“Shopping.” Annika bounced in her chair. “You buy things. I have coins.”
“No trouble understanding how shopping works,” Bran added. “Coins?”
“I have many coins. I’ll get them.”
When she raced off, Riley turned, jabbed her fork toward Bran. “You’ll eat that insult to my species, Irish. I can get her outfitted inside twenty minutes.”
“Bet you a fiver you can’t.”
“Done. So into the village, deal with that. We can drive south from there for the first ten, twelve kilometers, but we’re off-road after that.”
“I’d like a look at your maps, if it’s all the same to you, before we head out.”
Sawyer nodded at Bran, then Riley. “I’m going to second that.”
“No problem. Nothing to say on this, Sasha?”
“I’m still stuck on Devil’s Breath. Anyway, I can read a map well enough, but I’m pretty sure one cave will strike me the same as any other.”
Annika came back, hauling a royal-blue drawstring bag with gold braiding. She set it on the table with a little oof, where it thudded heavily.
“My coins.”
“She meant it literally.” On a laugh, Sawyer got up to walk to the end of the table, look into the bag. “Yobanny v rot!”
“What are those words?” Annika demanded.
“It’s Russian.” Riley got up herself to circle around, looked into the bag. “And to borrow a phrase. Yobanny v rot. Mind?” she said to Annika, and without waiting for an answer, tipped the bag onto the table so part of the contents poured out.
Gold coins and silver, copper and bronze. Many, even with her untrained eye, Sasha recognized as old. Possibly ancient.
“We have here a lot of euros,” Riley began, “your pounds, punts, lire, drachma, yen, ducats, francs—Swiss and French—U.S. and Canadian coins, halfpennies, and yo-ho-ho, me hearties, your pieces of eight.”
“Pirate coins?” The notion had Sasha getting up for a closer look. “Like this?”
“Yeah, a reasonable shitload of them, from what I see. They’d be worth about a hundred bucks each.”
“Each.” Sasha turned the oddly shaped coin in her hand.
“Each, if they’re in decent condition and the inscription’s legible, like the one you’re holding. And this?”
Riley did a butt wiggle. “This is a Carlos and Johanna. Gold doubloon, stamped 1521. A collector would pay a grand easy for this.”
She poked through more as Annika stood back smiling in delight.
“Hell of a collection here,” Riley muttered. “And you shouldn’t keep it in a sack like this. Christ, this is a silver tetradrachm, circa 420 BC, probably worth a few thousand easy. And . . . Gamoto. Greek for holy shit.” She held up a gold coin. “Do you have a clue what this is?” she demanded of Annika.
“A coin.”
“See this guy on here, the one wearing the laurel? See this name? This is Augustus Caesar, founder of the Roman Empire. And this cow on the back—it’s a heifer. This coin? It was made somewhere between 27 and 18 B fucking C. It’s worth millions.”
“Of dollars?” Sawyer managed.
“There are only a handful of these known to exist. One went up for auction a couple years back. Went for, I think it was about fifteen, and yeah, brother, that’s freaking million.”
“It will buy hiking boots.”
Riley stared at Annika as if she’d grown gossamer wings. “You could buy a small third-world country with what’s in this sack, and I’ve only skimmed over a part of it. Where the hell did you get this?” She shook the gold coin.
“I found it.”
“You . . . found it.”
“Yes. It’s fun to find things, and I like pretty things. Do you like it?”
“I freaking love it.”
“You can have it.”
“Say what?”
“You can keep it. A gift.”
Seeing Sawyer about to speak, Riley held up a finger. “You’re going to just give it to me.”
“You like it, so a gift. For a friend.”
“Riley, you can’t—”
She cut Sawyer off with a look. “What do you take me for? Can I have another one instead?”
“One you like better? Yes, you pick. Everyone should pick one, the one they like better.”
“I’d like this.” Riley picked an old drachma. “Ten, maybe fifteen bucks,” she told Sawyer. “I’m going to keep it with me, for good luck. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Sawyer, you pick! You came for me. Pick something pretty.”
He kept it simple, picked out a U.S. quarter. “For good luck.”