Donovan nodded.
He absorbed the news with a wistful expression. “Then he knew what it meant. I am glad.”
Jess understood. She was glad that her father had known of the momentous discovery of an untouched tomb, too. And that he had helped save its contents.
“Thank you,” Hakim said to her, a slight quiver of emotion in his voice. “Thank you for giving my country a piece of its missing heritage. Egypt owes you much gratitude.”
She shook her head decisively. “We don’t have it yet. And when we do, it will be thanks to my father.”
“He gave you the key, and you unlocked the treasure. I think we must thank you as much as Wally.”
She tried to deny it, but Donovan put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re right, Hakim. Jess figured out Wally’s clues. We wouldn’t have that vase without her, and there will be much more once we find where it came from.”
Donovan’s pride in her was so sincere all she could do was bask in it. If this competent man was impressed with her, she didn’t want to look like less in his eyes. More importantly, she didn’t want to be less in her own eyes. She’d pushed her limits the past five days and amazingly she hadn’t ended up in a fetal position, shaking with fear. Instead of being sheltered from any possible physical or emotional harm, she’d been encouraged to do things that terrified her. To step beyond her boundaries instead of barricading herself from the world. It had been an enormous change.
She liked the results.
While she absorbed the fact that what she had done would be valued by all of Egypt, Donovan had been saying good-bye. She followed him out the door, leaving Hakim enraptured, fondling the three-thousand-year-old vase.
Donovan drove more sedately this time, which in Luxor still meant horn honking, sudden lane changes, and a casual disregard of traffic laws. She was getting used to it. “Where to now?” she asked.
“The hotel. You should be safe there while I take the weapons and meet up with the others. I’ll keep you filled in on what’s going down as much as possible. Once we locate and free the hostages, we’ll come back for you on the way to the airport. This should all be over by tomorrow morning.”
She’d lost the train of the conversation after the first sentence. “You’re going to the Valley of the Kings without me?”
“I’m going to the desert to forcibly confront dangerous kidnappers. You’re staying where it’s safe so I don’t have to worry about you. But don’t feel left out. You’ve been a tremendous help, and we couldn’t have done it without you.”
She frowned. “I don’t think so.”
“Trust me, you have.”
“No, I mean I’m not staying behind while you all hang out in the planet’s most impressive historical dig. I’m going with you.”
“Forget it, Jess. It’s too dangerous. You’re staying here.”
He had reason to think she could be ordered around—he’d been doing it successfully since they met. But on this she wasn’t budging. “You can’t make me stay.”
His jaw clenched. “Yes, I can.”
“Then you’d better be willing to tie and gag me.”
He leveled a stare at her that didn’t show a trace of the kindness and affection she’d seen the past couple days. “You think I wouldn’t?”
She had no doubt he would. Well, shit.
Chapter Sixteen
She had to change his mind before they got to the hotel. She wasn’t going meekly up to the room where he could leave her bound and gagged in the closet, which is what he’d have to do to keep her from following him.
“What makes you think I’d be safer here?” she asked, trying to attack his reasoning first. “What if they know where we are? They might be following us right now.”
“They’re not.” He glanced in the mirror as he’d done repeatedly, and she knew he was right. No one could have followed his erratic driving without calling attention to himself. “But let’s say there’s a slight chance they could discover you here. I prefer that to the one hundred percent chance that we’ll encounter them in the desert. You don’t know anything about tactics and maneuvers, and you don’t have weapons training. You’ve been invaluable up to this point, Jess, but out there you’re a liability.”
She couldn’t answer. It was hard to argue with the truth.
After a moment’s silence, he asked more kindly, “Why do you want to go so badly? Are you afraid to stay here alone?”
She almost laughed. “No. I wasn’t thinking about my safety.”