The Revelation Code (Wilde/Chase 11) Read Online Free PDF

annoying – God, she could be annoying! – but yeah, she was. She was young, that was all. And she thought life was there to be enjoyed, so she went all out to enjoy it.’
    ‘Whereas you . . . ?’
    A wry shake of the head, her shoulder-length hair swinging. ‘I’m not exactly a party animal. Never have been. But Macy threw herself head-first into everything. And that . . .’ Her voice broke. ‘That got her killed.’
    ‘How so?’
    ‘She invited herself along on my last job for the International Heritage Agency. I could have said no, sent her home. But I didn’t. I don’t know why, maybe because . . . maybe because I was afraid it might be the last chance I had to spend time with her.’
    Elaine flicked back through her notebook. ‘Your illness – you thought it was terminal at that point?’
    Nina nodded. She had been under a slow death sentence, poisoned by a toxin from deep within the earth. ‘Yeah. There was a treatment, but I didn’t know about it then.’ She kept the full truth to herself: that the ‘treatment’ was nothing less than the legendary fountain of immortality sought by Alexander the Great. After the horrors she had been through to find it, she had vowed to keep its location a secret, to prevent the inevitable further bloodshed if others fought to control it. ‘So I let Macy come with us, and . . .’ She choked up.
    ‘Are you all right?’ Elaine asked. ‘Do you need a Kleenex or something?’
    Nina rubbed away a tear. ‘No, no. I’m okay. It’s just, talking about it . . .’
    ‘I understand.’
    ‘It’s . . .’ Nina sat sharply upright, looking Elaine straight in the eye for the first time. ‘It’s not fair ! She was so young, she was practically still a kid! And this man, this bastard , killed her like she was nothing – just to get to me. If I hadn’t gotten involved, or if I’d done what I should have done and told Macy to go home, she’d still be alive! I got her killed !’
    She slumped forward, head in her hands, trying to hold in her sobs. Elaine looked on with concern. ‘Nina, I’m so, so sorry. But you must know deep down that’s not true. You didn’t kill your friend. Someone else did.’
    Nina forced out a reply. ‘If it wasn’t for me, she’d still be alive. The same goes for Rowan Sharpe, and Jim McCrimmon, and Ismail Assad and Hector Amoros and Chloe Lamb and – and so many others I can’t even remember all their names!’ She looked up in despair. ‘This is what I mean, Elaine. Yes, I made all those discoveries – but this was the cost. Hundreds of people have died because of me.’
    ‘It can’t be that many,’ Elaine said, though with uncertainty.
    ‘Trust me, I was there. My whole career, everything I’ve accomplished, has been surrounded by death and destruction. Even when I was still a kid, my parents died – were murdered – while they were hunting for Atlantis. Which is why I’ve been asking: was it all worth it?’ She looked down at her abdomen, where a small but distinct swelling revealed the presence of her unborn child. ‘Do I want to bring a kid into my world? What right have I got to put a baby at that kind of risk?’
    ‘But you’re not working for the IHA any more,’ Elaine pointed out.
    ‘Maybe, but you know what?’ Nina said with another flare of anger. ‘Last month, a Nazi tried to kill me, right here in New York!’
    The psychiatrist’s eyes widened. ‘A . . . Nazi?’
    ‘Yeah, an actual goddamn Nazi. You see? I can’t get away from this shit! I tried to, I just wanted to stay out of trouble and write my book, but it keeps finding me!’
    ‘Your book,’ said Elaine, relieved at a chance to change the subject. ‘How’s that going? You told me last time that you’d been having difficulty maintaining focus . . .’
    Nina huffed sarcastically. ‘Oh, it’s going super fine, better than ever. No, I’m now almost completely blocked. My publishers are gonna be thrilled that they’ve paid over half a million