THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

buzz cut kept his odd red hair to a minimum distraction since he was African American. An attractive forty-nine-year-old who wasn’t really a general.
    That made her the baby of the group, if they were foolish enough to discount her as such.
    Lifting her purse, she stuffed the small cosmetic bag inside. She wanted to smile, because neither of the two men had opened the tampon package that concealed her listening device.
    Men. So predictable when it came to feminine products. As if their testosterone levels would drop by touching one.
    She opened the meeting by addressing the General. “Did you acquire the St. Gaulden’s coins needed for the exchange?”
    “No.”
    Wayan immediately frowned, hands tensing slightly then easing quickly to hide the reaction. “You lost the coins?”
    “That’s not what I said,” the General replied in a gravelly voice full of curt censure. “Mason Lorde had an employee who stole the coins. I gave Lorde a five-day deadline to produce them or lose his operation.”
    “So he missed the deadline?” Chatton asked, considering what it would take to coordinate an operation in the States right now. The beauty of having partners was that someone else could perform an op in your home country and insulate you from suspicion.
    “Not exactly. The FBI found the coins first and are moving them to a protected location to keep as evidence.”
    Wayan inquired in his polite way that hid the sociopath inside, “Will the coins be vulnerable during this transport?”
    The General shook his head. “No, but the personnel involved in the transport and security of the coins include my resources.”
    “But that will not gain us the panel from the Amber Room,” Wayan argued, impatiently patting his fingers against each other.
    The Amber Room panel was one of the world’s greatest treasures and had once belonged to King Wilhelm I then Tsar Peter the Great. Many believed that all of the room was lost when Königsberg Castle burned during World War II.
    But four panels were saved – or so the legend said – one of which held a part of the Orion Legacy.
    She didn’t care about ancient mysteries. She wanted to find the person or persons behind the mass murder of her family. And to know what these two would do on the off chance they actually found all five artifacts of the legacy.
    Whether the prophecy was real or not, Wayan and the General were both in positions to influence the leaders of the US and China, and they could orchestrate a crisis that would trigger a world war.
    She played along and offered a smidgeon of support to Wayan. “I agree with Wayan if we can confirm which one of the four Amber panels is on the market – ”
    Wayan cut in. “We must acquire all the panels no matter what.”
    “But the one we’re looking for has an identifying mark.”
    “This is not negotiable.”  Wayan threw a sharp look at the General. “We must have those coins.”
    She hated dealing with fanatics.
    When the General sighed, he sounded like a grizzly, put out at having to kill a critter that wasn’t worth the effort to leave his cave. “ Once we confirm the Amber Room panel is definitely available, I will get to the coins.” Dismissing Wayan by swinging his attention to Chatton, the General asked, “What have you found out?”
    She did enjoy seeing those two eyeing each other like reptiles on the attack. “Mason Lorde thought he was going to trade the coins to Mendelson, but the German does not have the panel.”  Mendelson had been tough to investigate and would be even harder to find, but she was not easily deterred. “I haven’t discovered Mendelson’s true interest since he’s basically an intel broker. The best I can determine, he picked up rumors that another party has one of the panels, and he understood that this person would trade for eight St. Gaulden Double Eagle coins if one of them was a 1933.”
    “A fortune hunter,” Wayan interjected with disgust. As though he thought being a fortune hunter was a perversion. Then Wayan lifted one of his thin black eyebrows. “Is there any chance this Mendelson could be an Orion Hunter, perhaps one of the Teutonic Knights?”
    Chatton had considered that possibility and executed thorough research. She felt reasonably certain Mendelson was not a descendant of the German family believed to possess one of the five artifacts.
    “I don’t think so,” she answered Wayan. “Mendelson deals in illegal arms and classified information. He’s