Black Onyx Read Online Free

don’t? We’ll take them and sell them to private collectors who will preserve and look after them.”
    “ Hm, and I thought I was the con man.”
    “If you don’t want to partake I’m happy to leave. You’re not the only one in your profession that I have a relationship with you know.”
    “Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Henry. When is this expedition?”
    “In five days . Which means you’ll have to be leaving in two days to make it on time.”
    “And what, exactly, would your cut be for setting this up?”
    “Fifty percent, off the top before any of you split anything else.”
    “What? Are you out of your mind? I’m taking all the risk.”
    “And you will be handsomely rewarded with half. Look I’m the one setting up all the details to ensure you make it in and out on time and I’ll be the one controlling the selling of any items taken. I’ve secured crew and porters…I’m doing the heavy lifting between us. You just have to be cold for a couple of days and put a few things in a backpack.”
    He exhaled. “I need to think about it.”
    “What’s to think about?”
    “I’ll let you know tomorrow.”
    Dillon rose, leaving the box with the crown on the table. “And don’t forget to get that money to us. I’ve got a new Ferrari to buy.”
     
     
    Dillon pulled to a stop in front of his house and strolled around back. James was just walking to his car and stopped in front of him.
    “I just spoke to Henry.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Yes, and he explained the…situation we have on our hands.”
    “What did he say?”
    “Well,” James said, “he said this could be enough for all of us to retire on. He said his friend George showed him something. A gold coin the size of a doorknob. And he believes there’s a lot more there.”
    “ James, don’t tell me you’re thinking this is a good idea.”
    “I’m not a young man, Dillon. Our priorities are completely different. Now I have enough to perhaps, perhaps , get me through my twilight years without having to work but it’s not certain by any means. My nightmare, what keeps me up at night, is imagining that I’m eighty years old and having to live on the four hundred dollars a month the Social Security Administration is going to pay me, if they still exist then.”
    “If you wanted security, you should have become a banker or a doctor, James. What we do doesn’t have any security.”
    He exhaled. “I know exactly what bed I’m lying in, Mr. Mentzer. I chose it fully understanding the repercussions. But Niles and I are retiring, and I would like just a little security.” He put his hand on Dillon’s shoulder. “I’ve never asked you for anything, Dillon. Never. But I’m asking this. Please help me this one last time. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we have a luau to get to. I believe a pig is being roasted.”
    Dillon watched him walk away before walking around the house to the beach. Jaime was having a barbeque and at least twenty people were getting drunk on her patio. She was sitting on the banister with two men in front of her, flirting. Dillon stopped and watched her a moment, the way her strawberry blond hair quivered on the breeze. The sun was hitting her in just the right way, her smile spreading across pink lips. She felt him staring and looked over and waved. He waved back as she hopped off the banister and ran over.
    “Hey,” she said.
    “Hey.”
    “Where were you all day?”
    “Some errands to run. So you havin’ a little party?”
    “Y eah, my sister finished her master’s degree and we’re just throwing her a little thing.”
    “Oh. Looks fun.”
    “Why don’t you come?”
    “No, no that’s fine. I wouldn’t know anybody.”
    “So what? Come on, I’ll get you a beer.”
    “I don’t think so, I’m really beat.”
    She took his hand and he felt his stomach flutter. “Come on, don’t be shy. I’ll introduce you around.”
    “All right. You talked me into it.”
    He followed her up the steps onto the patio