‘Thank you. Do you know about the kidnapping at Ataturk International Airport?’

‘Of course. It was in the news. I keep up with the news.’

‘Three of those men there were killed or wounded. I need to know who they are, or at least who they worked for. If possible.’

Sevki tapped on the keyboard for a moment. Pages of archives flashed up on the screens, then one of those on the right suddenly showed the airport.

He grinned. ‘Isn’t technology marvellous?’

A chill ghosted through Cleena as she watched the scene again. She’d known she and Lourds had been close to death, but she hadn’t known the eye of the storm had been so near.

‘The camera work is sloppy,’ Sevki said. ‘Taken by a tourist.’ He froze a screen that showed her and Lourds together. ‘If I’d been looking, I might have identified you.’

Cleena stared at her own red hair and thought a change might be in order.

‘If you do anything to your hair, make sure it’s temporary,’ Sevki told her.

Cleena looked at him. ‘Maybe you do read minds.’

‘That one was easy. But if you are caught, if you are questioned, dying your hair with something permanent might be suspicious. If you punk it out…’ Sevki halted and made spraying motions with his hands.

‘Highlight it with effects.’

Sevki snapped his fingers. ‘Yes. No one would look for a redhead wearing outrageous hair. And you seem young enough to look like you’re going for that kind of style.’

‘I am young enough.’

‘Pardon me.’ Sevki pulled out a flat device and drew on it with a computer pencil. On the screen, bright yellow circles appeared around the three men. ‘These men, yes?’

‘Yes. There are also men who were killed in a car accident only minutes later.’

‘And the exploding helicopter? That was you?’ Sevki looked surprised.

‘I didn’t shoot the helicopter.’

Sevki cursed and turned his attention to his computer. ‘There are bodies all over the city.’

‘There are also some in the catacombs beneath it,’ Cleena said. ‘They’ll be connected to the men in the car accident.’

‘But not with the men at the airport?’

Cleena took a deep breath. ‘I hope not. If they are, this is getting too twisted to follow.’

‘And this is just getting started.’

‘Oh, one other thing. These other people, the ones in the catacombs, they gave Lourds a book.’

‘A book?’

‘Yes.’

‘Finding bodies, I can do. But do you know how many books there are?’

‘Not like this one.’ Cleena described the book and what Lourds had explained about the Greek language code.

Sevki folded his hands together and cracked his knuckles. ‘Ah, now that is something I can work with.’

Cleena took his empty soup bowl and put it with hers. She returned to the kitchen and placed them in the sink.

‘I’ve got to get going,’ she said.

‘Why?’

‘I’ve got to catch up with Lourds. I’ve already stayed here longer than I should have.’

Sevki shrugged. ‘At the moment, Lourds is not going anywhere. The police have him.’

‘They could let him go at any time.’

‘They don’t appear to be in any hurry to do that.’ Sevki performed a short rhythm of keystrokes. A moment later, two screens changed images and showed a picture of Lourds seated inside a sterile room and another scene of a hallway.

‘Is this coming from inside the police station?’ Cleena whispered.

‘Of course.’ Sevki grinned. ‘I am very good at what I do. I am not the only one who does this, but I am one of the few who hasn’t been caught spying on the police. This is very expensive. Very expensive. But I pass those expenses on to others. And I find it good to know things the police don’t know I know.’

‘They haven’t found you out?’

Sevki shrugged. ‘Every now and again, yes. But I cover my tracks most carefully. When I get discovered, I wait a few months, then I hack into their systems again. They are not as impregnable as the police would have you think. For now, I am undiscovered once again. The addition Cisco Systems made of the Mobile Electronic Systems Integration has tied together a lot of information from all over the city. The infrastructure is complicated, but I like a challenge.’

‘This is pretty unbelievable.’

‘Not so much. I am webmaster of some of the porn sites here in Istanbul.’ Sevki smiled. ‘I make sure some of the police get free pass codes to the sites. When they log on at work, I creep in. It’s a very good system.’ He paused. ‘I often get a look inside government buildings that way as well. But you have to be very good at this.’

Cleena stared at Lourds. His head lay on his crossed arms on the table and he looked like he was asleep. Despite the time that had passed, she felt she had fared better. At least she’d had a change of clothes.

‘Do you know what I think you should do?’ Sevki asked.

‘What?’

‘You should rest. I can keep watch over your Professor Lourds.’

‘He’s not my-’

Sevki held his hands up defensively. ‘I will watch him. You should try to get some sleep. Hanging around the police station will only get you spotted by the police or someone else watching the professor.’

Cleena thought about it. What he said made sense.

‘All right,’ she acquiesced. ‘But only if I can borrow your shower first.’

Istanbul Emniyet Mudurlugu

Vatan Cad./Fatih

Istanbul, Turkey

17 March 2010

Someone gently shook Lourds by the shoulder. With great regret, he climbed out of the dream he was having of the young skin diver who had shown him the reefs around Haiti. Her skin had been the colour of warm chocolate and her kisses as sweet as-

‘Professor Lourds,’ a stern voice called.

This time the shake was not so gentle. Irritated as well as tired, Lourds swung an elbow to bat the offending hand back. Someone caught his elbow and pushed it back down to his side.

‘Are you awake, Professor Lourds?’

Reluctantly, Lourds raised his head from the table and rubbed at his eyes. ‘I am now. How awake remains to be seen.’

‘It’s all right. We’re almost finished here.’

Lourds smiled a little. ‘I can’t say that I haven’t been waiting for you to tell me that.’

Ersoz returned the smile as he took a seat across the conference table from Lourds. He emptied packets of sugar into the thick Turkish coffee he’d brought in with him. The strong aroma of the brew tantalized Lourds’ and made his stomach growl.

‘There is still coffee if you’d like,’ the detective offered.

‘No, thank you. When I leave this place, I’m going to the hotel…’ Lourds looked at Ersoz. ‘I am going to the hotel, right?’

‘You are.’

‘Thank God.’ Lourds ran a hand through his hair. ‘When I get there, I’m going to sleep for a week.’ He stretched in the chair.

‘We went to the catacombs where you said you had your confrontation with Qayin and his men.’

Lourds nodded. He’d provided a close approximation of where he and Cleena had come up on street level. His memory gave him the twists and turns they’d taken.

‘We didn’t find any corpses,’ Ersoz said.

‘I’m certain she killed them. At least some of them. Although I’ve never wanted to be, I’ve been involved in enough of these things to know when someone is dead.’

‘I understand this. I was surprised to discover how factual your Atlantis book was.’

There was a lot left out of that, too, Lourds couldn’t help thinking. Not every part of that story had been something he could tell. The Catholic Church took care of their own, and the hidden book of the first flood had been locked away, physically by them and for ever in Lourds’ memory. But there had been a lot of death and killing along the way.

‘Are you certain you found the right place?’ Lourds asked.

‘We did find the area where you said the encounter took place,’ the detective went on. ‘There was a lot of blood. The crime scene people say it is human blood. And some tissue, also human, has been recovered. All of it is fresh.’