Marcus sat sprawled in the seat with his face against the window, making little streaks with his nose against the glass. Dani watched as the car bounced on an uneven bit of pavement and he circled the pane with his face, never waking.

“Wow, he’s out,” she said to Luke.

Luke shrugged, and though he smiled he didn’t take his eyes off the road. It was pitch black, the kind of black that only happens in the country when all the electricity was huddled into city pockets for the night. “I knew a guy who flew helicopters at night,” he said. “Didn’t last long. Eventually, he caught on a powerline and the whole thing blew up.”

“I can’t imagine how Marcus put that thing down in that little courtyard.” Dani twisted in her seat, checking on the passengers in the back before facing forward again. She whistled. “That was some skill.”

“Is that why you wanted him to stay?” This time Luke did glance at her, taking his eyes and his mind from the endless stretch of blacktop. “So he could fly? You were a Ranger. You know how to.”

“Not at night. And maybe.” She shrugged. “You never know when that kind of skill is going to come in handy. But it’s more than that.” She sat silently for a long time, twisting once to turn around and look at her father who slumped against the seat, arms crossed in front of his chest, as though even in slumber he needed to rule the world. Luke eyed him in the rearview mirror, not trusting him to stay asleep when he shifted a little, snorting and making an ugly snoring sound. Dani shook her head and turned to face the front again. “I’ve known Marcus a long time. He watched David and me sometimes when we was small.”

“Armed babysitter?” Luke chuckled, and then nodded as he seriously thought about it. “Yeah, I can see that for you. You probably needed an armed sitter, didn’t you?”

“Still do,” she said tersely, folding her own arms in a gesture that mirrored the man in the back seat. He almost chuckled, then thought better of it, not wanting to have to explain what was so funny. “I just... I felt better. Daddy’s going to try to take charge, you know that, right? It was just nice to have someone else who would take orders without doubting everything you had to say.”

Luke glanced at her again.

“What?”

“Just trying to figure out if I’m supposed to take orders or give them.”

“So am I,” she answered, and he sensed more than saw her shift so that her body faced him fully. “How about we go as a team?”

“Right.” Luke nodded once, decisively. That he could do.

“Good.”

“Good.”

The car ate up the miles. In the darkness, a light amount of traffic passed in one direction or another. The moon reluctantly made an appearance, as if loath to break out of its bed. In the silence of the night, with only the steady humming of the tires on the asphalt, Dani said suddenly, “It won’t work.”

“Not in a crisis,” Luke agreed, having been thinking the same thing.

“No, there has to be a single point of command.”

“One person giving the orders.”

“It gets too confusing otherwise; you can’t have a committee.” Dani nodded.

“We need to decide, then, which of us is actually... you know...”

“In charge?”

“Yeah. Who gives the final orders. Who follows.” Luke watched her cautiously out of the corner of his eye, keeping his focus on the road.

“Well, I have had some experience in this...”

“You think I haven’t?”

“As a cop, but...”

“I became a cop after the Marines, you know. And for the record, I’m a federal agent now. That’s different.”

“I respect the Marines. And your work as a fed. But my experience was a little more...”

“HEY!” Edwin roused himself enough to sit up and point a finger at the two of them. Luke didn’t need the rearview to know this. He felt the sharp point of it in his shoulder blade. Jabbing hard. Several times. “Shut up! We’re trying to sleep.”

“Sorry.” Dani shot a look over her shoulder, ducking a little in a way that might have seemed submissive if Luke hadn’t known her.

“Beg your pardon, sir.” Luke waved an apology, focusing a little more intently on the road than was necessary.

Dani looked at Luke. She pointed to herself. Luke shook his head and pointed to himself.

And behind them, Marcus was laughing.

***

AS THE SUN CLEARED the horizon and back-lit some of the tallest and most spindly palm trees Dani had ever seen, the smell of orange blossoms mixed with industrial pollution let her know they were close. “I haven’t been to Florida in a very long time,” she said, cracking the window open.

“Smells like an old person,” Luke groused, and Dani caught movement from the corner of her eye. Edwin blocked Marcus’ arm, which was suspiciously close to Luke’s head.

“Where are we going?” she asked, to distract Luke from the action in the rear seat.

“I don’t know, there’s a rest home...” He fished in his pocket and pulled out a billfold. “It’s under the license.”

Dani ignored the ID. She’d seen enough, held enough, to know when one was fake—even one as good as the FBI could make. Anything that he would have on him at this point would only be part of the cover. Under the license was a folded slip of paper. It had an address and nothing else. Dani plugged it into her phone.

“Your mother is in a rest home?” Edwin asked from the back, seeming surprised.

Luke shrugged. “She had a place in Colorado, but she wanted to get out of the cold.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“Colorado.” Luke glanced around and rolled his eyes. “What? I call her!” Edwin sat back in his seat and waved a dismissive hand toward Luke. “At least I didn’t run out on her... I mean, when she needed...”

Dani stared out the passenger window as Luke’s high morals disintegrated. Really, she just couldn’t watch.

“Destination on the left,” Dani’s phone announced. As one they all looked. Dani let a low whistle.

“That’s some retirement home,” Marcus said, not quite under his breath.

It was true, the houses looked very unlike a group home of any sort. They were set back from the road, the lawns trimmed to putting-green perfection. Palm trees swayed in the breeze, fountains danced water over naked stone nymphs and cherubs. Flowers were everywhere, more kinds than Dani could even name, lined up in long rows alongside the sidewalks, in giant urns flanking the doors of the main building. In every conceivable planter. The correct address was in front of a building that might more properly be defined as a bungalow. Or a tiny mansion.

“Wow,” Luke said quietly as he pulled up in front and put the car in park. “This is a nice place.”

Dani narrowed her eyes and glared at him when she realized he’d never even seen it, ignoring for the moment the niggling feeling that she wasn’t exactly winning any awards as dutiful daughter this year either.

“All right then!” Luke turned to the others after fumbling with his seatbelt until he’d gotten it undone. Was he nervous? Seriously? Luke was nervous? Dani turned her eyes again to the building, wondering just what dragon lay in that particular lair. “Wait here; I’ll go grab what we came for, and we can be on our way.”

“You really think I’m going to wait in the car?” Dani said, her shock at being expected to stay giving an edge to her tone. She was halfway out the door before he could even form any kind of protest.

Edwin clapped Luke’s shoulder. “Let’s meet the family,” he said a little too cheerfully.

“Last time someone said that to me it didn’t turn out so well, you remember that?”

“But this time, you have me!” Edwin chortled. Marcus bypassed the conversation and opened his door to climb out, meeting Dani’s eyes over the roof of the car as if to say, ‘I’m not missing this for the world.’

“Fine! You people are crazy, you know that? Just for the record. Cuckoo.” Luke twirled a finger by his temple and then threw open his door.

The four of them walked to the front door. After a little mock fight with Marcus for the honor, Luke rang the bell. Dani rolled her eyes. Men.

They didn’t have long to wait. A pattering of feet from inside sent Dani skittering backwards, in a defensive stance. Running? Who the hell—

“LUKE!” The door swung wide and Luke’s mother came flying out like she was set on springs. She hit Luke hard, in a full body blow that ended in a hug so strong Dani could hear the air being pressed out of his lungs from where she stood.

“Mom, this is my fiancée, Dani.” Luke’s words came out strangled. It took Dani a moment to realize what he was saying... and why. A moment later she was the one fighting for breath.

“Fiancée?” the woman half-screamed, enveloping Dani in an embrace that a boa constrictor would be envious of. His mother looked from one to the other in the small group. “That’s a boy’s name, isn’t it? But it’s you he’s talking about. Tell me it’s you...”

“It’s me,” Dani said, forcibly breaking the woman’s grip and stepping out of the embrace carefully, lest she get buried again. She smiled, and held out her hand for a shake. Setting a boundary.

Just remember that. Keep boundaries. Boundaries are your friend.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Luke’s mother said and turned the suffocation hug on her again, if anything squeezing even tighter the second time around. “With that boy, you can never tell anything.” 

***

THE LITTLE BUNGALOW turned out to be beautifully furnished, if a touch busy. Dani wandered around the little displays of sculptures and flowers, the images on the walls, the knick-knacks that dotted the shelves. Although the décor was lovely, and obviously had some quality to it, it didn’t really register to her what she was looking at until a small square piece of paper in an overly large frame caught her eye. It was a line drawing, a hurried sketch, but it was one she’d seen before. In books.

She caught her breath and looked closer. Her heart tried to stop and start at the same time. She turned to their hostess, wondering if she looked as pale as she felt. “Is that...”

Elaina, Luke’s mother, came from the kitchen carrying a tray with coffee and cookies. “Yes, dear, it’s all right. I had it sealed when it was framed; it was almost as expensive as the drawing to have it done, but you must protect the Master, yes?”

Marcus raised an eyebrow and grunted as he glanced at Luke.

“Rembrandt,” she breathed, and backed away from the image. It was probably worth as much as the mansion she’d been born in. Her father’s eyes bulged, and for once he was silent.

Dani looked again at the woman, this time trying to put away any preconceived notions. The woman was still vibrant and youthful; she couldn’t have been older than mid-fifties. Her black hair had a few vivid streaks of white, but for the most part she looked much, much younger. She was trim and fit, her teeth still shone white, and her smile was ready and free.

Elaina perched on the edge of the couch, and handed out coffee cups with small plates to each of her guests. It looked so old-world that the men seemed to be dressed incorrectly, as though they didn’t fit in the room.

“Dani, dear, come join us.” She patted the empty seat beside her, and Dani broke through her trance to find her way past a statue of... She stopped again and stared.

“Do you like it, dear?” Elaina asked. “I rather preferred his sculptures to the whole messy cubist stuff in his later years, but I seem to be alone in that.”

Dani nodded mutely, and sat on the other side of the woman from her father. It wasn’t until then that she noticed he was staring at Elaina. It was the same stare that a cow gets when hit between the eyes with a large hammer. Oh, shit.

“Dear, it was wonderful of you to bring your fiancée and her...” She looked at Marcus as though suddenly unsure how to proceed, “...family down to meet me, but I do wish you would have called first.” She smiled brightly and handed Dani a cookie. “I could have gotten the day off, or traded with someone. It’s not often my boy comes to see me!”

“Wait, you got job?” Luke sat up straight, his coffee cup clattering dangerously in the saucer he had balanced on one knee. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Yes, I got a job. Three years ago. And why do I have to tell you?”

“Well, if you needed money...” Luke waved his arms, nearly upsetting a vase. Dani didn’t want to know about the vase. She closed her eyes, unable to look.

“Oh heavens, I don’t do it for the money.” She turned to Edwin. “The truth is, I’m quite bored. Retirement seems to drag on day after day. You understand what I’m saying, don’t you, Edwin?”

“Hmm?” Edwin had a momentary look of a schoolboy caught daydreaming. “Yes, oh, yes, indeed. Lately the days seemed to all blend together, incredibly boring.” Marcus choked on his cookie and groped for his coffee to wash it back down where it belonged.

“Well... where?” Luke seemed lost, a little boy who had suddenly discovered this his mother had a life outside of him. If anything, he looked...petulant. Sulky. Dani blinked, trying to reconcile the adventurous, hero-type, mind-shattering lover with this new image. It was...interesting.

“Where what, dear?”

“Where do you work?”

“Oh!” Elaina smiled, and the room seemed to light up. Dani could understand why her father was acting the way he was; she was beautiful and smart and funny. And rich. Why would a member of a family that can casually hang a Rembrandt join the FBI? “I got a part-time job at Walt Disney World.”

Luke choked on his cookie. Dani scrambled into the kitchen to get him a glass of water, patiently ignoring the delicate crystal in the hutch. His mother was patting his back, in some bizarre attempt to dislodge whatever crumb had gotten stuck, Marcus was trying to give him the Heimlich maneuver, and her father was mindlessly taking another cookie and dunking it into coffee hot enough to burn. He didn’t seem to notice anything outside of the stars in his eyes as he stared wistfully at a sculpture of a man on a horse. Definitely a Remington.

Dani pushed Marcus aside and cradled Luke’s head against her arm, helping him to sip the water. He came up spluttering.

“DISNEY?” he said with a strangled cough. “What are you doing? Running around in a mouse costume?”

“I wish!” his mother said with some heat, waving off the suggestion with a pouty look that almost matched her son’s. “They get all the fun stuff. I drive the tram.”

“The train?”

“No, dear, the tram. It’s a large golf cart with a trailer; it gives old people a chance to get off their feet and ride through the park in comfort.”

He blinked a few times. “Why?”

She looked at him and crossed her arms. “Because old people need that sort of thing, Luke.”

“I mean...”

“I know exactly what you mean! You mean, why don’t I stay home all hours and wait by the phone on the off chance that my son might call me that day? You mean how dare I have a life surrounded by happy little children? Am I close?”

Luke looked from her to Dani, and to the other men. “Yeah?” he said slowly, “I suppose so...”

Abort! Abort! Dani edged away, not wanting to get caught in the fallout. She loved him, but she wasn’t crazy.

“Lukas Beauregard McConnell!”

“Beauregard?” Dani and Marcus and Edwin hit the name in a perfect chorus.

Luke crossed his arms and tried to disappear into the couch cushions. “Oh, shut up.”

“I will have you know, I work this evening. You are all welcome to stay the night, and Dani, dear, I would love a chance to get to know you better.” She turned to Edwin and then to Marcus, as though still somewhat perplexed as to how to deal with them. “Yes, well, we have the day to ourselves at any rate. How about if we go out to a late breakfast?”

Luke shook his head, sitting up and setting his water glass on the coffee table, only to have it immediately grabbed by three hands simultaneously trying to plant it on a coaster after another panicked look between the three of them, as though trying to gauge the worth of it. “No, Mom, really, I just came to get the statue.”

“What statue, dear?” Elaina busied herself with the coffee pot, pouring herself a second cup and doctoring it appropriately with sugar and cream.

“The one I sent you.”

She paused in adding a lump of sugar. “Oh, that! I didn’t know you were coming for it, you should have told me.”

“Well, where is it?”

It was her turn to look away, suddenly awkward and ill at ease as she gently set the sugar tongs on the tray. “I, uh... I gave it to someone, she... well, she was collecting items for a church rummage sale...”

“You gave away the statue I sent you?” Luke looked like a boy who just found his masterpiece had fallen off the refrigerator door.

“Well, dear, I’m sure it would have gone with the Rodin but, you see, I just don’t have the room to do it justice. It would’ve been too crowded, no one would’ve been able to see it...”

“I need it.” Luke had gone absolutely pale. So had Edwin, who was exchanging enough looks with Marcus that Dani was starting to wonder if they’d somehow managed telepathy. “I have to have it back, right now.”

“Well...” Elaina thought for a moment then snapped her fingers. “I know! We’ll see if she still has it. The bazaar isn’t until tomorrow, after all.” She reached into a drawer and pulled out a set of keys. “I’ll drive.”

“We have a car...” Luke started.

“I’m sure you do, dear!” his mother called as she walked out of the bungalow, waving her car keys. Edwin and Marcus scrambled to their feet so fast that they collided, knocking against a large planter and setting off a chain reaction in a glass display case that had everyone, with the exception of Luke, holding their breath until the rattling of delicate statuary and blown glass dissipated.

“But...” Luke called after her then finally sighed, and with a shrug turned back to the rest, hands outstretched, brow creased in frustration. “I guess she’s driving.”

“Beauregard?” Dani looked at him, unable to resist.

“Careful, Daphne,” her father said under his breath as he walked past her, giving the Picasso a wide berth.

“Like the duck?” Luke asked.

Dani closed her mouth, spun on one heel, and followed him out.