Gunshots waken Ian Tunbridge, an assistant curator of classical antiquities at the British Museum, on his first day on a dig in California. The only way to save his life is to run for it, but luck is not on his side. At least, not until he meets Lucas Arpini, the brash American photographer who seems to have some sort of clue what’s going on. Together, they’re supposed to be the tools in finding an artifact nobody believes is real -- nobody, that is, except Lucas and the man kidnaps them both.<br><br>Ian doesn’t know what to believe. His colleagues are dead, he’s injured, and he has no choice but to put his faith in a gorgeous stranger. Their escape should lead them straight to the police, but when Lucas shows him pieces of the puzzle they were meant to solve, Ian is too intrigued to walk away. He wants to solve the riddle as badly as Lucas does.<br><br>Unfortunately, they aren’t the only ones ...

Riddle Me Wicked

They were on the bridge crossing the bay when he commented, “You think I’m going to need my passport for a trip to Cairo, don’t you?”


Time had relaxed Lucas again, bringing back the playful man Ian was coming to know so well. “I was a Boy Scout. I make sure I’m always prepared.”


Somehow, that didn’t surprise Ian in the slightest.


Susanna’s contact turned out to be an attorney with a wife who worked fairly high up in the local office for US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Mr. Tyler took Ian’s information with a quiet confidence, enough to convince Ian that things might work out after all. He wasn’t entirely sure how US Immigration could do anything to help him retrieve a British passport, but at this point, he had to have faith in something. He was going to start with this.


“Come back at four.” They shook hands as they rose from the table. “I’ll have everything for you then.”


Chapter 21