The Project 04 - Black Harvest

his apartment didn't run out for another year. He decided he'd hold onto it for now.
    "Look at this." Selena broke into his thoughts. He went over to the screen. It showed a tourist portal for Bulgaria.
    "Bulgaria."
    "Yes. Or Thrace, if you prefer."
    "What did you find?"
    "I went looking for something to match that inscription. Remember? 'By the springs of Thrace, where the two rivers cross.' I think I know the general area. There are a lot of springs in Bulgaria."
    She moved the mouse, clicked. A picture appeared on the screen of a large city with big churches, cobbled streets and happy people. The churches were dome shaped and old. The people were young. None of them were dome shaped.
    "Sofia?"
    "It's Sofia, accent on the first syllable. The capitol of Bulgaria. It was settled in the seventh century BCE and built around a mineral spring."
    "What about the rivers?"
    "Sofia sits in a big valley at the foot of a mountain. There are two rivers that run through the city, the Vladaiska and the Perlovska."
    "Two rivers crossing and a spring. I think you got it. But we're going to need more than that. It still doesn't pinpoint an exact location."
    "It's all we've got. The inscription might have been left for someone besides the Romans."
    "Someone who needed to know where the treasure was taken."
    "Yes." She stretched.
    "Doesn't mean it's still there or we can find it."
    "No, but we're a step closer if I'm right. Maybe we could smoke out someone with this."
    "How do you mean?"
    "We could let the idea about Sofia slip out. Maybe someone turns up where they shouldn't and we can track them back to the source."
    "And pin it down." He thought about it. "It's a good idea. We'll run it by Harker. She can decide how to do it."
    She stood and walked to the window. It was still raining. The wind had died. The sea was gray and uninviting. She thought about Homer's description of the Aegean as the "wine dark sea". It was dark, all right, but it wasn't the color of wine today.
    Nick came up behind her. "What's going on with Steph?"
    "What do you mean?"
    "She seems different somehow. Lighter."
    "You really don't know?"
    "Know what?"
    "She's sleeping with Lucas. I think she's in love with him."
    "You're kidding. He's CIA."
    "What difference does it make?"
    "Security comes to mind. Plus he works for Lodge."
    "Lucas has high security clearance. And he doesn't work for Lodge, he works for Hood. Steph isn't going to tell him anything. I don't think he'd talk to her, either."
    "Harker know about this?"
    "I'd be amazed if she didn't. She hasn't said anything. Steph deserves to be with someone if she wants. It's not easy in our work. "
    "Tell me about it."
    "Are you hungry?"
    "Yes." He reached for her and drew her close. He slipped his hand down inside the back of her skirt. "I'm hungry. For you."
    "Me too."
    They undressed each other. She ran her hands down his right side, down his leg, feeling over ridges and welts of scar tissue left by the grenade. She touched the puckered scar where a round had gone through his shoulder.
    "You should duck more," she said.
    "Don't have to, when I'm lying down."
    It wasn't long before neither one of them was standing.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

    Korov stepped from the elevator and turned left. Ahead he spotted two orderlies and a doctor . in blue scrubs talking with an elderly couple. Two more men in white coats and stethoscopes, interns or doctors . The nurse's station was about fifty feet from the elevators. An exit sign marked the stairs at the end of the main corridor.
    The place smelled like every hospital he'd ever been in, of antiseptic and worry and illness and efficiency. The floors were polished and clean, light colored, synthetic. The air was too warm.
    He passed a set of swinging doors emblazoned with red and yellow radiation signs and warnings in Greek, English and French. Two men and a woman in green came through the doors talking. They ignored him and walked by. He started past the nurse's station.
    "Sir."
    It was the nurse on duty.
    Korov showed his Interpol ID. "I'm going to 4003."
    He kept walking. The nurse started to say something. Her phone buzzed. She picked it up. Korov continued down the hall. As he came to the second intersecting corridor he slowed. Ahead, the hallway was empty except for a gurney standing against one wall. He reached the intersection and glanced quickly to the right. A bored policeman sat in a plastic chair outside one of the rooms.
    That's it. One cop. The others must still