AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What was it?”
“No secure line.”
“Okay, who were you working for?”
“I can’t tell you because I don’t know. But I do know that the clients have something to do with the sandstorm. I’m positive it was engineered. No matter our differences in the past—”
“Our differences? You mean the times you tried to kill us?”
She went on, speaking faster. “Remember I gave you the Koh-i-Noor and the pages of proof, just as I promised I would. I kept my word. You’ve got to help me, you’ve got to find out who’s doing this.”
Nicholas switched screens, typed in “stolen artifact.” The Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul was first on the list, with multiple stories dating back a week.
Mike whistled. “Only you could have stolen the staff of Moses from the Topkapi. That place is guarded by Turkish military. How in the world did you pull it off?”
Silence from Kitsune, which said it all.
Nicholas said, “Tell me more about the client, Kitsune. Even if you don’t know who it is, there must be a trace of some sort, a way for you to figure out who is behind this.”
“I can’t contact them. You know I have rules—all correspondence was in timed email accounts, destroyed now. I can give you the account numbers and phones we used, but I checked, they’ve been wiped clean. The note they left in our house—I’m to come back to Venice or they’ll kill Grant. So I know they’re in Venice. Listen, it’s not so much about what I stole, it’s about what it might mean.”
“Explain,” Nicholas said.
“What do you two know about the Ark of the Covenant?”
CHAPTER FIVE
Nicholas watched Mike pace. She was talking to herself, waving her hands when she made a point. Their first disagreement about an assignment of Covert Eyes was under way.
“Come now, Mike, why not?”
“I believe this is all about Kitsune’s rescue—”
“—and her husband’s rescue.”
“So you want to fly to Venice, Italy, where I’ve never been, spend thousands of dollars to rescue a thief?”
“—and her husband, the former big-gun Beefeater. I’ve never met a Beefeater I didn’t like.”
She was shaking her head. “I know, another Brit, but you know Zachery will have a cow. As for Dillon, he’d probably laugh his head off. We are not riding to Kitsune’s rescue—”
“—and her husband’s.”
“Yeah, neither are American citizens, there’s simply no way to justify it. And how can you seriously believe this sandstorm in the Gobi was engineered, and probably by her clients? Get real, Nicholas.”
“There’s the Ark of the Covenant,” he said, voice mild. “Do you believe it exists, Mike?”
Mike stopped in her tracks. “No, well, who knows? It’s a myth, a legend, and a screenwriter’s dream for Indiana Jones.”
“That’s certainly true, but personally, I’ve always believed it does exist, that it’s been lost over the eons.”
“Nicholas, it’s an allegory from the Bible. There are dozens of legends of magical artifacts, but that’s what they are, legends, myths, like I said, simple tales to tell and retell, since they didn’t have television for millennia.”
Nicholas smiled at her. He loved watching her get worked up. Truth be told, watching her, listening to her, turned him on, but still, he knew her well enough to go carefully. He wouldn’t tell her just yet that he was already mentally packed for their flight to Venice in their brand-new airplane. He knew she’d love Venice.
“Don’t most legends have some basis in fact, even ones from so long ago? Think of it, Mike. For the first time, we have permission from on high to go off-book, to take chances, to fight for truth, justice, and the American—and British—way, without the bureaucracy weighing us down. Imagine: the Ark of the Covenant, the staff of Moses, an engineered sandstorm. What more could you possibly ask for? This could be a groundbreaking case for our new team.”
“Are you forgetting that Kitsune is dangerous? She almost got us killed. She lied and cheated and—”
