“You stay inside and out of trouble. Find that tomb. I’m heading out with Soren to look into the people hunting you,” Ed murmured. He was still near enough that their lips brushed with every word he spoke.
“One more for luck?”
Ed obliged, sinking them into a deep but too-brief kiss. He broke it off and softly chuckled as Max hung there with what felt like the goofiest grin on his lips. Yeah, he might be smitten, but he wasn’t admitting that shit out loud. He was going to enjoy it while it lasted.
After gathering up the plates, Ed rose and stepped off the blanket so Max could toss it onto the bed.
“Be careful, Mr. Navy SEAL. Don’t do anything stupid,” Max called after him.
“I’ll be good, Dr. Tomb Raider.”
Max snorted as Ed left. At least he hadn’t called him Lara Croft. That was coming, though. And he was going to kick Ed’s ass when it happened.
He couldn’t wait.
11
EDISON WALKER
“Do I want to know how you got this meeting?” Ed inquired as they entered Al-Azhar Park. It was the one vast green space within the sea of brown and concrete that was Cairo. Locals and tourists alike visited the massive park, as it offered a break from the city’s noise and smog.
“Why do you have to ask questions like that? Do you really want to know how sausage is made, or do you just want to enjoy your knackwurst?” Soren griped next to him.
Ed narrowed his eyes at Soren and pointed one finger at him. “You know you’re not allowed to talk wurst with me after that Munich beer hall incident during Oktoberfest.”
The former spy made a dismissive noise. “You argue with one German about beer—”
“You punched three Germans and shouted that pilsners were for pussies and real men only drink doppelbocks.”
A huge, goofy grin spread across Soren’s face, and he tipped his head up toward Ed. “That was so much fun, wasn’t it?”
“Asshole,” Ed muttered.
“We both know it wasn’t about the beer. We were bored, and Charlie was still heartbroken over Will. He needed a distraction.”
“And you were drunk,” Ed added.
“And I was drunk,” Soren agreed without an ounce of remorse in his voice.
He would not agree out loud with Soren, but it had been fun—though it meant that they had to spend their Oktoberfests outside of Munich from now on.
Out of all the original members of the team, Soren was the biggest wild card and had driven Charlie and Kairo insane. The man would constantly change plans on the fly and shoot from the hip. It made backing him up and covering his ass next to impossible, but there was no one who could read a situation like Soren.
Or people. Soren could read all their tells. And he was an expert at manipulating people into doing exactly what he wanted them to do. Ed was just grateful that Soren used his evil powers to benefit his friends and innocent people. Rather, he didn’t help truly evil people.
Not that any of them were saints.
Ed strolled along the wide sidewalk, moving in and out of the shade of tall trees. His eyes remained hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses and were constantly on the move, skimming over the dozens of people they passed. Most appeared to be mothers and aunts taking their children out to romp at the playground that was on the other side of the green space. There were some single people—mostly men—who appeared to be out enjoying a bit of quiet during their lunch break.
Of course, there were plenty of tourists from all over the world, bubbling with their new-experiences excitement. They snapped pictures, selfies, and videos as they exclaimed in their native tongues. He and Soren darted clear of them as much as possible, trying not to get caught digitally in any form. Kairo had software that regularly scoured the Internet for images of anyone on the team and scrubbed them from existence. It was better if they couldn’t be found.
Only three days had passed since his and Max’s unfortunate encounter with Max’s sister and Nail Mironov’s goons. Kairo had dug up some good details on Rive and her gang of smugglers and thieves. From what they could tell, it looked as if she had no more than a dozen regulars working for her and a solid network to move her goods. She stuck largely to the Middle East and parts of Northern Africa. Her base appeared to move frequently, shifting from Casablanca to Algiers to Alexandria and even Damascus.
Most of her goods either traveled north into Europe or east into China and Japan.
As a result, she was near the top of Interpol’s most wanted list, as well as targeted by other law enforcement groups across the region. Kairo wasn’t sure if she eluded them because of her own smarts and skills or if she was just very good at bribing the right people. It was likely a mix of both.