Page 38 of Acting on Instinct
Kira appreciated the moment of privacy that gave her to look at the ring.
She remembered the scene so vividly. Kira and London had flown to New York City to catch a flight to Qatar to spend the winter break with Kira’s family. Kira’s family had always invitedLondon and paid her way so that Kira, as a single woman outside the protection of a male relative, could travel with decorum. Not perfect, but certainly better than alone, according to her mother.
Ice and high winds grounded the planes. Kira had made hotel arrangements, but given the number of people stuck in the city and unable to fly out, she and London ended up at a hotel in Greenwich Village. They decided it would be fun to sit in the cozy lobby with the blazing fire, watch the weather, and read vintage paperbacks. At the suggestion of the front desk host, they dashed three doors down, bursting through the doors of the eclectic secondhand shop, brimming with the kinds of things that one might find in the attic of a house that had been passed down through the generations.
The woman behind the desk, wearing massive gemstone rings on gnarled, arthritis-ridden fingers, looked from London to Kira. She pulled off the ring, so tiny in circumference that it only passed the first knuckle of her pinky finger. “That’s why I wore it this morning. I was wondering.” She said it to London as if they were old acquaintances, and London would understand. “It’s rather pleasant, don’t you think, when you can, years after your death, still have a hand in the workings of Fate?”
“Fate?” London took a step closer.
“Try this on and see how it fits.” The elder pushed the ring toward London. And London immediately complied as Kira stood by the rack of vintage hats, feeling her nose buzz. The sensation wasn’t a warning; there was no tinnitus, but it had started when the elder looked at her, then swept her gaze to London. “You see here, this catch? It is a ring that women wear with snuff. Do you know what that is?”
“Like tobacco?” London asked.
“Exactly, finely powdered for the woman to sniff. Sometimes, there were other medicine powders within. They were not, as popular storylines go, for poison pills to plop intosomeone’s drink. I see it fits your ring finger perfectly. Isn’t that nice? I am giving this to you as a gift. There is only one thing I ask: at some point in your life, you will come to know that this ring could protect someone you hold dear. There will come a day when you must betray someone you love to save someone you love. At that moment, you will not hesitate to use this ring. And you will know exactly what to do.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.” London’s face turned bright pink even in the dim store.
Kira and London put their paperbacks on the desk to be rung up, then they scurried back to the hotel where they’d fallen onto the sofas in peels of nervous laughter. “Can you imagine?” London had asked. “What could that possibly mean that I must betray someone I love to save someone I love?”
“Oh, she was just having fun. She probably buys them out of China for three dollars a pop, and that’s her way of entertaining herself.”
London’s laughter stopped, and she examined the ring. “I really don’t think so, Kira.”
Here it was.
In her hand.
The ring that would change a fate years after the elder’s death.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Lula said. She’d opened her eyes and focused on Kira when Kira was lost in her memory.
“I’m overwhelmed that London sent this to me.” She cleared her throat and, for whatever reason, wanted to distract Lula from the ring. “My cousin said that William had been working in Singapore, but his work wrapped up suddenly, and he took off for this compound in Tanzania to check on things,” Kira said. “Did London go with him?”
“She’s in Qatar,” Lula said. “You still call home to Qatar?”
“To talk to my female relatives when they’re in the women’s wing of the compound.”
“Not your Uncle Nadir?”
“No, he dislikes small talk. He would only speak to me of important developments. And I don’t want to hear any of those from him. Last time I spoke with him on the phone, he’d arranged a marriage for me.”
“He doesn’t know you’re dating Ty?”
“No,” Kira whispered, because Uncle Nadir knowing about Ty would be entirely too dangerous.
Chapter Twelve
Ty
The team rallied in full battle rattle. They’d be doing night navigation with thermal vision. Ty and his team typically operated in the Middle East with forays into East Africa. Nothing there was like the woods here in North Carolina, though.
Tonight, the air was thick and humid for March.
The overhead pine branches blocked out the crescent moon and shielded them from the starlight. To Ty, the darker the better, the less likely that he’d create a shadow and someone would draw a bead on him.
Rory had his nose high, taking in a deep lungful of air, and then he sneezed, shaking his whole body.
“Gesundheit, my dude,” Nitro said, lifting his knee and curving away as if to ward off a spray.
