The Secret of Excalibur Read Online Free PDF Page A

you be in London?’
    ‘No, no,’ said Nina, trying to slow things down. ‘I’ll be in Bournemouth, I’m going to meet my fiancé’s family—’
    ‘Bournemouth, I see. I will meet you there, then.’
    ‘What? No, I mean—’
    Rust laughed. ‘Nina, I know this must all seem rather strange.’
    Nina’s own laugh was rather more desperate. ‘Uh, yeah ! Kinda!’
    ‘Do not worry. I will not take up much of your time. But I promise you, you will want to hear what I have to tell you.’
    ‘About my parents?’
    She heard nothing but static for a moment. Then: ‘Yes. About your parents.’
    Chase was looking decidedly quizzical by now, and Nina wanted to wrap the call up before Rust invited himself into their hotel room. ‘Look, I’ll give you my cell number, it’ll work in Europe. Call me after nine o’clock, English time. We should be out of the airport by then.’ She recited the number.
    ‘Very good. I will call you then. Oh, and congratulations on your award. And on your engagement. Goodbye!’
    ‘Uh, thanks,’ Nina said to the click of disconnection.
    ‘So,’ said Chase, ‘sounds like this bloke really wants to meet you.’
    ‘I guess.’
    ‘So we won’t be able to meet my family? Oh, what a shame! Maybe next time, then.’ He seemed quite pleased at the idea.
    ‘No, we’re still meeting them.’
    ‘Tchah!’
    ‘Wait, I’m the one who’s nervous about it, why am I . . .’ Nina shook her head. ‘Oh, whatever. Anyway, he wants to come to Bournemouth to see me.’ She stared at the icon of the mysterious disc on the laptop screen. ‘Why’s he being so secretive? And what’s it got to do with my parents?’
    ‘How did he know them?’ Chase asked.
    ‘He’s a historian, so I suppose they met when my parents were doing archaeological research. I don’t really know - I only met him a couple of times. The last time was at their memorial service.’ She sat back, closing her eyes. ‘Funny. I’d been thinking a lot about them recently, and now this . . .’
    ‘How come?’
    ‘You know, with us getting engaged. It’s sad that they’ll never get to meet you. They would have liked you.’
    ‘Well, everybody likes me,’ Chase said smugly. ‘Apart from the arseholes who want to kill me, anyway.’
    ‘At least there haven’t been any of them around for a while.’
    ‘Don’t say that, you’ll jinx it!’ he protested. ‘But yeah, everything you’ve told me about your mum - mom , I mean - and dad, they sounded like really great people.’
    ‘They were.’ Nina sighed, for a moment lost in memory. ‘What about you?’
    ‘What about me?’
    ‘You never talk about your parents. I mean, you told me what happened to your mother, but—’
    ‘Nothing to talk about. I left home to join to the army after my mum died and haven’t been back since.’ He shifted in his seat, turning slightly away from her.
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Hmm?’
    Nina knew Chase well enough to recognise the tone of his non-reply: a mock-casual I wasn’t listening disguising a Can we change the subject? ‘I said,’ she went on, mildly needled by his attempt at evasion, ‘why haven’t you been back home since then?’
    ‘Because there’s nothing I want to go back for.’ The tone in his voice was now irritation.
    ‘Yeah, but why?’
    He looked round at her, frowning. ‘Jesus, is this a fucking interrogation? Why’re you suddenly so interested in my family?’
    She gave him a disbelieving look. ‘Come on, Eddie! We’re going to get married , so they’re going to become my relatives as well. You can’t claim that part of your past is a state secret! I just want to know what they’re like, and why you don’t talk about them.’
    ‘If there was anything important to tell you, I’d tell you.’
    ‘What, like Sophia being your ex-wife? Took you long enough to bring that up—’
    ‘I don’t get on with them, all right?’ Chase snapped. ‘’Cept for my nan. To be honest, if my sister didn’t live in the