Краткая естественная история цивилизации. Марк Бертнесс

different. She glared across the lobby straight at him, as if she knew she was meeting his eyes.

      Was it her imagination, or did the robed figure still for a moment? Leo had the feeling that suddenly she had his full attention. And that he was not best pleased

      Help, she thought. He’s coming over. The hairs on the back of her neck rose.

      And then rescue came from an unexpected quarter.

      ‘Darling!’ called a voice.

      Leo jumped and looked wildly round. The lobby seethed with noisy groups talking in numerous languages. They were no competition for her mother. Years of ladies’ luncheons had given Deborah Groom a vocal pitch that could cut steel.

      ‘Darling,’ she called again. ‘Over here.’

      A heavily ringed hand waved imperiously. Leo located it and counted to ten. She had tried to persuade her mother not to come to Cairo in the busiest week of the agency’s year. Deborah, predictably, had taken no notice.

      Now Leo pulled herself together and said briskly to the hovering security man, ‘Thank you but I am quite all right. Please—’ she allowed herself just a touch of irony which she was sure the man would miss ‘—reassure His Excellency.’ Then, more gently to Mrs Silverstein, ‘Give me ten minutes. I have to clear up a couple of things. Then, if you still want to go, I’ll take you to the pyramids at Giza.’

      ‘You go right ahead,’ said Mrs Silverstein, still entranced by her brush with royalty. ‘I’ll go sit in the café and have a cappuccino. Come and find me when you’re done.’

      Leo gave her a grateful smile. Then she tucked her clipboard under her arm and swarmed professionally through the crowd.

      ‘Hello, Mother,’ she said, bending her tall head. Leo received the scented breath on the cheek which Deborah favoured with a kiss and straightened thankfully. ‘Having a good time?’

      Deborah Groom was known for going straight to the point. ‘It would be better if I saw something of my only daughter.’

      Leo kept her smile in place with an effort. ‘I warned you I’d have to work.’

      ‘Not all the time.’

      ‘There’s a lot on.’ If she sounded absent it was because in the distance she could see Andy Francis trying to herd a group towards their waiting bus. He was not having much success but then he should not have been doing it alone. Roy Ormerod, the head of Adventures in Time, was scheduled to be with the party too.

      Deborah frowned. ‘Does your chief know who you are?’

      Leo gave a crack of laughter. ‘You mean does he know that I’m the boss’s daughter? Of course not. That would defeat the whole object. I’m called Leo Roberts here.’

      Deborah snorted. ‘I just don’t understand your father sometimes.’

      That was nothing new. She had walked out on Gordon Groom fourteen years ago, saying exactly that and leaving him to care for the ten-year-old Leo.

      ‘He thinks it’s a good idea for me to learn to stand on my own feet like he did,’ she said patiently. ‘Look, Mother—’

      ‘You mean he thinks if he turns you out in the world to cope on your own you’ll turn into a boy,’ Deborah snapped.

      Leo’s eyes flashed. But there was enough truth in the accusation to make her curb her instinct to retort in kind. She and her mother both knew that Gordon had always wanted a son. Training Leo to succeed him in the business was just second best. He did not even try to disguise that any more.

      Deborah bit her lip. ‘Oh, I’m sorry darling, I promised myself I wouldn’t start that again,’ she said remorsefully. ‘But when I see you looking like death and running yourself ragged like this, I just can’t help myself.’

      ‘Forget it,’ said Leo.

      She cast a surreptitious look at her clipboard. Where was Roy? He should have paid the bus driver for the Japanese party. If he didn’t turn up she would have to deal with it. And what about the Harris family? She had forgotten all about them and the museum tour was leaving.

      Her mother sighed. ‘I suppose there’s no hope of seeing you at all today?’

      Leo’s conscience smote her. ‘Not a chance unless—’

      Mary Harris panted up to her.

      ‘Oh, Leo, I’m so sorry. Timothy got locked in the bathroom. I didn’t know what to do. The room attendant got him out. Have we missed the tour?’

      Leo reassured them and plugged them rapidly onto the departing group. She came back to Deborah, mentally reviewing her schedule.

      ‘Look, Mother, there’s one more group I’ve got to see on its way. And then I’m supposed to take someone to the pyramids. But it will be hot and she’s quite elderly. I doubt if she’ll want to stay too long. Tea this afternoon?’

      Deborah perked up. ‘Or could I give you dinner?’

      Leo hesitated.

      ‘You think your father wouldn’t like it,’ Deborah diagnosed. Her mouth drooped.

      Leo almost patted her hand. But Deborah would have jumped a foot. They were not a touchy-feely family.

      So she said gently, ‘It’s not that. There’s a conference dinner. We’ve arranged it at an historic merchant’s house and there’s going to be a lot of bigwigs present. I really ought to be there.’

      ‘If the wigs are that big, why can’t your boss do it?’ Deborah said shrewdly.

      Leo gave a choke of laughter. ‘Roy? He doesn’t—’

      But then she thought about it. The guest list included some of the most illustrious charitable foundations in the world, including a high royalty quotient. Roy liked mingling at parties where he had a good chance of being photographed with the rich and famous. He called it networking.

      ‘Mother, you’re a genius. It’s just the thing for Roy,’ she said. She pulled out her mobile phone.

      All she got was his answering machine. Leo left a crisp message and rang off.

      ‘Right, that’s sorted. I’ll see you tonight. Now I’ve got to take a seventy-year-old from New Jersey to Giza.’

      Deborah muttered discontentedly.

      Leo looked down at her.

      ‘What?’

      ‘Surely someone junior could take this woman to the pyramids?’

      Leo grinned. Deborah had been a rich man’s daughter when she married rising tycoon Gordon Groom. There had been someone junior to take care of tedious duties all her life. It was one of the reasons Gordon had fought so hard for the custody of his only child.

      ‘As long as I’m a member of the team, I do my share of the chores,’ she said equably.

      ‘Sometimes you are so like your father,’ Deborah grumbled.

      Leo laughed. ‘Thank you.’

      Deborah ignored that. ‘I don’t know why he had to buy Adventures in Time, anyway. Why couldn’t he stick to hotels? And civilised places? What does he want with a travel agency?’

      ‘Diversify or die,’ Leo said cheerfully. ‘You know Pops—’ She broke off. ‘Whoops.’

      In the Viennese café Mrs Silverstein was chatting to an alarmed-looking man in a grey suit. Leo was almost certain he was a member of Sheikh el-Barbary’s entourage.

      ‘It looks as if my client is getting bored. I’ll pick you up at eight this evening, Mother.’

      She darted into the crowd. It was a relief.

      Deborah’s divorce from Gordon Groom had been relatively amicable and her settlement kept