"So..."

Colonel Baird broke the silence first, but she trailed off and looked at Eliot as if he was supposed to finish her thought.

He frowned. "So?"

"So... you and your brothers have been through a lot, huh?"

She watched him like her words were supposed to trigger some kind of reaction, but he couldn't imagine what it might be. "Guess so," he grunted.

"But you look like someone who can handle it," she went on.

Eliot crossed his arms and squared off to face her. "If you've got something to say, say it. No use fishing for something I might just tell you if you ask."

"Were you in the military?" she asked, dropping all pretense of this not being an interrogation.

"Yeah."

"What branch?"

"A couple."

"When?"

"A while ago."

She matched his stance. "So much for telling me if I ask."

"Never guaranteed that," Eliot pointed out. "And I don't see how it matters. Did you drill Jake like this when you first met him?"

"That was different. The ninjas distracted me."

There wasn't any way he was going to touch that comment, not with everything he'd seen 6 months ago. So he shrugged and turned back toward the hall to continue their security sweep. "You don't have anything to fear from me. That's all you need to know."

"That's not overly reassuring," she said.

"Take it however you want. But I figure you can probably tell when Jake is lying, so you've gotta have a feel that I'm telling the truth."

"You're identical," Baird said with a frown. "Not the same person. His tells aren't the same as yours."

True. He glanced at her, matching the image of the woman before him with the one he'd had in his head. Jake had told him that she used to work with NATO, so he'd pictured someone competent. Being suspicious went along with that sometimes. He didn't hold her caution against her—she was just trying to protect her team—but he wished he could say something to put her mind at ease. He didn't need her second guessing him in a moment of crisis.

"Look," he said, turning again and softening his voice. "You trust Jake's judgement, right? Then trust what he knows about me. I'm here to help. Now can we get on with this?"

"Get on with what?" Baird muttered. She leaned against the wall, frowning down the hallway. "There's nothing to do until the auction starts. You already said you checked the grounds."

"Yeah," Eliot said. He'd meant to say it confidently, but a flash of unease tore through him when he remembered his search through the ruins.

Baird's gaze sharpened. "What's with the hesitation?"

Damn, she was perceptive. He'd have to be careful. "When I was exploring earlier, I got this feeling like I was being watched," he explained.

"That's not unusual for abandoned places like this," Baird said.

He shook his head. "It was more than that. Something was there, I'd bet anything. As soon as I came inside, the feeling went away."

He half expected her to tell him it was nothing, but her expression was thoughtful. "The Curator might have brought more than human guards," she mused. "Might be something magical, if you couldn't see it."

"Like an Invisibility Cloak?" Eliot asked.

"Maybe. Or some other item. Or a spell, or a dimensional shift—could be anything."

"That's helpful."

"Get used to it," she sighed. "I used to think magic would solve problems, but any time it's involved it only creates more."

Eliot looked down the hall. This was Jake's world, not his—he didn't know how to fight against invisible guards or magic items. He still had nightmares about his last encounter with a magical item, which had taken away his will and kept him from keeping Jake safe. If it wasn't for a different enchantment, Jake wouldn't have left the Philippines.

Eliot wasn't sure he wanted to face any more of that. But the alternative was letting his brothers face it alone, so... here he was. Leaving before the job was done wasn't an option.

"Auction should be starting soon," Baird muttered. "Where's the Curator?"

Not likely to enter through the back door, if Eliot was any judge. Everything had been set up neatly, without detail or identifying mark, keeping everything a mystery. She wasn't going to just walk in and destroy the image she'd built up. Eliot peered through the doorway to check for any other entrances, but there were none. If the Curator was getting into the room, she'd have to walk past them or go in through the ceiling.

And he hadn't done his air duct drills this month. Parker would be so disappointed.

A flash of movement drew his eye to a woman a few rows ahead of Jake and his friends. She glanced furtively over her shoulder, frowning, and then gripped her bag in both arms and shot to her feet. No one around her seemed concerned by her sudden departure, so she must have come alone. That paired with her frequent glances at Jake was enough to make Eliot nervous.

"Hey," he muttered, stepping back into the hallway to get Baird's attention. Before he could, the woman dashed through the door and hurried down the hall away from them, still clutching her bag tight to her body.

A dozen scenarios flashed through Eliot's mind—a gun, a bomb, more magic—none of them were good. He turned toward Baird, but she was already frowning after the woman.

"That was weird," she muttered.

"Yeah."

"Should we follow?"

Eliot started down the hall. "Yeah."

She marched at his side, not letting him lead, but not taking the lead either. That was fine with him; whatever she needed to do to put her mind at rest. They followed the woman down the hall and through the front door, then out into the parking lot. Eliot glanced around the area, but it didn't seem like she was meeting anyone. She rushed to a car parked on its own at the back of the lot and pushed a key fob to unlock it. Baird motioned for him to approach her and indicated that she would go around. Eliot nodded and reached into her jacket pocket as she went past.

"Excuse me," Eliot said. He tossed the invitation he'd lifted from Baird's pocket onto the ground at the woman's feet and bent to pick it up. "I think you dropped this."

The woman started and spun to face him. "Oh!"

"Just figured you wouldn't want to lose—" Eliot started, but the woman cut him off with a tiny gasp.

"It's you!" she squealed. "I never imagined—I mean, I didn't think you saw me!"

Eliot blinked at her. "Excuse me?"

"You're Dr. Stone, right?" the woman said. "Dr. Jacob Stone?"

Eliot glanced over her shoulder as Baird approached the car from behind. "Uh..."

"That's right," Baird said, clapping a hand on Eliot's back. "Dr. Jacob Stone, in the flesh. You recognized him inside?"

The woman nodded enthusiastically. "How could I not? I founded the Dr. Stone appreciation club at my university. I've read everything he's ever written under every alias. I'm his biggest fan!"

That was new. Eliot had dealt with fans during his short-lived career as country singer Kenneth Crane, and during his time as a baseball and hockey star. But he'd never heard of a fan club for art historians.

There was no way he was telling Jake he had a fan club.

"I came back here to get my favorite paper to ask for an autograph..." the woman went on. She held up an essay, neatly bound in a plastic cover, with Jake's name on the front. "If you wouldn't mind?"

"Uh... sure," Eliot said.

"Make it out to Cindi," she said. "With an 'i'."

He accepted the paper and a pen from her and scrawled a note to Cindi across the front, finishing it with a passable imitation of Jake's high school signature. Hopefully it hadn't changed too much.

"That's all you came out here for?" Baird said as he handed the essay back.

Cindi with an 'i' gave her a sheepish smile. "I didn't want to miss this chance. Dr. Stone so rarely makes appearances in public, and I didn't think I'd ever get the opportunity to meet him." She switched her attention back to Eliot, blushing. "I might have panicked a little. I mean, I knew you were handsome, but to see you in person... It doesn't even matter if I miss the auction. To actually meet you is just..." She trailed off and tilted her head. "Wait, did you follow me out here?"

Eliot opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Baird patted his shoulder and leaned closer to Cindi. "He saw you go... Our Dr. Stone is a little bit of a lady's man. I think he was hoping to get you alone."

The poor woman's eyes lit up like stars. "Really?"

"Oh yeah," Baird said. "He's a little too loose for my standards, but what can I say? When he sees a pretty face, he just can't help himself."

Eliot shot Baird a look that anyone on his team would have immediately read as STOP NOW, but she didn't appear interested in translating it. She just took the essay from Cindi's hands and tossed it back into her trunk. "In fact," she went on. "He loves a good walk through abandoned ruins. I heard him saying earlier that he hoped he'd get a chance to inspect them before we had to go. No time like the present, eh, Doc?"

"I don't know if now is the right time," Eliot grated out.

"Now is the perfect time," Baird said. "No one will miss you while everyone is distracted by the auction."

Her meaning was clear enough. If Cindi went back into the auction room now, she'd find the real Jacob Stone sitting in the last row, and they couldn't risk the distraction that might cause. One way or another, they had to keep Cindi out of the way—and, Eliot suspected, Baird was using this as an opportunity to keep him out of the way.

Cindi's face was flushed and hopeful, and a part of Eliot hated Baird for raising the woman's expectations. He was no stranger to flirting to distract a mark, but this wasn't a mark. This was just someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, after the way things had ended with Maria, he wasn't eager to access the feelings it would take to play his part convincingly.

But Baird had already made up her mind, and there was clearly no use in arguing. So Eliot forced a smile to his face, gestured toward the ruins, and managed a cheerful, "After you."