The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

empty now."

    "Why keep it in a locked cabinet?"

    "Sarah doesn't know yet that the strongbox is empty," Gideon explained patiently. "She's looking forward to opening it in the morning. I didn't want to spoil the surprise."

    "But you couldn't resist taking a quick look for yourself, is that it?"

    "That's it. You know me. I get curious about locked boxes."

    "And you're telling me there was nothing inside, huh?"

    "Right."

    "I don't believe you." Jake Savage shook his head slowly. "You never came back empty-handed from a job."

    "This wasn't my treasure hunt. It was Sarah's. I just went along as a paid consultant."

    "Bull." Savage suddenly sat up straight in the chair, his eyes glittering with frustrated anger. "I think you found the earrings. I think you found them the same way you always find what you go looking for, you bastard."

    "No. There's nothing inside. Take a look." Gideon opened the file cabinet and removed the strong box. Then he twisted a strip of metal in the old lock until something clicked. Then he raised the lid to expose the empty interior. He waited a few seconds while Jake stared into the box and then Gideon closed and relocked it.

    Jake eyed him uneasily. "Come on, Gid. We can do a deal. Just like old times. All I want is the publicity and a chance to draw in some big bucks. I need a big score.

    "Be content with staying a dead legend."

    Savage slapped his hand on the desk. "Why the hell should I do that? I'm not dead and I've discovered during the past five years that I don't like being a nobody. They don't know who I am any more, Gid. I walk into a bar and no one even knows me."

    Gideon exhaled thoughtfully. "That's not surprising, I guess. You did a good job of disappearing five years ago."

    "As good a job as you did."

    "Tell me something, Jake. What really did happen that day we both supposedly got killed in that damned jungle? Did you set up an ambush with those smugglers? Were you working with them all along and finally decide I'd become a handicap? I was the one who saw too much that day we made the delivery, wasn't I? You already knew what was going on. You were in on it."

    Jake's eyes flickered. He sat very still behind the desk. "You figured it all out, didn't you?"

    "I've had a lot of time to think about it."

    Jake's hand tightened into a fist. "You want to know why I did it? I'll tell you. There was big money involved. Enough to set me up for a long, long time. Enough to ensure that I wouldn't need to rely on you any longer, you bastard."

    "I thought we were supposed to be partners, Jake," Gideon mocked softly.

    "Yeah, but we both knew you were the one with the magic, the one who made Savage and Company a legend. And I was sick of knowing I had to depend on you. Sick of trusting you. Sick of relying on you."

    "So you saw your big chance and decided to end the partnership. Except it didn't quite work out the way you'd planned, did it?"

    "No, you son of a bitch, it didn't. But it will." Jake's hand shot under the desk and Gideon knew he was reaching for the small pistol he'd always carried strapped to his leg beneath his pants.

    "Forget it." Gideon moved his own hand from behind the door and aimed the revolver almost absently at Jake. Savage froze, one hand still under the desk. "You were never that fast or that lucky and we both know it. The truth is, Jake, you were always better as a legend than you were as a reality."

11

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    G IDEON WATCHED , fighting to hide his amusement, as Sarah paced up and down the living room. The cats had long since grown bored with her diatribe against Jake Savage. Machu Picchu was sprawled in his usual position across the back of the couch, his ears flat against his head and Ellora was curled up, sound asleep, alongside Gideon.

    "We should have turned him over to the police. He was guilty of everything from breaking and entering to being a damned nuisance. And the man lied through his teeth. How could you just let him go like that, Gideon?" Sarah turned and stalked back across the living room, robe flapping around her ankles. Her hair was anchored in a topknot that was coming adrift from it's moorings.

    "He won't bother us again, Sarah."

    "We don't know that for certain. We should have had him arrested. Why didn't you?"

    "Jake would never have survived prison," Gideon said, thinking about it. "Assuming we could have actually gotten him convicted and sent up, which is highly doubtful. We'd have been lucky to make the charges stick.