Page 67 of The Prize

“What is it?”

He walked over to his bedside table, reached in and pulled out a virtual reality headset. “I thought this might be fun for you.”

I clambered off the bed, eager to see what he’d designed.

He slid the headset over my head. “Comfortable?”

“Yes.”

“Hold your breath.”

“Why?”

“Jade, run program for Zara.”

As the visor cleared I was looking out at an underwater view and instinctively held my breath. I jolted when an enormous great whale swam by me and I reached out to run my hand over his body as adrenaline surged through me.

Tobias caressed my back. “One day I’ll take you to Hawaii.”

“This was filmed there?”

“Yes.”

I could almost feel the sand between my toes as I looked down at my feet that were firmly on land now. The image had changed to surrounding lush green foliage and just above me a waterfall cascaded into a lagoon. The sound of water whooshed in my ears.

“As the Met is currently out-of-bounds I wanted to bring the gallery to you. Jade, run ‘Met on Fifth Avenue.’”

I peered up at the splendor of the front of the gallery with its tall marble pillars before the architecture grandness of the New York building. “How do you create these?”

“I visit the gallery and film it. What would you like to see first? Medieval art? Greek or—”

“Old masters.”

“Jade, comply.”

I stood within the center of a room surrounded by exquisite art adorning pristine walls with a Renoir to my right and a Monet to my left, and straight ahead was Michelangelo’s 1506Saint John the Baptist Bearing Witness, the painting first attributed to Francesco Granacci but later discovered to be created by Michelangelo. It was a colorful portrayal of St. John the Baptist standing in the center of a sparse landscape surrounded by a crowd who had come to hear him speak, including Christ’s disciples.

My gaze fell on the portrait beside it by Francisco de Goya and I remembered this artist was a favorite of Wilder’s. Not that long ago in London, Tobias’s passion had fueled our adventure at Blandford Palace where we’d run down endless hallways on a mission to discover a long-lost 1800The Nude Majahidden behind another painting.She’d beenbeautiful, a young woman lying naked on a bed and holding the viewer’s eyes with a relaxed confidence.

Stepping forward to view another painting by Goya, I marveled at the image of a small child standing center stage within the canvas. The child was dressed in an orange costume and holding a small pet magpie secured on the end of a string. Three cats loomed close to the bird in a sinister display of danger. To the boy’s right sat a cage full of finches. Goya masterfully stirred a sense of danger by reminding us of the frail boundaries of evil threatening our innocence.

These were beautiful, all of them, but nothing came close to being near the real paintings and I eased off the headset and turned to look at him.

He gave a nod as though he’d read my mind. “I’m working on getting us to a real gallery. I didn’t want you to go cold turkey on me.”

He made me smile. “You’re always thinking of me.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “How long do we have before we have to face the authorities?”

“Not long.”

My thoughts swirled as I realized our time here was at an end. “What did you do?”

“I called Adley two days ago. I told your boss we’re in New York.”

A jolt of fear hit me. “Abby Reynolds probably flew out with him to try to find us.”

“They won’t have to try too hard, Zara. I’ve set a meeting with them. I also need to schedule a meeting with the FBI.”

“But they suspect you’re quite possibly Icon?”