Free Deliverance by Dakota Banks Page B

don’t have to kill him. He may be a creep, but he’s been a useful creep.
    She inserted the new key into a slot near the door and pressed her finger on the pad. Up popped her photo and a positive identification. The guard swung open the thick vault door.
    I’m in.
    She considered the situation for the worst-case scenario. She’d have to take out the armed guard first. Mr. Eliades was next. Last, she’d have to go back to the room where her key was made and kill the guard while Amaro removed her information from the hotel’s computer.
    Three possible deaths for this one shard. Deaths of people who aren’t killers. Wonder what Anu would think of that, if it all goes wrong.
    Amaro remained by the door, talking to the guard and Mr. Eliades. He was creative with small talk, and kept their attention focused.
    Maliha removed Lucius’s key from her handbag. The box number was encrypted in the microengraving, but Amaro had deciphered it. She went to that box and opened it with Lucius’s key. Inside were a letter and a diamond shard. She tucked the letter into her bag, but stared in dismay at the shard. It was roughly rectangular, about two inches by twelve inches. There was no way it was going to fit into her small evening bag. It was also a shock because it meant that the lens was bigger than she thought. From the pieces she’d already retrieved, she thought it was about seven inches in diameter.
    There must be some whopper pieces out there. Makes sense, since the Tablet of the Overlord is a foot high. I had this shard in my hands once before, but didn’t remember the size. Too busy trying to get out of the sucking sand pool.
    Like the other shards, this one was a quarter of an inch thick. It had a glossy surface and underneath there were thousands of facets reflecting light, as though it had been carved from the inside.
    “Sweetie, would you come over here? I could use your help.”
    Amaro excused himself and came into the vault, blocking the view from the doorway with his body. She pointed at the shard and he saw the problem right away. He picked it up, tucked it under his vest, and slid it into an area covered by the jacket. Maliha quietly pushed the box closed and removed the key.
    Then they moved a few steps away and inserted Maliha’s key in her numbered safe box. Amaro unfastened the diamond pendant and bracelet Maliha was wearing and put them in the box. The two men near the vault door were now watching.
    “Your selection of jewelry shows a perceptive eye, Ms. Winters. The shopkeeper asked me to convey his appreciation of your taste,” Mr. Eliades said.
    “Thank you. These pieces are already among my favorites.”
    She and Amaro walked out together, Amaro with a little less grace than usual, one arm pinned to his side.
    Amazing. Body count 0.

Chapter Eleven
     
    M aliha stayed at the Royal Dawn Hotel for three more days, making certain that there wasn’t the slightest suspicion that she’d raided a safe box that didn’t belong to her.
    Technically, it did, because Lucius gave me the key willingly. Proving it would be tough, though.
    Amaro stayed with her in her villa, arrangements any romantically inclined couple would make. Most of the day he spent working from her living room, but was on call for making appearances around the hotel with her. They had one very public kiss for authenticity, and there was a lot of touching of arms, shoulders, waists.
    When she’d rescued him he was sixteen years old, and he spent a lot of time around her. Predictably, he developed a crush. After all, despite her true age, she appeared only a few years older than he was. When his sister Rosie married young and moved out of Maliha’s care, she pushed Amaro out on his own, too. No way was she going to become the ultimate cougar, three hundred years older than her inexperienced prey. Amaro discovered girls his own age, and the crush faded. Maliha thought he still had feelings for her, though, at his age of