She pulled back. “No!”
He shrugged, surprised at the disappointment that trickled through him. “Figured.”
She stiffened. “It’s a treasure that belongs to everyone. It was once one of the most visited pieces of art on Earth. We don’t know who the woman was, but da Vinci’s masterpiece inspired something in Terrans. It deserves to be seen by everyone in the galaxy. Not just one treasure hunter who’ll sell it to the highest bidder.”
“Nice speech.” He envied her the passion and belief in her voice. “I thought you wanted to find Star’s End. Sounded like it was important.”
She closed her eyes. “I do.” A quiet whisper.
“Well, I want something valuable in return. I’ll be giving up going after the timepiece I wanted, and we’ll be taking a big risk, expending lots of e-creds and resources.”
Her golden eyes opened, pinned him. “What if I let you take one of the other pieces? And as many non-Louvre artifacts as you can find? If we find Star’s End, it’ll be packed with Terran history?—”
“Nope.” TheMona Lisafragment was the one artifact his father had stayed sober for. He’d tried for years to track it down until he’d become a laughingstock among treasure hunters.
Dathan wanted that fragment.
“Last chance, Doc.”
The struggle was written on her face. “I just don’t think I can hand it over…”
He shrugged again. “Well, I have things to do.” He strode out. Counting the seconds.
One. Two. Three.
She fell into step beside him. “I don’t know if I can do this. The law says theMona Lisabelongs to the Institute. I’m already bending so many rules by working with treasure hunters. I follow the rules. I like rules.”
He shot her a glance. “Rules are there to be bent or broken. And no one likes rules, that’s just wrong.”
She sighed. “Why am I not surprised?”
In the living area, Niklas was focused on one screen, Zayn leaning over his shoulder.
Niklas glanced their way. “You okay, Eos?”
“I’m fine. It was nothing.”
“Hey, Dath, I got a hit on our friend Darc and the timepiece.” Zayn gestured to the screen.
“The treasure hunter who injured you?” Eos said.
Dathan scowled. “The one and only.”
“She’s lined up a sale,” Zayn said. “To Vand Braxx.”
Dathan let out a string of curses he’d learned from the bouncers on Canon IV.
Eos dropped onto a leather sofa. “The black market dealer?”
Dathan shoved a hand through his hair. Didn’t even wince when it tugged on his scalp. “The bastard will either lock the timepiece away in his vault or sell it to someone worse.” Not that it got much worse than Vand.
Eos chewed her bottom lip. “Either way, it’ll disappear into a private collection and no one will see it again. The Institute has thousands of charges up against him for illegal dealing, but they never stick. There’s so much we could learn about Earth if we could just study all the artifacts.” She shot Dathan a dark look.
There was anger in her gold eyes, but he saw something else too.
She was caving. He watched her gnaw on her lips some more.
“Okay.” She stood. “I’ll do it.”
