Read Online Stolen Vengeance: Slye Temp book 6 by Dianna Love - Free Book Online

has a contact here who puts word out in the underground market, I’ll know who he contacts. But to cover all those networks quickly and quietly, I’ll need an additional forty thousand up front.”
    Smith tapped his fingers for several very long seconds, then his jaw hardened. “I find myself in a spot that is unusual, but this absolutely must happen. Agreed. However, if you do not deliver the scroll by my deadline and I find out it was sold in the US during that time, you will return all fifty thousand dollars.”
    That triggered her palms to start sweating. She sat back and dropped her hands out of sight where she clamped her thighs to dry them off. “Agreed.”
    “Very well.” He tapped his tablet to bring up a document, typed quickly, then signed it and turned the tablet to Valene.
    She took her time reading it and once she was satisfied she’d covered her butt the best she could, she signed with the stylus. He locked the file and sent a copy to her before turning the tablet around, tapping keys once more, then closing it inside a leather cover.
    He stood, dropping a hefty tip for two glasses of water.
    Guess our meeting is over.
    She followed him out into the late-day sun warming the sidewalk, and shielded her eyes to look up at him. “What number do I use to reach you once I have the scroll?”
    “If you need to reach me, contact Charlie, but I’ll know when you have something and I’ll find you.”
    She wanted one more thing clear. “I’ll begin work as soon as I receive the fifty thousand dollar deposit.”  Big lie. She’d be on the phone to everyone who might be of help the minute she walked away.
    “It’s already in your account.” Before she could question how he had that information, he told her. “Charlie supplied me with the account numbers. Anything else?”
    “Yes. You have yet to give me the name of this scroll. Is it identified any specific way?”
    “It’s called Profezia di Orione .” With that, Smith turned and strode off in the direction from which he’d first appeared.
    Valene stared at his back in shock, as if his words had climbed out of his mouth, marched across the sidewalk, then rearranged themselves into the worse possible combination.
    She stood there, trying to convince herself that Profezia di Orione didn’t translate into Orion’s Prophecy.
    But it did.
    That’s what drove the terrorists that Valene had helped stop last month. Dingo and his people had been on the trail of Orion Hunters determined to launch an attack.
    Why did she suddenly feel guilty?
    Because Dingo would want to know this, but she’d just agreed to tell no one.
    If she were honest with herself, she knew just as much about Dingo as she knew about this Smith guy.
    Very little.
    The only tidbit Dingo had shared was that Orion Hunters were part of an underground organization with splinter groups all over the world. The ones his team had been after were terrorists from North Korea.
    Not Italy.
    She turned toward her car and started walking.
    Orion’s Prophecy.
    Prophecies were bandied about all the time in historical research. What was one more?
    Besides, Dingo hadn’t even mentioned the Orion Hunters earlier today. If they were dangerous, wouldn’t he have thrown that in on top of the rest of his scare tactics?
    She’d signed a confidentiality agreement. Enough said.
    Time to get busy finding that scroll.
     
    ~*~
     
    Valene Eklund had ignored his obvious alias of Smith, but that happened when someone was offered money they desperately needed.
    He walked away from Eklund and the restaurant at a steady pace, confident that she would be unleashing her highly prized skills on finding the scroll. He keyed a button on his phone and lifted it to his ear just as the call went through.
    Charlie Rothschild answered, “How’d it go, Smith?”
    “The meeting was successful.”
    “Hot damn! So Valene did go for it.”
    “Did you have doubts?”
    “Only because she’s a tough nut to crack.” 
    “Yes.