Free Welcome to the Dream (A Celeste Cross Book, #1) by Odette C. Bell Page B

their credentials –
these archaeologists are good. One comes from Cambridge. The other
cut his teeth on numerous digs throughout the Middle East and Asia.
They know what they're talking about. If they think the amulet was
just a fake, then I'm sure it was just a fake,’ Gustaf tried
again.
    It makes
perfect sense, stop being difficult. Jack thought to himself.
    ‘ What's it a replica of?’ Jack
asked, letting his hands drop and rest in his lap. Though the base
had air con, it was still stinking hot. However, he couldn't drop
all his work and just head to the beach behind his dad's house. A)
It would probably surprise Celeste if he appeared at her door in
nothing but a pair of budgie smugglers, that rather endearing
Australian term for swimming togs. And b) he really didn't have the
time.
    ‘ Do you remember that old amulet
we picked up in Istanbul? You know the one that had all those
Hebrew letters etched into it? And that little diagram?’
    Jack waited, trying to sift
through his memory, but finally he nodded. ‘Yeah, I remember the
priest gave us a hell of a time when we stole it from his
church.’
    Gustaf smiled and nodded.
‘That's the one. Well this amulet is just a replica of that
one.’
    ‘ You mean that trashy little
trinket they used to sell at the church?’ Jack straightened
up.
    ‘ That's the one,’ Gustaf gave a
harsh laugh. ‘The archaeologists think that someone must have
dropped it during one of the tours. So, like I said – nothing to
worry about.’
    Jack nodded, even though he
wasn't entirely convinced. ‘What did they do with it?’
    Gustaf shrugged. ‘Gave it to one
of the junior archaeologists.’
    ‘ Well find out their name, and
find out where the amulet is.’ Jack stood quickly.
    ‘ Ever the consummate soldier,
sir,’ Gustaf said through a crackling chuckle.
    ‘ Something like that.’ Jack
walked out of the room.
    It wouldn't look good if he
faced a Yaoguai threat on his home turf, especially a threat he'd
apparently ignored for three years. Jack was one of the world's
foremost experts on the Yaoguais, so he was going to make sure that
this situation was sorted and now.
    Not for the first time and
not for the last time, he found himself wondering how Celeste had
noticed that burnt Solomon's Seal in the church and he hadn't. She
obviously had a good eye.
    She was probably sitting at
the kitchen table right now, working, or fluffing about the house
doing Susie's list of chores. Celeste Cross was a nice woman, she
had a sense of humor, and even though Jack had spent a lifetime
fighting against the stereotypical, macho, degrading attitude
towards women you got a lot in the army, he had to admit she had a
great body. More than that, she seemed light and fun, something
that wasn't in his life that much at the moment. Deadly and serious
was all he dealt with these days.

Chapter 8
    Celeste Cross
    She was sitting at the
kitchen table, it was probably going on 8 o'clock, and the sun was
starting to dip below the horizon.
    She was dressed in a singlet
and little else, and every now and then had to grab some ice she
kept in a bowl by her computer to run it over her back, shoulders,
and arms, trying to cool the skin down.
    ‘ It's too damn hot,’ she
complained as she flopped a hand at her face, trying to fan at the
flushed skin.
    She'd tried to get a little
work done that night, but she hadn't gotten very far. Instead she'd
put on her music, dumped her bag on the table, and had made herself
a light meal. When she'd come back to the table, she'd realized
that her bag had tumbled over, and the contents had spilled
everywhere. Shaking her head, she'd gone to clean it up, but had
noticed the stone amulet she'd bought that morning.
    Celeste picked it up,
holding it by the leather strap, the circle of stone spinning
slowly underneath. She brought it close to her face and looked at
it.
    ‘ In a way, you're kind of
creepy,’ she told the amulet. She was right; it did have a kind of
odd