handed her a cup of mint tea and sat on her bed. “If anyone’s

  going to kill you, it’s going to be Cristobal with a sword

  through the chest. He owns enough of them.”

  “Thanks for that vivid description.”

  “Calling the Templars jackals of the devil was certainly a

  new way of thanking someone for a lovely meal. It’s like you

  forgot their last name. Montbard isn’t common, so you know

  where their family roots might lead.” Zara crossed her legs and

  waved her over. “Are you nervous about tomorrow?”

  “A little, but more excited than scared. Thank you for

  talking me into this.” She kissed Zara’s cheek and joined her.

  “That’s what annoying little sisters are for. Cristobal

  offered to give me a tour, but I’ll come with you if you need

  me to.”

  “Go and have fun. If anyone knows the city, it’s him. We’ll

  meet up after and have dinner somewhere. I’m headed out

  early, so sleep in and call if you need anything.” She went

  back to the work Nabil had given her. At midnight she gave up

  and went to sleep. New adventures were better enjoyed with

  enough rest.

  The same driver who had picked them up from the airport

  was waiting for her in the morning, and he gave her directions

  to her temporary office when he dropped her off. She’d toured

  the Tulane campus virtually, but the grounds were beautiful.

  Large oak trees set off the old buildings as well as outdoor

  artwork, and she enjoyed her stroll along the wide sidewalks.

  Every student appeared to be wearing shorts and a T-shirt,

  which was more casual than what she was used to. The heat

  and humidity made the clothes a good choice, though.

  Her office was bigger than the one back home. The wood-

  paneled walls gave it an old sophisticated feel, and the book-

  lined shelves made her fall in love. She wanted to linger here

  for more time than she’d signed up for. She sat in the leather

  chair and slipped her shoes off, liking the silkiness of the

  Persian rug under her feet. Her view was of a large quad that

  was also tree lined. The grassy open area was probably a

  favorite hangout.

  “Enough daydreaming.” She was there to give several

  special lectures in women’s studies, and Cristobal had said the

  large theater classroom would be filled to capacity with all the

  students who’d signed up. The summer session had three

  visiting professors, each there for a two-week stint. She was

  the first.

  The door opened and startled her, and she pressed her hand

  to her chest. “Don’t you knock at this university?”

  The woman seemed surprised to see her, and she cocked

  her eyebrow. “What are you doing in here?” The woman was

  as blunt as she was accusatory.

  “Is there something I can do for you?” She stood, feeling

  foolish when she realized she was still barefoot.

  “You can tell me why you’re in my grandfather’s office.”

  The woman stepped in and closed the door, as if trying to keep

  her trapped inside. “Well?”

  “This is where they put me. If it’s someone else’s office it’s

  not my mistake, so I’d appreciate you not being so hostile. My

  key fit.” She put her fists on her hips and glared, but there was

  something about the woman that seemed familiar. The pictures

  on the walls clued her into why that was. “Who’s your

  grandfather?”

  “Cristobal Montbard. He was the dean of the history

  department until he retired recently. He’s still on staff, though,

  and this is his office. I doubt he’d appreciate anyone moving

  in when he’s not here.”

  She held up the key Cristobal had given her. The keychain

  had a gold coin on the end, and she finally studied it. The

  writing on it was Arabic, with a sort of flower at its center.

  This was an interesting family, or maybe it was only Cristobal.

  The later generation had plenty to learn in manners.

  “He gave me this key and directions on how to get here.”

  She put the key back in her purse and crossed her arms. “Are

  you sure you’re related?”

  “Ah, Dr. Hassani. He’s been looking forward to your

  arrival.”

  Yasmine’s skin tingled and she knew it was from anger,

  always anger and never from anything else, no matter what the

  romance books said. “Cristobal is different from most men

  I’ve met. He sees the world—why am I wasting my time?

  What do you want?”

  “He didn’t say you had such a short fuse.” The woman

  sounded condescending, but there was a hint of a smile on her

  lips.

  “Who are you?”

  “Levi Montbard, and like I said, Cristobal is my

  grandfather. He must really like you if he gave you this place.”

  “Are you going to be barging in here every day? I’ll

  rethink the accommodations if that’s the case.”

  “I’ll be gone in a minute, but I needed one thing out of

  here.” Levi walked to the bookshelf and ran her fingers along

  the books. She pulled one, held it up, and tapped the cover. “I

  need a refresher on my old Arabic, but maybe you’d be better

  than a book.”

  “You just accused me of trespassing, and now you want

  help?” She shook her head and scoffed. “Are you that arrogant

  or that brainless?”

  “This office—” Levi started, then put up her finger. “Better

  yet, let me show you.”

  Levi crooked her finger and opened the door. The dates

  under the pictures outside went back to the founding of the

  university. Most of them were men, but there were a few

  women, and they all had one thing in common. “There’s been

  a Montbard in the history department as long as they’ve been

  teaching in this city. My father, Renaud, is the dean now, but

  he let my grandfather keep his office.”

  “Okay,” Yasmine said, stretching the word. “It’s

  impressive, but now it seems to be more about tradition than

  —”

  “Picking the right person for the job?” Levi finished for

  her, but it was a good guess. “I only know my father and my

  grandfather in this job. My love is centered more around field

  work than the classroom, but my time here is something I

  won’t ever forget.”

  The pictures of Renaud and Cristobal made it easy to see

  the strong family resemblance to Levi. “College is usually a

  time everyone likes to look back on.”

  “Their skill in weaving the past to make it come to life is

  what I meant. It’s something your students say you do.” Levi

  walked back into the office and retrieved her book. “Good

  luck, and I hope to make it back before you’re done.”

  “Wait.” Yasmine spoke louder than she meant to, but she

  didn’t want Levi to leave like this. “What do you need help

  with?”

  “Before we go on, I’d like to apologize for earlier. Enjoy

  the space.” Levi smiled, and this time it appeared relaxed and

  genuine. “You’re the only person who’s ever reminded me of

  my family in the classroom. History, the way you teach it,

  becomes a living thing. When you get people to enjoy it, I

  think it helps us learn. By learning, we tend not to repeat our

  past mistakes.”

  “Did Cristobal tell you that?” She pressed her toes into the

  carpet and tried to ignore the warmth in her ears. Blushing

  wasn’t something she did often.

  “You did, actually. I sat in on one of your classes a few

  years ago. The lecture hall was big enough that you probably

  didn’t notice me. I’m sorry for not recognizing you earlier.

  You’re hard to forget.”

  Yasmine didn’t know what to make of the statement or the

  wink Levi gave her at the end. “I’m hard to forget how?”

  When in doubt, ask.

  “You’re a beautiful and smart woman who doesn’t

  seem…” Levi faded off and chuckled. “I think if I finish that,

  you might physically throw me out of here.”

  “Please, you must.” She took a step closer and placed her

  hands on the back of a reading chair. “I’m curious now.”

  “How about you get to know me better, and then I’ll be

  happy to tell you.” Levi leaned against the desk and crossed

  her feet at the ankles. “Were you serious about helping me?”

  “How else will I get to know you better? You’ve managed

  to insult me and compliment me all in the span of five

  minutes. That takes talent.” She moved around and sat in the

  chair across from her. “What are you working on?”

  “What I’m working on is something I found trapped in a

  book, and I’m leaving to see if it’s total bullsh—ah, bull.” Levi

  stopped herself from cursing, and it made Yasmine laugh. “I

  purchased some scrolls recently, and they’re in an older

  language than I’m familiar with, but it’s still in the Arabic

  family. It would be stupid of me not to ask an expert the

  Moroccan government depends on to do the same thing.”

  “Wow, I didn’t think there was so much about me on

  Google.”

  “You’d be surprised, but I have my own kind of Google,

  and it’s much more thorough.” Levi grasped the book on her

  knee and smiled at her again. “I have to go, but perhaps if I’m

  done early enough, I can treat you to dinner or a drink.”

  “Where are you going?” If she wasn’t so rusty in the dating

  department, she would swear Levi was sort of flirting with her,

  but that couldn’t be the case. It didn’t bother her since it was

  subtle enough to feel safe.

  “It’s about sixty miles from here, and I doubt few people

  who live in the city have even heard of it, but when you break

  a code and it puts an X on the map, it’s worth the drive.” Levi

  glanced at her watch and grimaced. “My team is waiting for

  me, so how about this.” She stood, took a sheet of notepaper

  from the leather holder on the desk, and wrote something

  down. “Here’s my number. If you’re not busy tonight, give me

  a call.”

  “Give me a sixty-second scenario of what I’m getting

  into.” She really didn’t want her to go.

  “The scrolls were supposedly written by a young girl, and

  then buried with her. I bought them, and an operative for Opus

  Dei tried to buy them and then hired some thugs to break into

  my house and steal them. Now one of them is dead and my

  friend is recovering from a knife wound. I doubt anyone would

  go through that trouble if these things contained the day-to-day

  diary of a young girl who lived a very long time ago.”

  “Interesting. What time tonight?” Yasmine took the paper

  and glanced down at the messy handwriting. At least the

  numbers were legible. “I think there’s more to your story than

  that, but the Opus Dei angle does add something sinister.”

  “There’s plenty more, but you already think I’m arrogant,

  and there’s no need to add crazy to that. Good luck today, Dr.

  Hassani, and I should be showered and done by eight.”

  Yasmine watched Levi leave. It wasn’t often that she met

  anyone who felt like an old friend, or at least someone she’d

  met before and liked. Maybe her subconscious mind

  remembered her in her classroom when she didn’t. Either way,

  she was looking forward to making the call that night and

  talking to this enigmatic but aggravating woman.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Levi followed the GPS directions to the exact spot where the

  small team would be waiting for her. Choupick was a blip on

  the map with perhaps seventy nice homes that must have

  housed some higher-ups working in the neighboring town of

  Thibodaux. One of her guys was on the road next to a cane

  field blowing slightly in the breeze. There were few houses,

  but the empty land was filled with cane and soybeans, making

  for lush green spaces.

  “The farmer is waiting for you about a mile in, and he has

  some questions,” Greg Grassley said when she stopped and

  lowered her window.

  “As in, am I going to get rich kind of questions?” Private

  land was always iffy. People’s expectations of compensation

  varied to the ridiculous or impossible at times, but places like

  this held nothing of value except as a jumping-off point to

  something else.

  “I don’t get that vibe.” Greg pulled on his lip ring, making

  him resemble a hooked trout. The four people she’d picked for

  this trip were young and still in school, but time with her

  excused them from the classroom as long as they kept up with

  their work.

  “Get in and let’s go talk to this guy.”

  The recent rain made the dirt road between the rows of

  crops a muddy soup, but the four-wheel-drive Jeep made it

  fine until she reached an ancient man wearing overalls. If you

  looked up farmer in the dictionary, you’d find this guy. “Good

  morning, sir.”

  “My friends call me Bumpy,” he said, combing down the

  small ring of white hair that went only an inch above his ears.

  Levi could tell him it wasn’t going anywhere that needed any

  kind of smoothing down.

  “Hey, Bumpy, my name’s Levi, and I believe my assistant

  Pia went over all the particulars with you. Did you receive the

  check she sent?” She felt the need to ask him about the

  nickname, but she was burning daylight.

  “That wasn’t necessary. The swamp out there doesn’t

  really belong to me. Well, it does, but I ain’t ever got anything

  of worth out of there. What do you think is hidden in all that

  muck?”

  “The short answer is information. Muck surprises us

  sometimes. Think of this as the first stop in a scavenger hunt.

  If it’s something other than what I think, we get a fair market

  value of the items found, and you get half that value.” She

  took comfort in the way he was nodding.

  “You thinking pirates?” he asked in a way that assured her

  the way to go here was to say yes. Bumpy was an old dude,

  but it took sixty years off him when he asked that question.

  She couldn’t blame him—pirates were the best. “How

  about you follow us out there and I’ll give you the long

  answer, since you seem interested.”

  Bumpy seemed mesmerized as she gave him a short

  history of not only local pirates, but groups of people who

  explored the land way before Christopher Columbus was

  credited with discovering the New World. Old Chris had the

  better marketing team, so he was the one who’d ended up with

  the federal holiday. “You have to imagine the land hundreds of

  years ago, and also take into consideration the storms we’ve

  had since then.”

  “So this might’ve not been swamp back then?” Bumpy sat

  in one of their camp chairs and looked like he was in for the

  day.

  “Maybe, and maybe not. If there’s anything down there,

  it’s going to take a minor miracle to find it, but my faith in

  locating the unknown has blessed me with a lot of patience.”

  She zipped up her short wetsuit, and Pam Hebert helped her on

  with her tank.

  The helmet she was using would allow her to communicate

  with the team. Pam was on equipment, Greg was in charge of

  logistics, Brad Jenkins was on the radio, and Blue Fitch was

  steering the small boat. Blue had grown up the only girl in a

  family of thirteen, and she was the only college student in a

  family of high school dropouts who all fished for a living.

  “Good luck, Levi, and if you find something, maybe I

  could give tours out here,” Bumpy said and laughed. “Might

  liven up the dreary farming days.”

  “Thanks. Feel free to hang around. I’m not promising a

  great view, but you can watch the feed coming from my

  helmet with Brad and Greg.” She entered the boat as Bumpy

  moved his chair closer to the monitors. “Let’s hit it, Blue.”

  They went out farther than she’d thought, and all the

  cypress trees they dodged made her nervous. If whatever the

  map pinpointed was buried under one of the old behemoths,

  their day was done. “This is the coordinates you gave me,”

  Blue said, dropping the anchor. “We’re in about eight feet of

  water, which is surprising for a swamp. I’ll be on the lookout

  for all the less-than-friendly residents this place breeds.”

  “Thanks. Fighting off a gator isn’t in my plans for today.”

  Levi strapped the small GPS unit to her wrist as Blue placed

  her helmet on. She grabbed a type of police baton that