Then again, Seti was six-foot-something of pure sex, with the face of a movie star and the body of a Greek god, and who made Logan feel things he’d only read about in books. For the time being, Logan was perfectly content to suffer along in silence.
That is, if he didn’t find himself locked up in a jail cell with a cellmate named Butch and a broomstick handle shoved up his ass.
“I feel compelled to ask, since no one else at this table seems to have a half a brain between them,” Chris said after fifteen minutes of trying to figure out how Seti had performed his little bit of fishy magic without the benefit of strings, mirrors, or hallucinogenic drugs, “have you thought of going to the police, Logan?”
“The police. Right. Exactly what should I tell them, Chris? ‘Oh yes, officers, I was there when the sarcophagus was destroyed, but I didn’t do it. He did it. The mummy,’” Logan said sarcastically, nodding toward Seti. “Yeah, that’ll buy me a Prozac cocktail and a one-way ticket to Cell Block B.”
“I see your point,” Chris answered. “Basically, you’re screwed, and not in the good way.”
“Yeah,” Logan said, thinking that he had been screwed the good way, the incredibly, unbelievably good way, but the others didn’t need to hear that tidbit of information. “I just wish I had a way to find out if Perry was really hiding that sarcophagus from the museum. If so, then maybe I could get him to call off his dogs.”
“You could go and talk to him,” Leo said, flopping down on the sofa next to Seti.
Logan frowned, noticing Leo rubbing his thigh against Seti’s leg. Funny how one mind-blowing session of sexual aerobics could make a guy feel proprietary. He felt unaccountably relieved when Seti tossed Leo an annoyed look and slid closer to Logan.
“That might not be a bad idea, Logan. I’m sure Seti here could do some razzle-dazzle to convince him of who he is, which would let you off the hook, whether Perry was hiding it or not,” Jason said as Chris nodded in agreement.
“Maybe. But I’d be taking a helluva chance. What if he wasn’t hiding the sarcophagus? What if the police are already involved?” Logan asked. “I’d be arrested.”
“I will not allow anyone to take you from me,” Seti said. “They would die before I allowed them to touch you.”
“Seti, you can’t go around killing people.”
“I can if they threaten you.”
“No, you can’t.”
“You are mistaken. I can. It would be easy.”
“That’s not what I meant. I know you can—I’ve seen what you can do. I meant that you shouldn’t. I don’t want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt, Seti. Promise me that you won’t hurt anyone.”
“Logan….”
“Promise me!”
“Ashai said these same words to me before, Logan, in another life, another time. I gave him my word then, and because I did not act, he was lost to me. I will not allow that to happen again!” Seti roared, jumping to his feet.
Logan looked up at Seti with wide eyes. Seti was beautiful in his fury. He towered over the sofa, more than six feet of bristling muscle, his handsome face drawn into an intense scowl, eyes narrowed and nostrils flaring.
This was what it felt like to have someone who wanted you, wanted to protect you at all costs, to move heaven and earth and destroy both if necessary to keep you at his side. How much must he have loved the man called Ashai, his lover in ancient Egypt? Logan bit his lip, feeling his emotions bubble up, tightening his chest and burning at the corners of his eyes. Some of it was jealousy toward a man long dead. More than anything, he wished those feelings were for him and not for a memory of someone that Seti still carried in his heart.
“What’s he mean, ‘in another life,’ Logan?” Chris asked, frowning at Logan. “Who’s Ashai?”
“Never mind that, Chris. That’s between Seti and me,” Logan said. “Sit down, Seti. Please? I’m not going anywhere.”
Seti sat, but Logan could still feel his tension. He fairly crackled with it, his muscles bunching, drawing him up as tight as a tiger readying to pounce.
“Look, you and Seti don’t have to go anywhere. We can go,” Jason said, indicating himself, Leo, and Chris. “First, we can go online, check the news. If Perry is on the level, he’ll have reported the break-in, and something that bizarre will surely make it into the dailies. If not, then we can go to the museum, ask a few questions. See if there’s any buzz about the sarcophagus and Logan.”
“That’s a great idea!” Leo smiled. “You know the graduate student crowd, Logan. They’re the best source for gossip. They know everything that goes on in the museum.”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to put you in danger or get you involved in any of this, guys,” Logan said, shaking his head.
“Good! It’s decided, then,” Jason grinned.
Logan had to smile. Jason had an annoying habit of ignoring Logan and everyone else who disagreed with his ideas. “All right. But promise me that you’ll be discreet, and more than that, that you’ll be careful.”
“Yes, Mommy,” Jason said, laughing.
“It’s not funny, Jason. I’m serious.”
“I know, I know. We’ll be fine,” Jason said. “Come on. Let’s go.”
LOGAN BEGAN to pace before his friends had even left the apartment. He moved from one end of the living room to the other and back again like a pendulum, his hands shoved deeply into his pockets, his chin tucked down.
Seti could feel his tension and understood it, as well as Logan’s reaction to it. He’d had occasion to feel the same anxiety once upon a time. Sending out scouts to seek information from the enemy’s camp was always risky. But while Seti’s concern at the time had been for the ramifications on his camp should his enemies discover the spies he’d sent, he understood that Logan’s distress was caused by fear for his friends’ safety.
Ashai had been much the same.
Beautiful in a way most men could never dream of being, Ashai had possessed a soul that mirrored his physical being. He had been sweet and tender, patient beyond measure, and wise beyond his years. Ashai had faced Seti at his worst and gentled him with a single look or touch. His loss had decimated Seti, had pained him more than any wound Seti had ever sustained in battle.
Seti braced himself for the onslaught of rage and the burn of tears that always filled him when his thoughts turned to Ashai. For ages Seti had seethed silently in his tomb, unable to scream or cry, tortured by the memories of him.
Surprisingly, instead of the expected wave of fury, there came only fond remembrance. The suffocating sadness that had always before overwhelmed Seti had been tempered with wistfulness, and the pain was no longer raw and devastating.
And Seti knew why.
In his heart of hearts, Seti believed that he had been not only released from his curse, but had been given another chance. He believed he had been given an opportunity to redeem himself, to prove that he was a better man and had learned from his mistakes.
He had been given Ashai again.
Not in the same physical shell. Logan was of a slighter build than Ashai had been. His coloring was much lighter, his facial features different. But those dazzling green eyes were unmistakable, as was the ka that looked back at Seti through them.
Logan Ashton had been born a man of the twenty-first century, but his soul was five thousand years old. Seti had recognized him the moment he’d first seen Logan standing wide-eyed in the museum, and his body had confirmed it when they’d made love the night before. No other man aside from Ashai had ever made Seti feel so complete, so fully and wholly satisfied, or so connected with another human being.
Five thousand years ago, Seti had made the unforgivable error of allowing himself to be seduced by power and greed. He had not been diligent in his oath. He’d let Ashai be taken from under his nose and had not acted swiftly enough to save him.
Seti would not, upon his life, make that same mistake again.
But at the moment, Logan did not need to be protected. He
needed succor, distraction from his worries, and ease of the tension that knotted his shoulders and knit his smooth brow. On the eve of battle in his old life, Ashai would have seen to Seti’s needs, eased the stress that tightened his muscles. Today Seti could give Logan that same care, although it would take from Seti something he had never before offered to give anyone, including Ashai.
Not once, since he was a child playing with colorful stones at his father’s feet, had Seti lowered himself to kneel before anyone.
And yet for Logan, he didn’t need to think twice. Placing himself in Logan’s path, Seti dropped gracefully to his knees. Looking up into Logan’s questioning eyes, he smiled and reached for the zipper of Logan’s jeans.
“Seti! What are you doing—”
“Let me do this for you, Logan. Let me ease your mind,” Seti said softly when Logan pushed his hands away.
“No! Seti, I can’t. I’m too worried,” Logan said. “Come on. Stand up.”
“I kneel before you, Logan. I have never prostrated myself before anyone else. I do this because you need me,” Seti confessed. He felt himself blush, something he couldn’t ever recall doing before. Still, he couldn’t, wouldn’t let Logan suffer. He watched as Logan lowered himself to the floor, facing him.
“Seti,” Logan said, placing his hands on Seti’s cheeks. “I appreciate the thought. Really, I do. And I think I understand how difficult it is for you to make the offer. But the last thing I need right now is a blowjob. If you really want to know what I need, it’s just to be held for a while.”
Seti nodded, not quite understanding but willing to give Logan what he asked of him. Pulling Logan into his arms, he quietly held him, both still kneeling on the floor.
After a while, Logan began to squirm. “My knees are killing me, big guy. Can we at least sit on the couch?”
Seti chuckled, nodding. Seated, he put an arm around Logan’s shoulder, and Logan rested his head against Seti’s chest. Together, they watched the clock and waited to hear from the boys.
ACROSS THE street, in an empty apartment facing Jason’s building, a man sat in a lawn chair. He trained a pair of powerful binoculars out of the window, watching the inhabitants of apartment 509.
“Oh, man. Tell me I don’t have to watch this again.”
“What’s going on in there, Joe?” A second man, Harry, sat nearby, working over the remains of a philly cheesesteak sandwich. A long, twisted string of mozzarella cheese dangled from his bottom lip, and there was a smear of ketchup on his cheek.
“I think the big one, that Seti guy, is about to go down on the other one. He’s trying to unzip Ashton’s pants.”
“Shit. Again? That’s fucking gross,” Harry said, wiping his mouth on his sleeve and belching. “Goddamn faggots. Can’t keep it in their pants for more than five minutes.”
“Oh, wait. No, they moved to the couch. They’re just sitting there now. Man, I thought I was going to have to watch the whole fucking freak show again for a minute there.”
“There’s only the two of them in there now. Why don’t we move in? What are we waiting for?”
“The boss said that we gotta wait until we can get Ashton and Seti away from each other. Then we’re only to take Seti.”
“Why wait?”
“I don’t know why. I don’t ask questions. I say ‘Yes, sir,’ and I do as I’m fucking told. And so do you,” Joe said, snagging one of Harry’s fries. Popping it into his mouth, he returned to his surveillance of the apartment.
Chapter Ten
JASON, CHRIS, and Leo raced up the stairs from the Seventy-Ninth Street subway station, dodging professionals with briefcases, upper-crust housewives with froufrou poodles, students lugging backpacks, and sightseers snapping cameras. After a couple of blocks, they turned onto Central Park West. The museum loomed up before them, a steady stream of tourists threading in and out of the front doors.
Stopping only long enough to purchase tickets, they made their way through the crowds and into the museum.
“Where should we look first?” Leo asked, craning his head to see over the throng of people that filled the main lobby. The boys pushed their way through the crowd, heading toward the exhibits. “The cafeteria?”
“Maybe we should split up,” Chris said as they paused at the entrance to the Hall of Mammals. “We could cover more ground that way.”
“No, something tells me we should stick together,” Jason said. “I’m getting some pretty nasty vibes in here. I don’t like it.”
“Please tell me you’re not going to do the Amazing Karnak shtick again,” Chris said. “It’s really getting old, Jase. When are you going to admit that you don’t really have any psychic—”
“He was right about Logan and Seti, Chris. After what we saw Seti do in the apartment, how can you still doubt Jason?” Leo demanded.
That gave Chris pause. “Well, that could have been a lucky guess.”
“Yeah, and I could be the tooth fairy, but it’s highly doubtful.”
“Not the ‘fairy’ part. You’ve got that down pat,” Chris grumbled, earning himself a halfhearted punch in the arm from Leo.
“Let’s head down to the labs. We need to find a familiar face who knows what scuttlebutt is going around the museum,” Jason said, ignoring Chris and Leo’s banter. He led them toward the stairs, keeping an eye out for security. Seeing no one looking in their direction, he opened the door, and the three of them slipped into the stairwell.
One floor below the main lobby and one above the dungeon lay a labyrinth of laboratories where acquisitions were carbon-dated, x-rayed, and put through a battery of other tests to determine authenticity and age. Here was where the boys had their best chance of finding an acquaintance that could fill them in on what Perry had done—or had not done—about the break-in.
Peering into the window of each lab as they passed it, Jason finally spotted a woman he’d taken several classes with while in school. She was bent over a Bunsen burner, watching a blue liquid bubble in a test tube.
Knocking on the door, Jason cracked it open and stuck his head inside the lab. “Hey, Sheila!” he called, smiling when she looked up and returned his grin. “Got a minute?”
“Sure. What are you doing down here, Jason?” she asked, waving them inside the lab. “I didn’t know you had a position with the museum. What department do you work for?”
“I don’t,” Jason replied. Noting her raised eyebrow, he quickly continued, “I’m here looking for Logan. You remember Logan Ashton, right?”
“Of course. He works for Perry now, doesn’t he? He’s probably down in the dungeon.”
“Oh, um… yeah. Thanks. We’ll head down there next. Oh, hey, did your department lose anything in the break-in last night? I heard Perry lost something really valuable and—”
“Oh my God! There was a break-in? What did they take?” Sheila exclaimed.
“Didn’t Perry mention anything to anyone about it? It’s really just a rumor I’ve heard…,” Jason said.
“Oh. You should know better than to listen to rumors, Jason. Did Logan tell you that? He must have been pulling your leg. Perry hasn’t said a word to anyone about a theft, and you know I would have heard about it if he did. Everyone would have heard about it. Perry is absolutely anal about the dungeon—he would be screaming bloody murder if someone had broken into his sanctuary.”
“Damn that Logan,” Jason said, trying to keep the elation out of his voice. “You’re right. There must not be anything to it. I should have known better than to trust him. He probably just wanted to see how far he could yank my chain. He can be such a dickwad sometimes. Thanks, Sheila.”
“No prob.”
Outside the lab, Jason looked at Chris and Leo. “Well, my money says that Perry hasn’t said a word to anyone about Seti going missing.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the lab. “Sheila was always one of the first ones to know about gossip in school. Stands to reason that she’d keep her ear to the floor here too.”
&n
bsp; “So, what do we do now?” Leo asked.
“Now? Now we go have ourselves a little chat with Perry,” Jason said, turning toward the stairs.
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Chris said, grabbing Jason’s sleeve. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea? What do you plan on asking him? ‘Hey, where’d you put the golden sarcophagus and the missing mummy? You know, the two things no one is supposed to know about?”
“Don’t be stupid. We can go down there looking for Logan. See what kind of a reaction we get from Perry when we mention him,” Jason replied. “I want to know whether that scumbucket really thinks Logan took the mummy or if he knows more about Seti than he’s letting on.”
“You don’t think he knows about Seti rejuvenating, do you?” Leo asked.
“I’m telling you, I’m getting really weird vibes about this. I think there’s a lot more going on than Perry hoarding an artifact as a nest egg.”
“All right, then. After you, O Psychic Wonder.” Leo grinned, bowing and gesturing Jason on toward the stairs with a flourish.
Jason shook his head. “You’re such a drama queen. Let’s go,” he said, brushing past Leo.
He led them down the stairs to the level that housed the dungeon. Threading their way between the rows of ceiling-to-floor shelves, the boys made their way to the back to Perry’s office. The door was closed and the lights off. There was no sign of Perry anywhere.
Leo pointed to the only other door in the room. “That’s got to be the room where Perry kept Seti’s sarcophagus!” he said. Walking over to the door, he examined it, peering at the smooth wood and bright, shiny metal hinges. “This is new. Perry must have had the old one replaced.”
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