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even convince the world exists?
The rumble was punctuated with a horn blast. A semi, at the
very least. He didn t have much time, if this proved to be their ride.
It wasn t hard for him to get me to buy his sell. I m almost
thirty. My savings account is solid, but if I hit one bad month, or
all of a sudden fall off the photography radar, I m wiped out. I
could always hit the nine-to-five, get a mortgage, pack all of the
travel in for something safe, something conservative, but I d be
dead within a year if I did that.
So you d rather tilt after windmills? The Blood of Sheol isn t
going to make you rich.
Maybe not, but finding something nobody else has? Pulling
off the impossible, barely breaking a sweat? That s worth its
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weight in gold.
Ian didn t speak. He was already leaning pretty heavily against
Lucas s arm, getting heavier with each passing second. Lucas
finally risked glancing back, and immediately wished he hadn t.
Now, he couldn t look away.
Ian wasn t smiling. He wasn t frowning, either, but instead,
watching Lucas with more than a little bit of quiet contemplation.
When their eyes locked, he didn t blink, holding Lucas in his grasp
without ever uttering a word.
The Blood of Sheol will get you the recognition you deserve,
Lucas said. Yes, I did my research on you. I memorized your
records, your resume. Call it stalking if you want, though that
wasn t what it was. But the one thing I learned is that you ve gone
too long bending to other people s whims. It s time you started
thinking of number one. We find this, and you can write your own
ticket. You can tell everybody who tried pushing you into some
little box you didn t want to be in, to fuck off.
A hint of a smile appeared at the last. Aren t you trying to
bend me to your whims?
No, because I m willing to let you walk away. If that s what
you want. You ve been through hell. You can stop it all just
sticking with the police. He let his own smile come out to play.
But I ll bet that if you do, if you turned your back on me, and the
proof, and the potential of such a huge discovery, you will always
wonder what if. What if I d been right? What if the Blood of Sheol
really does exist? And you ll be a hell of a lot unhappier than if
you d agreed to partner up and find it together.
The truck was fast approaching. Lucas didn t have to turn
around to hear the engine grind to a halt, its roar softening as it
coasted up behind them. Ian broke the spell between them by
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glancing past Lucas s shoulder at it, waiting several moments
before answering him.
I suppose the least I could do is see this proof you re so rabid
about, he mused.
Though he wanted to shout in excitement, Lucas settled for a
bright laugh. The very least.
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CHAPTER 4
Ian allowed Lucas to take the lead. He was too cold, too sore,
and frankly, too drained to do much more than follow where he
was guided. Sooner or later, it would hit him, of that he had no
doubt. But for the time being, Ian was perfectly content to let
Lucas orchestrate their next moves.
Riley, the lorry driver, wasn t the stereotype he had expected.
Though he had the faded jeans, boots, and telltale facial hair of a
man who spent too much time outside the presence of a razor, he
was younger than both Lucas and Ian, his pale gaze surprisingly
naïve. He bought the story about the botched robbery with
appropriate gasps of horror, and insisted they contact the Little Red
police before Lucas even mentioned it. And it was Riley who
suggested he take them all the way to Oakland, his final
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destination, when he overheard Lucas explaining to the local
constabulary why they couldn t stick around.
Lucas accepted the offer without consulting Ian. The moment
Riley went off to the petrol station, though, Ian pulled Lucas aside.
I don t have my passport or any of my resources, he said. If
what you have planned
Lucas cut the words off with a solid hand on his good shoulder.
I ll take care of it.
He forced himself not to shrug off the extra weight. Trusting
Lucas Arpini wasn t as easy as the other man would like it to be,
nor as simple as Ian would have preferred. He didn t like how
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