As she watched him, he glanced over at her, offering up a shy smile. Then he smoothed back his gelled hair. Heidi grinned in return. Right there, just that, was the epitome of what Gunn was all about.
Cross, on the other hand, was set in his ways. And make no mistake — they were polished to perfection. But therein lay the biggest flaw for her. A man, and especially an experienced career thief, should be prepared to roll with everything and anything that presented itself during an operation. She understood that her requirements went against the grain of the team’s desires and that they were always looking for a way out, but she could see Cross being a casualty of his own accomplishments; she just hoped he wouldn’t become a casualty of war.
Jemma Blunt was the hardest to read of the entire misfit bunch. Heidi hadn’t found the time to scrutinize her past, but knew her strengths. Before now, she’d shown relatively few weaknesses, but there was always something. Always a button well hidden. Heidi thought Jemma’s was a lack of human social experience, something Cassidy was constantly trying to change with offers of days and nights out, but she never quite seemed to connect with the quieter woman.
Heidi found herself becoming more and more interested in the story of how this varied group had come together. That had to be some tale.
For now, though, she settled back to relax as the jet blasted through the skies toward DC. Within minutes her rest was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone.
“Now what? I was trying to sleep.”
“Agent Moneymaker?”
She came more awake. “Who’s this?”
“Lucie Boom. History expert.”
The English tones were clipped, almost military style. Heidi could imagine the girl standing at attention.
“Oh, hi. I didn’t expect to hear from you for a few more hours.” She thought about the time difference to DC, but the strain and weariness of the last few days was taking its toll. “What time is it there?”
“Eleven hundred hours.”
Heidi raised an eyebrow in amusement. The CIA primarily used military timing terms, but she couldn’t get used to a civilian using it. Already she could imagine how uncomfortably Lucie Boom would fit in with the relic hunter crew. “You mean eleven a.m.?” It was a gentle dig.
“That’s what I said, Agent Moneymaker.”
“Ah, right. Must have missed that. I’m guessing we’re an hour away from touchdown, Miss Boom. Can this wait until we reach the office?”
“Of course. I was merely checking in. I’ll be here when you arrive.”
The line went dead. Heidi stared at her screen for a moment before tapping her fingers against the phone’s surface.
Cross was watching her. “Trouble?”
Heidi grunted. “Could be. Too early to tell.”
“Was that the new history buff?” Gunn asked.
“Yes, Gunn. Were you listening to my conversation?”
“Umm, no. Just a wild guess.”
“Wild guess, huh? Well, let’s not judge until we get a face-to-face. How you doing with that internet crap?”
“If you mean the research I’m conducting into the Baal statues,” Gunn said with a sniff, “then relatively well, considering I’m not a historian. As you know, the nine statues are from the same era, the same place, the same… stable. What you don’t know is that there are quite a lot of inscriptions on them; some on the base and others around the head and one even up the left arm. Let’s hope it fits in somewhere, because all we have at the moment is some old guy called Plato placing Atlantis beyond the Pillars of Hercules in his works Timaeus and Critias describing events that happened nine thousand years before his time. It has been said that Atlantis was a purposeful invention, a fictional embodiment of immense power that Athens then overcame, thus proving its all-encompassing superiority. Atlantis was actually inconsequential in Plato’s works, but many have picked up on Atlantis and personified it with legend and life. Others wonder where he might have gotten such a notion. His inspiration sometimes arose from old Egyptian records, accounts of the sea people and even the Trojan War, but there is no doubt he portrayed Atlantis as a grand land, full of kings and majesty and unfathomable power, rich not only in gold but in rolling green pastures and mighty mountains.” Gunn shrugged. “That’s how legends are born.”
“It’s what we want to believe,” Cross said.
“Definitely,” Gunn said. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Or certain parts of it, at least.”
“You think they’ll look back on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries as golden ages?” Jemma said wistfully. “Disco? The airplane? Game of Thrones?”
Heidi laughed and faced the front. “Whatever we do now,” she said, “we do for our own reasons. Often, we put advancement in front of family time, work before play. Who wins?” She whispered, “At the end of the day… with all that we do… do we really make a difference?”
“You have to believe that we do,” Bodie said. “Being the law enforcement officer.”
“Well, here’s a chance for all of us to help,” Heidi said. “Find Atlantis first. Discover all the good and bad it has to offer. Stop our enemies from using any of it against us. History might not thank a team of relic hunters and the CIA for finding it first, but it will make a difference to the public that we serve. The stakes are higher than any of us can imagine, because the riches we seek are unfathomable.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
In the end they had convened at a pleasant, quiet, out-of-the-way restaurant where a real fire crackled in the hearth and the tabletops were wooden and pitted with use. The whole team found Washington, DC, a little dire and dismal after the buoyant climes of Rio and Florida. Civilians, in general, just didn’t seem as happy here. Bodie speculated that it might simply be because most of them were either at or on their way to work, but wondered if it might also have something to do with the imposing government buildings that appeared to oversee everything.
“I’m never going to Langley,” was the first thing Cassidy Coleman said to Heidi now that they had reunited.
“Crap, girl, that’s never gonna be in the cards. You think I want you in there?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I have a reputation to uphold.” Heidi had turned away, leaving Cassidy gawping and Bodie trying to hide a grin.
Bodie ordered steak, medium to well done, with fries and peppercorn sauce. It was a strange place for an operational meeting, but with the catering available, he wasn’t complaining.
“Feels like I’m being fattened up for something,” Gunn said, waving the menu and peering at the walls as if he might pick out a hidden lens.
Bodie understood the reservations of a thief all right. “Enjoy it while you can,” he said. “We’re as safe as we can be tonight. Tomorrow… who knows?”
Heidi ran through the latest events involving Jack Pantera and his family, explaining how the first safe house had now been vacated for one that promised to be more long term — located just outside Miami. Pantera, Steph, and Eric were trying to stay comfortable.
And civil, considering the hardships between them that had affected their marriage, Pantera’s covert business dealings, and the impact of the Bratva attack.
Bodie didn’t envy any of them. The mixed feelings he harbored over the entire situation continued to curdle within him. So far, he still hadn’t been able to come to terms with Jack’s betrayal and preceding silence.
But you don’t have a child.