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

He punched in the eight-digit code. Each tone quickened his pulse a few beats more.


When he pressed enter, the lock clicked free. Ian sighed in relief and pulled it open.


It was a very good thing Lucas wasn’t around for him to worry about. His nerves were clearly too tightly wound already.


Rather than venture deeper into the museum, Ian took the emergency stairs immediately inside the entrance. Few people used them. The lighting dated back decades, occasionally flickering like some kind of horror movie, and the stairwell wasn’t heated. The pithless air sharpened senses, the echoes of his treads down the concrete steps jangling at the base of his neck, the sickly burn of gas from the heat leaking beneath the doors prickling his nose.


He reached the first lower level and paused, leaning toward the heavy metal door to listen for any sounds on the other side.


Still, he twisted the knob slowly, careful of making any noise, on the alert of anyone who might be coming.


Chapter 55