Page 161 of Crash Course
Zeke waved off his friend’s words. “Sardoff’s Antiques and Uncommon Treasures would have survived the loss of the comic book. Its owner is too stubborn, and too smart, to fail.”
The dealer bowed his head in amused acknowledgment, then studied him with a salesman’s intensity. “I’ve heard whispers about an early sixteenth-century British longsword with a four-headed wolf carved on the pommel andfamilia primuminscribed on the guard,” Lan said, studying his face with a salesman’s intensity. “Is this something you would be interested in?”
Familia primum.Family first.
Shock turned Zeke’s muscles to glass. One wrong move, and his world could shatter into a million fragments. Had Sardoff found Lupos, the sword that had defended the Blackwell family for generations until it was stolen from his great-great-grandfather a century ago?
“An antique longsword,” Zeke said, infusing amused disbelief into his voice. “Do you really have to ask?”
“No, I suppose not. ButIcannot obtain something the possessor has no desire to sell.”
Disappointment coiled in his gut. “Can you get me a name?”
Sardoff lifted a brow. “Do you really have to ask?”
Zeke grinned, despite the tension still gripping his insides. “I suppose not.”
Always the businessman, his friend swept his hand over the antique arsenal displayed on the table. “Which one should I wrap up for you?”
Zeke snapped off his Nitrile gloves and stuffed them into the front pocket of his jeans. “All of them.”
“All?"
Lifting a duffel bag from the floor, Zeke dumped out two stacks of Ben Franklins onto the table. “All.”
Chapter Two
After returning to his hotel, Zeke carried his duffel bag of artifacts to his room, showered, and changed into a gray button-down shirt and black slacks for his prearranged dinner with his older brother Ash.
Now, he followed the hostess of the Grand Marquis Hotel restaurant to a booth across from the bar, feeling like a stink bug amidst a kaleidoscope of butterflies.
His idea of a nice evening involved him wearing a T-shirt and jeans, on his deck, with a beer in hand, steak on a plate, and a sunset beautiful enough to bring tears to his eyes.
But his brother had more refined tastes, and he’d insisted on this hotel and warned Zeke to wear something besides said deck-wear. Normally, he ignored fashion advice from his brother, but he didn’t want to set their rare get-together off on the wrong foot. Plus, today was his birthday. Why not celebrate in style?
The hostess handed him a menu and laid another in the empty place opposite him. “Your server will be with you shortly, Mr. Blackwell. I’ll show your wife to your table once she arrives.” She smiled at him with generous red lips and blue eyes. Long black hair draped over a bare shoulder, the perfect complement to the strapless white dress that outlined her curves in all the places he liked.
The slight emphasis she put on “your wife” sounded like a question to his ears, one he found himself not interested in answering, despite the obvious temptation.
“Thank you,” he said, picking up the menu.
She had barely turned away before his mind shifted to Lupos and Sardoff’s promise to text him the name of the longsword’s owner. Zeke had allowed his hopes to rise many times over the past year, only to be disappointed. But this was the first time the description matched his family’s heirloom so perfectly.
“Hello, I’m Keith. I’ll be your server tonight,” a tall young man with curly brown hair and a sunburned nose said. “Can I get you anything to drink while we’re waiting for your guest?”
Zeke glanced down at his watch and noted the time.
8:27 p.m.
Way to cut it close, bro.
“Two glasses of your best bourbon.” He glanced at the menu. “I’ll have the beef tenderloin.”
“Would you like for me to put your order in now or wait for your guest?”
“Put it in now.” One thing the last decade had taught him—never hold up food for his brothers. Out of the five of them, he seemed to be the only one who didn’t lose track of time. It’s why he’d made such a great operations manager.
He pushed the thought away. Later. He would get into that later.
