For the last few months, though he wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, he’d longed for something equally interesting to invade his life again. Living on the knife’s edge like that had been an incredible adrenaline rush.

Kristine pointed at the taxi stand. ‘We can get a cab there. Where are you staying?’

‘The Eserin Crown Hotel.’

‘Really? So am I.’

‘Well,’ Lourds said, ‘isn’t that convenient?’

‘It is. Maybe we can have breakfast before you go off to your speaking engagement in the morning.’

‘That would be great.’

‘In the meantime, want to share a cab to the hotel and get a drink at the bar?’ she asked.

‘That sounds fantastic,’ Lourds agreed. ‘But I’m supposed to have a car waiting for me.’

‘Someone’s coming to pick you up?’

‘Yes. A limo service.’ Lourds reached into his shirt pocket and took out the 3 x 5 index card his graduate assistant had filled out with his itinerary. Everything was there in neat, precise handwriting. But it was so small he had to squint.

‘Professor Lourds!’ a man’s voice sang out. ‘Over here.’

Turning in the direction of the hail, Lourds spotted a sleek dark blue Mercedes and a liveried driver standing beside it with a placard that read: PROFESSOR THOMAS LOURDS. The limousine was parked at the front of the line of waiting cabs.

Lourds waved his arm to acknowledge the man.

The driver waved back, then walked behind the vehicle, opened the trunk, and threw the placard inside.

‘Over there,’ Lourds told the young porter handling his bags. He turned to Kristine. ‘Unless I miss my guess, there will be cocktails aboard.’

Kristine gazed at the limousine for a moment, then back at Lourds. But she wasn’t smiling and her face tightened. ‘Well, that was somewhat unexpected.’

‘I beg your pardon,’ Lourds said. ‘Maybe offering to share my limo was presumptuous of me. I’d hate to upset you.’

‘I believe you, Professor Lourds. And that’s a shame. You seem like a really nice guy.’ The flirtatious air dropped away like a costume, revealing a determined young woman on a mission.

Not liking the sudden change in her attitude and unsure what had triggered it, Lourds stepped away from her. But before his back foot touched down, she reached out and caught his hand in hers.

‘We’re going to be taking my car,’ Kristine said.

Lourds tried to yank his hand away but wasn’t able to pull free. She was stronger than she looked. Something very strange was going on here. He was starting to get spooked. He reached for her wrist with his other hand. He’d never studied martial arts, not even after the trouble he’d got into while finding Atlantis. No time and he’d figured he wasn’t likely to need those skills again. He’d clearly been wrong there. But breaking holds was all about leverage. He was bigger and stronger than this young woman. And, he hoped, faster.

Before he could make his move, she caught his free hand in hers and folded it in towards his wrist in some weird movement. He felt electrifying agony rip up his arm and crash through his brain. The next thing he knew, he’d dropped to his knees on the hard concrete.

What the hell was happening here? One thing he was certain of, this girl was hardly the simple fan she’d told him she was.

‘Are you listening to me, Professor Lourds?’ Kristine whispered in his ear.

It took Lourds a moment to remember how to work his mouth and voice. ‘Yes.’

‘Good. You’re going to get up when I tell you to and follow me. You’re going to do that without resisting. If you resist, I’m going to break your arm. Do you understand?’

Lourds didn’t hesitate. The pain was too strong to resist. ‘Yes. Of course.’

‘Then let’s go.’

Lourds yelped as Kristine pulled him up by his trapped arm, his wrist still bent in the form of a dying swan. A few of the passers-by saw what was going on and backed away. Lourds staggered ahead of Kristine – if that was really her name – as she pushed him forward. Black spots danced before his eyes and he felt certain he was going to pass out.

His thoughts raced. He had always been like that. No matter what happened to him or around him, his mind worked to ferret out answers to puzzles. The young woman’s stalking and kidnapping of him – he didn’t want to think this might be the prelude to a murder – was certainly something he hadn’t expected to face upon his arrival in Istanbul. It was a puzzle, all right, possibly a lethal one. He needed to find a way out.

‘Are you positive you have the right person?’ Lourds asked.

Kristine twisted his arm and increased the pain for a moment.

Lourds’ knees wobbled and very nearly went out from under him. Sweat broke out across his face and he blinked back tears.

‘Silence, Professor. We do this quietly and we do it quickly. Talking is not an option.’

A bear-sized man wearing a Green Bay Packers football jersey stepped towards Lourds. A large woman and two cub-sized boys trailed in his wake.

‘Hey, buddy,’ the bear-sized man said with an American accent, ‘you okay? Need some help?’ He glanced at Kristine. ‘Hey, miss, if you need some help with your dad, I’d be happy to do it. I’m a paramedic.’

Dad? Lourds thought in mortification.

‘A lot of guys get sick overseas their first time,’ the big man said. ‘They can’t handle the local hooch so well.’

Damn that wine. Lourds thought he must reek of it if this guy had noticed the smell. But the man wasn’t quite the paramedic he thought he was if he couldn’t tell the difference between someone in pain and someone who was wasted.

‘We don’t need any help,’ Kristine replied smoothly, giving Lourds a shove. ‘My father and I are fine. Thanks for the offer.’

‘You ask me,’ the man said, ‘your dad doesn’t look so fine.’ He took another step towards them and reached for Lourds.

Hope sprang up in Lourds as he realized they were starting to draw attention to themselves. Surely someone would call the police. The police in Turkish tourist areas were abundant and meant business. When they showed up this whole situation would be resolved. He only hoped his arm wouldn’t get broken in the meantime.

Kristine didn’t even bat an eye. She slid her other hand up to join her first on Lourds’ wrist. Smooth metal caressed his palm but he had no clue what it was. Then she forced him to lift his arm and point it at the man. A harsh click sounded from under his hand and was followed by an eerie humming noise.

Two thin cords suddenly ran from Lourds’ hand to the bear-sized man. It looked a bit, the professor thought vaguely, like Spider-Man shooting his webbing.

The bear-sized man looked down at the wires protruding from his chest and abdomen. ‘Ow!’ he yelled. ‘What the hell did you just do?’

Lourds wanted to tell the man that he’d done nothing, but he knew Kristine would damage him for breaking her rules about talking. The bear-shaped man reached for the wires.

Then he started convulsing, twitching, and jerking. His head shook back and forth violently.

‘Hey, Mom,’ one of the cub-shaped kids said. ‘Dad’s breakdancing.’

‘He hasn’t even been drinking this time,’ the other cub put in.

‘Harold!’ the large woman exclaimed. ‘What do you think you’re doing? Get back over here and leave those people alone. Harold! Are you even listening to me?’

Harold quit convulsing, twitching and jerking. He fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He tumbled forwards and lay spread-eagled on the concrete. A waiting cab braked to a sudden halt only inches from him.

‘Harold!’ the woman screamed.

‘Dad!’ the cubs screamed.

Other people started screaming. The level of general confusion escalated to the point that Lourds was suddenly lost in a sea of upset people. If Kristine hadn’t been holding onto his hand with such dogged purpose, Lourds felt positive he could have escaped.