Basically this artifact was stolen, and it's extremely valuable. It's a specimen of sorts. Most of the piece focuses on the scene of the MC trying to retrieve it (to show how much people are willing to fight for it, hence how valuable it is), but he was hired to do so, and is surprised himself what's so valuable about this specimen (that appears to be nothing special). He is then sitting in a cafe speaking to the person who hired him, but this person refuses to reveal the importance for fear the MC himself will want to keep it. Best he doesn't know what he just stole. How do I reveal its importance in few words? I was thinking he could see something on the TV in the cafe, but that's overdone and way too easy. I thought someone could reveal it to him, but I don't have enough word count left for a conversation. Thoughts?
I think the person who hired him dodging questions regarding the item and its importance would raise questions to the reader. Perhaps the MC has a history of going rogue on missions due to personal issues so they especially didn't want to mention anything to him/her. Displaying something on the News on TV would definitely get the point across that the item is important to the general public, or enough so that the news station would air coverage on it. Perhaps absolutely nothing is ever mentioned on the news despite the MC thinking that it should concern the public, making it even more suspicious. Things are being covered up? These are just my train of thought, it's hard to say without specific information on the object in question and your story in general.
Could keep it locked in whatever container it was put in with no way of anyone knowing what's inside. That would make it into a MacGuffin, (someting I just learned about.) like the briefcase in Ronin. We never saw inside and nobody ever knew but everyone killed over it.
My first thought is that the employer makes a statement that inadvertently lines up with something said or left behind by one of the object's defenders. The MC had almost enough information to figure out what the object was, but needed one more clue, perhaps a minor one in the grand scheme of things, to turn his perspective around. Since the employer wasn't present when the object was stolen, they don't know how much the MC has already learned and don't think to be cautious. Alternatively, you could give the clue directly to the reader after the MC has left. Consider Desiree's Baby: Desiree herself doesn't and can't see the letter that puts the whole story together.
Thank you for your replies! They're all very helpful and did give me some good pointers. I figured out a type of solution for this, but since it's a submission, I can't post it anywhere. Was wondering if any of you guys were interested in having a quick read for me? See what you thought? It's less than 300 words so won't take much time. Thanks again!
