When Nicasio and Daniela arrived at the AmericanSchool of Classical Studies and were shown to their accommodations by a visibly tired Geoffrey, it was well past 2:00 AM. The sprawling facilities were somewhere in the center of Athens but behind a rock wall, reminiscent of a Medieval fortress. Serious negotiations had taken place in Greek at the gate before letting Geoffrey's van pass through. The entire compound was permanently lit up at that late hour and the yellowish glow of the surrounding city could be seen as something between night and day.

Their former American guide helped them carry their luggage to the dormitory section of the institute, known as Loring Hall. It had been designed for visiting scholars of antiquities and archaeology graduate students both foreign and domestic. The two of them could now understand why their first meeting with staff was scheduled in the midmorning, allowing them a little more time to recoup their energy. The long flight from first California and then New York had indeed been a grueling one and their jetlag had already set in.

The housing wing of the facility was comfortable-looking and seemed recently remodeled. Pinned to their door in the quiet hallway were already three long distance telephone messages from Professor Simons, the last labeled URGENT. Nicasio fished a ten Euro bill out of his pocket, which he had managed to exchange at the airport back at Kennedy International, and handed it to Geoffrey, their driver. He had by that late hour become strangely stoical, especially about the tip, and quietly bade them a pleasant stay as he left the building for his van.

Entering their room, they found their arrangements fairly spacious and almost quaint. Amid hardwood floors and Neo-classical draped curtains, two single beds drawn together, a small bathroom, and ample desk area greeted them, a little reminiscent of a college dorm room. As Nicasio reached for the telephone on the night table, he was suddenly attacked by Daniela, who in a surprising show of enthusiasm for their freedom and potentially romantic circumstances, pushed him with vigor onto the bed. She uncharacteristically climbed on top of him and began to kiss him passionately.

"Hey! What's up with that?" He asked, breaking free of her embraces long enough to lay the room key onto the night stand and take a deep breath.

"I don't know. . . I just felt like it."

She smiled above him victoriously, as if she had just taken him down in a wrestling match.

"Actually, I've strangely wanted to do that to you ever since we were half way over the Atlantic. You think it was the altitude?"

"I have no idea."

"Don't you know where we are now, lover boy? Ancient Athens! So far away from home! Come on Nicasio, make love to me right now. . ."

"So what happened to your 'no mixing business with pleasure' rule, Ms Dani?"

"Well . . . that starts tomorrow, when we go to work."

"Oh. I see." He kissed her back, cooperatively at first, then slowly and passionately.

"Mmmmmm. That's more like it," she whispered, taking off her blouse and bra.

"Maybe I should remind you, tiger lady," he added as she unfastened his belt and began to unbutton his shirt, "it actually is tomorrow here already. You know that?"

"Just shut up and kiss me again . . . we're totally jetlagged remember? It doesn't matter if we're dead tired tomorrow."

"Today. . ."

He kissed her neck and ran his hands down her smooth back, resting them on her now naked hips.

"But . . . aren't you even . . . sort of tired now, Angelina?"

She purred back at him in a whisper, "Of course I am . . . can't you tell? She pulled off his jeans and began caressing his stomach and thighs in the midst of a passionate kiss.

"Hmmmm . . . well, it's pretty obvious you're not," he whispered back, taking another deep breath. "So . . . does international travel always do this to you, Miss Wanderlusti?

She silently began kissing his chest.

"How could we ever be sure, Nicasio?" She whispered back finally, looking up at him with seductive eyes. "We never even left California the five years we've been together. Maybe you need to learn a few new things about me, professor. . ."

Slowly, she moved her soft lips down to his stomach while he stroked her hair.

"My God . . . women," he moaned to himself, throwing his head back on the pillow and feeling his own mouth morph into an involuntary expression of bliss. Her warm lips and tongue made him incapable of communicating any further. He caressed her neck and shoulders until she climbed back on top of him. Her breasts were suddenly in both of his hands, beginning to heave from her stronger breathing.

Instantly they both froze at a deafening sound which began to permeate the room as if there was some emergency. It was the strange and obnoxious ringtone of the dorm telephone. They had never heard this hybrid buzz and ring before—its sheer volume causing them to decouple and sit up in the bed.

"Don't you dare answer that!" Daniela demanded.

"I have to, Dani. . ." Nicasio reached over to the night stand and picked up the heavy black phone receiver while staring at her blankly.

"Hello?"

In the dead silence Daniela could hear the voice at the other end of the line.

"Nicasio?"

"Yes, Professor. . . We're . . . here now. Just got in to bed . . . at the AmericanSchool a few moments ago."

"Excellent. Listen, Nicasio. I'm continuing to sort out that breach in security at the site. Can you hear me alright?"

"Um . . . yes, professor very clearly." He raised his eyebrows at Daniela in a perturbed gesture.

"So it's all about that woman . . . now more women . . . who know of our work down there . . ." The professor paused cautiously. "By the way, you haven't told your girlfriend much about this . . . right?"

Nicasio looked into Daniela's eyes helplessly. He knew she was listening.

"No. No . . . she doesn't know . . . nothing about it actually."

"Good, Nicasio. Just make sure no one over there knows what we're searching for. That's imperative right now. There's a lot riding on this and time is everything right now.

"Alright, Professor. Um . . .Sure. Daniela is not . . . will not . . . be involved, believe me."

"I want you to be particularly sensitive to information about anyone who has been there from Stanford or Yale studying Amazons . . . past or present . . . women in particular. And we need to know more about that original consortium of females who participated over there a decade ago. They were clearly there where you are now. At the American School for two spring sessions and tem summers in Turkey. Have you got that, my boy?"

Nicasio could see Daniela's eyes widening in anger.

"Definitely. Yes. Look professor. . . I really have to . . ."

"See, apparently everything got rolling from there. It all seems to have been some sort of conspiracy an concentrated effort which has just grown over time."

"OK sir . . ."

"I've come to a few hypotheses about it all and . . ."

"Yes? And?"

The professor was now being overly cautious.

"And it just may prove to be very significant to our find. Explosive, you might say."

Nicasio was silent. He looked again into Daniela's probing eyes, now clearly fighting back a rage of anger.

"Um . . . Right. Yeah, professor . . . I'll keep a lookout for all that."

"You're meeting with our man from Cal in the morning, correct?"

"Yeah. In . . . just a few hours. Theofilos?"

"That's him. He's not really to be trusted either. Nor told anything we've discovered at Bixby. Understood?"

"Absolutely, professor. I'll call you tomorrow evening with a full report."

"Good. Remember its ten hours difference over there."

"Not something I'll easily forget, professor." He grimaced silently and winked at an obviously now disconsolate Daniela.

"Goodbye for now young man. Stay alert!"

"I . . . have no other choice right now, sir."

"What?"

"Never mind, Dr. Simons. I'll call you later."

Nicasio hung up the phone.

By then Daniela had already left the bed and was putting on her clothes. He could see from her quick movements and expression that she was no longer in any romantic mood. The 'amorous jet lag effect,' once so challenging to him now seemed to have its limitations and constraints.

"So what's all that about, Nicasio? She was standing midway between the bed and the bathroom. "I'm not supposed to be . . . involved in this at all?"

"Look, Dani. The professor is just a little paranoid about the whole project right now. . He's terrified the discovery is going to get into . . . the wrong hands."

"Yeah. And the hands of women, apparently. Like me?"

"No. Anyone, actually. This is potentially a very huge find. If what we've been working on turns out to be even close to what it seems . . . it could blow the lid off a lot of research. A lot of what we never knew. About the ancient world . . . and right up through the sixteenth century."

"What are you saying, Nicasio? And you are not upset with that interruption?"

"Yeah. It was very untimely. But your see . . . lots of people . . . even foreign governments could jump on this thing. They could milk it for all the prestige they could get. The professor has a real point. We have to keep it controlled. At least for now. And I promise. You'll be a part of this fact-finding we're doing over here."

She was undressing again, only this time angrily and preparing to take a shower.

"Look, Daniela, if you like conspiracy theories . . . and trust me, many do . . . this could just be the mother of them all."

"No. I don't like any theories, Nicasio" she said, flipping her hair back while totally naked. She walked unashamedly to the table where the luggage was stacked. "I live in a world of facts! Remember those?"

Nicasio was up now, out of bed himself. He crossed the room to take her hand but she moved away.

"So," she said rifling through her belongings. "Are you really going to keep me in the dark over here?"

"Of course not. I just told you. I only had to say that to the professor while we're here. You're my partner, Dani. Aren't you? I promised I would let. On everything. Everything we're doing here in Athens. And I meant that. I'll tell you whatever you want to know about this."

She opened her large suitcase and pulled out a pedestrian pair of pajamas, and a toiletry bag. Her voice trailed off as she left him standing and then headed toward her into the bathroom.

"Wait. Dani!"

"OK. Well . . . for starters. . ."

She was loudly speaking over the sound of the running shower.

"You can tell me what I'm supposed to explain to Mr. . . Phosphorous?. . . Like, what I'm doing here when he asks me in a few hours?"

"Theofilos. His is Theofilos. In Greek it means, 'God's friend.' Theos, god. Filos, friend. Theofilos."

Standing just outsider the door Nicasio could now hear the water from the shower vigorously splashing off Daniela's body.

Again she spoke loudly, and in a monotone. "Thank you, Professor Carvajal. For the wonderful Greek lesson. Now I know why I came all the way to Athens with you . . ."

She was at least speaking more calmly, he thought, and laughed nervously as he slowly opened the door.

"What is it with these archaeologists who come here from all over the world, professor? They don't believe in shower curtains? It's a complete mess in here now."

"I don't know."

He thrust his head inside the small room and looked down at the half-inch of water covering the entire bathroom floor.

"That must be a Greek thing here," he said laughing and taking note of her wet, curvaceous body in motion as she began to wash her hair.

"And now . . . if you will kindly close the door, Dr. Carvajal . . .and leave me to my privacy, I might just feel compelled to relieve myself of some of my sexual tension while so comfortably alone."

Nicasio was silent.

"Alone, of course. Because God knows . . . that's the way this project will probably play out . . . to the very end!"

He was beginning to realize he had miscalculated her frustrated remarks. They were not, as he had hoped, an erotic invitation to join her in the shower. Having removed his shorts and T-shirt, while standing at the threshold of the doorway, his classic error in judgment had now become stupendously clear to him. And this was confirmed resolutely upon hearing her next emphatic commands:

"Nicasio . . . leave me alone. Close the door. Go to bed!"

* * *