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SMS message with a six-digit pin to unlock his email address.
Someone was trying to hack his account. Two-factor authentication to the rescue.
Another text came, then another. After five attempts, the hacker would be locked out.
They used up all their tries, and the messages stopped.
He tucked his phone in his pocket and put the SUV in Reverse to back out of the spot. He’d be taking the long, long way home to Diana.
Clearly, someone had figured out they were together.
Being alone with her thoughts was never a good thing for Diana these days. She was envious of Chris. He’d gotten to go out. But then, she didn’t particularly want to be out.
Just days ago, she’d had to mentally pump herself up to gather courage to go to Morgan’s birthday party. Now she wondered where she’d be if she hadn’t gone.
She changed into her comfiest pajamas and climbed into bed with the new tablet. She considered downloading a book to read, but knew she wouldn’t have the attention span necessary. Instead she opened the web browser and searched on her name.
Her body nearly seized with anxiety at the list of headlines, and she immediately deleted the search results. She took a slow breath and typed in “Jordan” and “Nabataean artifacts,” not really expecting to see anything new. Archaeology news moved slowly, and she’d done this search regularly since her rescue. She was always looking for news in general, but also, she wanted to see if there were updates on Fahd’s murder, which would almost certainly be tagged with those keywords if there was new information.
The headline she was looking for showed up on page two of the results.
Historie Strikes Deal with Gillibrand for New Signature Line
The subheading gave more information.
To coincide with the grand opening of the new flagship store and museum in Newport News, Virginia, this summer, CEO of the retail giant, Dennis Gardner, has come to an agreement with Gillibrand Auction House to purchase twenty artifacts in a preempt.
She clicked on the link, which was really a press release put out by Gardner Holdings. The article explained that the new acquisitions would expand the store’s Signature Line to a grand total of two hundred and fifty artifacts.
Historie’s Signature Line were artifacts owned by the Gardner family, giving them the exclusive right to create exact, licensed replicas. They usually limited the number of replicas to one thousand with the first run, then the duplicated artifact was priced for retail sale in the five-thousand- to ten-thousand-dollar range, depending on size and complexity, given that all replicas were made utilizing the same technique and material as the original.
Therefore, if the item was made of solid gold, so was the replica.
The Signature Line was big bucks for Historie and the Gardner family. It wasn’t surprising that they were looking to expand it at the same time they would do the ribbon cutting for the new flagship location.
Her dig was intended to offer insight into how to structure some of the museum displays. She’d been slated to meet with the designers in early October to talk about how best to replicate a dig site.
She’d missed those meetings. Now she wondered who Dennis had hired in her place, because construction was moving forward on schedule.
She scrolled down the press release, her heart pounding, knowing there would be a sneak peek at a few of the artifacts at the end.
The press release claimed the artifacts had been in the private collection of a Jordanian national who’d died a year ago, and his estate was finally being liquidated. It was hard to prove that kind of provenance was fake unless one of the items was a piece that had previously been documented—like the items stolen from the Iraq museum that Hobby Lobby had acquired.
When she saw the first image, she felt a different kind of shock.
These weren’t the artifacts she’d looted in Jordan. Not the ones she had photos of on this tablet.
No.
But she had seen these artifacts before. She’d touched them. Held them. Hell, she’d even smelled them.
She closed her eyes and remembered the text she’d received from Dennis Gardner on Friday. He was in town on business. Gillibrand’s main office was in DC. The deal had probably closed that morning, the press release prepared immediately, and posted in the afternoon. It had possibly been posted while she was in Gardner’s hotel suite telling him through Ian Boyd’s interview that she’d appraised these very artifacts on the day she’d been abducted.
Chapter Forty-One
The lights were out in the rental when Chris returned. He tiptoed in and left the lights off as he slipped into the bathroom to get ready for bed. After brushing his teeth, he stripped down to his boxer briefs and the T-shirt he wore to the bar, because he didn’t want to disturb Diana and dig through his bag for a different shirt.
He slid quietly into bed and lay on his back, staring up at the dark ceiling. He was tired but wired, and took comfort in hearing Diana’s quiet breathing next to him. She was safe.
