Page 35 of Artifacts

“That we’re just leaving,” Darrell answered, nudging his shoulder into Sean’s to slide him away. He grabbed the bag from the pew before they made a hasty retreat.

“Lovely church you have here, Deacon,” Sean said as they exited.

“You do know that sounded exactly like you were gonna add ‘shame if something happened to it’?” Darrell said.

“This was fucking stupid, Dazzle!” Sean burst out. “And not just a waste of time and manpower, which we’ll have to account for, officially or unofficially, back at the station. I mean if that idiot calls Fuentes, we could be screwed.”

“You play hunches all the time,” Darrell protested, jogging to keep up with his partner.

Sean cast him an angry look. “Yeah, but not because I’m trying to get in someone’s pants.”

“Yeah you do!” They were sprinting through the grassy garden now, heading back the way they’d come, then through the gate in the wall.

“Well, I don’t wanna get in trouble over some guy who’s—” Sean almost tripped as he came to a sudden stop. “Here.”

Darrell just managed to keep from slamming into his partner as he frowned at Sean. “Who’s—” Then he saw him, and Darrell’s lungs seized with fear. “Aldric?”

Sean was right. Aldric was there, on the path that led from the mission to the visitor center.

“I thought I told you not to be here,” Darrell grated at Aldric, his anger at Sean finding an outlet.

“I can go where I like.” Aldric sounded as pissed as Sean, who scoffed.

“You were right,” he said to Darrell, making him frown in response. “When you said you didn’t expect me to understand.” Sean sighed. “Look, see you at the station, yeah? Where we’d better hope we can fix this.” Sean gave them both a curt nod and left.

“It didn’t seem too dangerous, or whatever reason it was for you telling me to stay behind. Not if no one came for the box.” Aldric took the bag from Darrell.

He’d put it in an Intrinsic Value bag, Darrell noticed, when Aldric shook it out by the handles. Darrell had been carrying it folded over, to hold it more securely. Aldric’s words stung, just as Sean’s had. “You’re sure it was in the church? And this mission?”

“Yes. I’m not stupid.” Aldric looked as though he might stamp a foot. “I would have been here sooner, but Randa Buckman called.”

“She did? What did she want?”

“She was almost hysterical, begging the store to at least let her see her husband’s prized possessions once more. I replied I couldn’t say yes or no because I was only an employee.”

“Wait.” Darrell’s brain was spinning, his mouth struggling to catch up. “An employee who wasn’t supposed to be at the store at that time, because he should have been a few miles away, in response to a phone call. Of course no one showed up, if someone was listening and knew the handover was a setup!”

“So this is my fault?” Aldric demanded, his cheeks darkening with a blush.

Before Darrell could answer Aldric’s question, his cell rang, and he took it out on reflex. He tried to silence it but answered it by mistake. “Mateo? Not now. Really bad time. No. Wait. I need to talk to you.” He remembered his suspicions. Was it a coincidence that Mateo, who was probably working with the guy Darrell suspected was behind this, was calling now? “Hey, where are you going?”

The last was to Aldric, who’d turned and stalked off down the path leading to Roosevelt Avenue, the plastic bag swinging from his wrist which was jammed through the handles. Cursing, Darrell looked down at his cell phone, to see if Mateo was still there. He wasn’t—the call had disconnected. Should he call back?

A shriek made him look up, and his heart squeezed to a stop. “No!” he yelled, uselessly. “Shit!”

Aldric was fighting off two men who’d grabbed him and were dragging him toward the avenue. The avenue, where traffic flowed, making pursuit difficult, and where several parked cars, one of which was probably theirs, waited—making escape easy.

“Aldric!” Darrell started running. Fast.

Chapter Fifteen

“Get your hands off me! What do you think you’re doing?” Aldric cried to the figures dressed in black who’d rushed out from behind the half-wall of the mission building to one side of the path and surrounded him. Well, he tried to yell, but only got out a few words before the guy behind him wrapped an arm around his windpipe, cutting him off.

Who the hell are these men?Heassumedthey were men by their build, but their black hoodies, with the hoods up, made it hard to tell. He struggled then stumbled as he was pushed and pulled along. The one in front of him twisted round, grabbing at the plastic bag Aldric had dangling from his wrist. Aldric, feeling stupid, only then made the connection.

Darrell and Officer O’Hara had come here to pretend to give the fake artifact to whoever was after it, with their plan being to capture the person responsible. And instead Aldric was the onereallygetting taken away.

The road was right in front of him. He’d left his vehicle there. Had these crooks done the same? And if they succeeded in getting him inside their car, he’d be in grave danger.

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