Is this shipment of antiques stolen?

Olivia Weston kept the question locked behind her lips as she glanced from her boss, Carl Peterbalm, to the wooden packing crates that sat on the floor of her office.

Peterbalm was a short man in his mid-forties, with small, beady eyes, fleshy lips, and thinning hair combed across the top of his head. Not a very attractive package, especially accompanied by the garlic smell of his breath.

He was standing nearby, his arms folded across his ample middle, waiting for her to bring out more of the items he’d acquired from a French dealer who got his stock from God knew where. Wishing the crates weren’t so deep, she leaned into one of the containers to get another antique, aware of Carl’s hot gaze on her ass and legs.

On her worst days, she suspected that he’d hired her because he liked to show her off to clients and pretend they were having an affair.

Yuck.

As distasteful as that thought was, she needed the salary he provided; so she’d have to wait until she got another job before she went after him for sexual harassment.

She clutched the newspaper-wrapped object in her hand, then ordered herself to relax as she carefully peeled off the paper to find a delicate Limoges pitcher, which she set beside the Louis XIV clock and solid silver altar candlestick that she’d already unwrapped.

She’d been working as a research assistant, secretary and gofer at Peterbalm Associates for eighteen months, and she longed to tell Mr. Grabby Hands to go to hell. Really, she wanted to open her own shop, where she’d have an appealing mixture of affordable collectibles and expensive antiques.

But for now, that was just a dream. She was still paying off the college loans that had allowed her to get a degree in fine arts at the University of Maryland.

When she turned, her breast brushed against his arm, which he’d positioned right where she would collide with him when she went back for more pieces from the shipment.

“Sorry,” he said, the insecurity dripping from his voice.

Biting back a sharp retort, she reached into the carton and brought out another antique. Through the paper she felt a rectangular object. With the wrapping still on, she couldn’t see the thing, but she felt the hairs on the backs of her arms stand up. Whatever she was holding, she suddenly wanted to put it back into the shipping container.

Instead, she clenched her teeth and started to unwrap it. As she pulled away the paper, she saw a wooden box with elaborate carvings of vines, flowers, animals and moons. When her hand touched the wood, her fingers tingled. Setting the box down abruptly on the table, she took a couple of steps back. Even from a few feet away, the thing seemed to exude a kind of invisible power that she had never felt before.

Behind her, Carl sucked in a sharp breath.

Did he feel something too?

“What?” she asked.

He waited a beat before saying, “I just remembered that I’m late for an appointment.”

“Uh huh.”

He swept his arm toward the wooden crates. “I want you to finish unpacking the shipment today, and enter everything here in the computer file.”

She flicked her eyes toward the time stamp at the bottom of her screen. It was already 4:00 in the afternoon. To finish on time, she’d have to work till midnight, at least.

“That may take a while,” she murmured.

“You can clock in an extra hour,” he said.

Big whoop.

“Thank you,” she answered.

When he left the room and marched down the hall, Olivia breathed out a little sigh.

She knew Carl was still trying to prove to his father that he could do better on his own than by joining the family business. She was sure he’d ordered this shipment from some under-the-table source—and now he was leaving her with the result.

But she could work a lot faster without him breathing down her neck.

She glanced at the clock again. As the only full-time staffer, she was alone in the office. Probably a lot of people in the building had already gone home—which added to her uneasy feeling.

Ordering herself to settle down, she got up and locked the door before returning to the job.

So where should she start? Unwrap everything—or do the inventory piece by piece?

It wasn’t going to be a simple task. In addition to listing each item, she also had to write a description, and that might require some research on the Web or in some of the reference books that lined the shelves above the computer table.

She unwrapped a couple more pieces from the shipment, setting them on the table. Then, almost against her own will, her hand was drawn back to the box. When she touched it, she felt the same tingling sensation she’d experienced before, as though it had an electric current running through it.

No, it was more than that. Somehow she felt the tingling inside her head. Like it was getting into her mind.

Stop it, she ordered. You’re letting your imagination run away with you.

Still, she knew the chest had to be something extraordinary.

And it had come in a cut-rate shipment from France?

Please.

She stroked her finger over the carved surface that had become nicked and scarred over the years, then gently traced the curve of a three-quarter moon before picking up the rectangle and holding it near her ear. Maybe she detected a faint buzzing, although that might be her imagination. When she shook the box, she heard a faint rattling sound, like someone had locked a little piece of plastic inside.

What was in there anyway? And how did you open it? As far as she could see, it had no obvious lid. It must be like one of those Oriental puzzle boxes where you had to press a sequence of places on the surface to make panels slide to one side or the other. If you did it in the right order, the lid opened.

She fiddled with the chest for a few minutes, but she couldn’t locate any hidden panels.

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe whoever had made the thing had intended it to just be a paperweight.

Although she didn’t believe that, perhaps she could get some help from an expert. She started to reach for the phone, then drew her hand back. Carl was a real cheapskate who had a limited calling plan and monitored the phone records. Knowing he’d complain if she made a personal call on his dime, she dug her cell phone out of her purse, then dialed Beth Lawrence.

Beth and her husband Len owned a small shop on Main Street in Ellicott City that carried a charming selection of antiques and gift items.

When Olivia had done an internship with them during her senior year at the University of Maryland, they’d become good friends.

Beth answered on the second ring.

“I’m glad I reached you.”

“Olivia! You sound . . . upset. What’s wrong?”

“Well, I’m stuck at the office with a big shipment of antiques from France. I’ve got to write up an inventory, and I was hoping you could tell me something about one of the pieces.”

“What have you got?

“A carved box. It’s very old. And it looks like it came from India or maybe China.”

She used her phone to send Beth a picture.

“And there’s no obvious way to open it?” Beth asked.

“No.”

Her friend was silent for a moment. “I . . . “

”What?”

“From what I can see, it might be associated with an ancient religious cult.”

“What cult?”

“The Moon Priests. They flourished on the Indian subcontinent almost two thousand years ago. Also in mainland Greece. At one time, they were a powerful force in the world.”

“But not now?”

“I thought they died out.”

Olivia felt a shiver travel over her skin. She’d known the box was old. It sounded like her estimate was off by a millennium.

“The Moon Priests were reputed to have magical—or mystical—powers.”

The comment made the hairs on her arm stir again. To banish the feeling, she laughed. “Well, a lot of religions make that claim. You could go back to Moses and the burning bush.”

“Right.” Beth cleared her throat. “I’d like to see the box.”

Olivia thought about the request. She was sure that Carl wouldn’t like someone else looking at his shipment. But Carl wasn’t here now.

“Can you come tonight?”

“I wish I could, but Len is out of town on a buying trip, and I have a merchants’ association meeting I have to go to.”

“Okay. I understand. What about early tomorrow morning? Before my boss gets in?” she asked.

“Sure.”

Because she’d better get to work if she didn’t want to spend the night at the office, Olivia ended the call, then turned back to the shipment, knowing that filling a computer file with information would make her feel better.

Since she’d studied French china in one of her classes, she started with the Limoges pitcher, which she could describe and date without using a reference book.

She’d just entered the information when the screen and the cursor froze.

“Lord no!” she muttered as she tried to move the cursor. “Not again.”

It seemed like every time she tried to do something important on this damned computer, it crapped out on her.

When she couldn’t get the machine to respond, she was forced to press the Control-Alt-Delete keys. A box came up on the left side of the screen, telling her that the program was not responding, and she would lose all data she’d entered if she chose to terminate the program.

Yeah, right.

Well, she’d only recorded one item. Maybe the best thing to do was start over. When she pressed the cancel keys again, instead of just losing the program, the computer shut itself off.

Panic shot through her. “Not now,” she pleaded as she tried to reboot.

But the machine wouldn’t come back on.

With a hand she couldn’t hold steady, she reached for the Rolodex on her desk. Her cell phone was still on the table, and she used it to dial Luke Garner, the guy who had taken over computer repair duty for Marathon, the company that had sold Carl the desktop. As she listened to the phone ring, she murmured a little prayer under her breath. “Please, God. Please, let him answer,” she repeated over and over. On the third ring, she heard his voice.

“Hello?”

“Thank you, God,” she breathed.

He laughed. “I sound that good?”

“Luke, I know it’s probably after your workday. But I need you. I’m in the middle of an inventory project, and my computer blew up. I have to catalog a shipment from France.”

“Okay. I just finished a job downtown, and I’m in my car. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

“You will?”

“Yeah.”

“I owe you.”

He paused for a moment, then asked, “What?”

“Get me up and running again, and we’ll talk about it,” she said. In truth, she was thinking that maybe this would be the push Luke needed to ask her out. He was so damned cute with his shaggy dark hair and that sexy cleft in his chin. But since he’d taken over the repair job, he’d struck her as a study in contrasts. He was confident when it came to his work—and a little unsure around her.

She knew he liked her. So why couldn’t he ask her out?

Unable to squelch a feeling of anticipation, she got up and unlocked the door that she’d locked a few minutes earlier. While she was up, she made a quick trip to the ladies’ room where she used the facilities, then combed her chin-length blond hair, stroked a little mascara on her lids, and put on some fresh lipstick.

“Going out on a date?” Betty Custer asked as she came out of the other stall. Betty worked down the hall for a trucking company. A petite redhead, she was a few years older than Olivia, and they’d gotten to know each other.

“I wish,” Olivia answered. “Carl has me stuck here for the evening.”

“You’re not putting on lipstick for Carl, are you?” Betty asked as she washed her hands.

Olivia flushed. “Luke Garner is coming by.”

When she’d found out Betty had gone to high school with Luke, Olivia had pumped her for information about him. And Betty knew Olivia liked him.

“Did he finally ask you out?” Betty asked.

Olivia inspected her appearance in the mirror, liking the way the mascara set off her blue eyes. Not too bad for a woman who’d been at work all day. “Maybe I can push him over the edge tonight.”

“Good luck.”

oOo

In truth, Luke Garner was not fifteen minutes away. He was in a parking lot a few blocks from the Peterbalm offices.

From his remote location, he’d disabled Olivia’s computer, and now he was on his way over to fix the problem he’d created.

Damn. He hated lying to Olivia, but that had been part of his cover assignment from Decorah Security.

Frank Decorah had told his staff that something big was going to happen at Peterbalm’s. It had to do with a crate of antiques that had been shipped from France. There was an item in the consignment that Frank wanted secured. And Luke had been given the assignment of scooping it up. He was in the Decorah IT department, but really, he wanted to switch to the detective staff. And maybe this gig would do it.

Another plus for Luke was that he’d grown up in Baltimore. And he’d actually worked for a computer shop in the city before joining the Decorah IT team.

All that had made it easy for Frank to get him onto the Marathon repair staff. Decorah was paying his salary, and Luke simply had to be on standby to fix any computer problems at Peterbalm—of which there had been a lot recently.

He started his engine and drove the few blocks to the warehouse where Peterbalm had his import business.

It was after hours. Olivia would be alone. Too bad his dealings with her had to be strictly business. But when the Decorah assignment was over, maybe they could get something going. Unless she found out he was the one who’d been screwing up her computer.

He gave Decorah a call and got Brand Marshall, one of the agents.

“The shipment Frank’s looking for may have come in from France.”

“Okay good.”

“I disabled the office machine, and I’m on my way to see what’s up.”

“Keep us informed.”

oOo

Olivia paced back and forth as she waited for Luke to arrive, glancing occasionally at the carved chest that still sat on the table with the other antiques. It was just a box, for Lord’s sake. But the damn thing made her nervous. She couldn’t help thinking that it was going to bring her bad luck. Really, she’d like to get it out of the office. But she couldn’t just throw it away. Not when Carl had already seen it.

Wait—what was she thinking? Throw away a valuable antique. Of course not.

Instead of focusing on the chest, she turned her thoughts back to Luke Garner. By her standards, he was a rough-around-the-edges kind of guy. Not like the young businessmen or lawyers she’d met at church. But she’d been attracted to him from the first time he’d come to the office to fix a mysterious computer glitch.

She thought back over their phone conversation. He’d been flirting with her. Hadn’t he?

Maybe they could keep the banter going in person.

A noise at the door made her go rigid. When she whirled around, she saw Luke and breathed out a sigh.

“That was fast. Thanks for coming.”

“For you—anything.” A cocky smile flashed across his face as he strode into the room, glancing from the computer to her and back again. “So what’s going on with this puppy?” he asked.

“It froze and now it won’t boot.” As she answered, she realized that it was after hours, and they were alone in the office together. At her invitation.

Was he thinking about that, too?

He went over and fiddled with the keyboard and got the same non-response that she had.

When his cell phone rang, he pulled it out, checked the number, and scowled.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

“A client.”

“And you’re not going to respond?”

“I’m busy.”

He put the phone on the desk, then sat down and started typing on the keyboard.

“I see what’s wrong,” he said.

“Thank God. What?”

“Give me a minute.”

He typed some more, and the screen flashed to life again.

“It’s fixed?” she asked.

“Uh huh.”

“What were you working on?”

“I’m logging in a shipment of antiques.”

“Like what?”

She waved her hand toward the crates. “All of that stuff.”

oOo

Luke got up and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. When Decorah had called back, he hadn’t been able to respond in front of Olivia.

But the shipment was almost certainly what Frank was waiting for. In it was supposed to be an antique wooden chest with flowers and stuff on it. Frank hadn’t had a picture, but he’d said it would be distinctive.

“What if I helped with the unpacking?”

“Would you?”

“Sure.” He walked toward the cases, then stopped at the table where she’d set the objects she’d already removed. The box was there. At least, it looked like the right box.

Now that he saw it, he had the feeling he shouldn’t pick it up. He did it anyway, turning it over in his hands. “What’s this?”

“My friend, Beth Lawrence, says it’s from an old religious cult. The Moon Priests.”

Somehow, hearing the name sent a shiver over his skin.

“She says they were supposed to have magic powers.”

“Oh yeah?” Frank hadn’t been specific about why they were supposed to secure the box.

“When I touch it, I get this tingling sensation.”

He did too. He should put the damned thing down. But he felt compelled to move his fingers over the sides of the chest. When he pressed the lower right side of the box, a panel sprang back.

“Hey!” He propped his hips against the table as he turned the box, holding it up to the light and looking at the design. Then he pressed a flower on the left side. Again, a panel opened.

“Stop,” Olivia said, her voice uneven.

He shook his head. From the moment he’d seen the box, he’d known he had to get his hands on it.

“I think it’s . . . dangerous,” she said, but now her voice seemed to be coming from a far distance. “You remember that chest in the Raiders of the Lost Ark?”

“What about it?”

“When the Nazis opened it, something bad happened to them.”

“This isn’t the lost ark.”

“It’s from an ancient religion.”

“And?”

“And . . . it’s giving me the creeps.”

He nodded, but now it seemed impossible to put the thing down. Instead, he kept working on the pressure points. More panels opened, and then the top sprang up.

A white mist came blasting out of the box like it had been fired from a cannon and struck him in the face.