SEVEN
I think almost everyone interested in archeology knows of the Gold Tablet of Merrezo." Peri's excitement rose. "It's almost as famous as the Shroud of Turin. I don't know much about it, other than the name and that every now and then there’s new speculation when some expert or another attempts to read the text."
"They can't read it," Bria told her. "Still, Christians claim it, Jews claim it- Even various, off-the-wall, "religious" groups assert it to be theirs. None can provide provenance as Merrezo can, and so it remains with us."
Peri had never seen the famous and mysterious Merrezo tablet in person, nor had she researched it in any great depth, which was why it hadn’t come immediately to mind when she’d first seen the artifacts from Finn’s and her own sites. But as far as she knew, no one had ever claimed the Italian tablet had been salvaged from the ocean.
But now. . .
Damn it, if only Finn hadn't caught her this morning. She'd have photographs to compare this one with the one she'd found that morning. Then she'd do some research on the one in Italy. This was a thrilling turn of events, and she couldn't wait to see where her research led her. She was eager to get started.
And damn it, this freaking waiting on pins and needles for the Cutters to jump up and say, "Got you!” had her stomach churning. Foreboding was ruining her excitement about the tablets. Now she just wanted someone to say something. Anything.
Let’s get it over with, people!
She'd watched them through binoculars- often. Had they not done the same when she was stealing right from under their freaking noses?
How many women salvagers did they know with long red hair? Admittedly when she dove to help herself to some of their choice artifacts, she wore a wet or dry suit, so her distinctive hair didn't always show. But when she was on her boat she left it loose. Intentionally.
It had never occurred to her that they wouldn't recognize her the second they saw it. Maybe they were waiting until dinner was over to rain Armageddon on her head? Maybe this was a clever trap to lull her into a false sense of security while they waited for the police to show up to drag her away in chains?
That would be embarrassing.
Was the tablet the bait? Had Finn told them about this morning? Did they believe she’d steal it from under their noses as she’d done hundreds of other artifacts? Then revel in catching her red-handed?
Shit. So many damned questions and no one answering. Maybe they all had that disorder where they couldn’t recognize people’s faces? What was it called? Ah. Prosopagnosia. Long nights alone at sea gave her plenty of time to read anything and everything, and bits and pieces of weird, random information stuck.
For instance; Finn’s space race was public knowledge, but a little-known fact was that he quietly helped fund under-resourced students, college track, and nonprofit colleges’ completion programs to the tune of fifty freaking million dollars. Peri bet that had a lot to do with him growing up in the Irish foster system. The dollar amount was either because he had money to spare, or because he'd not been given the same chances. She bet the latter.
When did the man sleep?
She’d love to watch him when he was oblivious to observation. Would the strength in his face soften in sleep? On their insane weekend together, she hadn’t caught him sleeping. Not once. Probably because she’d been so exhausted by their sweaty calisthenics she’d dropped into the deep end of sleep herself whenever she couldn’t keep going any longer.
She palmed her phone in her pants pocket, fumbled without looking at it, and allowed it to poke out so she could discreetly take a picture of the tablet. Either she’d get some decent pictures from pocket level- or she’d have everyone’s butts to show for her subterfuge.
“This is absolutely fascinating.” She didn’t have to fake excitement. Angling to better face Bria, who had her back to the display, Peri clicked off another few photographs from her phone. She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to have anything to show for the endeavor, but a girl had to try. “How did the museum come by it, do you know?"
Damn it. She wanted to enjoy this exchange. She was interested. Invested. The whole damned Cutter thing was distracting. Why were they dicking around? Waiting to see if she’d break first? For a nanosecond, Peri debated saying something herself. Surgical strike. Get it over with. After all, she had her own claim to work on. No matter what the Cutters decided to do, or not do, their actions wouldn’t have any impact on her staked claim, or frankly, the rest of her life.
Maybe she should just jump up on the dinner table and yell, “Hey! Recognize me?” But no. Let them come to her. She’d delivered herself to their door. It was up to them to come the rest of the way.
"In 1484, our profeta - our seer, Foscari, was as famous in his time as France's Nostradamus became many years later," Bria told everyone as she accepted a glass of red wine from her husband. His hand lingered on hers, and Bria’s gaze heated as she met Nick’s eyes for an intimate, wordless exchange.
Finn’s palm brushed the small of Peri’s back, indicating he, too, had witnessed the heated glance. His touch accelerated her heartbeat, causing her to feel an intense yearning for something she couldn’t name. Sex she could name. This wasn't that.
"According to legend,” Bria continued after a sip of her drink, “La tavoletta d'oro Merrezo was sent to Signore Foscari as a gift 'from across the sea.' He died before it arrived, causing much speculation as to who, and why, he’d been gifted with such a thing. They asked; 'Is it important? What does it mean?'"
She took another sip of wine. “It has been in our small country since. Believers claim it to be some sort of religious text. Even though only our curator, Dr. Vadini, a linguist of some renown, has been able to read parts of the text after many, many years of study.
Scholars claim the script to be as profound as the ten commandments and hold the secret for true believers. Disciples. But no one knows who these believers are. Noted archaeologists, theologians and the curious flock to see it every year. Experts from all over the world have argued its meaning and tried to use other criteria to decipher the text.
No one else has, so far. All we know for sure about it is that its provenance is secure for over five hundred years."
"Across the sea?" Finn picked up the conversation as he indicated everyone to be seated as two stewards arrived with the main course. The smoky-perfumed, mouth-watering smell of Cordero al Palo filled the air. Peri had missed lunch and was starving.
"I think you'll enjoy this dish.” Finn pulled out the chair beside him for her, then sat at the head of the table as everyone else found a seat. “It’s spit-roasted lamb cooked over an open fire for several hours until the outside is crisp, and the meat falls off the bone."
Peri slid her chair closer to the table, glad to be sitting beside him and not surrounded by the Cutters. Perhaps then she’d have at least one escape route. That was if Finn were on her side, or too startled by the Cutters’ reactions to pin her down before she could disappear.
Finn waited until they were all seated and settled before he picked up the conversation. His knee touched hers. When she shifted, so did he. "Getting back to the origin of the Merrezo Tablet, if my memory serves correctly, no one has pinpointed where ‘across the sea’ meant, or honestly, if that information was written on the tablet, right?"
"The language has been extinct for hundreds of years." Bria spread her napkin on her lap. "Our Dr. Vadini has been able to decipher some, but not all, of the text. There are theories, all of which are rigorously disputed by one group or the next. Dr. Vadini insists it's an ancient, long dead language from South America. Others say the South Seas or China.”
“We’re seven thousand miles from your country,” Peri pointed out, as, with a smile, she accepted a warm crusty roll from the steward, then the butter dish from Nick beside her. “Could 'across the sea' mean over seven thousand miles?” She buttered the roll. Trying to swallow past the lump of anticipation in her throat to eat it was going to be some trick.
“Crossing the North and South Atlantic Oceans five hundred years ago?" Finn sliced off a thick piece of lamb, chewed, swallowed, then added, “I always thought the origins of the source of the Merrezo Tablet referred to the Mediterranean. But considering we've discovered a possible twin here, and with the wealth of gold, emeralds and silver we've already recovered on the wreck, it's feasible the Merrezo Tablet could've come from this region. Possible a fifth ship returning from here to Spain with its holds filled with treasures for the king, actually made the crossing."
Peri bit her tongue, so she didn't blurt out that Napolitano was of Italian registry. Finn's hypothesis made sense.
“Maybe our wrecks hold more than Finn's tablet.” Jonah’s suggestion mirrored Peri’s thoughts, and her heart did a little happy dance. Holy crap. What if there were more tablets? What would that mean? What had they been made for? The possibilities were thrilling. She couldn’t wait to get started on figuring it out. Ry would be as excited as she was, and Theo might be a big help, as well.
She had to get some good pictures of Finn's tablet before she was kicked off Blackstar.
If she was kicked off Blackstar. No. When. It was inevitable.
"Perhaps." Logan, eyes and voice intense, put down his fork, food forgotten. "This could be the reasoning why the small armada travelled five hundred miles south from the capital instead of north as charted. They'd already picked up gold, silver and emeralds up North, then travelled hundreds of miles south to pick up the tablets? They must've considered the tablet a damn sight more important than what they carried in their holds. Which, honestly, stretches the imagination."
"The reverse trip sounds logical to me. At least that explains the long detour. But logical or not, that doesn't mean it's the truth," Zane chimed in. "The armada could have traveled hundreds of miles south to pick up the two tablets. Or one of the captains had a girlfriend in Patagonia he wanted to see. Maybe we'll never know the truth."
Jonah’s potato loaded fork was halfway to his mouth when he added his two cents. "The Merrezo tablet on an unnamed ship, made its way safely to Italy? And this second tablet sank with Nuestra Señora del Marco? Honestly? I’m with Logan on this one. Seems a bit of a stretch to me, too."
As everyone speculated on whether Finn’s artifact could be a match for the Merrezo tablet, Peri glanced around the table. She sure as hell wasn’t going to relax. Her big reveal was coming, anticipation thrumming in the air. Hungry as she was it was impossible to eat. She dropped the aromatic roll onto her plate and used her fork to move her food around as her stomach churned. Get on with it!
When she felt Finn’s warm fingers on her knee, Peri jolted, her gaze meeting his. Narrowed-eyed, he gave her a small, are-you-okay-one-shouldered-hunch. Nodding, she stuck a forkful of roasted lamb into her mouth, hoping it would dissolve on its own because she was too tense to chew.
He made her long for things she'd denied herself most of her life. Worse, he reminded her how alone she was despite a fabulous boat and a spectacular house. She traveled too much to make lasting friendships, and she was never at her house long enough to make a home. It was a good thing she liked her own company because she realized, now, with the noise and laughter at the table, she was alone a lot. Now, with Finn beside her, the lively conversation and laughter, she realized she hadn't just been alone, she'd been freaking lonely.
And would be again, she reminded herself firmly, annoyed when her throat ached.
"Not to also be a skeptic, but a wide consensus believes that the Merrezo tablet is a hoax." Logan, who sat directly opposite her, frowned. "Many believe Foscari, to protect his legacy and sustain his followers, maintained that the tablet contained future prophecies. But since no one other than Vadini knows the language- and he's only been able to translate about ten percent of it so far, everyone keeps speculating what these words mean or could possibly mean. No one knows for sure what the tablet says."
Peri swallowed the cow-sized hunk of meat without chewing. Testosterone hung over the table, as thick as morning fog. Logan was clearly the oldest, but that didn’t mean the others deferred to him. Everyone had an opinion, and they talked over each other like puppies at play. Debating the various merits of the origins of the Italian tablet.
"Or denied, cognate,” Bria corrected her brother-in-law. “The myth has preserved for over five hundred years, after all." She dabbed her mouth with her napkin. "La tavoletta d'oro Merrezo has been the subject of intense debate among theologians, historians and researchers for years. We could discuss various theories all night and still never know if one of them might be correct, yes?"
Nick smiled at his wife before glancing around to include everyone. "Diverse arguments have been made in scientific and popular publications claiming to prove that it holds the truth to the future. There must be at least a grain of truth, don't you think?"
"They could claim anything they want that might support their own worldview," Zane pointed out. He'd already cleaned his plate, and beckoned the steward, with a charming smile, to give him a second helping. "For all we know it's an ancient grocery list of no historical value. Thanks." He smiled, and the female steward smiled back.
Nick shot his brother a pointed glance. "You don't believe that."
"No," Zane admitted,"I don't. I just don't want to get too excited. Not yet. This tablet could be an ancient equivalent of a photocopy. Perhaps they - whoever they may be, produced a copy in case one didn't make it."
Ancient photocopy or not, Peri couldn't wait to tell Ry and Theo about the third tablet. “Does anyone know who sent the tablet to Merrezo? Perhaps if we start there it would be easier to unravel the mysterious text? For all we know it could be a really long letter in two parts.”- Three parts. “If we can figure out who wrote it, maybe we can figure out what it says. Or perhaps w- one of you will find another piece which might reveal more.”
The fact that she was loving this lively exchange hurt Peri's heart. She'd better enjoy every moment, because she seriously doubted this would ever happen with her there, again.
His gorgeous redhead could certainly hold her own. Fascinated, Finn observed Ariel's interaction with the Cutters as they argued back and forth, each with their own theory. She didn't give an inch. Sitting beside her, he watched micro expressions drift across her features. It was fascinating to watch. Hell, admit it. Watching her was captivating.
She seemed to be as fascinated with the Cutters, as if she was observing wild animals in a zoo. Her jade gaze flitted from Zane, to Nick, to Logan and Jonah, then repeated as they talked across the table.
Her hair was swept up in a complicated pile on top of her head. He could nail down how to deliver over a million pounds of combined thrust, from his FG-200 engine, but he couldn't figure out how she'd gotten all that mass of hair corralled with no visible means of support. If he found just the right anchor, and pulled, would the whole shining mass tumble down her back and into his hands?
God, he wanted her.
In her white linen outfit, she looked cool, polished and sophisticated. Quite different from the wild cat he'd had spread-eagled on the pantry table a few days earlier. Or the indignant woman he'd challenged this afternoon on the deck of Two. He wanted her in his bed. Desperately. Repeatedly.
“Anyone want to lay odds we find more tablets in the coming months?” Jonah played with the stem of his wine glass.
Cheeks flushed from the wine, and Finn surmised, excitement, Ariel tilted her head. Persephone. His private name for her suited her.
“You think they were massed produced?” She didn’t sound thrilled by the idea.
Jonah shrugged. “Maybe Zane’s right. Why not? If we have two, there certainly might be more, right?”
“I’ve been thinking of that same likelihood.” Under the table, Finn ran his palm up Peri’s leg. Her fingers clamped down to stop his progress, but he was quite happy to rest with his hand nestled into the warm crease between her torso and thigh. “We’ll give our divers the head's up to be on the lookout."
Would she inform Case of his finding and its relationship to the tablet in Italy? Would it matter one way or the other if she did? The two had seemed damn friendly this morning in Finn's observation. "Maybe we should hold onto this info until we know more? We don't want the public crawling all over the area, asking questions we have no answer to, right?"
They all agreed discretion was called for until they knew more.
Speculation on what might be on the tablets was shelved for now and Peri asked about the grids they were still installing, then listened intently to the answers. Every now and then her gaze would stray across the deck to the golden artifact, as though pondering the very same question he was asking himself. Could it be related to the Merrezo tablet? He could see her mind spinning at the possibilities as the conversation drifted to various dives, the eta of the Cutter wives, what else had been salvaged thus far.
"You lecture at MIT, don't you, Finn?" Zane asked as the plates were removed.
"Occasionally. I enjoy all those bright young minds. Generally, I find their ideas innovative and well thought out. In fact, I've hired several students over the years, and am always glad I did."
Bria smiled. "What do you give them as a take away?"
"Bend the rules. Think outside the box, and my God, they certainly do. Those kids are our future."
"Are you advocating people break the rules?" Arial asked, wide-eyed and a little too sweetly.
Little witch, she was referring to that afternoon. “Not just for the sake of breaking them,” he shot her a speaking look. "I remind them that the greatest mysteries haven't been discovered yet. The future of mankind - if we're to advance and solve the mysteries presented by our changing world - lies with knowledge we don't have. Yet. We won't find our optimal future in rules that are already written."
"Maybe they're written on the tablets," she suggested, tongue in cheek. And, intriguingly, in perfect Italian.
"Maybe," Finn agreed, stroking her thigh with his thumb.
"Oh!" Bria clapped her hands in a jangle of gold bracelets, eyes alight. "You speak my language beautifully."
"Thank you." Ariel's cheeks bloomed pink. "Learning Italian was on my bucket list a few years ago and I lived there for about a year."
"You mastered it well." Finn wondered what else was on her bucket list and how he could help shorten that list. "Any other languages you're this proficient at?"
She shook her head, the candlelight flickering like fiery sparks in her hair. "Not proficiently, no. I speak French, okay. A little Afrikaans, enough German to get by. That's about it."
"You have a remarkable ear for language," Nick told her.
"Nick's the one with the amazing ear," Zane told her. "It's quite the parlor trick. Tell Ariel where's she from."
Ariel smiled. "I know where I'm from."
"London," Nick told her. "Then at a young age Boston. Time spent in. . .Rome? You pick up language well, your inflections in Italian are spot on."
"Wow, you are good." Ariel smiled back, causing Finn a rise of annoyance. Jealousy reared its ugly head again. And again, the unexpected emotion both bothered and surprised him. "If the artifacts are indeed the same, perhaps by comparing the two, we might get an insight to what language they are written in. How exciting it would be to finally be able to read what it says."
"Perhaps Dr. Núñez can help decipher what the artifact says." Color high in the flickering candlelight, Ariel glanced around the table. "And compare it to the Merrezo tablet. He might very well know what language was used, or possibly an ancient derivative of a local dialect."
"Promising idea." Finn felt the heat of her skin through a layer of linen. Damn it, he wanted the fabric gone so he could touch her skin. He wanted the freedom to touch every part of her body without barrier. Now he was damned sorry he’d invited the Cutters. He and his freckled darling could be in bed right now, exploring each other without restriction.
"Maybe Theo- Dr. Núñez, can take a look and give us his opinion. With the artifact staying aboard of course, because it isn’t leaving and going to Buenos Aires." With no residual resentment or anger, she sent him a smile that shared the memory of this afternoon. Her annoyance had been like a summer storm, quick to blow up, and just as quickly over. "Should I call him after dinner and ask?"
“In the morning.” Finn enjoyed the tide of pink in her cheeks as their eyes locked. He wanted to taste that rapid pulse at the base of her throat and marveled at his own restraint when his voice sounded almost normal. “Late morning.”
"Good to maybe get some answers," Logan addressed him. "Hey, changing the subject here, I read about the success of your hotfire tests in the Scientific Journal last month. Fascinating reading."
"What's a hotfire test?" Ariel asked.
Candles, in the clear hurricane lamps down the middle of the table, cast a flickering light on her face. God, she was achingly pretty. Her cheeks were adorably rosy after one glass of wine, and her eyes sparkled with a fascinating glint that made Finn want to know what was going on in that clever brain of hers.
"One of a series of milestones for us," he responded, battling the familiar urge to whisk her away from his guests to somewhere more private. Somewhere he could give in to his desperate need to taste her freckled skin, and inhale the heady fragrance of lilies as he wrapped himself in the fire of her hair. "The first time we fire - hotfire - an engine is our first opportunity to operate it to test propellant inlet conditions." He needed to touch her bare skin, but settled for stroking her thigh over the thin linen of her pants as he worked to re-engage his brain and formulate words. "We evaluate the high amount of thrust generated by the engine, which is essential to achieving liftoff so we can travel beyond low-Earth orbit-"
Her eyes glazed. Finn smiled. "Too much?"
"Interesting actually.” Studying him, she smiled. "To quote Captain James T. Kirk; 'To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.'
Finn grinned. "My motto, exactly."
Logan took the basket of rolls when his brother passed it across the table. "You're getting close to passengers for a Mars flight, then?"
"Close is a relative term," Finn told him, handing him the butter with his free hand. "We’ve examined the tests to collect relevant data. We've made the down-selection based on those performance tests. We're well ahead of schedule, and far ahead of our main two competitors. I'm pleased." He was elated. No one knew about his manned rocket, Red Star, set to launch in less than half a year, with twelve people on board, who'd live on the planet for a year before returning to Earth.
"Hell, I bet you are," Nick said. "You have a space tug up there now, right? You’ve already taken up passengers. Hell, that must be thrilling.”
"Sub-orbital. That advanced upper stage is capable of refueling and generating its own electricity with the on-board fuel cell. It’s been up there for a couple of months, so yeah."
"Spendy." Nick grinned. "Upwards of a billion dollars to design, test, certify etc., right? That's a big damned nut, Rocketman."
Finn shrugged. "The U.S Air Force committed almost fifty mil in funding, which helped."
"Chump change." Logan's eyes rested briefly on Ariel before he returned his attention to Finn. "We’re ready to throw in our change whenever you’re ready to take in outside investors. Everyone likes your dedication to reusability." He took a pull from his beer.
"Thanks. We're always making engineering decisions leading to practical, operational reusability," Finn told them, always happy to talk shop, but also aware that no one at the table was as interested in the nitty-gritty details as he was. "Since two-thirds of the price of the booster is just the engine, we solved that problem. After using a giant parafoil to grab them out of the sky via helicopter, we've already successfully recovered three of our engines after launching."
"Hell," Jonah said admiringly, "that’s a tremendous engineering accomplishment. No wonder you're ahead in your field. Broke a few rules developing that technology, I bet."
"We've done our homework," Finn told him, noticing Ariel's gaze returning to the tablet every now and then. "The idea of booster recovery has been around for a while, as well as single stage orbit. My people just pushed the envelope a bit further."
"A lot further," Bria smiled. "I'm so impressed with all you've accomplished, Finn. I wouldn't want to travel all that way to Mars, but I admire your ability to make it happen."
"Passenger Mars flights are a long, long, long way off." He returned Nick's wife's smile. "We'll be taking paying passengers into suborbital space, and to the Space Station, for the next few years. In the meantime, we've got three wrecks to salvage."
"Yeah. That'll keep us busy." Logan set aside his half-empty bottle. "You'll take people to visit the moon before we're done here. Maybe the end of our salvage will see your trip to Mars becoming viable."
Finn and his people were working on it. The trip was a lot closer than he'd told the press, but he was keeping that under wraps until they'd done more tests.
"How long will it take to get to Mars?" A skein of glossy hair escaped Ariel's untidy topknot to slowly unfurl, much to Finn's fascination. It fell to curl enticingly over her left breast.
While his mind was stuck on how the red of her hair, when the light caught it a certain way, matched the color of Mars, he murmured. “Years.”
Unaware everything about her was a goddamn distraction for him, her eyes widened. “Years?”
"Mars is about 140 million miles away." Finn withdrew his hand from her leg. Aroused by the heat of her skin, and the unconscious - or conscious - flexing of her thigh muscle he couldn’t take much more. He cleared his throat. "It'll take approximately nine months to get there depending on where it is in its orbit. A round trip could take up to three years."
"Only nine months one way? So, the passengers are awake the whole time?" She looked disappointed. "No pod people in stasis like in the movies?"
He smiled. He'd heard that question so many times, he expected it. "Unfortunately, not."
"Why do you say, 'round trip'? Wouldn't everyone want to come back?" she asked.
"Some people will stay to colonize Mars."
"That's amazing." She glanced around as if suddenly remembering that there were other people with them at the table. "Isn't that incredible?” Her attention returned to Finn. "They'll be the pioneers and settlers of their generation. I wonder what space smells like."
He smiled. "Human's can't smell anything out there. We'd die if we tried. It's a vacuum after all. Our solar system is particularly pungent, however, because it's rich in carbon and low in oxygen." Finn loved the way her entire focus was on his face as he spoke. "Astronauts returning to their crafts report space-born polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons adhering to their suits. They say the smell is distinct; burnt meat. The smell of the moon is similar to spent gunpowder."
She wrinkled her nose. "How much would it set someone back to fly one way to Mars?"
"About thirty-five million."
"Say what?!" Zane, already on his third helping of lamb, paused to give him an incredulous look. "Each? Holy shit. Count me out."
"That's okay," Finn assured him with a smile. "We're fully booked for the first five Mars flights over the next fifteen years." Red Star One wasn't scheduled to take colonists when she launched in five months. That flight was scheduled to take scientists on an exploratory mission for a year- after that. . .
"Meanwhile," he told an avid audience. "We've done dozens of sub-orbital flights. About eight thousand people have already gone up."
"Have you?" Ariel asked, meal barely touched and apparently forgotten.
"Several times."
Her eyes shone. "I'd love to go."
He wanted to take her. Just her. What would it be like to make love while looking at the Earth from space? The thought fired his blood and made him even more impatient to be alone with her.
"How much does that trip cost?" she asked, clearly fascinated.
"The sub-orbital flights? Two hundred thousand for about two hours. At an altitude of about 50,000 feet, the plane climbs toward the edge of the atmosphere.”
“Sounds wonderful,” she said, eyes lighting up as she leaned forward.
Finn's gaze went from her bright eyes to her parted lips. God, he wanted to kiss her. His fingers tightened on the stem of his glass. “Passengers experience roughly five minutes of weightlessness before gliding back for landing.” Finn contemplated what it would be like to make love while weightless. Couldn't wait to try it for himself. “Presently we're doing five trips a day with a massive waitlist." He'd add a sixth flight just for her. Them.
“I’m patient,” she smiled.
Not, he thought, amused.
One of the Cutters cleared their throat. Finn had been lost in her for several minutes.
For now, though, the dinner plates had been cleared and they were waiting for dessert. Glancing quickly at the brothers, he realized that they were looking at him with assorted expressions. Logan curiously. Zane admiringly. Nick’s expression, impossible to read, but he had a dangerous glint in his eyes that Finn had never noticed before. Jonah’s Cutter-blue eyes were merely curious as he looked from Ariel and back to Finn.
"Are you based in Buenos Aires, Ariel?" Jonah asked as the flan was set before them and everyone dug in. It was startling to Finn how similar in looks all four Cutters were, considering Jonah's mother had been Daniel Cutter’s mistress. The brothers’ eyes were identical, piercing blue. The only other person he'd ever met with such distinctive eye color, was Ariel. In her case a clear blue-green.
Her shoulders straightened, and she blinked, clearly surprised the conversation had detoured to her. Finn suspected she preferred being a fly on the wall, rather than a participant. "I'm based at the Ministry of Antiquities, which is housed in the Government building there. But since this salvage could feasibly take months, if not years, I'll be based out of my home on the coast. It'll cut down on my commute time."
She didn't mention that she'd built the house. Or that she'd done so before she'd gone to work for Dr. Núñez. Information he'd received from his PI the moment he learned who she really was. That she'd omitted the timing was interesting. For Finn, details mattered. It was the difference between life and death with a million pounds of thrust under a live crew and passengers. So why omit this small detail? By doing so she unintentionally gave this info more weight. Made him even more curious.
"But you're staying on board Blackstar, aren't you?" Nick asked. Finn didn't like how intensely the other man observed her. Nor did he like the surges of jealousy he felt every time his friend looked at her with a little more goddamn warmth than was warranted by a perfect stranger.
He’d been a perfect stranger, and look how that had turned out.
"Yes." Peri kept steady eye contact. "I will need to go home periodically, and of course I'll start visiting your ships and cataloging your artifacts in a couple of days. I've already got plenty of work to do on board Blackstar Two."
"But you're bunking on Blackstar, right?" Zane had a wicked glint in his eyes, and Peri's cheeks flushed. "Why's that Rocketman?"
"I brought in extra divers for this salvage," Finn told the lie easily. "No available cabins there, plenty of room here."
"Buenos Aires is a long way away," Logan observed. "You didn't mind leaving your family and friends to work in such an isolated place?" He studied her over the bottle. Like his younger brother, Logan, too, watched her with a little more than polite interest. Finn wanted to remind both men they were happily married, and that their wives would be there in a few days. "Do you have family? In Argentina?"
"Not in Argentina, no. But I have a brother. We're really close, but he travels a lot, so we don't get together that often." She tucked the loose strand back up into the topknot, and within seconds it slithered free again. He preferred her a little disheveled. In fact, Finn liked her a lot disheveled. "The office is only five hundred miles away. I’ll go back periodically."
Zane pushed aside his empty plate and accepted the untouched desert Bria slid in front of him all without taking his eyes off Ariel. "Dr. Núñez must value you highly to trust you on such a monumental salvage."
Her smile was a little tight. "He must. I'm here."
"He'll be pleased with today's find, will he not?" Bria asked from across the table.
"Without a doubt,” Ariel agreed. “But there were other noteworthy finds retrieved in the past few days. A surprising number, since none of your grids are in place yet. The ocean floor must be rich with artifacts from the four ships."
"Spread out over fifty nautical miles," Zane pointed out.
"Right." She took a sip of her water. "It'll take time, but if what you've retrieved so far is an indication of what's down there, I think everyone will be very pleased with the outcome. I know Dr. Núñez will be thrilled with the variety of artifacts you've recovered so far. He's more into the historical value of the objects than the percentage eventually due the Ministry. I'm sure he'll be as excited by this artifact,” she nodded in the direction of the table where the golden slab sat, “as we are."
Finn had no doubt Núñez was going to line his own pockets before the Ministry got their cut. Like pretty much anywhere in the world, government graft was a given.
Bria leaned her forearms on the table with a jangle of her gold bracelets. "I think we should send for our tablet and compare the two, don't you think, Nick?" Putting her arm across the table she waited for her husband, who sat directly opposite her, to take her hand.
Nick stroked his thumb across the back of his wife’s hand. "I agree, my love. It would be worth seeing them together to determine if they are in any way related, or if they're two separate entities."
"That would be awesome, but will the museum lend you the tablet? To take halfway around the world?" Ariel asked Bria with a frown. "That seems unlikely, doesn't it?"
"Bria is the Crown Princess of Merrezo," Finn told her. "She started that museum, and owns it, right? "
Bria shrugged. "My people own it. But there will be no problem removing the tablet- temporarily, accompanied by my curator for safe keeping."
"Great. My plane is available," Finn offered. "My pilot, Kathleen will go to Merrezo and return with your tablet." He too was intrigued by the thought that both items might've come from the same time and place.
Bria smiled. "That would be most excellent, Finn. I think, if we may, we should have Ale Vadini accompany the tablet. I think he'd be an enormous help in comparing your artifact and La tavoletta d'oro Merrezo."
It was late. The sun had set, the black arc of the sky filled with stars. "Excellent idea," Finn told her easily, now impatient for everyone to go back to their respective ships.
He wanted to show his Persephone the stars so she could see them as he did. Beautiful and full of possibilities. Just as he saw her. He wasn't done exploring every freckle on her body. Stars first, followed by the rest of the night and well into the morning in his cabin. In his bed. The thought made him hot, eager for his friends to get the hell off Blackstar. He pushed back his chair and rose. "I'll have Kathleen file a flight plan. She'll leave first thing in the morning."
"All things considered," Nick said as he and the others rose, too, "we need to get security on this immediately, don't you think?"
"Hell, yes. I'll send some of my guys," Finn offered. "They'll see to the Merrezo tablet's safe transit."
"No need," Nick told him easily. "I have people in Italy. I'll take care of security from there."
Nick Cutter did black ops contract work for a counterterrorist group, utilizing his ear for dialect, and God only knew what other talents. He was a good man to know and seemed to have limitless resources. Yet, when Finn had asked him, casually, if he'd dig into Ariel's background, Nick had shut him down, saying unless Finn suspected her of terrorism, he didn't surveil innocent civilians.
“It’s settled then.” Finn started them walking toward the sunroom so they’d get the lead out and head back to their own ships. He was done socializing.