The Secret Crown (2010) Read Online Free Page A

Including DJ .’
    Kaiser laughed loudly. Very few people had the guts to tease him, and even fewer had permission to do so. Payne was one of the chosen few. ‘How long has it been? Two, maybe three years?’
    ‘Gosh, I hope not. Otherwise we’re both getting old.’
    ‘In my line of work, there is no old. Only alive and dead.’
    ‘Damn, Kaiser, how depressing! And you wonder why I never call?’
    Kaiser grinned, glad their rapport hadn’t diminished over time. If it had, he wouldn’t have revealed the real reason for his call. ‘So tell me, how’s the corporate world?’
    ‘Boring as hell. How about you? How’s the … um …
concierge
business?’
    ‘Lucrative.’
    ‘Even in a recession?’
    ‘
Especially
in a recession.’
    ‘Good to know,’ Payne said, although he wasn’t the least bit surprised.
    ‘What about DJ ? How’s he doing?’
    Payne glanced at Jones, who was sipping a beer while sitting nearby. ‘Right now he’s working on his tan. I can put him on if you’d like.’
    ‘Actually,’ Kaiser said, ‘can I speak to both of you at once? That might be easier.’
    ‘Not a problem. Let me put you on hold and call his cell. We can do one of those
menage a call
things.’
    ‘Excuse me?’
    ‘You know, a three-way call.’
    Kaiser laughed at the term. ‘Now that’s funny. I’ll have to remember that.’
    ‘Trust me, they’re hard to forget,’ Payne joked as he put Kaiser on hold.
    Jones looked at him, confused. ‘So, what did he want?’
    Payne shrugged. ‘I don’t know yet. He wants to talk to both of us.’
    ‘About what?’
    ‘No idea. But he seems in good spirits. I doubt it’s anything major.’
    ‘Bet you a buck that someone died.’
    Payne smiled. ‘A whole dollar? Are you sure you can afford that?’
    ‘Fine! Let’s make it a hundred. That way I can use
your
money to pay off all the bets I lost on your swim. I think there’s some justice in that.’
    ‘Let’s see if I got this straight: You’re using gambling to settle your gambling debts? Sounds foolproof to me.’
    Jones feigned indignation. ‘Give me a break, Jon. It’s not like I need an intervention. In fact, I’ll bet you twenty bucks I don’t have a gambling problem.’
    Payne laughed as he dialled Jones’s number. ‘Just answer your phone so we can talk to Kaiser. I’m curious about his call.’
    A moment later, the three of them were catching up on old times.
    Kaiser said, ‘If I remember correctly, the last time we met was before your trip to Greece. It seems your journey paid off handsomely.’
    ‘Yeah,’ Jones said from a boat named after that adventure, ‘you could say that.’
    While helping an American student stranded in Russia, Payne and Jones had found themselves tangled in a global conspiracy that involved assassins, Spartans and several dead monks. At the heart of their adventure were a lost relic from Ancient Greece and more treasure than anyone could spend in a lifetime. Although they discovered the treasure, Payne and Jones weren’t allowed to claim it as their own due to government intervention and international law. However, the countries involved gave them a finder’s fee with more digits than a sheik had wives.
    Needless to say, it had made headlines around the world.
    ‘Looking back on it,’ Kaiser asked, ‘which was more thrilling: hunting for the treasure or getting the reward?’
    ‘The hunt,’ Payne blurted. ‘Definitely the hunt. No question about it.’
    Jones argued from his chair. ‘Easy for you to say. You were rich already.’
    Payne smiled. ‘That’s a very good point.’
    ‘Does that mean you disagree?’ Kaiser wondered.
    ‘Not really,’ Jones admitted. ‘I simply like mocking Jon.’
    ‘In other words, you loved the hunt, too?’
    Jones nodded. ‘You could say that.’
    ‘Great! I’m glad to hear it.’
    Payne paused in thought, wondering where this was headed. ‘Okay, Kaiser. Enough with the foreplay. What’s going on?’
    ‘Yeah,’ Jones