Page 44 of Protector Unmatched

The Russian reached into his inside pocket, and Zoltan, still on edge about the earlier attack, went on high alert. But Vasili pulled nothing more dangerous than a few photos out of his jacket.

“Those are the items I found,” he said, and turned the photos so Zoltan could see them. “One of them, I believe, is exactly what you’re looking for.”

Zoltan ripped the photos from Vasili’s hand. The first grainy picture showed what was clearly an Egyptian artifact, a bracelet of some sort. The next was a dagger with a swastika emblazoned on its handle. Zoltan grunted impatiently, then took a look at the third picture. His heart began to pound. He was absolutely certain that he recognized the weapon in the picture. He’d stared at a drawing of it for months, searched for it just as long, put out his feelers to every art dealer, reputable and disreputable, every private collector, every museum. And finally, Vasili had found it.

“Looks good,” Zoltan said casually, hoping his voice didn’t betray his excitement. “I’ll take this one. When can you deliver?”

“Very soon,” Vasili said, then reached for the photos and put them back into his pocket. “I’m meeting with my supplier tonight. There’s just one thing.”

Of course there was. But Zoltan was prepared. “Yes?”

“I’ll need a down payment. Just to make sure you don’t back out later.”

Zoltan forced a smile. “Of course.” Clearly, Vasili didn’t have the cash he was supposed to pay his so-called supplier. “How much?”

“Half of what we agreed.”

So that was the markup, then. Vasili paid his thieves—because that was all his suppliers were—half or less than half of what he charged Zoltan. Just as well that he was planning to cut out the middleman.

“Fine.” Zoltan reached into his inside pocket and pulled out the envelope he’d prepared. He handed it to Vasili. “Count it.”

Vasili opened the envelope and started leafing through the bills, just as Zoltan had expected. It made it easy to slip a tiny tracker no larger than a battery for an earpiece into Vasili’s jacket pocket.

“It all looks in order,” Vasili said. “I’ll call you when I have the item and will arrange a meeting place.”

“What time?”

“Expect me to call around eight.”

Zoltan nodded. Vasili turned and started walking away, but looked over his shoulder, suspicious as ever. Zoltan waved, then pivoted and walked in the other direction, knowing that Vasili would look back several times more to make sure that Zoltan wasn’t following him.

At the street corner, Zoltan turned left, then stopped halfway down the block. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and opened an app he’d installed earlier in the day. It showed an interactive map of Baltimore. A small dot blinked as it moved farther and farther away from Zoltan’s location. It was his insurance that Vasili would deliver—one way or another—the dagger depicted on the third photo. It would quite literally open a portal to the hidden compounds of the Stealth Guardians, making them vulnerable to a demon attack.

Victory was so close that he could taste it.