"So, you have everything you need?" Justin paused at Jason’s question. He clicked off a mental checklist.

"Yes. I'm traveling out tonight on the red-eye, landing in Frankfurt, Germany. I have two days in the Rheingau areas purchasing Rieslings and some new Pinot Noir. From there I travel to the Bordeaux area in France. I'll be there for three days for purchasing and a day off for sightseeing. The trip to Madrid from Toulouse is eight hours. I'll leave about noon to get there after dark. Do you have my equipment pre-positioned?"

Jason nodded and crossed his legs. It wasn't often his brother came to New York. He and his wife Faith were going to see a Broadway show this weekend. Fortuitous that it happened to be the day he was leaving...or not. He could never tell what Jason really had on his mind.

"Any complications that I need to know about?" Jason lifted an eyebrow when he asked.

"None that I haven't detailed. I'd like to have more time with the mock-up of the new locking system on the XR device, but I have the mechanics and the tools, plus I have a workaround if need be. We do not want them to know I was there, correct?"

"Correct. If our intelligence is accurate, there is hardcopy accounting in that vault. We have a team in place to take custody of the property. Sierra team will be in the local area during the op and will meet you at the location we agreed upon."

"Five guys to bring back some numbers? Must be some important information." Justin leaned back in his chair.

"Sierra team just happens to be in the vicinity. You'll meet with Van Wheeler. He's the skipper of the team. Gunner, Rico, Scuba, and Harley make up the rest of the team, and they are hell on wheels. You could do worse than have them on your six during this op."

Justin lifted his chin and narrowed his gaze. "What am I extracting?" He'd seen his brother hedge before. He'd become extremely proficient at reading people, and his brother was no different.

"Ledgers we believe will document actual donations to terrorist organizations." Jason looked up directly into his eyes. "They will have guards and countermeasures. That is another reason for Sierra Team to be close. If shit goes bad, we want a way to get you out."

"I won't get caught. I will back out before that happens." Justin did a mental shuffle of the secondary and tertiary fail safes on the new system and how he was going to neutralize them. "So once again, breaking and entering on a nationally approved level."

"I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any alphabet soup approval." Jason gave him a shit-eating grin.

"So, no DoJ, DoD, FBI, CIA or secret entities I'm not aware of, going after this one is there?"

"No. The Mossad was the organization there before you on that last operation. Their female specialist was effective, but her operation wasn't sanctioned by the Counsel. The Mossad has been...talked to… about the situation. Sometimes they are rather headstrong and take matters into their own hands."

"They could have caused both of us to be exposed." The fact that a specialist like him was already on the premises in Perth still made him pause.

"Noted. But there is nobody involved in this except us. The national agencies that I can't confirm approved this mission, approved this mission. We are alone, and we work better that way. Besides, what are you worried about? A little competition? To hear you tell it, you’re an excellent cat burglar."

"As I have told you a hundred times before, I prefer the term ‘information extraction specialist’." Justin loathed the term cat burglar. It made him seem like a thief. That was another term he despised. He wasn't a thief. He provided a service for Guardian and his nation, and thief implied he was breaking the law for his own benefit. Justin suppressed a chuckle. Well, he was, but it was on an emotional level, not a monetary one.

"Thief." Jason winked at him as he said it. They'd had this conversation too many times to count.

"High priced, high tech, high risk, information extraction specialist." Justin puffed on his fingernails and brushed then against his coat.

"I know, and I'm damned glad we have your services. You have your secondary passport?"

"Yes, between the lining of my suitcase in the x-ray shielded molding." He had money and a burner phone in there, too. It wasn't his first rodeo. He glanced at the clock and stood. He needed to get Jason on his way, or his wife Faith wouldn't get dinner before her show. "I'm sorry you couldn't have come in yesterday. You could have met Danielle." Justin walked with Jason toward his office door.

"Mom really likes her, but beyond that, Jade and Jewell haven't stopped singing her praises. I'm glad you finally found someone." Jason pulled him in for a hug. "You're the last of us to find someone to fill the broken places. Hold on to her if she's the one. Don't let anyone or anything get in the way of taking care of her."

"She is the one, and all the damned souls in hell couldn't keep me from taking care of her." He hugged his brother once more before opening the door. He waved one last time as Jason hit the outer office door before he headed back to his desk, gathered his phone and keys, and called for Paulo to come get him. If he was lucky, he'd have an hour with Danielle before he had to leave for the airport. If traffic cooperated.

Of course, traffic didn't cooperate. Justin palmed the phone and hit Dani's profile under favorites.

"Hey, I thought you were going to come home before you had to fly out. Did you get busy at work?" Danielle's voice immediately calmed the anger that the traffic in New York City had induced.

"No, traffic is at a standstill. It isn't looking good. How about you come downstairs and take a ride with me to the airport?"

"I can't. I'm supposed to do a video conference with Roland about the problems we found with the Bowman property. With the time difference and the crunch on the proposal for purchase if we don't meet now and find a way forward, it may be too late, and we could lose the property." She blew out a breath of air. "Maybe you could postpone your wine buying trip?"

"I can't. I have all the vendors lined up." Justin dropped his head against the leather seat. "I'll be back home in eight days."

"Well, I'm sure we will survive a week without each other." Danielle chuckled. "Did that sound convincing?"

"No. Not in the slightest." Justin laughed with her. "I'll call when I can." He hated leaving her and would have taken her with him if they could have made their schedules work, but with a major acquisition in the works, it wasn't in the cards.

"I'll miss you. Take care of yourself and don't let any vineyard owner swindle you and give you bad wine."

"I don't think that will happen."

"I know it won't." Dani's voice softened. "I'm going to miss you."

Justin nodded, fuck there was so much he wanted to say to her, needed to say, but on the phone wasn't where he needed to be when he said it. He had a perfect weekend planned for when they traveled to Jewell's wedding. No work, just the two of them. He'd made all the arrangements, and he'd even been looking at rings. Not that it was time to pop the question, hell he had to tell her he loved her first, but asking her was inevitable. He cleared his throat around the emotion. "You know how much you mean to me, right?"

"I know. I feel the same way. Be safe. Until then."

"Until then." Justin echoed before he hung up. Danielle refused to say goodbye. Ever. It seemed when her mother finally went over the edge of sanity for the last time, she looked at Dani and told her goodbye. Since then, Dani'd never said the words. It was irrational, but Danielle's fear was that if she ever said it, she'd never see the person again. Justin ran his thumb across the face of his phone. He smiled down at the selfie he'd taken of them at the gym. He needed the next eight days to fly by. He'd get in, get out and get home.