Achieving Serenity

Part II

The art in Harris's warehouse aligned perfectly with the list of works stolen in 1973. Every painting, every statuette, and every historical artifact. Aside from the two pieces recovered earlier that led to the sting operation originally, the entire roster of works was with Harris.

Each item was rounded up, verified authentic by a group of specialists, and then sent back with a covert operations team to return before anyone in the past noticed it was missing. This was a quick process, as the team was relying to use a quantum nexus that was two weeks prior to the one Harris used to steal the collection originally—a relatively short period between nexuses.

Harris refused to talk about the theft during those two weeks. She would only laugh when questioned. Her silence didn't prevent her arrest, charges, or arraignment though, but she cooperated completely with questions about herself and would answer anything as long as it wasn't about the theft or intent to sell.

"Still working on that art theft case, Santiago?"

Melissa looked up from her desktop screen to see her supervisor, Sergeant Kent Paulk, silhouetted in morning sunlight bouncing off the Sacramento skyline. He sat down on the edge of her desk and tugged once on the leg of his pants to give himself some flexibility. Then he straightened his tie and gave Melissa a flat look.

"Just something doesn't seem right about it. I don't like the way that Harris woman talked, like she knew something we didn't." Paulk nodded but didn't interrupt. Melissa continued, "It's like we missed something."

He withdrew a mobile device from his pocket, opened it up, and began to poke at it with his finger. After a moment, he waved his mobile over the top of Melissa's screen and a file transfer notification displayed. Melissa confirmed the prompt and an image of a small painting of an ugly pear squatting on a table appeared. It was a still life.

"You're right, Santiago," he said. "We missed something. This," he said, pointing at the pear.

"Does this mean you have an assignment for me?"

"Right again! You should become a detective," he said, hopping down from Melissa's desk. "It's a tactical mission, so no need for wardrobe today. Get down to equipment and suited up in a mark three. From there you'll transfer over to LA and jump back with this painting in hand."

"Am I meeting up with the other team in 1973?" she asked.

"No. They returned a few minutes ago. The last piece of the puzzle is this pear. So get into the gallery with it, leave it anywhere, and then get out and jump back from a safe location. I expect you should be back before the end of the day."

Melissa nodded. She stood up, picked up her own mobile device (which was syncing with her desktop) and cleared everything off the desktop's screen with a wave of her arm. She flipped her jacket over her shoulder and said, "It's not, ah, exactly the most thrilling assignment. Sneaking in through a window at night to leave behind a painting of a pear?"

"They can't all be saving the world," Paulk said.