“Well,” Leila began, recollecting her thoughts. “I think it must have been at the villa. I was alone and had no idea if you were okay, and I realized you mattered. And then that kiss, I thought it meant something to you. I wanted it to. But it scared and confused me, and I didn’t see how anything could ever work out between us. And by the time I read your notes, it was too late. You’d vanished.”
“I was going to tell you but it was all a jumble. I was still trying to make sense of it. I had only remembered the second attacker the night before I left Saqqara. I wanted to tell you but the call about my sister put me into an unmitigated panic. I couldn’t get to her fast enough.”
“I understand,” Leila gently intoned. “But I should never have accused you of being a murderer or a liar.”
“You know what? Don’t worry about it.” He smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Sorry, I need to get back to the party. Practice your speech and I’ll see you afterward.” He lowered his hand to her jaw and tracing it with his thumb. “You’ll be brilliant.”
She held his wrist so he wouldn’t stop. But he slipped away, heading in the direction of the main hall.
“Xander?” she called before he could leave the exhibit. He stopped and turned toward her.
“You don’t need any more excuses.”
He backed up, his handsome face beaming, and then he jogged out of the hall.
She stayed in the exhibit for a few more minutes until she gathered enough courage to return and get her speech over with. She still felt like she was going to hurl, but maybe if she kept her eyes on Emma, who would probably make faces at her, she would manage.
As she neared the stairs a door opened and Karl staggered out. His damp hair clung to his forehead. His eyes were wide with panic.
“Leila, you’ve got to help me,” he panted.
“What’s wrong?” Her eyes grew large at the sight of him.
“The PowerPoint. It’s downstairs still plugged into the USB port of the computer I was using earlier. I don’t have an access key and I need to get it. Now. Or Soliman will kill me.”
She groaned. She didn’t have time for this. Soliman would be calling her up in a few minutes and certainly would not kill Karl. Get angry, yes, but resort to murder, no.
“Can’t you ask someone else?”
Karl shifted his gaze. “You could just give me the key.”
“You know I can’t do that.” Leila sighed. She supposed it shouldn’t be a huge problem if the speeches were delayed a few minutes. “Fine, I’ll take you. But hurry. Or I’ll be in trouble too.”
She headed for the elevator with Karl at her heels. He shoved his hands in his pockets. Though he seemed to have calmed down a bit, his eyes were red and glossy.
“I’m sure your presentation will be good,” she said, hoping to calm him down. “You put a lot of work into it.”
Karl shrugged. “Yeah, it was a matter of getting all the filming cut to align with the music and getting the photographs in the right order. I added a few special effects too. But toward the end, you kept asking me to hurry and I completely forgot to remove it when I was done.”
“Sure, blame me.” Leila rolled her eyes.
The elevator doors opened and they walked into an empty hallway. Karl led the way to the lab where they had worked earlier. He waited on the side while she held her card over the empty space above the keypad. It beeped in acceptance, flashed green, and Leila swung the door open for him.
“There you go. There better be aliens in this presentation or I’m going to be angry.”
Without answering, Karl stomped over to the computer where he had been sitting earlier.
Leila scanned the room, which appeared as she had left it. She crossed her arms and glanced down the hallway toward the elevator, her thoughts lingering on her talk with Xander. A small smile formed on her lips as she remembered his touch. She sensed Karl’s approach and swung her head toward him.
Her heart stopped and her body went rigid when she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun.
Chapter Thirty-Six
This had to be a joke. An extremely bad one. “Karl, what are you doing?”
His hands shook, his face contorted into a grimace. “I’m sorry. I don’t like this. But I have no choice.”
“What do you mean?” It took everything within her to keep her voice steady. Her body remained rigid. She didn’t dare attempt to disarm him. He was so nervous, he might pull the trigger, even if accidentally.
Karl nudged her shoulder, forcing her to turn. He gave her another shove in the back. “Open all the doors.”
“Why are you doing this?” Leila tried again, her palms sweating as she swiped her card at the next door. The card nearly slipped from her fingers. Stay calm, she told herself. Stay calm and maybe we’ll figure this out peacefully. She opened the door.
Karl gave her another push. “It’s—it’s because of my wife.” They came to a halt in front of the storage room.
Leila frowned as she unlocked the door. Why did Karl need her to do this for his wife? She took a deep breath and dared herself to face him.
“Just tell me what’s going on,” she said, keeping her voice firm. Her heart pounded against her ribs.
Tears streamed from his red, puffy eyes. “They’ve kept her from me, ever since they found out about our marriage. They didn’t approve of me. They gave me job after job to earn her back,” he said with a quavering voice.
“Who’s ‘they?’”
Karl ran a hand through his drenched mop, ignoring her question. “But it was never good enough. Last year, they told me all I had to do was give them information about the excavation. They wanted to know if Soliman was searching for Neferkheri’s tomb. They promised when it was over I could see Salma again. So I did everything. I made the app so they could see our progress and have access to all of the data.”
Like standing in a crumbling tunnel, it hit her. He’d lied to her about his wife. He was the mole.
Amir’s mole.
