Krämer scuttled to catch up. ‘Okay, we can still make a deal! Eighty thousand? No, seventy-five, I will be generous.’

Nina ushered Cheng out. ‘Forget it.’

‘No, wait!’ Desperation entered the German’s voice. ‘Okay, I will take the fifty thousand. A deal is a deal, ja?’

‘Deal with this,’ said Eddie, flipping him the bird as he closed the door.

They started down the stairs. ‘We can’t just walk away!’ Cheng protested.

‘Yeah, we can,’ Nina replied. Below, three men entered the hall and headed upwards. ‘The guy was a total con man.’

‘But he had the—’ Cheng broke off as the first new arrival, a cold-faced blond, pushed rudely past him, his companions doing the same.

Nina and Eddie moved aside to let them through, but the stairway was so narrow they still brushed against each other. ‘Oh, excuse me,’ the Yorkshireman shot after them. The leader gave him a contemptuous look. ‘Arseholes.’

‘He had the key,’ said Cheng, resuming his descent. ‘It’s genuine, you said so yourself! It could lead us to a lost civilisation. After everything you’ve discovered, how can you turn your back on that?’

They exited the building. ‘Did you listen to a word I said in my lecture?’ Nina demanded, stopping in the middle of the courtyard and facing him. ‘Yes, I’ve made some amazing discoveries – at a great cost. This might be about money, not lives, but I want my students to learn from my mistakes, not repeat them!’

‘But I have the original fifty thousand euros,’ said Cheng, slapping the holdall. ‘We could go back and pay him. Then we’d have the key!’

‘He’ll call you again, I guarantee it. And this time he’ll want a lot less—’

She broke off at raised voices from above. Eddie looked up, seeing shifting shadows behind a window. ‘Ay up. That’s Krämer’s flat.’

‘Must be those guys who passed us on the stairs,’ said Nina. ‘Maybe he really does have other potential buy— Aah!’

They all leapt back in shock as Krämer was hurled through the window.

Chapter 4

4

The screaming German landed with a bang on the overflowing dumpster. Nina whipped up her arms to shield herself from flying glass. ‘Jesus!’

She looked up. The blond man glared back from the window, then shouted to his companions: ‘Find the key!’

Krämer slid off the dumpster. Nina hurried to him. ‘Oh my God! Are you okay?’

‘Ja,’ he gasped, squinting up at her – then slipping a hand out of his jacket. He still had the key. ‘Help me . . .’

‘Eddie!’ she cried. ‘We’ve gotta get him out of here!’

Her husband sighed. ‘So much for staying out of trouble!’

Krämer’s attacker had turned to watch the other men tear the squalid room apart – then he whipped back around as Nina and Eddie brought the German to his feet. ‘He still has it!’ he shouted. ‘Get after him!’