Page 17 of Brooks

“Did Tatiana say what she was bidding on?” I asked Declan.

“Not to me.”

“Who’s Tatiana?” Gumby slowed his pace and watched as Rocco stepped in front of a taxi, forcing the driver to stop.

A few seconds later, both Rocco and the woman were in the car and it sped away.

“Tatiana is…” I wasn’t sure how to explain her.

“Is the woman that is going to put Brooks’ dick in a vise if he doesn’t leave her alone,” Declan helpfully supplied.

I was going to say sexy, beautiful, and smart but I was glad Dec had cut me off.

“Grab that taxi, would you?” Ace motioned toward a car coming our way. “Twenty-four hours in that cellar, I’m ready to get the hell out of here.”

“Copy that.”

Chapter 7

The Bitoo brothers were not at the store and my contact told me they hadn’t checked in with Nazari. If they’d taken the tablets and run, they were screwed. Or better yet, if they’d sold them outside of the auction, they’d wish for death. There were a lot of interested buyers. So far, I was still the highest bidder on the ten Iraqi cuneiform tablets. They’d bring in a hefty price, and I’d be able to follow the money back to whichever terrorist organization was smuggling artifacts out of Bahrain.

I’d like to say my motivation was preserving the cultural and spiritual relics but it was purely about the money. It was my job to track, then intercept, payments before they could be used to buy guns and fund extremist groups hellbent on killing.

I just needed a few more days and I’d be in possession of the tablets and on my way to Iraq. Three clay cones dating back to 2,200 B.C. that had been looted after the fall of Saddam Hussein had come up for bid. The asking price was five-million but they’d bring in closer to thirty after collectors from around the world frantically tried to get the pieces into their private exhibitions.

A knock had me looking at the villa door. No one knew I was here. I’d moved every day since the annex was firebombed and I hadn’t even checked in with my handler. It was probably one of the other tenants in the building. This was one of the nicer areas of Bahrain, a small group of man-made islands. Amwaj offered the most beautiful panoramic views of the sea and was popular among expats.

Another knock pulled me from my thoughts. Checking my Sig P226 was loaded, I smiled, wondering how pissed Brooks had been when he’d come back after cleaning up dead bodies and found I wasn’t there. I hadn’t needed to take the Sig that belonged to them, I’d done it because… well, I wasn’t sure why I took the gun. Just that I liked having something that belonged to him. Which was absolutely absurd. It wasn’t like I’d ever see…

My thought was cut off when I opened the door. “Hey there, Doll.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you, too.” He shouldered his way in and shut the door behind him.

“No, really, Brooks, what are you doing here?”

I didn’t need anything screwing up the next few days. Brooks being here meant his team was, too. I’d gone to great lengths to make sure I wasn’t being followed. Them being anywhere near me didn’t mean good things. For one, I hadn’t been as careful as I’d thought.

“Thought you could use some intel on the Bitoo brothers.”

“Who?” I tried to keep my face impassive even though my insides were a riot of nerves.

How in the hell did he know that name?

“Cut the shit, Tatiana. This will go much smoother if you stop playing stupid.”

I didn’t appreciate being called stupid, and had no issue telling him so.

“I’m far from stupid, asshole.”

“I know you are, Doll. What you seem to forget is, I’m far from stupid as well. Time to stop bullshitting and lay the cards on the table.”

“What cards?”

Now I was playing stupid just to piss him off. I knew what he meant, but I still wasn’t ready to give him anything.

“I know you’re tracking some tablets. Ten to be exact. Bad news for you is, six are in the hands of the US government. Four are unaccounted for.”