"Tanya Huff - Victoria Nelson - 03 - Blood Lines" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

Professional ethics warred with desire. Ethics won. "About the sarcophagus…"

"Look, Dr. Rax…" On the other end of the line, Dr. Davis sighed explosively. "… this sarcophagus
might be a big thing for you, but trust me, we've got all we need. We have storerooms of important,
historically significant artifacts we may never have time to study." And you don't, was the not too subtly
implied message. "I think we can allow one unadorned hunk of basalt to go to the colonies."

"So I can send for my preparators and start packing it up?" Dr. Rax asked quietly, his tone in severe
contrast to the white-knuckled grip that twisted the phone cord.

"If you're sure you don't want to use a couple of my people…"

Not if my only other option was to carry the sarcophagus on my lap all the way home. "No, thank you.
I'm sure all your people have plenty of historically significant things to do."

"Well, if that's the way you want it, be my guest. I'll have the paperwork done up and sent down to you
at the Hall. You'll be able to get your artifact out of the country as easily as if it were a plaster statue of
Big Ben." Which, his tone said clearly, is about its equivalent value.

"Thank you, Dr. Davis." You pompous, egocentric asshole. Dr. Rax added silently as he hung up. Oh,
well, he soothed his lacerated conscience, no one can say I didn't try.

He straightened his jacket and turned to face the hovering baron, smiling reassuringly. "I believe you
said that 50,000 pounds was your asking price… ?"

"Uh, Dr. Rax…" Karen Lahey stood and dusted off her knees. "Are you sure the Brits don't want this?"

"Positive." Dr. Rax touched his breast and listened for a second to the comforting rustle of papers in his
suit pocket. Dr. Davis had been as good as his word. The sarcophagus could leave England as soon as it
was packed and insurance had been arranged.

Karen glanced down at the seal. That it held the cartouche of Thoth and not one of the necropolis
symbols was rare enough. What the seal implied was rarer still. "They knew about…" She waved a hand
at the clay disk.

"I called Dr. Davis right after I discovered it." Which was true, as far as it went.

She frowned and glanced over at the other preparator. His expression matched hers. Something was
wrong. No one in his right mind would give up a sealed sarcophagus and the promise that represented.
"And Dr. Davis said… ?" she prodded.

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"Dr. Davis said, and I quote, 'This sarcophagus might be a big thing for you, but we've got all we need.
We have storerooms of important, historically significant artifacts we may never have time to study.' "
Dr. Rax hid a smile at the developing scowls. "And then he added, 'I think we can let one unadorned