“Tell Margaux what?”Marielle said from the doorway.
He kissed her, briefly but thoroughly.She pressed her palm against his cheek and studied his face for a moment as if she were memorizing his features.When she dropped her hand, he hurried past her and out onto the deck as Hanna started to explain the digital keys to her.
17
After Omar left the library,Marielle told Hanna to take off her clothes.Again, she didn’t question the instructions.
Marielle was grateful because she didn’t have time to explain things, but she wondered if Hanna trusted her or if she was conditioned by Idris and by her father to do as she was told.
Worry about her psychological trauma after you’ve secured her physical safety, youpetite dinde.She smiled at herself for using her grandmere’s favorite gentle admonishment.Shecouldbe a little turkey from time to time.
Hanna stood in front of her in a tankini and gave her a questioning look.
Right.Focus.She pulled off her clothes to reveal her two-piece suit and tucked both piles of clothes under one of the club chairs.
She held out her hand for one of the keys.“Are you ready to finally drive?”
It took a moment to develop, but the smile that spread across Hanna’s face was genuinely joyful.“Definitely.”
Marielle smiled back.“Let’s do it.”
As they left the library, Hanna’s smile faded and her breath quickened.She was scared.
Before she could panic, Marielle said in a low, conversational tone, “If we run into anyone we’re going to the sauna.”
Hanna nodded, and her shoulders unclenched.
They reached the bottom of the stairs to the tender platform without running into anyone.Hanna moved forward to step out of the stairwell, and Marielle put out a hand to stop her.“Not yet.”
A moment later, Omar came running from the opposite direction.He was sprinting toward the inflatable boat launch.Bashir and another guard chased after him.As he rounded the corner out of the guards’ eyesight, Marielle darted out of the stairwell and raced to the boat launch.Together, they lowered the boat and started the noisy petrol motor, sending the boat out into the sea without a driver.Then they ran the opposite direction, past the scuba gear and paddle boats, and crouched beside the jet skis.
Omar thumbed out the message they’d agreed to send to Jake:
Ex-fil underway with asset and data.Send safe house coordinates.
Then he stowed the covcom in his waterproof bag, and they waited.
Once the bodyguards thundered past the stairwell, yelling after the empty boat, Marielle gestured for Hanna.
Hanna sprinted from the stairwell to join them at the jet skis.Bashir was standing at the stern, shouting at the boat.The other guard was yelling into a radio.
“Now,” Omar said.
They mounted the jet skis and started the engines.One by one, Hanna, Marielle, and Omar launched off the platform and hit the water.They raced away from The Fakhar in the opposite direction from the inflatable boat that was headed toward the Old Port of Marseille.As they sped away, the sound of gunfire echoed in the distance.
None of them turned to see whether the weapons were aimed at them or the little boat.It didn’t matter, Marielle reasoned.Olivia had once told her she never looked back.
“Never?”Marielle had asked.“You never think about all those years you were trapped in a marriage with Mateo?”
“Never,” Liv confirmed.“Why would I look at what’s behind me?I’m not headed in that direction.”
At the time, Marielle had thought it was an excellent metaphor.Now, she realized it was also solid escape advice.
She kept her eyes fixed ahead of her, aiming her boat for the finger of land that jutted out fifteen kilometers south and a world away from Vieux-Port de Marseille.
Her arms ached by the time they brought the jet skis to a stop on a rocky outcropping.The Fakhar had grown small in the distance, still on course for Marseille.
Hanna flopped to the sand beside her, panting.“Where are we?”
