Rarities Unlimited 02 - Running Scared

connected to the Druid gold?”
    “Call it a hunch.”
    “Call it baloney and serve it with mayo.” Journals slapped together as she slammed them into the suitcase. “Excuse me, I’m in a hurry. I’m supposed to meet someone at the airport.”
    She stood up. Too late she realized that Shane had moved in. He was so close to her now that her mouth was all but tasting the green nylon windbreaker he wore.
    “You’re not leaving here without an armed guard,” he said.
    “No worries,” Ian Lapstrake said from the doorway. “I caught an early flight.”
    Shane spun around with a lethal quickness that startled Risa. What shocked her even more was the gun that had appeared in his fist.
    Ian smiled and held his hands in plain sight. “Hey, Shane. Long time no see.”
    “You sneak up on me again and you won’t see anything for a long time, period.” The gun disappeared beneath Shane’s windbreaker. “What are you doing here?”
    “Protecting Rarities Unlimited’s newest employee,” Ian said.
    “Who?” Shane asked.
    Ian glanced at Risa. “Didn’t tell him, did you?”
    “You’ve heard of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’?” Risa said. “He didn’t, and I didn’t.”
    “Beautiful,” Ian said, watching the other man warily. No wonder Dana had been smiling when she gave him the assignment. Shane was looking mean and territorial, and Risa was mad enough to slip a knife into a man where it would do the most good. “You’ll both be happy to know that, despite Risa’s sexy mouth and never-quits body, I don’t date fellow employees.”
    “I’m devastated,” Risa said indifferently. “Especially considering your great shoulders and trust-me smile.”
    Ian snickered.
    She went back to packing journals.
    “Tell me why I shouldn’t throw your great shoulders and trust-me smile out of my casino,” Shane said to Ian.
    “Simple. Until I find out what the hell is going on, Risa is safer here than she will be anywhere else except headquarters in L.A.”
    “So take her to L.A.”
    “In case it has escaped your notice,” Risa said without looking up, “I’m not a package to be picked up and dropped off when the whim takes you. I’m an adult fully capable of taking care of herself.”
    “Works for me,” Ian said easily. “I’m going to have my hands full finding the rest of the Druid gold for Dana.”
    “I’ll find it for her,” Shane said.
    “Not alone, you won’t,” Ian said. “Or do you think Risa’s childhood friend will take one look at you, swoon, and spill all the golden secrets on your manly chest?”
    “Money makes a lot of people talk. I have a lot of money.”
    “I’ll keep it in mind.” Ian looked at Risa. “Do you have your friend’s address in Sedona?”
    “No.”
    “Telephone number?”
    “No.”
    “License plate?”
    “No.”
    “Make and model of car?”
    “No.”
    “Whoopee. I always did like a challenge.” Ian reached into his denim jacket, pulled out the communications unit that Rarities gave to all high-level employees, and keyed in a number on the cell phone. “Research? Lapstrake. You have anything on Cherelle Faulkner yet?”
    “We’ve only been working on it a little more than a day, and—”
    “You’ve had it for a day?” Ian shot a look at Shane.
    “—we already sent a brief to Tannahill on Sheridan and Faulkner, as you would know if you ever checked your e-mail.”
    The last words were said in a rising tone. Ian’s refusal to waste time on bureaucratic junk like e-mails was legend at Rarities. It was just like Dana and Niall to let him find out for himself.
    More interesting yet was the fact that Shane had ordered an investigation of Risa along with Cherelle Faulkner. Ian wondered if Risa knew. It would explain why she was so furious with her boss. Ex-boss. Come to think of it, getting fired was enough reason to steam her.
    “So give me the good parts,” Ian said into the phone.
    “Sheridan was easy,” the voice on the unit continued. “She fills out forms with real information. The Faulkner woman lives on the edge where bureaucrats don’t go. She hasn’t changed her driver’s license, home address, or car registration since Johnson Creek, Arkansas.”
    “Most recent being?”
    “Tannahill has it. That’s where you are now, isn’t it? Vegas?”
    “Yeah, I’m here. I don’t know if he feels like sharing.”
    “Shit. Why not?” Shane said, understanding the half of the conversation he hadn’t heard. “You can have both