Read Online Byzantine Gold by Chris Karlsen - Free Book Online Page B

It was dive partner assignment time.
    “I wonder if I’ll get Rachel or Talat since we’re friends,” Charlotte said.
    Atakan’s don’t be silly expression was her answer. Talat would’ve already secured Rachel as his partner.
    Rachel gave her the required update the night before. She hadn’t seen Talat over the winter. He’d stayed in Bodrum and she’d returned to Miami. However, once they met up again at the resort their affair resumed. “In fact,” Rachel told her, “he and I have plans for later tonight. We’re having a late dinner in his room.”
    “Licking cherry juice off each other’s naked bellies, no doubt.”
    “For starters.”
    Charlotte told Rachel about her life with Atakan in Istanbul and their trip to Paris. She didn’t discuss the shooting. The incident wasn’t general knowledge and neither was the investigation. Refik and Talat knew the truth. They agreed to tell anyone who asked that Atakan’s injury was from a skiing accident.
    Charlotte and Atakan had gone skiing in Bursa over the winter and in the early spring. If asked, they could give details on the Uldag resort, where they’d stayed. However, Charlotte was a little skeptical the story about an accident on the slopes would ring true.
    “What can you say, that you were impaled by a pole or something?”
    “Yes.”
    She tried to envision how this would occur and couldn’t. Atakan didn’t see the problem, maintaining it was his story and he was sticking to it.
    Refik read from his assignment sheet. When he got to Rachel, as expected, she was partnered with Talat. Then, he came to Charlotte.
    “Charlotte you’re with Jafari.”
    Charlotte looked over and smiled at Nassor. Like yesterday, he sat apart from the group. He gave her a slight nod in return and turned his attention back to Refik.
    Dive times would be posted in an hour, Refik said and dismissed everyone and then joined Charlotte and Atakan.
    “Charlotte, I wanted Jafari with you in particular. Your familiarity with how we operate may make it easier for him to open up and ask questions. If you noticed, he’s rather standoffish.”
    “Hard not to notice. I’ve yet to see the guy crack a smile. He watches everyone and everything with keen interest. I think he’s afraid of putting a foot wrong.”
    She suspected he wasn’t standoffish, but shy, and understood how difficult it must be for him to adjust to such close living quarters. The condition wasn’t one she suffered from personally. No one ever called her shy.
    “Encourage him to mingle more, if you can.”
    “Sure.”
    “I have interesting news for you,” he said, turning to Atakan.
    “What?”
    “Tomorrow we’re getting a visitor you know...Saska Valko.”
    A long moment passed before Atakan responded. Finally, he said, “Really? That is...ah...interesting. You didn’t mention this yesterday.”
    “I wasn’t told until early this morning. She asked my administrators to hold off announcing it until she was scheduled to arrive. I think she wanted it to be a surprise. If you know what I mean.”
    A strange look was exchanged between the men with the last comment. If she wasn’t that interested in the conversation before, Charlotte was now.
    “Yes...yes, I do.”
    “Who’s Saska Valko?” Charlotte asked.
    “An American journalist who’s done a number of articles for National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Archaeology magazine,” Atakan said.
    “How do you know her?”
    “She wrote stories on two of the sites I worked.”
    Had Valko written something negative about him? “Did you not get on with her? You don’t seem happy to see her again,” Charlotte asked.
    “We got along,” he said, cryptically.
    “I’ll leave you two to talk in private,” Refik said, showing sudden preoccupation in his clipboard notes.
    Something was up with this woman. A short list came to Charlotte’s mind. Valko hit on Atakan and he shut her down, hurting her feelings. That would bother him, but he’d have said if