Page 48 of Sleigh Bells and Snowstorms
Natalie:Thanks.
Picturing the curl of her lips as she smiled sent another surge of warmth spreading through me. It was an odd feeling—not something I was accustomed to. The heat of attraction was familiar enough, and I felt that too. But I experienced a different type of pleasure when I was with Natalie. One I couldn’t name.
I checked the time. Maple wouldn’t be up for a while yet, so I decided to get some sleep. I’d ring her first thing in the morning.
My phone woke me. I sat up, instantly alert, and answered.
“Bloody hell, Maple, what time zone do you think I’m in?”
“Sorry. It’s important.”
“I was going to ring you first thing anyway. I have someone I need you to look into.”
“Jensen—”
“Bloke by the name of Julian Myers. It might be a dead end, but my instincts tell me something is off. He could be a new player.”
“Jensen,” she said, her voice insistent.
“What?”
“We just got word that Archer Prince resurfaced.”
That got my attention. I’d been hunting Archer Prince for years. He was a prolific black market art and antiquities dealer, and we’d connected him to a number of major heists. Catching him had become something of an obsession. But he’d gone completely dark in the past year as if he’d fallen off the face of the earth. Maple and I had begun to wonder if he were dead.
“Where?”
“We’re not sure where he is now, although some reports say Cairo. But it’s not where he is now that’s important. It’s where he’s going to be. We have reliable intelligence that he has a deal planned.”
“What sort of deal?”
“We think he’s going to sell theStorm on the Sea of Galilee.”
“You’re fucking joking.”
“I’m fucking not.”
TheStorm on the Sea of Galileewas a Rembrandt and one of the most famous pieces of stolen art in modern history. Twothieves posing as police officers had stolen it and a dozen other paintings from a museum in Boston more than three decades earlier. The crime had never been solved.
Had Archer been behind one of the biggest art heists in decades?
“Do we know he has it?” I asked.
“We don’t have confirmation. But Jensen, this is your chance. Our informant tells us he’s heading to Paris to close the deal.”
I rose and paced across the room, my body thrumming with excited energy. “Paris. That’s an interesting choice. Who’s the buyer?”
“We’re not certain, but there are several possibilities. Known entities. We’ll have a plane waiting for you in Seattle. You need to get there as quickly as possible.”
I stopped in my tracks. “I’m in the middle of a job.”
“We’ll handle it. You need to leave now. There’s a winter storm headed your way.”
I hesitated. Why was I hesitating? The choice was clear.
“All right.”
“Good. I’ll send over what we have. You can review it en route.”
