put pressure on that wound.”

  Yasmine took her headdress off and pressed it to Levi’s

  shoulder. “Don’t you dare leave me,” she said, reaching for her

  phone and checking the screen. “One bar.” Yasmine punched

  in a number. “Put me through to him now. I don’t care who

  he’s with or what he’s doing.”

  “Who are you calling?” Levi had an idea but doubted

  Nabil Talbi would drop everything and come to their rescue.

  Yasmine spoke in rapid Arabic, raising both the pitch and the

  volume of her voice. If Levi had to guess, she’d say this was

  the first time in her life Yasmine had done that with anyone,

  let alone Nabil.

  “We will be fine,” Yasmine said when she hung up.

  “I know I said I’d plan something romantic, but I want to

  ask you something,” Levi said as the pain started to ebb. That

  probably meant she didn’t have much time before everything

  would fade to blackness.

  “What?” Yasmine wiped at her face, trying to clear the

  tears.

  “After meeting you, I know what paradise is. Now I can’t

  imagine living without it. Will you marry me?” Levi tried to

  think up a list of reasons why Yasmine should spend her life

  with her, but she didn’t have the strength. “Will you?”

  Then her world went black. Her hunt was over.

  ✥ ✥ ✥

  Lawrence Royce looked through his binoculars trying to

  find the target. The priest had scored a hit with his second

  effort, but it was in no way a killing blow. In the end, the

  collar he wore meant something even when he said it didn’t.

  The only cold-hearted bastard of the cloth who didn’t put a lot

  of stock in life was Chadwick, who insisted that killing to get

  what he wanted was acceptable in the eyes of the Lord.

  “We’ll have to move,” Royce said into the radio. His true

  team consisted of three other men, plenty to handle this group

  of civilians. “Do any of you have a shot?”

  “They’re all out of range. Give us forty and we’ll scale

  down the wall. There’s no chance of return fire,” his agent

  said, and Royce settled in to wait.

  “Why are you really here?” Royce asked the priest after

  two hours had passed. It was starting to get hot, but he figured

  it was part of his penance for listening to anything Chadwick

  said. Their families had been connected for years, and on his

  deathbed, Royce’s father had made him promise he’d keep up

  their service. “Don’t lie or I’ll stab you through the neck and

  leave you here to rot.”

  “I want to serve the cardinal and make sure the Church is

  kept safe. Anything that could be dug up here serves no

  function to our future.” The man was young and

  impressionable, and it was easy to see why Chadwick had

  picked him. “I’ll be rewarded in this life and the next.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, kid. Aiming a gun at someone

  with the intent to kill is a sin that’ll buy you the fires of hell no

  matter the reason. Some of us know that, but we’re still willing

  to make that sacrifice.” He laughed at the expression of shock,

  but he had very little patience for fanaticism.

  “You know nothing of faith.”

  “True, but neither do you.” He laughed again, then stopped

  when the sound of two shots in rapid succession cut through

  the wind. He brought his scope to his eye again—nothing had

  changed. He quickly radioed his men. “What was that?” He

  waited, but there was nothing. “Come in,” he said loudly.

  “Fuck.”

  “What’s happening?” the priest asked.

  “Shut up.” There was a sound on the wind that shouldn’t

  be there. Before he could pinpoint it, the priest’s head

  exploded. Royce had the inane thought of where the priest

  found himself now that death had come so quickly and

  violently. “Move,” he said into the radio, but there was still no

  answer.

  Before he could take better cover, a bullet ripped through

  his knee, and he let out a scream. He bit his lip and tried to

  take his mind off the pain like he’d been trained to do. As he

  started to crawl away, another shot stopped him cold. With his

  last thought, he cursed Chadwick for his selfishness.

  ✥ ✥ ✥

  “What kind of friends are you making?” Nabil asked,

  looking at the bodies on the ground.

  Yasmine glanced up. She was afraid to take her eyes off

  Levi lest she take her last breath. “You have to help her.” She

  pressed her forehead to Levi’s and kissed her lips. “Please.”

  Nabil motioned for his men, who ran over with a stretcher.

  “Go with her and I’ll take care of the rest of these people. To

  help things along, I’ll pretend you were out here on a holiday.”

  He crouched next to Yasmine and touched her cheek. “This is

  the one?”

  “Yes. Thank you.” She watched as they carefully picked

  Levi up, and laid her on the stretcher, injected something into

  her arm, and started an IV. Nabil had even come with a doctor.

  “I’m sorry if that disappoints you.”

  “You are special to me, Yasmine, and nothing can make me

  disappointed in you. I’m just glad I can finally pay you back

  for all the things you’ve done for me. You still have more

  favors to call in whenever you need me.” He helped her to her

  feet and pointed to the helicopter. “Go, and I promise everyone

  will be okay.”

  She hugged Nabil and kissed his cheek, and as she turned

  to go, saw two men hanging limply from the ropes they’d been

  using to scale down the cliffs. That these men had come to kill

  them still made no sense to her.

  Levi’s family, along with Zara, had gathered and now

  watched from a distance. As the helicopter lifted off, Renaud

  waved. Yasmine waved back. “Levi, don’t you dare leave me,”

  she whispered into Levi’s ear and ignored the disapproving

  look she got from the medic monitoring Levi. The man turned

  his attention elsewhere when the doctor quietly spoke to him.

  When they landed, the hospital staff in Marrakech

  transferred Levi to a gurney and ran off with her. It was like

  watching her heart being wheeled away.

  “Come, and I’ll sit with you.” The doctor was a kind man

  with a soothing voice. “It’s a serious wound, but she’s going to

  be fine. Is there anyone I can call for you?”

  “I’ll do it, but thank you.” She called her grandmother first

  and then her mother. When the first thing out of Fatima’s

  mouth was a lecture about her and Zara being back in the city

  without telling her, Yasmine hung up. It wasn’t long before her

  grandmother showed up and allowed her to cry on her

  shoulder. “Jadda, I can’t lose her.”

  “I doubt Levi would give up so easily, my love. Have

  faith.”

  “What are you talking about?” Fatima said from the door.

  “Who is this Levi?”

  “Give in now and you give in always,” Habiba said softly.

  “I’d like to think I gave you more backbone than that.”

  Yasmine explained exactly who Levi was and why they

  were there. She hadn’t planned to share her decision to leave

  so quickly, but like her grandmother said, this was no time to

  back down. Fatima’s body was stiff, her face a mask of fury. A

  small part of Yasmine had hoped that her mother would

  understand and embrace her. That, though, was not Fatima

  Hassani’s way.

  “You would bring shame on your family like this?” she

  asked.

  “Careful what you say, Fatima.” Habiba’s warning didn’t

  change her daughter’s expression.

  “You have always put too many ideas in their heads,”

  Fatima said to her mother. “Zara will be coming home so we

  can keep an eye on her.”

  “Zara received a scholarship to Oxford, so she’ll be

  leaving as well. As for shame, love isn’t something to be

  ashamed of,” Yasmine said.

  “Then I have no children.” Fatima turned and left.

  It was only then that Yasmine saw her father standing

  outside.

  “Go, and be happy, but don’t forget to come and say

  goodbye.” He put his arms around her when she went outside.

  “I will keep your friend in my prayers, and no matter what,

  you can call me if you need me.” His kindness had always

  been a buoy for her, and he’d pushed both her and Zara to

  finish university and go as far as they could in life.

  “Thank you, Papa.” She put her arms around him and cried

  until she felt better. When she let him go, she saw a doctor in

  the doorway removing his surgical cap.

  “Miss Hassani?”

  “Yes. Is Levi okay?”

  “She’ll be fine. It’ll take a while for the bones to mend, but

  it could’ve been much worse. Levi is in recovery now. You can

  go in and see her in a couple of hours.” The doctor smiled

  before going back through the double doors.

  “Come on, and let’s get you something to eat,” Jadda said.

  Yasmine forced herself to eat something to appease her

  grandmother, but she didn’t feel like the world was right again

  until she entered the room where Levi slept. When she touched

  Levi’s hand, Levi opened her eyes, and Yasmine wanted to

  weep from relief.

  “Don’t cry, love.” Levi raised the hand on her uninjured

  side and touched Yasmine’s face. “I’m going to be okay. We’re

  going to be okay.”

  “You need to stop doing this,” Yasmine said, sitting on the

  bed. “You keep scaring me.”

  “I didn’t plan on this, but it assures me there’s something

  there.” Levi tugged Yasmine’s hand, and she brought her face

  closer. “Are you okay?”

  “I am now. We’ll owe Nabil our first child for coming to

  our rescue, but he was the only person I could think to call.”

  She laid her head on Levi’s chest and exhaled. The weight of

  her fear fell away when she felt the strong body under her.

  “Why does this keep happening?”

  “We’re going to find out, I promise you that.” Nabil

  entered without knocking. “There’s a man in a secured room

  who’s going to tell me, but I have to report it to MI6 first.

  Without the knowledge or consent of our government, he

  brought men here to do harm to tourists and to our citizens.

  There’s nothing the British can tell me that will explain that

  away. The strange thing is, someone else killed them. None of

  you had weapons, right?” He stepped close to the bed and held

  his hand out. “Nabil Talbi.”

  “Levi Montbard, and thank you so much, sir. We owe you

  a debt.” Levi took his hand and smiled. “And none of us were

  armed.”

  “You won’t owe me anything if you promise to take care of

  my good friend.” Nabil winked in her direction and moved to

  sit. “What can you tell me about this, Levi? Did you hire

  security? It’s not often you find two men dangling from rocks

  with large holes in their skulls.”

  Levi provided all the information she could. “The only

  man I could identify is Baggio Brutos, and he was working for

  the Church, or I think he was. I don’t know what’s out there,

  but they’re trying to either steal it or destroy it.”

  “When you go back out there, you won’t be going alone.

  No one will impede your operation, and this won’t happen

  again.” Nabil shook Levi’s hand again and kissed Yasmine’s

  cheek. “There’s one more person who wanted to stop by.”

  Yasmine sat up straighter, having no clue who that might

  be. When Nabil opened the door, she was glad to see her

  cousin Ahmed. He was the son of her mother’s brother, and

  he’d always been a good friend to her and Zara. He’d gone to

  work for the government and had flourished. Any antiquity or

  collectible found in the country was Ahmed’s responsibility.

  “Who knew you were this exciting?” Ahmed teased

  Yasmine. “And why didn’t you call me? I have a security

  detail when it comes to things like this, though I doubt there’s

  anything out there to secure.”

  “We might have to bet on that,” Levi said, laughing. “How

  are you, Ahmed?”

  “You know each other?” Yasmine glanced between them.

  “Ahmed is one of my government contacts in Morocco.

  How do you know him?” Levi’s eyelids were starting to droop.

  “She’s my cousin, but we’ll talk about that later. Go to

  sleep,” Ahmed said.

  Levi gave in to the exhaustion and drugs they’d given her,

  and Yasmine never let go of her hand. “Did my mother send

  you to talk sense into me?” she asked in Arabic.

  “My father gave me the same lecture the day I introduced

  him to my special friend. I don’t advertise it so I’m not stoned

  to death, but I’m not going to live my life to make someone

  else happy. It makes me happy that you won’t either.”

  Ahmed had always been a tad effeminate, so the news

  didn’t shock her, but it was refreshing to hear that she’d have

  more allies within her family. “Levi changed so much for me.”

  He smiled before turning serious once again. “I can

  imagine. Nabil filled me in. When you go back out there, I and

  a few of my team will come with you. You’ll both get credit

  for the find, but you know we’ll have to catalog everything.”

  “I just want to live to see it, and I don’t want anything else

  to happen to Levi.” Keeping Levi whole was her only focus. “I

  need her to live so she can hear the answer to a question she

  asked me.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Two days later, with her arm in a brace for the chipped bones

  in her shoulder, Levi convinced Yasmine she was fit to travel.

  “With enough pain meds we can try again.”

  “We’re only going for a few days and that’s it.” Yasmine

  had her hands on her hips and appeared to be laying down the

  law.

  As their group of five vehicles approached the arch in the

  rock cliffs, Ahmed listened as Levi explained the clues that

  had brought them to that particular spot. She exited the SUV

  and stood in the same spot where she’d been shot to study the

  rock formation she’d been thinking about from the moment

  she woke up.

  “It’s solid rock, Levi,” Ahmed said.

  “It is, but this has to be it.” She turned around, looked out

  to the desert, and thought of the pattern of the tree of life.

  From the gate or circle of kingdom, the branch of victory and

  eternity was the first branch to the left. If she could identify

  the location of the crown, the six branches that remained, three

  on each side, could be determined by measuring between the

  two points. In the distance was one rock that appeared to be

  the beginning of the range behind them.

  “Did you bring the surveying tools I asked you for?” she

  asked Ahmed.

  They set them up, and the others volunteered to carry the

  flags to where the tree branches would be. Madelena held the

  flag that marked the answer to the clue. There was nothing out

  of the ordinary at that spot, but Levi wasn’t ready to give up.

  The men began to dig.

  “Wait,” Levi said when one of the men dug up a rock with

  a small Arabic symbol carved into it. She handed it to Yasmine

  and hoped it wasn’t too worn to make out.

  “Vengeance,” Yasmine said and turned it over. “And love.”

  It took another four feet before they hit the void in the rock

  that might’ve been visible hundreds of years before. The space

  was covered by wood planks that had held up well in the dry

  climate. Levi carefully went down the ladder they’d put in the

  hole, followed by Yasmine, and waited for the men to remove

  the cover. Her flashlight beam illuminated a large cavern filled

  with everything from gold to scrolls. The first trunk she

  opened yielded a stack of books that made her think this would

  be the find of her lifetime if only for the information, let alone

  the amount of wealth surrounding them.

  “Can you believe it?” Yasmine asked.

  “No,” Levi said, staring at a portrait someone had painted

  on the inside lid of the trunk. They were much older in this

  depiction, but it was André and Farah. This time they were

  surrounded by four other people, and she couldn’t wait to find

  out who they were. “We did it.”

  “You found them, love, and you’ll get the credit.”