The Dark-Hunters (568 page)

“They were excavating a site they claimed to be Atlantis. Sounded like your guys to me.”

“But we have all of our paperwork.”

“If you’re sure…” He let his voice trail off meaningfully.

She screwed her face up as if she realized her luck would have them in trouble. “Wait. Let me call.”

Ash sat down in the chair in front of her desk and stretched his legs out while she dug her phone out of her purse.

Tory frowned at his backpack on the floor and the way he kept it within easy reach. “What’s in that backpack, by the way? You’re always guarding it like it holds national security secrets or something.”

“Dirty underwear.”

She rolled her eyes. “Thanks so much for that image.”

“You asked.”

Shaking her head, she dialed David’s number. When he didn’t answer, she rang Justina. Again, no answer. Her panic set in as she tried for Bruce.

“Tory?”

She breathed in relief as he answered. “Hey, sweetie, I can’t get—”

“They’ve all been arrested.”

Disgusted and afraid, she glanced to Ash, whose handsome face was completely stoic. “What?”

“The whole team. I stayed on land to wait and sign for the new diving gear that was coming in and the next thing I knew, the boat was impounded and everyone was taken into custody.”

Tory let out a frustrated breath. “How is this possible?”

“They say our paperwork is forged.”

“Bullshit! It’s not forged. Solin helped us to get it renewed just last spring.”

“Yeah, and as usual Solin has fled the scene. We can’t find him either. For all I know he’s in jail alongside them.”

“Oh, good grief. Okay, you sit tight and I’ll see what I can do.” Hanging up, she looked at Ash, who sat as still as a statue. “You were right. My whole crew. Gone. Arrested. Perfect. Shoot me now and save me the expense of a bullet later.”

He let out a tired breath as he rubbed one large hand down his thigh. “Don’t worry. I’ll make a call and get them out.”

“You can do that?”

“I can do it.” He pulled his phone out and flipped it open with a stern flick of his wrist.

Hoping he wasn’t lying, Tory sat behind her desk and held her breath while she leaned her head against her hands. How had this happened? Her poor team. They had to be terrified over this.

Ash spoke in that deep, rhythmic flawless Greek of his that sent a shiver down her spine. “Hi, Gus, it’s Acheron Parthenopaeus. I need to pull in a favor from you. There’s a group of anthropologists who were arrested for excavating in the Aegean, this morning, I think. Can you get them out and clear them of all charges?”

He laughed. “I know they think it’s Atlantis. Everyone wants to find a treasure. But I don’t want to see them hurt for a pipe dream. They’re harmless friends of a friend if you know what I mean. Get them out of trouble for me.”

He tapped his thumb on his thigh while he listened. “No … I don’t think they need a lesson. I’m sure they’re rattled enough as it is. Give Olympia my best and let me know the minute the baby’s born. I’ll see the two of you next time I’m in Greece.”

She straightened as he closed the phone. “Well?”

“He can get them out without a problem, but the artifacts are confiscated and there’s nothing he can do about that. If you guys go digging down there again, they’re going to execute you.”

“You’re joking.”

“Not really. The authorities are extremely hot over this.”

“But we had the right permits.”

Ash held the closed phone against his chin. “According to them you didn’t and they were one step away from issuing a warrant out for you because you took part of their national heritage out of their country without permission.”

“What I have isn’t Greek, it’s Atlantean.”

“The diary
is
Greek and they’re not stupid. Even if it was Atlantean, they’d claim it since it came out of the Aegean, which is their territory.”

Tory hung her head in her hands. “I can’t believe this. I was going to hand it over to them once I got a translation for it—I always give them whatever we find … just not necessarily as soon as we find it.”

“Well, Gus can get it smoothed over. Your guys’ll be out of jail shortly and it would probably be in your best interest if you get that book back to the Greek government before they reconsider their decision and issue a warrant for you.”

She looked at him. “Thank you for all your help, Ash. Really. Thank you. I don’t know what we’d have done had you not heard about this and been here.”

“I would say no problem but actually it is, so please don’t do this again. Calling in favors is something I try really hard not to do. It usually bites me on my ass somehow.”

Tory gave him a wan smile, knowing that she’d put him in a bad position. “Tell me what I can do to make this up to you.”

“Just stay out of trouble.”

“I plan to.” She growled before she pushed herself away from her desk. “Okay, enough pity party, I—” Her words were interrupted by her cell phone ringing. “I’m holding that thought.” She picked up the phone. “Yes? No, I’m not at home. Yes, please dispatch the police. I’m on my way.”

Ash frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s the alarm company. There was a three-alarm burglary at my house.” She grabbed her purse and keys.

“I’ll drive.”

“What?”

“You’re too rattled to drive and you don’t need to go alone to confront burglars. I’ll go with you.”

Tory was so grateful to him just then. She handed him her keys and followed as he led the way out of the building to the parking lot where she’d left her Mustang.

“What a day…” she breathed as she buckled herself in. “No, what a crappy week. I’m almost afraid to get up tomorrow.”

Ash started the engine. “I know, first you met me—perish the thought—then your team got attacked. Now your house. Where’s a hammer when you really need one?”

She smiled in spite of herself.

“It’ll be all right,” he said reassuringly.

She hoped so. But in the back of her mind, she was telling herself that it was a false alarm. That there was nothing bad at her house.

Please don’t let there be anything bad at my house.
She couldn’t stand the thought of a stranger touching her things. Of her life being scrambled.

The moment Acheron parked out front, she knew better. Her front door was wide open and there was no sign of the police. She started to open the car door, but Ash stopped her.

“Wait for the police.”

“Why?”

“You don’t want to contaminate any evidence before they get here.”

He was right, but she hated it.

It was another fifteen minutes before the police arrived. They went in first and then motioned to let them know it was safe.

Tory felt her tears starting even before she entered the living room. Her entire house had been ransacked. “Oh my God…” The OCD in her was horrified by what had been done. Everything was out of order.

The police, a man and woman officer, looked at her sympathetically. “We’ll need a list of everything that’s missing.”

Tory barely understood what they were saying. Covering her mouth with her hand, she stared at pictures of her parents and family that had been thrown on the ground. Her drawers had been opened and their contents dumped all over her floor. She hadn’t seen this much damage since she’d helped friends clean up after Katrina. “I can’t believe one human being could do this to another.”

Suddenly Ash was there, holding her against his chest. “It’s all right, Soteria. Just breathe.”

She held on to him, grateful he was with her. Grateful that he was holding her while her whole world was turned upside down. First Nikolas’s attack, then her team arrested and their equipment confiscated, now this …

The female officer frowned as she scanned the damage. “Is it just me or does it look like they were searching for something?”

Tory pulled back at her question. “What do you mean?”

The male officer indicated the drawers on the floor. “In most burglaries, especially when you have houses this close together and it’s daylight, they usually grab some big-ticket items and run.” He shined his flashlight at her television, still on its stand in the corner in front of her tall windows. “They didn’t even grab your TV.”

The female officer nodded in agreement. “Not to mention, it appears the alarm was tripped on their way out of here. Like they were trying to draw you out or something.”

Tory scowled at them. “Why would they want to draw me here? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“No, it doesn’t,” the male officer said, turning his light off and returning it to his belt. “Unless they were looking for something.”

The woman offered her a kind smile. “We’ve got the CSI unit coming over to take some prints. There’s really nothing else we can do. Make a list of whatever’s missing and we’ll put it in your file and run it through the local pawn stores. Other than that, you’ll have to file a report with your insurance company.”

The male officer concurred. “And you might want to have your boyfriend stay with you tonight.”

A wave of fear went through her. “You think they’ll come back?”

The male officer shook his head. “We don’t know. Besides, most burglary vics have trouble sleeping for a night or two after a break-in.”

Tory sat on the arm of her couch as she surveyed the destruction around her. She was grateful she kept her precious artifacts either with her or locked in a vault on campus. “I can’t believe this.” Ash took her hand in his and didn’t speak while the police questioned her about possible suspects and their people came in to dust various areas and pieces for fingerprints.

They found nothing. Not a single smudge. Either the burglars were wearing gloves or they were mutants.

Personally she voted for mutants. She preferred to think that than deal with the fact that a normal, everyday person could do something like this to another.

When the police were finally gone, she turned to Ash. “I’m sure you have something better to do than baby-sit me.”

“It’s all right. I don’t mind. There are some things you shouldn’t be alone for.”

There was a slight note in his tone that made her think he’d been alone through a lot of them.

He stooped down to pick up the pictures of her parents before he returned them to her mantel. She didn’t know why, but the way he handled them made her heart clench with tenderness at his consideration for her.

“Do you have any family, Ash?”

He put the pictures right back where they’d been, as if he remembered the exact spot from his previous visit. “We all have people we love.”

She didn’t miss the fact that he avoided answering her question. Without looking at her, he went to the items that’d been knocked off her end table.

Kneeling on the ground, Ash frowned as he picked up a shadow box that had a small black rock in it. A tiny bronze plaque on the bottom read
SOTERIA’S FIRST EXCAVATION
1985.

“What’s this?”

Her eyes misted as she moved to take it out of his hand. “It’s from the first time my parents allowed me to dig with them. I was so proud when I found this. I thought I’d discovered a rare spear point. My father didn’t have the heart to tell me it was only a rock. So they framed it for me and put it in my room by my bed with a light that used to shine on it.” She sobbed as a tear escaped past her control. “Those bastards touched my parents’ belongings!”

Ash came to his feet to hold her as she cried. She clung to him as if her entire world had been shattered. He’d learned to bury his tears so deep inside that he couldn’t fathom the passion and hurt it took for her to cry like this. All he knew was that the few times in his life when he’d cried this way the one thing he’d craved had been comfort.

And not once had there ever been any.

So he offered to her what no one had ever given to him. He let her sob until she was spent and the shirt over his chest was damp from her tears.

Tory pulled back, wiping at the wet spot she’d made. “I’m so sorry, Ash. I’m not an emotional person. I’m not.” She cleared her throat and gave him the most determined look he’d ever seen. “I will not let them do this to me. I’m stronger than this.”

“Everyone cries sometimes, Tory. There are some pains that run too deep for even the strongest to take without breaking. I don’t think any less of you for it.”

She laughed nervously. “You really aren’t the asshole I thought you were, are you?”

He offered her a kind smile. “Actually, I have moments of great assholishness. Unfortunately, you seem to have been witness to most of the recent ones.”

Tory patted his muscular arm in gratitude for his understanding. He was so easy to talk to at times. Sniffing back her tears, she looked around at the mess. “I’ll never get all of this cleaned up.”

Her house phone rang. She left Ash in her living room as she went to the kitchen to answer it.

Ash returned to gathering up the photographs as he tried to understand what had happened here. He should be able to replay the entire scene in his head, but like trying to see Tory’s future, it was blank. This just wasn’t normal for him.

He was a god of fate …

Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as she returned to his side and picked up one of the drawers that had been tossed upside down next to the couch.

“That was my friend Pam. She panicked when I didn’t answer my cell and called the house. She and Kim are going to come over and help clean the mess.”

“You want me to leave then?”

She hesitated. “Only if you want to. It’s actually comforting to have you here with me.” She looked away from him as if admitting that embarrassed her and put the drawer back in place. She stepped back and froze. “How weird.”

“What?”

“They didn’t steal my stereo either.” She moved a sweater that had been tossed over it by the burglars to show him her white Bose wave system.

That was an odd thing for a burglar to miss. “Maybe they didn’t see it.”

“Maybe.” She pushed it back on the shelf, then turned it on.

Ash frowned as the Bee Gees blared. “Night Fever?” He shuddered. “Disco?”

“Shush,” she said, waving at him before she picked up another drawer. “It comforts me when I feel bad.”