“When Charlie found me in Buenos Aires, men were trying to kill me. Professional hit men. These guys didn’t blink an eye at it,” Will said in a low, steady voice as he looked over his patient. “I don’t think there’s much in this world these guys haven’t handled.” Will finished what he was doing and lifted his eyes to stare at Max. “If they say they will keep you and the scarab safe, they will do it.”
Max managed a small nod. Every instinct was crying out for Ed to pull the smaller man into his lap and wrap his arms around him, which was a little crazy. He’d just attempted to take on a room full of mercenaries while he was horribly injured, wielding nothing more than a pillow. But just because Max could take care of himself, it didn’t mean he wanted to do it all alone.
Just a minute ago, he was a fiery bundle of fury that couldn’t be stopped, but now, it was as if he were struggling to hold everything together. It had to be the pain and fatigue.
“Can I see it?” Max inquired.
“Got it,” Kairo called out. He darted out of the room and up the stairs in a thunder of footsteps through the now-silent house.
“I’ll also get you some mild painkillers,” Will added as he left the room.
Kairo returned first, carrying an indestructible black suitcase. He pressed his finger to the reader as it pulled off his print. There was a soft mechanical click of the locks coming undone, and Kairo opened the case with a small flourish. Lying in the middle of ample black padding was the scarab Max had entrusted to Ed.
There was a faint tremor in Max’s fingers as he reached out and picked up the jeweled bug.
“We were extremely careful with it,” Ed reassured him.
That got the smile back on Max’s face and brightened his green eyes a bit. “I can tell. The Egyptians made it to be sturdy. You’ve done a great job of protecting it. Thank you.” After inspecting every inch, he placed it in the case again and closed it, locking it away.
He sat back on the sofa and stared at the case, seeming to be lost in thought.
It was only when Charlie said his name twice that he lifted his eyes. “Max? What is it you want?”
Max dragged his eyes from Charlie to Ed. “What do you mean?”
“What is it you want to do next?” Ed asked. “We’ll help you. Do you simply want to get out of Cairo and go home to the US? We can make that happen. Do you want to finish your research and find the tomb here? We can help.”
The man opened his mouth, but nothing came out. After a second, he closed it and rubbed his hand across his face.
“What if I say I just want to go home?” he replied, his voice partially muffled behind his hand.
“Then we make sure you get home safely and no one followed you,” Ed answered, trying to make it sound as easy as possible. Max had been through enough. He didn’t need to worry about all the complications of how that was going to happen.
“Yeah, but what about Nail and the rest of those thieves? What happens to them? Nothing? They harass some other archeologist and their team?”
“No,” Kairo answered sharply. “We will hunt them down and put them out of business permanently.”
“Yass! Finally getting to the fun stuff!” Alexei laughed, thrusting his fist into the air.
“Even if they never link my mom to you for this dig, that doesn’t mean they can’t come after her for something else. God knows I can’t keep her out of this country. Getting rid of them keeps my mom and other Egyptologists safe,” Kairo snarled.
Max nodded. “Then I’m staying. I want to find the tomb. I want to finish my research. And most importantly, I want to stop those fuckers from threatening anyone else and stealing more history. Nail is a middleman in all this. The guy who gets sent in to handle things. There has to be someone else behind him, and I want them stopped.”
“Fine. You stay in Egypt, but you need to do some more healing before you’re allowed out of my sight,” Will said, pointing a finger at their newest client.
Max huffed a small laugh and glanced over at Ed, who couldn’t help but grin at him. Yeah, so maybe he was a little giddy about the fact that Max was sticking around. It meant that he might get Max alone now that he was healing and ask him exactly why Max chose him at the airport.
He just…he needed to know.
Max lifted one finger into the air. “I have one concern. I’m assuming you do this work for a fee. This kind of unique service has got to be expensive.” Max shifted his gaze from Ed to Kairo. “You’ve got to know what your mother makes. Archeologists aren’t the best-paid people in the world, and I’m only a part-time professor. I’m not sure I can afford your help.”