Rarities Unlimited 02 - Running Scared

Shane’s smile went all the way to his eyes. “That she is. She has even been known to sidestep Uncle Sam on occasion.”
    April waited.
    He got his pen out of the pocket of the green wind shell and began walking the slim gold cylinder over his fingers.
    She leaned harder against the wall and kept waiting.
    Click as gold met gold. Silence. Click. Silence.
    “Basically,” he said after a time, “you don’t have enough on me to stick up a fly’s ass.” Click. “In order to prove that I was receiving stolen goods, you have to prove that the goods were stolen in the first place. You can’t.”
    “You seem real sure of that.”
    Click. “I am.”
    “You don’t think they were stolen?”
    “When? Last year? A hundred years ago? A thousand? Two thousand?”
    “I’ll let the lawyers dance on that pinhead. Meanwhile, you can help me out or you can spend time in jail while everyone does the dance.”
    “I’d be out on OR before you were back on the West Coast.”
    “On the gold, yes. On money laundering? Uh-uh, slick. You’d do some time. I’m the head of the interdepartmental task force that’s been working to bring the triads down.”
    “So that’s where the FBI came in.”
    She showed him a curve of hard white teeth.
    “I don’t launder money, and you know it,” Shane said.
    “I thought I did. Then a little birdy did the tweet-tweet thing in my ear, and I went and got a piece of paper from a judge that says I can vet your casino computers right down to the last byte.”
    “Be my guest.”
    April smiled. It made her looks even more striking, more intense. “That’s what Dana said you would say. So suppose you and I will make a little bet, slick. You show me your computers without benefit of the search warrant. If you’re clean, I’ll bow out and let the lawyers dance, and you’ll be home in an hour. If you’re not clean, I’ll bury the evidence—if you’ll help me set up a sting that will shut down the Red Phoenix casino laundry before it really gets going in Vegas.”
    It didn’t take Shane two seconds to get to the bottom line. “I’m out of here now. The gold goes with me. Not negotiable.”
    April didn’t like it, but she had expected it. She straightened from the door and reached for the handle. “All right. Let’s go.”
    “Not quite yet.”
    She turned so quickly that her cranberry-colored jacket flared out. “What.”
    It wasn’t a question.
    “Since I’m being such a generous and helpful citizen,” he said, “one who isn’t even yelling about false arrest on top of entrapment, I think Uncle should give me something in return.”
    “A gold medal? Lunch in the Rose Garden with the Secret Service passing the salt?”
    “Nothing that fancy. I just want Uncle on my side when it comes time to explain to the Brits that unless and until they prove the gold was stolen from them at a time when ownership of the antiquities was covered by international law, they shouldn’t expect me to hand over millions of dollars’ worth of Celtic artifacts just because I’m such a sweet guy.”
    “And if they can prove ownership?”
    “It’s theirs.”
    “I’ll do what I can. No guarantees, Tannahill. Antiquities are a hot-button topic in international diplomacy.”
    He gave her an amused smile. “You think?”
    “Yeah, I think.” Smiling in spite of herself, she shook her head. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think Dana chose her core male customers by their shoulders and their smiles.”
    Shane laughed. “You’d probably arrest me if I told you why I think Uncle sends you after men.”
    She lowered her dense black eyelashes and gave him a very female kind of smile. “If I had thought that approach would work with you . . .”
    “It wouldn’t. I can appreciate without touching.”
    “Yeah. That’s what the three women we ran past you said.”
    His eyebrows shot up. “Three? When?”
    “Jesus, you didn’t even notice. They’ll be heartbroken.” Shaking her head, April opened the door. “After you, slick.”

Chapter 61
    Las Vegas
    November 5
    Midafternoon
    “Y ou’re sure you didn’t see any of the gold at all?” Dana Gaynor demanded, glaring from Risa to Niall. “Not even a glimpse?”
    Rather warily, Niall watched the dark-haired dynamo who had showed up with no warning at the Golden Fleece’s front desk and demanded to be taken to S. K. Niall. Dana almost never lost her temper, but she was looking more than halfway there right now. Her small and