Page 14 of Loki

"You bet I will. I must make sure she does not steal anything else," Nik muttered, grabbing a chair and setting it beside the stacked artefact boxes, before he seated himself, folding his arms like he was some sort of bouncer or guard. Poser.

Jorunn shoved her stuff back in her coat pocket, and followed Karl out into the night air. Was it just her, or had the temperature dropped ten degrees?

Karl sighed. "Look, Jorunn, I know this is very new to you, but remote archaeology like this is very much a matter of teamwork. We work hard together to uncover history that's been hidden for hundreds or even thousands of years, fighting weather and climate change and whatever else Mother Nature throws at us to make it even harder. It's important that we all get along, and we do not disrespect each other."

"He was being a dickhead! He called me a thief!" Jorunn protested. God, she sounded like a whiny six-year-old. She wasn't Jojo any more. She wasn't.

"Things have been going missing from the site. While it's possible they've just been mislaid, it's increasingly likely that there is a thief on this expedition. And after I saw you smuggle a bottle of aquavit out under your jacket last night..."

"Lara said I could take it. I just didn't want anyone else to see it," she began. "Honestly, if you're pointing fingers at anyone, it's Saint Nik you should be suspicious of. I've found coins almost every day we've been out, and yet there isn't a single one in the artefact boxes. The only person documenting our finds on every single one of those days is Nik."

Karl didn't believe her. Even though it was the truth. God, if she had half the wheedling persuasiveness of her mother, he'd be lapping up every word and arresting Nik on the spot.

Karl sighed. "Like I said, this expedition is about all of us working together to discover the secrets of the past. Not hiding them or disagreeing with each other. Once the expedition is over, you can both write papers to every peer reviewed journal out there, disputing the findings and conclusions of what we find for the rest of your professional lives. But now, we work together. Nikolai is your colleague. Those artefacts are priceless national treasures that belong to the world, and the museum is waiting for them. Will you help me in ensuring no more of them go missing?"

In other words, would she please stop stealing them, Jorunn thought but didn't say. Damn it. Karl was actually a nice guy. One her mother would rob blind, given half a chance, and one who was being robbed blind by someone else – most likely Nik, if she could only find the proof.

Which gave her the answer Karl wanted. "Absolutely. I'll do everything I can to make sure everything we find here makes it safely to the lab, and then on to the museum," she said. Even if she had to hold Nik upside down and shake him to empty his pockets.

Karl gave her a tired smile. "I'm delighted to hear it. Now, bed. For you and for me." He trudged off toward his tent.

THIRTEEN

Despite the direct order from the leader of this little encampment, the thief headed for the tent they were using as a yard house. Loki debated whether to confront her inside the close confines, or wait until she emerged. While the first would be funnier, he decided the second would be more practical. He didn't want to risk her dropping the brooch into the cesspit if he startled her, which he certainly would if he burst in on her doing her ablutions.

Perhaps he should do more to set her at her ease, so she'd hand the brooch over without trouble. He'd watched the encampment for long enough to know the men wore different garb to his own. If he looked like one of them, she was more likely to trust him. He could steal clothing from one of the men, but they were all in their tents, so that might prove difficult. Easier to create the illusion of such clothing instead.

"Who the fuck are you?"

While he'd been distracted, trying to perfect the illusion, she'd emerged.

Loki straightened. This would have to do. "I am a traveller, recently arrived across the pass, and I wish to share your fire for the night."

She raised her eyebrows. "That's a line I haven't heard before. Don't you know this is a national park, where fires aren't allowed?"

That...was not possible. "How did you and your people cook your food, then?" he demanded. He'd smelled the hot meal, and while he'd heard of people to the north, whose mountains spat fire and smoke, cooking their food in hot springs that steamed like cauldrons, he saw no signs of such things here.

She looked uncomfortable. "We have permission to use a couple of gas cookers, but we only have a limited amount of gas, and if we run out, it's trail mix and tinned sardines until the next supply run, or at least that's what Lara threatened us with when one of the guys left the stove on."

Loki barely understood a word of this. "But I am a traveller. Is it not customary to offer me hospitality?"

She laughed. "First you want to use our stove, and now you're asking for space in my tent? Dude, even Saint Nik's offer was better than that, and he still got a "fuck no" response. What the hell are you doing up here in the mountains without proper gear?"

This was not going as well as he had hoped. "I am a simple traveller..."

"Yeah, you said that, and it still makes no sense. No one comes up here except the archaeology teams, because this is a protected site. And as you're not one of us...you're not here for anything good. Which makes me wonder...are you the thief who's been stealing our stuff?"

After Erik had called him a traitor, now his drudge called him a thief? Loki had never been so insulted in his life. He drew himself up to his full height. "I, Loki Laufeyjarson, am many things, but I am not and have never been a thief."

If anything, this only seemed to make her even more suspicious. "You say your name is Loki? Really Loki?"

A rustling sound, before a man emerged from a nearby tent. "Hey, Jorunn. You going to use the WC, or is it free?"

The thief – the real thief – turned away. "Oh, hey, Fredrik. No, I'm done. It's all yours."

She turned back to Loki...or where Loki had been standing, before he'd slipped beneath the stones at her feet. Not a moment too soon, or this Fredrik would have seen him.

The thief hurried back to her tent before Loki could follow.

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