Free Alicia Myles 2 - Crusader's Gold by David Leadbeater Page B

the end they were all just soldiers. Could any man who had seen combat say any different? Nemeses came in many different forms and for every person who lived their lives.
    Riley, it seemed, had bided his time and remembered his promise to Crouch on finding out he’d left the Army. Anyone who held a grudge for that amount of time should be taken seriously, no matter their proclivities, but in the case of Riley the threat was a thousand times worse.
    Caitlyn spoke into a sudden silence. “I’ll start some research. If we can find out what Riley’s been doing since ’97 it might give us some kind of an advantage.”
    Crouch agreed. “Start with Interpol. Riley’s base of operations has always been Eastern Europe.”
    Alicia considered Crouch’s story carefully. It was an event she knew fleetingly through past chatter. “Seven civilians and three soldiers were killed that day.”
    Crouch nodded. “Three SAS soldiers. But Riley, he is the master of disappearance. We never got near him again.”
    “I have to ask.” Healey looked like he was about to burst. “What’s next? Do we abandon our search for the Hercules to concentrate on Riley? Is that what you’re saying?”
    Crouch blew out a long gust of air. “Ahhh, I don’t know. Riley has to be dealt with. If we allow him to operate I guarantee you he will end us all, publicly, with the highest amount of civilian casualties he can accomplish. But as for the fate of the Hercules . . .”
    “It can wait?” Alicia said.
    “It has waited all these years. But when a particular ball gets rolling so, usually, does another. Take Kenzie for example, and anyone she might have told. There may well be others. Rolland Sadler has to seek various permissions from local authorities to allow us to seek these treasures out—special access and the like. Criminals get wind that something is afoot, or they pay to hear from those in the know. I can guarantee you now that from our actions so far at least a dozen outsiders know what we’re up to.”
    “And it’s what some of them might do to the Hercules that worries us,” Caitlyn put in.
    “So we swing both ways.” Alicia cracked a smile. “I can handle that.”
    Russo shook his head. “It’s a bit of an alien concept for the rest of us,” he said. “How can we juggle two such erratic variables?”
    “It’s this simple,” Crouch said. “Riley will find us wherever we go. So let’s do what we have to do and make sure we’re ready for him.”
    Russo accepted this logic by clamping his mouth shut. Alicia slapped his broad shoulders. “C’mon, Robster. Is it true that men can’t multitask? Or can even a slow, witless old Neanderthal like you make it work?”
    Russo shrugged her off, growling softly. Healey cast a long glance toward Caitlyn. Alicia thought about the obvious wisecrack but then decided to let the two lovebirds be. The pair hadn’t had a lot of luck just yet.
    Is that me growing again? Is it? What the . . .
    A weight hovered just above her shoulders, a weight that if it settled could literally crush her into dust. It lowered by the day, occasionally by the hour. Only situations like the one she faced right now kept it in the air.
    “And on to business,” she said quickly, seeing Venice emerge out of the cloud cover below. The beautiful island city spread out, appearing through the right-hand window as the pilot banked and turned in. A series of curves and channels, densely packed dwellings and a huge bridge like an outstretched arm, it diverted her with its intense attractiveness. The others were also staring.
    “The Hercules Tarentum, being the greatest work of the greatest sculptor, will become a free-for-all if we allow it,” Crouch said. “The chase is now on, like it or not.”
    “Speaking of Lysippos,” Caitlyn said. “In school and through later studies I always believed Michelangelo or possibly Bernini were the greatest sculptors who ever lived.”
    “Most famous, yes. I guess it’s