“You can have it, along with the brown skin, the black eyes, and all the other shit that comes with it.”

“Ah, rubbish, petal. We’re all nurses here. Just doing our job and trying to make a decent living.”

“Maybe, but out there it’s different. What have you got for me?”

“Lee Martinson. She’s in the solarium. Get her back up to her room. Settle her in for the night.”

“That big bloke still hanging round her?”

“The bodyguard? Still here. Dr. Avery reckons he’ll be here awhile.”

“Why would a woman like Miss Martinson need a bodyguard?”

“Confidential, my sweet. Highly confidential.”

Amira set off down the corridor. A moment later she came to the entrance of the solarium. As she went inside the humidity greeted her like a wet blanket. Miss Martinson was in her wheelchair, staring at the blackened windows. The bodyguard, hearing Amira’s approach, got to his feet. He was a large, heavily built man in his twenties, with short hair and blue eyes. He spoke with a British accent, but Amira doubted he was truly British. She looked down at Miss Martinson.

“It’s getting late, sweetheart. Time to go upstairs and get ready for bed.”

She pushed the wheelchair out of the solarium, then along the corridor to the elevators. The bodyguard pressed the call button. A moment later they boarded a lift and rode silently upward to her room on the fourth floor. Before entering, Amira paused and looked at the guard.

“I’m going to bathe her. Why don’t you wait out here until I’m finished?”

“Wherever she goes, I go.”

“We do this every night. The poor woman deserves a bit of privacy.”

“Wherever she goes, I go,” he repeated.

Amira shook her head and wheeled Miss Martinson into her room, the bodyguard trailing silently after her.

17 BOSA, SARDINIA

17

BOSA, SARDINIA

FOR TWO DAYS GABRIEL WAITED FOR THEM TO make contact. The hotel, small and ochre-colored, stood in the ancient port near the spot where the river Temo flowed into the sea. His room was on the top floor and had a small balcony with an iron rail. He slept late, took breakfast in the dining room, and spent mornings reading. For lunch he would eat pasta and fish in one of the restaurants in the port, then he would hike up the road to the beach north of town and spread his towel on the sand and sleep some more. After two days, his appearance had improved dramatically. He’d gained weight and strength, and the skin beneath his eyes no longer looked yellow-brown and jaundiced. He was even beginning to like the way he looked with the beard.