Page 17 of Once a Hero

“You think Glynn works for her?” Earl made a face to show disgust.

“We don’t know, do we? We know that Molyneux cannot leave France—not legally. She has to send people to do her dirty work for her. Someone who has a US passport would be allowed into the USA.”

“Where the three brooches are supposed to be.”

“And we lost the one we could have had.” Jake wondered who else was working for Beatrice the treasure hunter, and how big her organization was.

And the missing three-amber brooch bothered him. Was he losing his agent acuity? “We’re back to square one.”

“Yes, we are.”

Chapter Eight

“He’s bluffing. He doesn’t have the one-amber brooch, but that makes me think he knows where it is.” Kenichi seemed confident of his finding, but it scared Beatrice.

It was a rainy morning in San Francisco, and they had finished breakfast without Raynelle, who had gone off somewhere to decompress alone.

Beatrice paced the floor in their hideaway townhouse. “Where did you get that information?”

“Gimme a pay raise and I’ll tell you.” Kenichi chuckled. “Otherwise it’s best if you don’t know because then you won’t be liable in court.”

“I don’t know if that’s a failsafe way to protect me.” Beatrice rolled her eyes. “I think I know what you did but I don’t like it. I don’t want you breaking any law to get us to where we need to go.”

“What do you think I did?”

“When I was talking to Jake at the wharf, you hacked into his phone via mine because we were mere inches apart.”

Kenichi wiggled his eyebrows. “So it’s Jake now, huh? Not Agent Kessler or anything formal?”

“He told me his name is Jake.” For whatever reason. Maybe to gain her trust. “Okay. So you scanned his phone.”

“He’s not very techno savvy, but enough to use a burner phone. There was nothing in it. He made a few calls but they were all untraceable. No text messages.”

“But he has a photo of the one-amber brooch.”

“I wouldn’t put it past the FBI to entrap anyone.”

“Well, he’s not FBI anymore.” Beatrice told him what happened at the police station.

“That, I didn’t know.” Kenichi looked a bit stunned. “Maybe I should keep a better eye on him.”

“At the police station, there was a man with him,” Beatrice said. “I heard the name Earl but I didn’t catch the last name. Sounds like someone who works for Helen Hu?”

“Might be. I’ll keep one eye on Jake and one eye on Earl then.”

Beatrice prayed for Raynelle, hoping that she was okay, and that she would return to them in one piece. Pressure had been the reason Raynelle had left the CIA in the first place.

Treasure hunting was supposed to be a piece of cake compared to what the CIA did every day.

Then again, maybe they should just pack up and go home to Charleston.

“I think I know what you’re thinking.” Kenichi didn’t look up. “You’re asking yourself if this is worth the trouble.”

“How did you guess?”

Kenichi chuckled. “How many times in the last five years have you asked yourself that very question?”

“Too many times. I may not be cut out for this.” Beatrice sighed. “It’s getting dangerous. Like tonight.”

---