Dark Cover (The DARK Files #2) (23 page)

“I should tell you, Mr. Markos,” Celia began, “that I have found another position. Bethesda Antiques and Antiquities needed a new manager.”

“Congratulations. That’s excellent,” he said, greatly relieved.

“Thank you for your recommendation.” The slender Chinese woman made a small, graceful bow and glided from the room.

“And you, Emil?” Vanessa asked, moseying around the desk.

The bird-like man shrugged as he backed toward the door. A smile tugged at his mouth, but didn’t materialize. “I have a few options. Nothing definite.”

She linked her arm with one of Emil’s and led him back to an armchair. “I was telling Nick how clever you were to recognize the Ming vase.”

“Shows some real expertise,” Nick said. “My brother must’ve relied on you to authenticate and price many items.” He settled into a blue brocade chair to watch her finesse the scrawny bastard into folding his cards.

Emil fingered his red bow tie and puffed out his chest. “He was an expert in many areas, but I do have my specialties.”

Vanessa perched on the third chair. She smiled sweetly. “Like Chinese art and antiques? Maybe furniture?”

His head and his Adam’s apple bobbed in tandem. “I spent a few years in the Orient. Learned a lot firsthand from native experts.”

“So naturally, when Alexei needed authentication of some antique Chinese cabinets last year, you were his man.”

The assistant manager’s pale eyes darted from one to the other of them. Vanessa’s expression of open curiosity and Nick’s relaxed pose and mask of casual interest appeared to satisfy him. “Well, there were a few.”

“Fascinating,” she cooed. “With ivory inlay and fancy decorations?”

Her low, sexy voice spiked Nick’s blood pressure. He didn’t like another man being her focus, even as a pretense. His muscles knotted, but he restrained himself.
Give the man plenty of rope…

“Yes,” the assistant manager finally answered with a smug smile. “There was one in particular. A game box.”

“What do you mean?”

“A box about the size of that printer on the desk. With ivory and jade inlay in a dragon design. It opened into a dozen small compartments with ivory game pieces, dice and boards. Mahjong, chess and others.”

“Wonderful,” she gushed. “I remember in the records there were Assyrian plaques and statues of gods and goddesses. Is that another area of your special expertise?”

Nick couldn’t prevent a smile. The woman was reducing the poor little man to a fawning puppy with her sexy voice and big green eyes, and she believed males considered her a buddy. He’d gladly spend years convincing her otherwise.

Fortunately the other man took Nick’s smile as encouragement. The preening peacock puffed out his chest. “I wish. The Assyrian pieces were prime finds. Alexei handled those himself. Him and that woman from the museum.” He gave a disdainful sniff. “I personally thought they were worth more than he got for them. Particularly the plaque.”

“What was special about the plaque?”

“A most unusual item. Ivory. Of a lion killing a Nubian. Probably one of a kind.”

She folded her hands in her lap and nodded in satisfaction. “I hope Alexei appreciated what a valuable asset he had in you.”

The foolish man had the grace to blush. “I guess.”

Nick held his breath as she zeroed in for the kill.

“You should’ve been well paid for your expertise and your efforts. Did he give you a cut of his commission from New Dawn, or did they pay you separately?”

No proud peacock now, Emil looked more like a banty rooster that had lost a cockfight. He shrank into the chair. His flush leached away. Beads of sweat formed at his temples. “I don’t know what you mean.”

She patted his arm again. “No, really. A man of your talents must’ve been properly compensated.” When he didn’t reply right away, she recoiled, a shocked expression rounding her mouth. She turned to Nick with a crusader’s zeal in her eyes. “Nicky, sweetheart, we really must do something if Alexei shortchanged dear Emil.”

Nicky? Nick’s brain scrambled to keep up. “Speak up, man. Did my brother cheat you?”

Dollar signs scrolled across the man’s pupils. His Adam’s apple made a slow journey up and down his chicken throat as he swallowed his discretion. Ah, greed. The great motivator.
“I was paid for a few of the extra jobs I did. But not for all of them.”

Nick waited. Patient silence often lubricated tongues.

“Alexei paid me no extra. The other, the New Dawn man, he paid me a commission. I have no records. You understand.”

Nick understood, all right. Like his brother, this worm had trafficked with the terrorists. But unlike Alexei, he was lucky to be alive. So far.
Nick set down his coffee cup before he crushed it into bits. “Of course.”

Vanessa smiled. “And tell me, did New Dawn pay you handsomely for delivering the plans of the Chevy Chase house?”

As her words sank in, his face frosted over like a shallow puddle in a cold snap. “What are you talking about?”

“Those plans were to guide their agents to my bedroom. You’re very lucky they weren’t successful. The money they paid you would’ve made you an accomplice to kidnapping or murder.”

Fear and guilt slid across his weasel face. “No. I never…”

“Ah, but you did.” The even, unemotional delivery belied her accusatory words. “Fifty thousand dollars is a hefty deposit. Clever of you stashing it in a shiny new bank account in Chevy Chase Trust, far from your regular bank.”

“Too bad you won’t get to use it.” Nick leaned forward, his hands loose on his knees, his weight balanced, ready.

Emil jerked to his feet, but his knees knocked like two saplings in a windstorm. “You can’t threaten me. You’re just guessing.”

Vanessa made sympathetic clucking sounds. “Emil, if you’re going to lead a life of crime, you should be more discreet. The day we inventoried the house, you mentioned the Chinese chest and the Assyrian plaque. I didn’t remember until last night that Alexei sold those items on behalf of the terrorists. That list isn’t public knowledge. A quick search this morning found your new bank account.”

“What is it they say?” Nick said. “Follow the money.”

The banty rooster mustered some bravado for another round. “It’s just your word. You have no proof I did anything illegal for that money.”

“Ah, but you just gave us proof, Emil,” Vanessa said. She extracted a tiny recorder from her pocket and held it up like a quiz-show hostess. “You were more helpful than you know.”

Emil goggled at the recorder. He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again like a landed trout. Clamped it shut as if he realized his every word was drowning him.

Nick stood to employ the impact of his greater size. “Some official associates of mine are very interested in this New Dawn representative. Talking to them might make things go easier on you.”

Emil stuck out his chin and fisted his bony hands at his sides. “I have nothing to say.”

Vanessa leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “I wonder what would happen if a rumor floated to certain contacts that Alexei wasn’t alone in skimming profits from New Dawn. What a shame if you met the same fate as he.”

His eyes narrowed at her. “His death was an accident. I read it in the newspaper.”

“A knife between the ribs is hardly ever an accident. New Dawn has many tentacles and resources.” She examined her manicure before gazing up at him again. Friendly interest and concern vanished, replaced by professional-grade steel.

His face ashen, Emil started for the door.

In a flash, Vanessa lunged. She delivered a quick chop to his throat.

When he gagged and bent over, Nick yanked his arms behind him.

The man coughed and writhed, but sagged when stymied by Nick’s superior strength.

“Ah, there you are, Byrne,” Vanessa said. “I thought you’d never get here.”

Beyond the DARK control officer and two others, Celia Chin stood in the hallway. Her eyes were as round as the full hunter’s moon.

***

“The man’s a land mine just waiting to blow,” Simon Byrne said to Vanessa in the command post next door. He leaned back in the upholstered office chair and crossed his booted feet on the computer desk. His usual cocky humor had vanished. “We can’t trust him.”

Resentment banded Vanessa’s chest, but she forced a deep breath before she responded. Byrne was lounging nearby just so he could bug her. Other agents, tech staff and Gabe Harris monitored the security system at other computers. She knew Nick better than the DARK officer. She trusted him. But Simon would think her gut feeling was based on personal emotions and not professional experience.

Emotion had no place in the mission.

She paused in running her search and swiveled away from her computer. “Nick Markos won’t do anything to jeopardize our plans. Sketchy as they are. He wants his brother’s murderers as much as we do.”

“Maybe.” His feet slammed to the floor. “He wants the danger finished, and he has a thing for you. It’s the damaged soldier that worries me. You making any headway on Somalia?”

“Some.” At least that was an area they agreed on. “I have the names of the men in his A team. People to contact.” Maybe the official cover-up hadn’t gagged all his former buddies.

Byrne uttered a noncommittal grunt as he stood. “That could take some time. You’d better hope Markos doesn’t find that ten mil before we get Husam Al-Din.”

She bit back a retort. They expected the terrorist leader to make another threatening phone call after the car bombing, and silence was straining everyone’s nerves. Doing her job was her best course of action. Playing her part and spying on Nick.
She was getting damn tired of both. Acting the urbane sophisticate at embassy dinners and penthouse parties and not leveling with Nick had her nerves as scattered as fallen leaves in a breeze.

She printed out the list of names and addresses before logging out. Tomorrow she’d start with the man who’d survived the Karkaa ambush with Nick, Cruiser aka Louis Crusotti.

When she returned from the surveillance house, she found Nick in the library. His conference call with several of the N.D.M. International managers promised to last most of the afternoon, so she went to the basement gym to work out. Her Pilates routine both relaxed and revived her. Guzzling much-needed liquid from her water bottle, she mopped her forehead with a hand towel. She keyed on the treadmill.

Remembering yesterday’s success, she smiled. She and Nick had worked together like longtime partners who knew each other’s minds. He’d been prepared to defend her physically, but sat back and let her work. He even played along. Like a pro, in fact. Between them, they maneuvered Emil into his corner. If only the little man’s information could lead DARK to New Dawn’s leader.

When she finished her shower, from her window she saw Nick standing out on the terrace. The scuffed leather jacket he wore emphasized the width of his shoulders and the narrowness of his hips. He’d jammed his hands in the rear pockets of his jeans, and he was staring pensively into the chilly November darkness.
She knew firsthand the tensile firmness of those shoulders and hips, the gentleness of his strong hands. She knew the body beneath the layers. If looking at him clothed was enough to turn her on, good thing she’d finished on the treadmill. Humpty Dumpty might’ve had another fall.
She slipped on a heavy sweater and traipsed down to the sunroom.

“May I join you, or is this star-gazing for one?” she said as she stepped onto the terrace.

He beckoned to her. “Not many stars. Rain clouds like it here.” He scrubbed a hand across his five-o’clock shadow. “I need fresh air after that phone session.”

“You don’t like being a long-distance boss.” No more than he’d be a long-distance dad. The thought blindsided her, and her heart thudded an extra beat. She blinked the notion away. If he were ever a dad, she’d never know about it, would she? “Is N.D.M. chugging uphill or downhill without you?”

He held one hand out level. “On the straightaway. Not downhill. Reports were good. Problem with the Hong Kong supplier’s ironed out. New York has the other glitches in hand.”

Clouds played peek-a-boo with the stars and the waxing moon. Now that fall’s advance was denuding the yard’s surrounding shrubbery, traffic noises drifted to her ears. She caught a whiff of fragrant wood smoke from a fireplace in the posh neighborhood. Designer firewood, she guessed, from the Chevy Chase Supermarket.

Her heartbeat tripped as Nick tucked her beneath one arm. Her mind temporarily snagged on his familiar scent, one she would always associate with autumn leaves and wood smoke. “So delegating responsibility’s not all bad.”

“Thanks for reminding me I could delegate,” he said. “And thank you for your generous words about Alexei. I tend to forget his good qualities.”

She tilted her head for his kiss. The thrill sang through her body and curled around her heart. He was strong and honorable. Byrne was off base.

When they finally separated and her brain worked again, she said, “My generous words? What did I say? When?”

“I must be good if my kisses short-circuit that quick brain of yours.” He grinned, a lethal curve that mesmerized her again. “At the funeral, you praised Alexei’s expertise to the playboy prince. I meant to mention it then, but events blew it from my mind.”

Events like the car bombing.
“You’re welcome. I meant it. He was the expert. Emil Alfieris is cocky about his knowledge, but wrong about the Ming vase. According to DARK’s consultant, it is a later copy. Your brother’s valuation on it was correct.”

He laughed, a hearty rumble that seduced as much as his smile. “I don’t mind putting a lower price on the vase. It’s worth it. Does our banty rooster know?”

Now it was her turn to grin. “Not yet.”

“Has he crowed?”

She wagged her head. “Emil clucked a bit, but I think his crowing is done. He did agree to look at pictures to find the New Dawn agent he met. So far he hasn’t identified any of their people we know about or anyone in the museum reception pictures.”

“Frustrating. They get the breaks, and we get dead ends.”

“You must be pleased that neither Lise nor her boyfriend sold us out.”