Read Alicia Myles 2 - Crusader's Gold for Free Online

into a Best Western at random, knowing a dogged enemy could still track them but still mindful not to make the task too easy. After the rooms were scanned and bags dumped the team met downstairs for drinks and snacks. Beyond the marble tiled lobby with its domed chandelier and highly polished paneling lay a compact rest area, complete with easy chairs and plush couches. The walls were covered in studded leather and the floors deeply carpeted. Drinks and canapés could be ordered from remote controls housed in the seats’ armrests. Crouch shook his head at the advanced yet sterile technology.
    “One more step away from human interaction,” he said. “First texting, then scrolling mobiles and now a computer-controlled waitress.”
    “I like it,” Caitlyn said. “Progress is not possible without change.”
    “Change is not always progress,” Crouch countered. “As said Henry Ford.”
    “Didn’t he design the Model T?”
    “Yup. And he made sure you could order it in any color so long as that color was black.”
    The team settled unevenly, sprawling on the couches or throwing legs over the armchairs. Russo first waved Alicia away, but then good-naturedly cleared a pile of pillows to the side. Alicia gave him a sidelong glance.
    “Chivalry is not dead.”
    “Oh it is. I just figure to put you between me and the lobby. Just in case your crazy friend finds us and takes a pot shot.”
    Alicia patted the hidden Uzi. “Kenzie? What? You don’t like strong women?”
    “Oh I love ‘em. Just not with armies at their backs and a sackful of Uzis.”
    Crouch leaned toward them. “Whatever you think of her, this Kenzie person presents us with a unique problem. Our success has already spawned a complex conundrum. How does a specialized team hunt down ancient artifacts without attracting the attention of those who would destroy or steal or hold them for ransom? Truth be told it’s not difficult to track anyone—even us—if you have the right tools.”
    “It’s not like you can hop over to these places under the radar,” Caitlyn said, playing with her hair. “They require investigation. Exploring.”
    “And quite often the cooperation of locals,” Crouch said. “As you know I do have my contacts, but they’re contacts built over many, many years. My guess is, even these men and women are not infallible.”
    “Don’t worry,” Alicia said. “Whether they’re your contacts or not I still wouldn’t trust them.”
    Crouch made a face as if he wasn’t quite sure how to take that.
    Naz also leaned forward, stealing their attention. “I was not done. When the crazy treasure seeker attacked I was not done. My thought process on learning that the Hercules had joined the Horses in Constantinople went straight to Enrico Dandolo, if you remember? As you now know he was the forty-second Doge of Venice and a particularly distinctive, exceptional man. Blinded in his sixties or seventies he then went on, at age ninety, to lead the Fourth Crusade and even later a foray against the Bulgarians. He died in 1205.”
    “The year after Constantinople was sacked,” Crouch said.
    “Yes. After successfully relocating the Horses of St. Mark from the quadriga atop the ancient Hippodrome to St. Mark’s Basilica.”
    Caitlyn waited for the real-life waitress to deliver their drinks before speaking. “We all know where he stashed the Horses,” she said with a wink. “But what did he do with the Hercules? Clearly, it wasn’t in plain sight.”
    Naz nodded. “The one hundred—or much more—million dollar question. Was the statue a treasure so grand it was classified—assigned to be viewed only by the privileged? Was it deigned too valuable to show? Was it coveted, yearned for, perhaps beheld only by Dandolo himself? Hell, perhaps it was even forgotten. But I’ll tell you one thing—” Naz paused for a drink, first making sure that all eyes were on him. “The clues to its whereabouts are all around us.”
    “Surely they need