Page 86 of The Diamond Thief

“Zaccai?” I ask. “What are you doing here?”

He looks over at Crystal. “Do you always welcome guests with bludgeons?”

Crystal looks over at me. “This has got to be some family of yours. He’s a dead ringer.” She sticks the vase back on the shelf.

“I’m this big lug’s brother,” Zaccai says.

“Oh!” Crystal says. “Jacob mentioned you!” She rushes forward to give him a hug. He pats her back and looks over her shoulder at me in clear discomfort.

“You have a hugger,” he says.

“I do.”

Zaccai turns to the door. “I’ve brought company.”

He steps aside, and another man enters, perfectly dressed in a suit even I might envy.

“This is Jax,” he says. “An associate of mine.”

Associate. That means another Vigilante.

Jax nods to me and takes Crystal’s hand to bestow a kiss on the back of it. I glower at him as she blushes.

“We’re out of the game,” I say to Zaccai. “Unless you’re here to carry out that hit that was placed on me.”

Crystal scowls and jerks her hand back so that she can grab the vase again. She holds it threateningly near her head.

“No, no,” Zaccai says. “You two just have a skill set we’re interested in.” He pauses. “Well, she does.” He switches his gaze to Crystal. “I assume she can train you.”

I draw her next to me. She still wields the vase. “We’re retired,” I say. “On indefinite hiatus.”

Zaccai nods. “Well, all right.” He pulls something from his pocket and tosses it to me. “Use that to contact me if you change your mind. The reward is seventy million.”

I catch the small square. It appears to be a lump of metal.

“How do I use it?”

“Just hold it in your hand until the metal warms up. I’ll find you.” He gives me a little salute and turns to the door.

“Don’t you want to stay a little while?” Crystal asks. She’s lowered the vase. “You haven’t seen your brother since you were a teenager!”

Zaccai glances over at me, and I see my mother’s blue eyes in his face. He always did look more like her. “I’ve seen him now. Teach him what you know about explosives, and we’ll get to know each other plenty.”

He heads out the door. Jax gives us a sharp nod and follows him.

I watch them get into a gleaming gray car. It glides away, silent and stealthy, then disappears, only the occasional glint of metal and a puff of dust indicating that it even exists.

“They’re making those cars crazy good,” Crystal says. “You should trade yours in for the new model.” She sets the vase back down.

“What do you think the job is?” I ask.

“Who cares?” she says. “We’re retired.” She takes the metal cube from me and sets it on a shelf.

I laugh. “You’re right. We’re ordinary folk in an Irish castle.”

“Exactly.”

“So what next, my Irish-American princess?”

She takes my hand and leads me toward an archway. “Let’s go find that dungeon.”

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