her shoulders, indicating that she was in for the night and done and over the hated wig. Every time Hunter looked up, she’d wriggled a little closer to Grace, forcing him to give her a little more room.
Good. Grace needed to not get away with shit all the time.
Which reminded Hunter. “Where’s Artur and Julia?” he asked, looking around.
“Julia took him out for a drink since the op was over,” Josh told him. “He was a little ragged, and she sort of charmed him out of the room.”
“What do you mean, ragged?” Hunter had needed to tune much of what had been said out, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to engage with Tazo, and he’d learned a few things, so that was important time spent.
“He was worried,” Grace said glumly. “About me. I didn’t intend to worry him again.”
“Again—” But Josh cut Hunter off.
“This isn’t the same, Grace. Julia will get him to see it. You’re doing something important now. This isn’t nearly as dangerous as what you were doing that freaked him out so badly.”
Hunter’s stomach went cold. “What were you—”
Josh was standing next to him, and his sharp elbow drove all the air out of Hunter’s lungs.
“So,” Josh said brightly, like he hadn’t just bruised Hunter’s ribs through his specially lined coat, “don’t you want to know what makes this stone really special?”
“It’s cut like a flower!” Hunter blurted. “Is that… can we do… does that even work?”
“No, that’s not it,” Josh said, cupping his elbow and gnawing on his thumb like his Uncle Danny.
“It’s not it?” Hunter said blankly.
“What?” From Molly.
“Are you kidding me?” Grace demanded.
Josh scowled at them. “You guys, carved gems are a thing. It’s just that a lot of jewelers don’t have the skill—or sometimes the imagination—to do this to a piece of gemstone. No, the carving is brilliant. The fact that it’s shaped like a magnolia is… well, it’s damned pretty, and probably laser cut, and it needs a lot of skill. But that’s not the super special prize in the bottom of the box. Stirling, do you want to tell them all what we’ve won?”
Stirling chuckled and fiddled with the zoom on his computer monitor. The long shot of the gem cupped in Grace’s hand changed to the gem sitting face up on a piece of black velvet. There was something odd about those petals, a striation that changed the color intensity. What in the fuck…?
Everybody squinted at the picture, leaning forward as though they could will those inconsistencies and flaws to come into focus.
The zoom intensified until it was down to microscopic, and Hunter sucked in a breath.
Then Molly and Grace did too.
“And that is what I’m talking about,” Josh said.
“Is that… is that a microchip? Or… that’s computer mapping on the tourmaline, isn’t it?” Hunter gasped. “Like, those are—”
“Danny was right,” Josh confirmed. “This isn’t just a rock, and it’s not just a thumb drive. It’s an information bomb,” Josh confirmed. He held his phone up. “I texted Danny the pictures and he told Stirling what to look for. It’s got files alluding to Lucius—”
Broadstone, who had been sitting silently in the darkest corner of the room, nodded appreciatively.
“—but it’s got more secrets here. Tourmaline’s a fairly common material, even when it’s fancy cut like this. But guys, the information on this rock? Depending on what else it holds, that could be worth billions.”
“So what are we going to do about it?” Hunter asked, and Josh pursed his lips.
“I need to have a conference call with Felix and Dan—”
And at that moment, his phone rang.
“Hey, Dad, you’re on speaker.”
“Are Julia and Artur with you?” Felix Salinger had that air of command that made good soldiers like Hunter automatically square up their shoulders.
“No, they’re out,” Josh replied. “But Broadstone’s with us.”
Felix grunted. “Still?”
“Yes, still,” Broadstone spoke up, annoyed. “You may remember, whoever these people are, they’ve stolen my tech.”
“You don’t even know which tech yet, though,” Felix said suspiciously. “You won’t know until someone shows up next quarter with your neat and spiffy new product in their catalog. Did I get that right?”
“Shut up,” Broadstone muttered sheepishly, and everyone in the room smirked. Handsome enough—besides the arctic hazel eyes and dark-brown almost black hair, Broadstone had a patrician nose and high forehead, like a young Gavin Newsom but with less crazy. Apparently, besides having full responsibility for his company, he also had a sense of humor, and Hunter had to admit, he seemed to fit in.
“Yes, sir,” Felix responded acidly