Page 90 of Boxed In

Unfortunately, they had lost Peterbalm, the man who had received the stolen shipment of antiques. Somehow he had escaped from the trunk of his car. Now they were considering what to do.

Brown looked around as though he expected an angel of the Lord to descend from the heavens and smite them. In fact, that was a lot like what he was thinking. Although the terms were different, he knew they were in serious trouble.

“If we can’t find Garner and the woman, we have to find the temple and intercept them.” Smith said.

“That’s dangerous,” Jones objected.

Smith shrugged. “It may be our last opportunity to acquire the box.”

“How do we find the temple?” Brown asked.

Smith pointed to the backseat. “We have the computer. We can duplicate Garner’s search.”

“You can do that?” Brown asked.

“I have computer experience,” he said, and Brown heaved a sigh. So much for certainty. Still, it was their only option, barring driving around the city looking for the man and woman.

“They had help getting away,” Jones said.

“You’re sure of that?” Brown challenged.

“Somebody’s hiding them,” Smith said.

“Peterbalm switched sides?” Brown asked.

“He’s disappeared, too. So we can’t exactly ask him,” Smith snapped. He looked back at the computer again. I need a place where I can work on this machine.”

“Where?”

“A hotel room,” he said. “Someplace close so we can get there quickly when I find the location of the temple.”

oOo

Olivia heard Luke soften his voice, as if remembering that men didn’t give women orders in today’s world—unless they were paying for the privilege, like Carl Peterbalm.

“Please stay here and tell them what happened to us after the . . . bad guys arrived.”

She felt her chest go tight. She wanted to stay with him, but she understood the advantage of their each taking on a different task.

“Okay.”

As he limped down the hall, she began speaking again, telling Frank and Brand about the three men, the shoot-out in the garage, and the rest of it—leaving out how they’d spent their time in the cave.

“You’ve had quite a dangerous couple of days,” Frank said when she had finished.

“Unfortunately.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t anticipate the gunmen.”

“It worked out,” she answered.

“So now what?” Brand asked.

“I give the box back,” Luke said from the doorway.

“You got a message from the Master of the Moon?” she asked.

“Yes.”

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