“Almost, but your friends made me curious. It struck me odd that they parked their car a good kilometer away and then walked across a deserted beach directly toward you. So I hung around to see what they had in mind.”

“Lucky for me you’re the suspicious type.”

“Do you have any idea of why they tried to kill you?” Pitt asked.

“They must have been bandits who murder and rob tourists.”

He shook his head. “Robbery wasn’t their motive. They carried no weapons. The one who was smothering you used his hands instead of tape or a cloth. And they made no attempt at rape. They were not professional assassins or we’d both be dead. Most unusual. I’d bet a month’s pay they were only hired hands for someone who wanted you dead. They followed you to a secluded spot intending to murder you, and then force salt water down your nose and throat. Afterward, your body would be left at the high-tide line to make it look like a drowning. Which would explain why they tried to smother you.”

She said hesitatingly, “I can’t believe any of this. It seems so purposeless and makes no sense at all. I’m only a biochemist, specializing in the effects of toxic materials on humans. I have no enemies. Why on earth should anyone want to kill me?”

“Having only just met you, I can’t even guess.”

Eva lightly massaged her bruised lips. “It’s all so crazy.”

“How long have you been in Egypt?”

“Only a few days.”

“You must have done something to make somebody pretty mad.”

“Certainly not to any North Africans,” she said doubtfully. “If anything I’m here to help them.”

He stared thoughtfully into the sand. “Then you’re not on vacation.”

“My work brought me here,” Eva answered. “Rumors of strange physical abnormalities and psychological disorders among the nomadic peoples of the southern Sahara were brought to the attention of the World Health Organization. I’m a member of an international team of scientists who have been sent to investigate.”

“Hardly fodder for a murder,” Pitt admitted.

“All the more puzzling. My colleagues and I are here to save lives. We pose no threat.”

“You think the plague in the desert is due to toxins?”

“We don’t have the answers yet. There isn’t enough data to draw conclusions. On the surface the cause appears to be contamination sickness, but the source is a mystery. No known chemical manufacturing or hazardous waste sites lie within hundreds of kilometers of the areas reporting the symptoms.”

“How widespread is the problem?”

“Over eight thousand cases have erupted across the African nations of Mali and Niger in the past ten days.”

Pitt’s eyebrows lifted. “An incredible number for so short a time. How do you know bacteria or a virus isn’t the cause?”

“Like I said, the source is a mystery.”

“Odd that it hasn’t been covered by the news media.”

“The World Health Organization has insisted on a news blackout until a cause has been determined. I suppose to prevent sensationalism and panic.”