Epilogue

EPILOGUE

HATHOR ISLAND AIRPORT

EIGHT DAYS LATER

"You're sure Fiona's okay?" Kira asked Belson as she opened the door of the Gulfstream jet and jumped out onto the tarmac. "She wouldn't talk to me when I tried to call her yesterday. She said she had to speak to Harlan first. But then you called and said that Harlan might require my signature on some documents, and I had to come back and have them notarized or Kalim might get upset. Why didn't they tell me about this before I left to visit Sarah?"

"I have no idea," Belson said. "I just do what Harlan tells me to do."

"Sometimes," Kira said wryly. "When you want to do it. Is it a police or government document?"

"I don't believe it is. I honestly don't know the details. Harlan just told me to pick you up at Summer Island and bring you here."

"How frustrating. Maybe it has something to do with Fiona? Is she in trouble? What the devil is happening?"

He shook his head. "No trouble. Not unless it's the usual chaos that Fiona somehow manages to spread. Otherwise, she's fine. Harlan just told me to come here and take care of you until he could get here."

"Take care of me?" Kira repeated suspiciously. "I don't need anyone to take care of me. Particularly not Harlan, whom I've barely seen since Kalim took over his life when we went down to the castle the evening Taylor met his not-so-sad demise. You wouldn't think one super criminal would cause that much trouble. The entire island was filled with police and investigators of every description. We didn't get away from them until the next day." She shrugged. "But at least we didn't have to deal with the media."

"Due to my fantastic diplomatic influence," Belson said. "Harlan said he didn't want you to be troubled. Kalim was setting him up with interviews, and he said you didn't like them. Naturally, I obliged."

"What kind of interviews?" Kira was frowning. "Media?"

"No, only a few professors from Cairo and New York City." Belson shook his head. "Don't look so worried. Everything is going to be fine. We're taking care of all the details."

"How do I know that? What details? What if I don't like the way Harlan is taking care of the details? I haven't seen Harlan for more than a quick breakfast or lunch for the past few days and there hasn't been any time to talk. When he started to spend all his time with Kalim and law enforcement, I devoted all my time to Fiona up in the hills. She needed someone to talk to for the first few days after Taylor's death."

"Did it help?"

"She seemed much better. But then she started worrying about Golden Boy and wanted to make sure he'd fully recovered from those meds Taylor had given him. So Harlan arranged to send me back to Summer Island to check him out. He said it would be good for me to be with Sarah for a couple of days anyway."

"And was it?"

"Yes, isn't Harlan almost always right? At least everyone appears to think so. I took care of Golden Boy, and I always like to be with Sarah. Who knows? Maybe I also needed someone to talk to." She shrugged. "And maybe I was getting in Harlan's way."

"I don't believe that's a true reading of Harlan's intentions, considering his orders to me. He's been very busy."

"With appointments? I could have helped. What's he doing? Talk to me."

"Harlan said you might begin to fret," Belson said ruefully. "Oh, look, I believe I'm going to be saved." He gestured toward a larger Gulfstream plane landing on another runway as he opened the jet's door. "That's Harlan to the rescue."

"Yes, that's Harlan. And I don't fret," Kira said flatly. "I just have to know what's happening in my life."

Belson gave a sigh of relief as he saw Harlan coming across the tarmac. He tapped his hand to his head in a mock salute. "Over to you, Harlan. I've done what I could. Her last question involved why she didn't know what was happening in her life. It seems a fair question." He hurried away in the direction of Kalim's castle.

"An excellent question," Harlan said as he leaned forward and kissed Kira. "But you always have an answer, and most of the time you make them up yourself. The last time I spoke to you on the phone, you told me you were working with Fiona training Mack and Sinbad together, at least before she sent you to play nurse to Golden Boy. After you left, I sent Aban up there to keep her company, and Kalim dropped in every day to see how she was doing."

"Okay." She looked him in the eye. "So now I know exactly how she's doing. But I don't know nearly as much about you, Harlan. How are you? And why are you having interviews with professors? Do you have a new project?"

"I always have a new project in the works. It's how I live. But I have been busy. However, that's not why I called in the professors." He brushed his lips on her temple. "I was thinking of something you said to me when we were talking about caves, and it occurred to me that I wanted to give you a new project to amuse you ."

She began to smile. "Are you joking? I believe I'll have enough to do. Working on my serums, dog and horse training, and we have to start bringing up the treasure that's being held for us beneath all those rocks down there in those caves."

"Very true, and I can never tell when you're going to decide to go hunting for another treasure. And if you do, then naturally I'll have to tag along after you."

"Naturally?"

He lifted her hand and kissed the palm. "Absolutely. Until you decide I don't amuse you any longer. But I'll work hard not to let that happen."

"I don't believe you'll have to work that hard." She met his eyes. "If you ever do get bored, I'll never try to—"

He put his fingers over her lips and said, "Suppose we discuss that in fifty or sixty years? We're going to be too busy before that. Look at how excited those professors are becoming about your new project."

"Harlan?" Her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember the clues he'd given her. "Caves? Excited professors? Talk to me. Is it Cleopatra's burial tomb?"

Harlan ruefully shook his head. "I'm not that good. Maybe next year."

"Now I'm truly getting pissed off. Stop teasing me. What did I say that intrigued you?"

He grinned. "We were talking about the prehistoric possibilities of the Titanoboa cerrejonensis , and you said bringing one to the surface would be the real treasure. I believe you were being sincere. Because that's who you are. If you weren't, then I've wasted a lot of scientists' time, because they're going to be here in a few weeks on an exploratory trip to examine those caves before we start disturbing any habitats."

She stared at him incredulously. "Of course I wasn't kidding." Then she hugged him exuberantly. "What a splendid opportunity to observe history at close quarters." She was suddenly giggling. "And what a wonderful gift, Harlan. I can't wait to tell Fiona. I don't believe she'll find it as thrilling as working with Sinbad, but you can never tell with her."

"I can come pretty close," Harlan said wryly. "And there's no way that she'd choose a monster snake over that fantastic horse. She'll politely look at it and then shrug and go back to work on developing Sinbad into the incredible animal she can see and touch and maybe even hug. She'll leave the scientific possibilities to you and me and history."

"And there's nothing wrong with that," Kira said soberly. "I love and appreciate all those other animals, too. I'm just curious to know what else is out there and what I might be missing."

"Do you think I don't know that?" he asked. "That curiosity is a precious gift, and I treasure it as much as I do everything else about you. Who else would put up with me?"

"I could name a few, though I'm not sure they'd want to embrace the idea of that Titanoboa cerrejonensis ."

"See? You're stuck with me."

"And that document I was supposed to sign was nothing official, it only had to do with the professors?"

"Well, I didn't want Belson to spoil the surprise. The professors did want reports from you about what happened during the encounter." He started nudging her away. "I told Belson that he should take this plane and run interference with Kalim for the next few weeks." He was leading her toward his Gulfstream. "We'll need to take the larger Gulfstream so that we can get back to Summer Island with all possible comfort and speed. Who knows? We might even decide to take a few side trips."

"Why? I just came from there. Now you want me to go back?"

"Well, you're here because I didn't know if I could get everything done that I had to; I thought I might have to take you somewhere else to give you the surprise. But I should have had more faith in myself. It was close, but I came in under the wire. So now we can go back to that place you've always loved, and for the next few weeks, we'll sleep under the stars and talk and then make love and maybe even discuss those next fifty years. I don't want to be pushy, but I've always been one to advocate advance planning on any project. And this project is particularly important to me. If I do it wrong, it might even be a career breaker."

She laughed. "And we wouldn't want that to happen when you've had such a promising career so far. Too bad it's all in the past. But I'll be happy to cooperate with reviving it." Dear God, how she loved him! She held out her hand. "But first we have to go see Kalim and make arrangements for him to receive those professors in his fine castle if they arrive before we get back."

"That's all taken care of." He smiled. "I told you that I've been busy. I've also talked to Fiona and told her that she's to run this island, even and including Kalim, during the next few weeks while we're gone. Because you need a vacation before we start a new life after what you've gone through, and I'm going to see that you get one." He took her hand. She was delighted to cooperate. Why shouldn't she be?

She chuckled. "You think she can handle Kalim?"

"It wouldn't surprise me. I told her once that she was following in your footsteps. She liked the idea. Now stop questioning and let them work it out."

"Oh, I have every intention of doing that." Kira was grinning mischievously. "Because Fiona and I had a good many talks while we were working together in the hills during the time when you and Kalim were so busy ridding the world of Taylor's dirty crew."

"You did?" Harlan asked cautiously. "I'm almost afraid to ask the subject."

"You shouldn't be," Kira said. "Fiona and I both care enormously about you, and we're very fond of Kalim. We decided it would be fairly easy to persuade you to go along with whatever we need. But Kalim could be more difficult, and we might have to bring you into it occasionally."

"For instance?"

"Kalim isn't going fast enough to allow more freedom to the women on the island. We'll have to push him to speed it up."

He chuckled. "And that's my task?"

" Our task," Kira said softly. "And Fiona has a lot of ideas about combining her stable with Kalim's, which would allow them to be trained together. Can you imagine what a stunning and innovative group they'll be? What we could do with them?"

"I can see why the two of you would think so." He nodded. "It's a wonderful vision. Do you have anything else in store for us?"

"Yes, but I thought we could break it to you gently."

"I'm not sure that I shouldn't be making a list to prepare myself for what's to come," he said ruefully. "You appear to have a lot of surprises on the horizon."

"But a surprise is usually just a question mark, isn't it? And you like me to question. Isn't that what you told me?" She was already climbing the steps of the Gulfstream. "But this time, maybe I'll relax and let you answer a few of them. Remember? I kept telling you it was always better together! Every day and every way. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to demonstrate that concept this week at Summer Island. Perhaps I'll even have Sarah and John stop by and give us a few lessons based on their years of experience." Her eyes were twinkling and she was smiling teasingly. "What do you think, Harlan?"

He chuckled. "That you'd better be kidding. I respect Sarah and John enormously but they're individuals living their own individual lives. We don't need lessons. It will be more exciting discovering everything on our own, including the surprises." He was starting the engines. "I believe we can create our own story and do a fantastic job of it." He reached over and fastened her seat belt as he smiled at her. "This is only the beginning!"