The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

He didn't actually steal anything and he doesn't have a record. The most he would have gotten would have been a few months."

    Sarah reached the far end of the room, spun around and headed back the other way. "I don't think that's all of it. I think you went easy on him for old time's sake."

    "Old times sake?" Gideon cocked one brow.

    "Sure. After all, he was your partner for several years. You'd been through a lot together. And you're the loyal type."

    "I am?"

    "Certainly. Don't laugh at me. It's your nature. I suppose it's one of the things I admire about you. But that still leaves us with a problem. What if he comes after the Flowers again?"

    "He won't."

    "I don't see what's to stop him this time."

    "I told him that if anything happened to that strongbox, I'd destroy the legend I helped him build. That's all he's got left, Sarah. His own legend. It's the most important thing in the world to him."

    Sarah paused and nibbled on her lip. "And you could do it? Through your magazine?"

    "I could do it by sending letters to certain collectors and dealers telling them to take a second look at some of the South American artifacts they've acquired lately through Slaughter Enterprises."

    Sarah's eyes widened. "You said you'd kept tabs on him. That's what he's been doing for the past five years? Selling antiquities?"

    "Uh-huh."

    "And some of them were fraudulent?"

    "Right. Smuggling the real stuff is a better bet. Dedicated collectors and dealers won't ask too many questions about sources so long as the pieces are real, but they'll be mad as hell if they think they've been taken in by a fake."

    "So Jake has been reduced to selling fake South American antiquities. What a comedown for him." Sarah shook her head. "That must have grated. No wonder he was looking for a way back to fame and fortune."

    Gideon stroked Ellora. "Some people would say that publishing a small treasure-hunting magazine like
Cache
is even more of a comedown."

    Sarah glared at him. "It certainly is not. You're in publishing, the same as I am. You're an author. Just like me. You write for people who can still dream, the same way I do. We perform a very valuable function for a very important group of people, Gideon Trace, and don't you forget it. As this world of ours gets more high-tech and more endangered, it needs its dreamers more desperately than ever."

    "I never thought of it quite that way," Gideon murmured, amazed as usual by her highly biased view of him. It was very heartwarming.

    Sarah turned away again. "I suppose somehow Jake is a dreamer, too, isn't he? Unfortunately he's just kind of screwed up in general."

    "Unfortunately." Gideon yawned. "You were right, by the way, about why he set up that ambush five years ago. He was trying to prove something to himself. Trying to get free of his dependence on me."

    Sarah nodded. "Trying to prove he didn't need you to be a success. You're sure he'll stay out of our lives from now on?"

    "Reasonably sure."

    "What about the Fleetwood Flowers? He wanted those very badly."

    Gideon felt Ellora stretch languidly beneath his hand. "I told him the Flowers didn't exist."

    Sarah stared at him, clearly startled. "But he knew we had the strongbox."

    "I told him there was nothing in it."

    Sarah smiled slowly, with obvious satisfaction. "That was very clever of you, Gideon. Did he believe you?"

    "Not entirely, but I think that after a while he'll convince himself I was telling the truth. He'd rather believe there were no Flowers than that he failed to get hold of them."

    "Yes, exactly. He'll convince himself there was no treasure. And since we have no reason to advertise the fact that we found the earrings, Jake will never know the difference."

    Gideon leaned his head back against the cushions and watched her through narrowed lids. "It's possible that when we get the strongbox open tomorrow it really will be empty. You probably shouldn't get too excited about finding anything inside, Sarah."

    "They'll be in there." She hugged herself happily. "I can't wait to go to work on that old lock tomorrow. It's going to be such a perfect ending to this whole adventure."

    "What about us, Sarah? Does finding the Flowers mean the end of that, too?" Gideon asked quietly.

    She smiled serenely. "Don't be an idiot, Gideon. You and I are just starting our adventure."

    "You really mean that, don't you?"

    She paused and gazed out into the night. "I've told you before, Gideon. In some way I've never been able