or what she was hoping to achieve. She reached inside her shoulder bag and extracted an envelope which she threw casually onto Heidi’s desk. ‘Open it,’ she said shortly.
Curious, Heidi did so and gave an involuntary gasp at the thick wad of Euros inside.
‘There’s twenty thousand there. That should buy a few days of your valuable time,’ Khan said with a thinly disguised tone of disdain, ‘And I am instructed to tell you that if your meeting with my superiors is satisfactory then they will supply you with one million more. That should enable you to continue your research.’
Heidi considered the sum before her and wondered if she should accept it. Libya, its history and its people, held no immediate interest to her. The distant lands that surrounded the ancient city of Babylon were what held her imagination, just as it had her father and his father before him.
Still, the sum was substantial, and would allow her and a team of students to excavate the ancient ruins of the Middle East for several seasons. It might well be enough to secure the tenure Heidi sought.
‘I can’t promise you anything Ms Khan, but I will approach the university to see if they’ll release me for a week or two. If I show them how much money you’re willing to pay me I may be able to convince them that it would be a good investment to let me go.’
‘No!’ exclaimed Khan forcefully, ‘No one else must know where you are going, or who you will be seeing. This must remain a complete secret.’
‘That’s impossible! Other people must know. I have to find someone to do my lectures and look after the students, and I’ll have to book flights and hotels.’
‘Find someone to replace you, but tell them nothing! The rest I will arrange. No one must know where you are going, or what you are about to discuss.’
‘But why not? What is so important about it? Do you know where the sword is?’ she asked excitedly.
‘Your questions will be answered by others, if they choose to answer them.’
Heidi regarded the woman across the desk. For all her good looks there was a deeply disturbing aspect to the woman. She was obviously from the police or the military, Heidi decided, possibly from some intelligence department and almost certainly not a historian.
Therefore, she was someone to be wary of, and Heidi warned herself to be careful of every word spoken.
Finally, she nodded and stood up, ‘I’ll have my mother pretend to be far sicker than she really is at present, and begin ringing my colleagues to find someone willing to stand in for me.’
Khan stood as well. She handed Heidi a business card, ‘Ring me when the arrangements have been made and I’ll arrange to collect you from your home.’
‘I’ll write down my address for you.’
‘I already have it.’
A cold tremor of disquiet went down Heidi’s spine as Khan turned and let the curious woman out.
Chapter 3
Later that evening Heidi Schmidt consulted Raya Khan’s card and then dialled the mobile phone number on it.
‘I’ve found someone to stand in for me for the next two days.’
‘You may be gone longer, but two days will suffice for present. Pack a small bag and I’ll pick you up.’
‘I don’t have a visa.’
‘You won’t need one.’
‘But surely I’ll need some sort of documentation for the authorities.’
‘Pack your bag and be ready. I’ll look after everything else.’
***
As a seasoned traveller Heidi was well versed in the art of packing light, and packing quickly, so she was surprised that her bag was barely closed when there was a knock on her door.
Surely this couldn’t be Khan?
When she opened the door, she was faced by yet another young and fit looking woman of Arabic appearance.
The woman’s face did not display a trace of emotion as she looked Heidi in the eye and held out her hand. ‘Your bag,’ she demanded.
Heidi reached for the small backpack that lay ready near the door and handed it to her.
The woman turned on her heel, and walked away. ‘Come.’
Heidi turned off her lights and locked the front door before rushing after the young woman. She caught up with her in the lift lobby just as the sliding door opened.
On the way down the woman said nothing and Heidi was left to again consider how quickly she had arrived after Heidi had made her call.
Have they been watching me?
Outside her apartment block a black limousine waited, its tinted windows giving no hint as to who, or what, lurked inside.
Heidi’s escort opened the rear door and when she climbed in it was with a small sense of relief that she found herself alone in the vehicle. A tinted glass panel also separated the driver from the rear of the vehicle, and it was only the sound of the driver’s door opening and closing that indicated to Heidi that her escort was the one who was now steering their vehicle into the traffic.
***
As they wove their way through the city Heidi became aware that the direction they were heading in would not take them to the international airport, and her sense of foreboding increased.
She looked around for some means by which she could contact the driver and ask where she was being taken her but could find nothing.
In desperation, she knocked on the glass dividing panel but the driver refused to acknowledge her presence.
She was debating whether to use her mobile phone to ring the police when Heidi realized that her cell phone was in the pocket of the overnight bag that the driver had taken from her.
Hoping she had not made the most serious mistake of her life Heidi was therefore forced to watch as the city sped by outside.
They had reached the city’s outer suburbs now and Heidi was relieved to see a sign pointing in their direction of travel saying ‘Der Flughafen’, and she realized that they had been heading for one of the several smaller domestic airfields that usually catered for private aircraft.
Minutes later the limousine passed through a security barrier and made its way between tall hangars to the edge of the main runway where a small executive jet awaited.
The jet’s motors were running and Raya Khan stood waiting for her arrival at the bottom of the planes, ladder. ‘We will be leaving immediately,’ she advised Heidi as they climbed aboard the aircraft.
Heidi noted the flag of Libya painted on the tail, ‘This isn’t a commercial flight, is it?’
‘This is one of our great leader’s personal aircraft. We are on a diplomatic
