I’ll sip drinks on a beach when I’m old and broken. For now, I still have a lot of asses to kick and artifacts to find.
Shay stepped out of the bathroom and smiled down at the Bomber, which sat on a nightstand near her hotel bed. Although the room had a safe, she didn’t trust it to hold something so valuable. Once she got her new clothes, she’d keep the artifact on her person until she turned it over to the client’s representative back in the States.
Her phone rang, and she hurried to the bed to pick it up. Peyton. She’d sent him a quick text once she’d gotten a signal on her phone again, but she’d left out the details about getting sliced up by lizardmen. The man wouldn’t be able to resist some horrible joke about the job.
“What’s up?” Shay answered. “Client whining or something?”
“Nope. Have I ever told you how awesome I am?”
Shay snorted. “Yeah, lots of times. What about it?”
“I’ve got good news, or maybe bad news depending on how you look at it. But I think you’ll believe it’s good news.”
“What’s the damned news?”
“Durand’s in Quito right now. He should have just landed.”
Shay grinned. “Did he now?”
“Yep. I’ve spent the entire time you’ve been gone trying to track him, and I got lucky. Well, not lucky. I’m awesome still, but… Anyway, he’s in Quito. Thought you might want to know.”
“Thanks, Peyton. That is good news.”
“See? Knew it.”
“I’ll take it from here. I’m gonna have a little fun with our favorite Frenchman, but I’ll be on a flight home tomorrow morning.”
“See you then.”
Shay hung up and smirked.
Too damned late, Durand.
Shay strolled toward the tree-flanked patio of the cozy restaurant. The colorful tables were filled with chatting customers happily eating a glorious array of mouth-watering food; empanadas, soups, fruit, fried plantains, and ceviche.
Her stomach rumbled, but she didn’t care about getting a snack or breakfast. She only cared about the blond man sitting at a table near the corner, his back to the wall and a bowl of soup in front of him.
Good for you, Durand. Nice defensive seating. Too bad about everything else.
The retrieval specialist might have been better on the ground in DC and Russia, but she’d been ahead of him from the start this time. It’d been pathetically easy to find the man. He might be a ghost electronically, but a few bribes to the local underworld representatives had gotten Shay his location within hours. He stood out in Ecuador, as did she, but she was more than willing to splash enough cash around to earn some assistance, and her proficiency in the language helped.
Durand folded his hands in front of him and wore a mocking smile on his face as if he’d been expecting her. Maybe he didn’t want her to think he was about to shoot her. She kept her hands visible to communicate the same, even though she had knives strapped to her thighs beneath her dress and a gun in her purse. Becoming a fugitive in Ecuador wouldn’t help her.
I’ll make you wipe that shit-eating grin off your face. You don’t know how badly I’ve beaten you, asshole.
Shay sat across from him with a grin. “No goons today? I’m disappointed. Who’s gonna wipe your ass for you?”
“Sometimes I need assistants, but often I don’t. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s often better to work alone.”
“It makes for fewer variables.”
Durand nodded. “Exactly, and the kind of men you can get on short notice with money aren’t always the most trustworthy.”
“Says the mercenary.”
“I’m not a mercenary, I’m a retrieval specialist. We’re no different, Aletheia. You work for clients who pay you. I do the same thing.”
“Bullshit. I have standards, and I’m not all about burying the truth, unlike your asshole bosses.”
Durand shrugged. “The truth always comes out eventually, doesn’t it? Oriceran is proof of that. Anything you or I do with regards to artifacts doesn’t matter in the long run.”
“You’re such a cheerful guy.”
“I consider myself a realist.”
“I’m more of a pessimist, myself.”
Shay appropriated his glass of water, took a sip, and set the glass down. “Now it’s half empty.” She frowned. “You don’t seem surprised to see me, Durand.”
“Disappointed?”
“A little, but I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve.”
“I see. What you have to understand is that when I arrived few took notice of me, but this morning many local scum started shadowing me. It was too obvious. The local criminals aren’t very good at staying out of sight. It inconvenienced me since I had to lose several tails, but it was minor, I assure you.” He sighed. “If that was your grand revenge, it’s pathetic.”
“Maybe they tagged you as a rich asshole they could rob. You have to admit you have a very punchable face.”
“No. It was as if they had all learned who I was, which made me think.” Durand tapped his temple. “There are very few people who know who and what I am. There are even fewer who seek the same types of artifacts. It wasn’t difficult after that to figure out that you were looking for me, Aletheia.” He swirled his spoon in his soup bowl. “Rookie mistake. Too bad.”
Shay snorted. “I’ll give you this… You might piss me off, but you’re not a complete fucking moron. That’s more than I can say for a lot of the assholes I’ve run into in this job.”
The Frenchman barked a laugh. “Ah, such sweet words from such a beautiful woman. We don’t have to be enemies, you know. We could…be something far more pleasurable.” His eyebrows lifted suggestively.
If we weren’t on a patio in Ecuador, I’d so lay your ass out.
Shay rolled her eyes. “Don’t ruin the compliment by trying to be slick, asshole. I’d sooner swim through a muck-infested pool and fight lizardmen than do anything with you.”
Durand pushed his bowl of soup to the side. “Then, what now?
