Free The Dragon Conspiracy by Lisa Shearin

museum.
    I glanced at Ian and got a single nod. “You got the crap beaten out of you by a harpy. Twice. You were awake for one, not so much for the other. Though she might have felt justified the first time because you started it.”
    He tried to sit up, indignant. “Ow. I tried to stop that thing . . . harpy from stealing the diamonds. I’m the good guy here.”
    “We’re not disputing that, Mr. Sadler,” Ian said. “I want to know three things: the real reason why you tried to stop that robbery, what you did to that harpy, and why they would track you down afterward and attack our vehicle with the intent of kidnapping you.”
    Ben stared down at his bandages with a whole new level of understanding—and fear at where he could have woken up, and what could have been staring down at him. “Kidnapping?”
    “Kidnapping,” Ian confirmed.
    Ben took a shaky breath and let it out. “My client—”
    “Who is?”
    “The confidentiality agreement we signed—”
    “I’ve got news for you, Mr. Sadler. Those harpies had no problem with going through us to get to you. My team was in danger. That supersedes any agreement you have with your client.” He paused meaningfully. “They aren’t here. I am.”
    I spoke up. “Ben, that’s as polite as my partner’s likely to get, so you might want to stop with the duckin’ and weavin’. That harpy wanted you bad. Your commission’s not the only thing that nearly became history tonight.”
    Ben sighed. “Sebastian du Beckett.”
    “I know Mr. du Beckett,” Ian said.
    I blinked. “You do?”
    “I didn’t know what those things were,” Ben continued, “but simply
seeing
those seven diamonds—together or separately—was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Four of them haven’t been seen publicly for over two hundred years. The Queen of Dreams and the Eye of Destiny had never even been known to exist until Tsar Nicholas bought them for his wife.” His expression was stricken. “To have them stolen on the same night they were being shown to the world for the first time . . . I
didn’t
think, I had to do something, anything to stop—”
    “And you did what?” Ian asked quietly.
    Ben fumbled for words, at a loss. “I grabbed the hand with the diamonds.”
    “Like you grabbed my hand?” I asked.
    “Yes . . . No . . . I don’t know what I did. You have to believe me. Nothing like that’s ever happened before.”
    “But you’re a diamond appraiser,” I said. “I’m assuming you’ve been handling stones for quite a while now.”
    “Yes.”
    “And you’ve never gotten so much as a shiver from one?”
    Ben shook his head.
    “We don’t have to believe you,” Ian told him, “but for now, we will. Why would those harpies come after you?”
    “I. Don’t. Know. I wish I did.”
    Ian fixed Ben Sadler with a stare. Ben met his eyes, a glimmer of wetness in the corners.
    Oh sheesh, don’t cry.
    My partner’s shoulders lowered ever so slightly as he sighed. The threat of waterworks was a wondrous and powerful thing. Even more so when I knew in my gut—and apparently Ian did, too—that Ben Sadler was telling the truth.
    “Perhaps we can help you find out,” Ian said.
    You’d think he’d just thrown Ben a life preserver. “You can?”
    “Well, not me, but we have people who specialize in this kind of thing.”
    I glanced up at Ian and received an imperceptible nod in return. Well, here went everything. “Some people have talents that others don’t. Welcome to the club.”
    “Talent? You call being able to electrocute people a talent?”
    “Electrocute is kind of strong, no pun intended. Let’s just say you’ve got a good, defensive zap there.”
    “It doesn’t matter what you call it. I could’ve killed someone just by touching them. I hurt you.”
    “Like I said,
defensive zap
. I touched you as you were coming around. The last thing you remembered was getting tossed by that harpy, right?”
    Ben thought, then nodded