Page 105 of The Scarab's Game

Chapter 38

Emmett

Staringat the auctioneer was nothing more than cover. My peripheral vision—and my brain—was trained on Noah. He took a seat behind Dante and Massimo. When he leaned forward to speak with them, Dante craned his head back, then spun to glower at me. But I kept my gaze on the action everyone else was there for.

Over my earpiece, Jayce made random quips at people as she passed them, demonstrating to us she’d gotten in. Brie and Scarlett kept everyone up-to-date about Jayce and Drew’s locations and the video feed from the drones inside the tunnels. The guards had the first wave of urban explorers nearly under control. Everything was going to plan.

“Brie,” I whispered, “can you have one of your team members research this golden disc? I want to know what it is.”

“We’re on it,” Brie said.

Jayce said something to Drew over the comms—a sarcastic comment about him colliding with her. In reality, she’d snuck the device that would allow Brie to hack the security feed into his pocket.

Jenn approached, threading her arm around mine. “You okay? You were talking to Noah for an awful long time.”

“Fine.”

Jenn sighed. “Fine? I’m still in shock.”

The auctioneer introduced the golden disc.

Massimo took the first bid.

“I mean… every time I turn around here, something else crazy happens.” She held my arm tighter. “Can you believe they brought the fake painting to the auction?”

“The fake’s here?” I asked, momentarily distracted from the auction.

Jenn nodded and put her head on my shoulder. “At least one good thing’s happened. You and I?—”

“Massimo’s bidding on a golden disc.” I inclined my head toward the front before she could mention anything going on between us. I couldn’t let the team hear that. “Considering how much gold he already has in the gallery and no doubt in his home, it’s a curious purchase.”

Jenn opened her auction catalog. “This one’s from China, originally part of a fengguan from the ninth century. His gallery doesn’t have much from East Asia.”

As Jenn spoke, Brie filled in more details on her end. “It came from the inventory of a Chinese noblewoman. In that period, the dragon represented the emperor. And can you guess what represented the empress?”

“The phoenix?” I guessed.

“Yes, how’d you know that?” Jenn asked, flipping pages in her auction catalog, as though searching for information. “The fengguan is also known as a phoenix crown.”

Shit.Drew had called it. I was more distracted than I’d realized. I shouldn’t have responded to Brie while Jenn was talking to me.

“You’re right about his interest in antiquities,” I said, trying to recover. “Jean-Philippe mentioned something about Massimo’s fascination with phoenixes, specifically. I waswondering if this might be related, but a nest or feathers would seem more appropriate.”

That was a reasonable cover.

I watched the auction intently, my mind racing with possibilities. Massimo and three others were locked in a bidding war, the price skyrocketing past three million.

The reward money for returning the scarab might be enough to snag this mysterious disc. You should bid on it.

No, Emmett, that’s a bad idea.

Jenn closed her auction catalog and tucked it under her arm with her clutch. “I’m not sure about other periods, but the phoenix was often depicted with a halo in medieval European iconography. Maybe in Chinese mythology, the crown?—”

“That’s it!” I blurted, my eyes darting between her and the auction. “The Fenix Group, as far as we’re aware, has collected a talon, a feather, and a beak. All made of solid gold, ancient pieces from various cultures around the world.”

“You think they’re collecting parts of a larger statue or something?”

“That’s got to be it!” I said, with a couple of voices over my earpiece echoing the comment.

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