Page 45 of Stone
“Antiquingwasn’t a verb, either, and yet here we are. The evolution of language,” she said.
Simon exhaled in a huff that might have hid a laugh. “How about lunch? And an update.”
“I got this,” Viper said, raising the tray and walking toward the atrium.
“Go,” Dottie said, jerking her head in Viper’s direction. “The faster you get the update, the sooner you can head home and ease those sore muscles.” She paused, then waggled her eyebrows. “Take care ofeach other.”
Philly snorted, then fist-bumped Dottie as she spun and walked back to the kitchen. Simon sighed and shook his head. “Sorry.”
She snickered. “Not your circus, not your monkeys.”
“If only that were true,” he muttered before tugging her in the same direction as Viper.
“I’ll check on Amber,” Philly said, peeling off and following Dottie to the kitchen.
By the time she and Simon had their plates filled with cold fried chicken, hot biscuits, and a tangy coleslaw, Philly had joined them with a pitcher of lemonade and glasses for everyone.
“Oh, this is good,” she said after taking a sip. “It tastes…I can’t put my finger on it. A little minty, but something else.”
“She blends a cucumber and mint in water, lets it sit a few minutes, then strains it and uses that to make the simple syrup,” Philly said.
“Is she a trained chef?” she asked.
All three men shook their heads. “She’s a woman finding herself through learning to cook,” Simon responded.
Juliana didn’t need more than that to understand. Amber’s situation had taken everything from her, even—especially—her sense of self. With every recipe she mastered, every trial that failed, every experiment that succeeded, she found another little bit of herself.
“Well, please pass on my appreciation. This is amazing,” she said, taking another sip.
“Now, the update?” Simon asked before biting into his chicken.
“It’s a good one,” Philly said.
“Where’s Monk?” she asked.
“He’s following a lead in Sacramento. He’ll be back in a few hours,” Viper responded.
“The update?” Simon prompted again.
The inevitability of their situation pressed in on her like a dark cloud, and her flight instinct fluttered to life. Philly hadn’t been entirely wrong in calling her a coward. Simon might think her strong, and in some ways, she was, but right now, she felt anything but. She didn’t want to have this conversation. She didn’t want to be reminded of Lowery and Polinsky and Gregor. Shewantedto bury her head in the sand, if only for a little while, and have it all go away.
Simon’s hand came to rest on the back of her neck, and he gently massaged the muscles. The contact and his steady presence didn’t chase the demons away, but it did make it easier to accept that it was far too late to hide from anything.
With a sigh, she looked at Philly. “Yes,” she said. “What’s the update?”
23
Stone wished he could make this all go away for Juliana. That he could somehow convince the powers that be that Lowery, Polinsky, and Gregor needed to be arrested. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t fix everything. Even if he really wanted to. Well, he didn’t want to fixeverything,but he did want to fix this for Juliana.
Philly shot him an almost apologetic look, as if sorry about the information he was about to share. Stone bit back a growl of frustration. Hewouldfix this for Juliana, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
“Based on what we found in the past two days, our theory about something happening during Desert Storm isn’t as far-fetched as we thought,” Philly said. “Do you remember in the early nineties there was talk going around about Saddam Hussein’s stolen gold?”
“We were children then,” Stone said. “Barely out of diapers. How would we remember that?”
Juliana frowned. “Didn’t they make a movie out of that? With George Clooney?”
Viper grinned. “I love war movies,” he said. “They’re the best.”
