’s eyes were wide as she dropped back into the chair with a dazed expression.
Ginger bent beside her.“And you can read what it says?”
“Yes—they’re Greek letters written in Egyptian Coptic.From that translation, it’s a standard Playfair cipher.I always used the same key.Hopefully Paul did the same.Otherwise, I might face a bit of a battle.”She brushed her fingertips over the writing as though indulging in a sentimental moment.
No wonder they had needed Jack.A cipher written in an ancient text?He was a known expert in that sort of thing.“You know Coptic?”Ginger gave her an impressed look.
“I started studying it as a young girl.It fascinated me.I always dreamed of being an Egyptologist, so the language, both past and present, was a part of my studies from the start.I taught Paul after we’d married.Do you think Paul intended this cipher for me?”
Ginger weighed her words.Despite Sarah’s attempts at stoicism, she had a feeling that her outward indifference to Paul’s fate was an act.Paul had scorned her, after all.“Noah said they caught him with a cipher.Perhaps he knew he was being followed and wanted to send you some message so that you could find the paperwork.”
“That makes sense.Otherwise, why write anything down?”Sarah drummed her fingertips against the paper.“Let me get a pencil.I can work my way through this.”
“Red.”Jack murmured his nickname for Ginger and she left Sarah’s side to feel Jack’s forehead.
Jack barely opened his eyes to look at her.“I didn’t dream you up.”
She smiled, the sound of his voice so welcome that her eyes grew teary.“No, I’m right here, Jack.”
