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know where she was.
    “The watch. The diamond,” she said hoarsely, and turned her head toward the dashboard clock.
    They all followed her gaze.
    “Maybe Vesper One will give us an extension,” Jake said.
    No one bothered to answer him.
    “I shouldn’t have turned the lights out,” Atticus said.
    “If you hadn’t they would have found the fake diamond,” Amy said dully.
    “Let me see it,” Dan said to distract himself. Something was nagging him and he wanted to think of anything except what was happening to the hostages.
    Who will die? Uncle Alistair? Nellie?
    Amy pulled the velvet bag out of her pocket and tossed it over her shoulder.
    “We’ll get your watch back,” Jake quietly reassured Amy again. “I know it was important to you.”
    “I know what set the metal detector off,” Dan said. “It wasn’t the diamond; it was the velvet bag. The inside is lined with some kind of metallic cloth.”
    “Why would they —”
    The Vesper phone buzzed, silencing everyone. Amy had to dig through her strewn gear to find it. Her voice shook as she read the text aloud.
    Thank you for your help at the Pergamon. We could not have done it without you, but I must apologize pro meus valde delictum. And you must now find it. Your friends are all alive . . . for now. Off to Timbuktu you go. No margin for error. If you fail to recover the transgression within 48 hours, I will flip a coin. Heads for Phoenix. Tails for Oh.
     
    Vesper One
    Stunned disbelief filled the car. Another minute ticked by before anyone could speak.
    “The hostages are safe,” Amy finally said, a fresh flood of tears running down her face.
    Dan let out a deep breath. He couldn’t take it in. His stomach felt misplaced, as if he were suspended on top of a roller coaster. “What does he mean by
our help
at the Pergamon?”
    “Vesper sarcasm?” Atticus said.
    “Maybe,” Dan answered. “Why would Vesper One apologize for a valid delectable prom menu?”
    “‘Apologize
pro meus valde delictum
,’” Atticus said, pronouncing the words correctly. “It’s Latin. It means apologize ‘for my great transgression.’”
    “Apology not accepted,” Dan said.
    And for the first time in a while, everyone laughed.

Jake called his father’s travel agent, who specialized in journeys to remote places. The good news was that the Berlin airport had reopened after the snowstorm and flights were landing and taking off. The bad news was that Timbuktu was one of most difficult places in the world to reach.
    “We can’t get there from here,” Jake said, after he got off the phone. “At least not very quickly. There’s a flight out of Berlin tomorrow morning, but it doesn’t get into Bamako in Mali until late tomorrow evening.”
    “Bamako?” Dan said. “Mali? I thought we were going to Timbuktu.”
    “Timbuktu and Bamako are in the country of Mali. To get to Timbuktu, you have to go to Bamako first. The problem is getting from Bamako to Timbuktu,” Jake continued. “There are only three flights a week, and the next flight isn’t for two days.”
    “We could rent a car,” Amy said. “Or hire a driver.”
    “Nine hours across the desert,” Jake said. “If you don’t have a breakdown, which happens about seventy percent of the time. The other way to Timbuktu is by ferry. But it’s a three-day trip if the ferries are in operation, which half the time they aren’t.”
    “Too bad we don’t have Jonah’s private jet,” Dan said.
    “That’s brilliant!” Amy said. “Why can’t we use his jet while they’re in Pompeii? The jet could be here in a few hours.”
    “And we wouldn’t have to worry about getting through security,” Atticus added.
    “I’ll text Erasmus,” Amy said, typing quickly into her phone.
    “What about your watch?” Dan asked.
    Amy took a deep breath. “We have to get it back. If we can’t do it before we leave, we’ll come back after we finish in Timbuktu. We don’t have a choice. In the mean-time, we’ll