Harlan groaned, rolling his eyes at Lucien. “First, I want in on any bets. And second, just to get back on track, what can we do? Gabe and the others will be at Beneventi’s place on Murano tonight. I feel like we should do something! The clock is ticking!”
“We need to find a way to neutralise Belial for good,” Estelle said. “Even if you track all the jewels down and kill Jiri, the jewels still have power. How do we stop that?”
Olivia smiled. “The Emerald Tablet.”
“What? We shrink it and wang it at his head?” Lucien asked sarcastically.
“No! It’s a source of magic, right?” Olivia leaned forward, clearly excited, a flush on her cheeks. She looks gorgeous, Nahum admitted to himself. And he could see down her cleavage. He forced his eyes to her face. “Like Raziel’s book, it lists the magic that underpins the world, right?”
“We think so,” Harlan qualified. “That writing could also be an endless list of recipes.”
Olivia poked her tongue out at him and continued. “Magic. Spells. As above, so below. Thoth was a God. There must be something in there about controlling angels. If the Igigi could do it, and Belial found a loophole, there will be a way to close that loophole in there. It’s just a case of finding it.”
“Holy shit!” Nahum said admiringly. “You‘re right!”
“No, no, no!” Harlan snorted. “You haven’t seen that place. It’s huge! Like half a dozen cathedrals, all mashed together. Thousands of pillars, with writing all over them. It’s madness! It could take a lifetime to find the answer in there.”
Barak shrugged. “We haven’t got a lifetime. Like you said, we’re on the clock. If Jiri’s back is to the wall, he might well take matters into his own hands. I guess that answers what we can do. We are all going to JD’s house to search the Emerald Tablet while we wait for further instructions from Gabe.”
Niel’s hand tightened around the handle of his axe. “You have got to be kidding me!”
“I’m not.” Gabe folded his arms across his broad chest, not breaking eye contact with Niel. “I need you to meet Mouse in Turkey.”
“Anyone could meet her. Ash could. You could. Or Shadow could. In fact, two thieves are better than one.”
“No. I want you to go. The horn sounds heavy. Shadow and Mouse will struggle to lift it—and Mouse especially shouldn’t touch it. You will not have such trouble.”
“Neither would you or Ash.”
“Ash is going to Amato’s old place tonight to secure the paperwork that Lamberti hid there. Shadow and I will chase down Jiri—if we learn where he is after eavesdropping on that meeting tonight. He might even be there.”
“There could be a lot of people there. We might make things a lot worse.” Niel would have preferred Ash to be there too, but understood the need to secure the paperwork now that they knew where it was.
“Which is why we watch and listen,” Gabe said. “You can leave first thing in the morning. I’ve already contacted Mouse. She’s heading to Istanbul tomorrow. I’ll let you know her arrival time when she tells me. Or, of course, she could tell you herself.”
Niel put that suggestion aside for a moment. “You can’t stay here, Gabe. They will hunt us down after today. No doubt Beneventi will have searched for the men he sent to Lamberti’s place, and Lamberti could already be dead. He will have talked.” Romola was safely out of Venice and heading to stay with friends in case anyone went looking for her. The old man, who Niel wasn’t sure as to whether he was brave or stupid, had refused to budge.
“You don’t know that.”
“He’s a weak, old man, and Beneventi will have tortured him.”
“But he doesn’t know where we’re staying.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s a stupid risk to remain in Venice. You should have killed Lamberti. At least you would have made it swift and painless.”
Gabe nodded. “I know, but I couldn’t do it. He deserved to die on his terms, not mine. He knew what was likely to happen. As for leaving here, I haven’t decided where we’ll go yet. Maybe we’ll leave Venice tonight, after we’ve been to Beneventi’s house. We could book another villa and meet Ash somewhere. You, however, are getting on a plane tomorrow.”
Gabe’s dark eyes were almost unreadable. Except that Niel knew Gabe well, and understood just what he was thinking. He was fucking with him. “You are doing this deliberately. You know how I feel about Mouse.”
“Yes, I do. That’s exactly why I’m sending you. You like her. Your last meeting was just unfortunate.”
“She electrocuted me!”
“To save your life.” Gabe squared up to him, implacable. “I also know that you love to steal stuff.”
“I love to fight more.”
“And more than that, my friend, you love to love.” Gabe’s hard stare softened. “If you really hate the idea, then I’ll send Ash, but I know that digging paperwork up is not your idea of fun, and that would mean you’d miss tonight’s action and stealing from a museum. I also know that deep down, you want a chance to talk to her. Properly.”
Bollocks. Gabe, infuriatingly, was right. He would love to see Mouse, both to gauge his own reaction to her, to see if he was misremembering how much he liked her, and also to see if Shadow was right. That Mouse did in fact like him. In this crazy, chaotic world of dubious morals they lived in, a little love would not go amiss. Besides, he would really like to get his hands on Belial’s horn.
He sighed and walked to the balcony railing of their apartment to look over the Grand Canal. Darkness had fallen, and lights glimmered among the many houses, businesses, and boats. He and Gabe were the only ones outside. Ash was inside, preparing for the drive back to Palazzuolo sul Senio, and Shadow was checking their weapons.
Aware that Gabe had moved next to him, waiting for his response, Niel said, “Fine. I’ll go. If we’re successful—”
Gabe interrupted him. “You have to be.”
“What if it’s been moved to another location?”
“It won’t. Not if it has a reputation. It will be there, and you will feel it.”
“I guess that’s true.” If the jewels gave off a wave of power and insidious whispers, what the hell would the horn do? He shifted his position to look at Gabe, arm leaning on the railing. “What do I do with the horn? If it’s that’s big, I can hardly wrestle it on a plane.”
“Can you destroy it?”
“With this?” He indicated the huge axe that hung at his belt. “I doubt it. This is not Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, and I am not a God. Except between the sheets.” He winked at Gabe, his good humour returning.
“I am not even going to respond to that,” Gabe said dryly. “Buy a big suitcase and put it on the plane.”
