Page 70 of The Mouse and the Maestro

She reached into the bodice, ripped off the microphone, and handed it to him. He tossed it in the back seat of the car. “Can you hear us now?” Blue asked, and there was no answering text from Maggie.

“Safe,” Jane said.

“Safe,” Blue agreed. “Now where were we? Oh, I remember.” He cupped her face in his hands. “Missed you, Jane. So much.”

Her hands rested on his chest, and she stood on her toes, bringing her lips closer to his. “I think maybe we need to go somewhere and have a long, thorough discussion.”

“I’m a huge fan of that plan,” Blue agreed when someone stepped behind him and spoke.

“Let’s all go somewhere,” the newcomer said as he jabbed a gun in the back of Blue’s head.

Chapter 29

Jane didn’t see the gun, she merely saw Charles standing by. “What are you doing here?”

“Taking matters into my own hands,” Charles replied.

“What?” Jane asked, confused.

“Pretty sure we found our forger,” Blue said.

“Charles wouldn’t…” Jane began, but then she saw the gun.

“Charles would, and Charles did,” Charles said.

“You’re the forger?” Jane said.

“Let’s all take a little ride, and I’ll tell you my tale,” Charles promised. “Jane, you drive.” He marched them a few spaces away to his car, gave Jane the keys, shoved Blue into the front seat, and hopped into the back. “No buckle,” he added when Blue reached for his seatbelt.

“I’m buckling,” Jane said, her tone defiant as she snapped it into place.

“You can buckle, Janie,” he agreed. He also didn’t buckle and Jane made a mental note of the fact before starting the car and easing onto the roadway.

“Start from the beginning,” Jane commanded.

“We’d have to go back too far for that. The point is I began to feel the need to right some wrongs, but to do that I needed money. The most expedient way to get it was to do what I did best, fake a few artifacts and sell them.”

“You funneled money to terrorists,” Jane said.

“They are not the terrorists. The United States government are the terrorists. I’ve seen things, Jane. Way more than you have or ever will. You know what it was like in Africa, the corruption, the brutality. I remained friends with people I knew when I was a mercenary, and things only got worse for them. I wanted to help, to do my part.”

“But, Charles, you forged things you’ve spent your life investigating,” she said.

“But that’s not my life’s work, it’s not the most important thing. Don’t you understand, Janie?”

“No, I really, really don’t,” Jane said, sniffling.

“Ugh, don’t cry, please. Look, I promise not to off him in front of you, okay? I wouldn’t want you to have to see that,” he said. He reached out to smooth his hand on her arm, but she jerked it out of reach.

“Don’t touch me,” she snapped.

He withdrew his hand. “Hey, I’m mad at you too, you know. I fooled everyone until you came along and ruined it. It never occurred to me you would get involved with the government, with the way things are with your dad. Why did you?”

“Because they asked, and it was the right thing to do,” she said.

He blew out a breath. “The right thing to do. You have wrong ideas about who the bad guys are in this scenario.”

“Pretty sure it’s the guy holding a gun and kidnapping me. Speaking of which, you ordered the first hit on me, didn’t you?”

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