“It’s hardly out of their normal hunting grounds. Perhaps it was a coincidence?”
“I don’t believe in a coincidence that leads six Grigori to corner me in an alley while I happen to have Ava with me.”
“You’re newly mated, and thus you’re paranoid. It’s completely understandable.”
“And I’m completely right. She’s not going to his office without me.”
“We’ll talk more tomorrow. Until then, take care.”
“I’ll see you later.”
As he hung up the phone, the question plagued him. How had the Grigori found them? Not just in Kusadas?, but in that particular restaurant at that particular hour? It couldn’t be a coincidence. He glanced at Ava, still sleeping securely. He didn’t think she’d called Dr. Sadik again, so how had it happened?
He slowed the car and pulled over near a roadside market, then he grabbed her mobile phone from the center console. Could Sadik have tapped into the network somehow? Doing so would indicate he was far more connected than Malachi or Rhys had initially suspected. Perhaps it was simpler. A tracker of some kind. A simple GPS chip would have allowed him to track Ava anywhere she went. He flipped her phone over, looking for any indication it had been tampered with.
“What are you doing?” Her sleepy voice didn’t distract him as he looked at the edges of her mobile. No scratches or marks indicated that the case had been manipulated or modified.
“Do you have one of those location apps on your phone so you can find it online if you lose it?”
“No. I turned off all the location services except for maps. Carl put one on and it pissed me off, so I shut all of them off. Why?”
He muttered, “How did the Grigori find us?”
“What?”
“At the restaurant tonight. How did they find us?”
She sat up straight. “I don’t know.”
“You haven’t called Sadik, have you?”
Ava rolled her eyes. “I still don’t buy your suspicion of him, but no, I haven’t.”
Another thought occurred to him. “Did Dr. Sadik ever give you anything?”
“What?” She rubbed at her eyes. “No. I don’t think so.”
“Think, Ava. It might have looked innocent. Like a trinket.”
“Well… nothing he could use to—”
“What did he give you?” His interest spiked. “Something harmless. What was it, love?”
She shrugged and reached into the purse near her feet. “It’s nothing. I’d kind of forgotten about it. It’s one of those nazar-amulet key chains. To ward off the evil eye, you know? Dr. Sadik told me to keep it with me. For luck.”
From a pocket, she pulled out the vivid blue glass. Around four centimeters wide, it looked like any of the tourist trinkets hanging from every shop in Turkey, only it was backed with metal he suspected doubled as an antennae. The white and blue circles stared back at him, accusing him of paranoia. Malachi held it up to the light.
“I thought it was kind of silly, but I put it in my bag and I haven’t really thought about it since.”
“I’m sure he was counting on that.”
In the darkest blue of the glass, there was an almost translucent chip with a wire leading toward the metal frame.
“There.” He held it out so Ava could see. “Do you see? I think it’s a chip.”
She blinked. “Like they put in dog collars to find them if they’re lost?”
“A simple GPS chip. As long as you have this with you, he could track you.”
He saw the color rise on her cheeks, but her eyes were cold. “Son of a bitch…”
Malachi grabbed her hand. “You trusted him. I know. It’s not—”
“That asshole!”
“He betrayed you, and you’re—”
“I’m gonna
Now it was Malachi cautioning patience. “We need to find out more before you do.”
“This thing—” She tried to grab the nazar, but Malachi closed his fingers over it.
“No.”
“Give it to me! I want to smash it to pieces!” She was already opening her car door. “I want it as far away from me as—”
“Do you want him to think you’re in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road?” He shook the hand she was trying to pry open. “Think.”
Ava blinked, coming out of her rage. “He’d know I found it.”
“Exactly. We’re not going to take it back to the house, but we don’t want him to know we’ve found it.”
She took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, so what do we do?”
“We’re going to take it back to Istanbul, and we’re going to leave it someplace very safe.” An idea sprang to his mind, and Malachi smiled. “Someplace that will confuse the hell out of him.”
It was morning when they walked into the lobby of Ava’s old hotel. The streets of the Sultanahmet were almost deserted as they made their way past the sleepy young man at the front desk and toward the courtyard near her old room. The young man raised his head in a quick smile, recognized Ava, then put his head down again, not realizing she no longer had a room there.
“This way,” she said softly. “I think this is where they keep the carts.”
Malachi spotted a maid turning the corner with one of the narrow cleaning carts, so he tugged Ava toward it, engaging the girl in a conversation about finding a razor because his luggage had been lost. Malachi trapped the young woman in conversation while he passed the nazar to Ava. She palmed it, took out the gum she’d been chewing, and stuck it to the glass-and-metal amulet. Then she pressed the blue circle into a corner, out of the line of sight, but hopefully secure enough to remain on the cart. Malachi saw her stuff a rag under the nazar to hold it in place, then she tugged on his hand.
“You know what? I totally forgot, honey. I have an extra razor in my bag.” Ava put on a big smile as she shook her head. “Can’t believe I forgot about that. I was surprised they let it on the plane.”
Malachi switched to English. “Is that so? I won’t bother her anymore then.” He turned to the confused maid with an apologetic smile and thanked her. Then he and Ava turned back toward the lobby and slipped out of the hotel.
“Hopefully, the cart will move enough that he won’t be immediately suspicious. Plus, you’ve stayed there before. So while he’ll know you’re back in the city, he won’t realize you’re at our house.”
“I can’t believe I stuck gum to the corner of her cart.” Ava shuddered. “The well-behaved schoolgirl in me is appalled by my behavior.”
“You were really a well-behaved schoolgirl?”
“Of course not. I was the crazy chick with a reputation to uphold.”
“That’s what I was hoping for.”
Chapter Sixteen
By the time they arrived at the scribe house on the other side of the bridge, morning traffic had started. Cafes and shops were stirring, and the corner market near the old wooden house in Beyoglu was opening its doors. Ava held Malachi’s hand as they walked from the car park. She had slept in the car, but not deeply. She needed quiet, food, and warm arms surrounding her while she slept.
He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. And Ava, despite a lifetime’s worth of disappointment, was starting to believe it.
“Malachi.” She tugged on his arm a few steps away from the front door. The sun was rising, painting the
