Three Days Later

“Welcome,” William said, as expansively as ever. The office wasn’t oval, and it wasn’t in the White House, but that’s where the line of distinction ended. The office was larger than most apartments; it hosted a fireplace, several televisions, a wet bar, and a small lounge for informal meetings. This was apparently not an informal meeting after all. Luke and Dani sat in a pair of wingback chairs that seemed almost to reach out and enfold them. Luke felt slightly claustrophobic, imprisoned by a chair.

His father had probably arranged for those chairs precisely for that effect.

Behind the desk, William sat staring at them over steepled fingers. Thomas perched on a corner of the desk, watching them.

“You two work very well together,” Thomas said without preamble. “I was quite impressed. Marcus agrees with me as well. The work you were able to do on this case was... unorthodox, but effective.”

“The president extends his gratitude,” William interrupted. “The clothing you left on his plane has been returned to you, yes?”

Dani nodded. Her t-shirt, shorts, and underwear had been laundered, folded, and sealed in plastic. It came in a package by special delivery. It felt odd to spend that much on a shirt with a hole in it and a pair of home-made cut-offs. Still, tax dollars at work...

Luke was still on his guard. Being around his father always put him on edge. He had his hackles up and was trying to bore a hole into his father’s head with his glare. So far he’d had no luck, but it didn’t stop him from continuing to try.

“The reason we asked you to come here—” Thomas began.

“Was not to talk about the hotel bill,” William said, with a sharp look at his son. “Although, if we were to talk about it, I do have to admit I’m a little confused on how an overnight stay at a nearby hotel can cost...” he looked at a note on his desk, “six thousand, three hundred and fifty-nine dollars.”

“Well—” Dani blushed and looked at the floor. She turned to Luke.

“We had to replace the bedding. And the mattress,” he said quietly, though he felt the smile tugging at his lips. “Seems it wasn’t really that waterproof.”

“And the damage to the tub,” Dani reminded him.

“Yeah.” He turned to her and nodded. “Looked big enough for cannon balls.” He shrugged.

“And sixteen bottles of imported Champagne?” William asked.

Luke and Dani looked at each other. They turned back to look at William. “Well, we needed the bubbles...”

“For the cannon ball experiment,” Dani added helpfully. “And since I don’t drink...”

“You filled...” William looked from one to the other.

Thomas suddenly found something on his phone to be very engrossing. He cleared his throat a lot.

William shifted his tie. “Look, I’m not angry about the bill. I’m not angry about you stealing my wallet...”

“Not anymore,” Thomas offered, putting his phone away.

William chose to ignore him. “That stick you recovered...” William said slowly, “was the trigger. There are going to be ramifications from that for years.”

“There are governments that are about to fall, people falsely accused are exonerated... all because of your efforts,” Thomas interrupted again, looking well-pleased.

William cleared his throat. “So... thank you.”

Luke’s eyebrows shot up. “That sounded like it hurt to say.”

“Not at all,” William said. “I knew that giving you the breaks you needed to succeed would pay off. You were too stubborn not to.”

“And what do you propose to do with your monster, Dr. Frankenstein?” Luke asked, with a glance at Dani, who nodded.

“That’s why we are here.” Thomas reached for a folder on the desk and balanced it on his palm.

William held up a restraining hand. “Before we get into that. How’s your brother, Dani?”

“David?” Dani blinked. “He’s... okay. He’s got a long way to go, but he’s recovering nicely. He needs to work out some issues.”

“And your mothers?”

“They seem to have bonded,” Dani answered when Luke didn’t. “They’re currently in Paris on a shopping spree. Something about a new purse...”

“I don’t suppose you know where your father is.” William tried to sound casual, but Luke could hear the anxious note in his voice. This obviously was something of great interest to him.

“No, I can’t say that I do.”

Edwin had pulled his disappearing father trick again. The fact was, Edwin was on the list of people mentioned on the USB stick. He wasn’t Uncle Benny’s patsy like he’d tried to pretend; he’d been in it up to his neck. There were a dozen warrants out for Edwin Rhinehart’s arrest, but after the riot at the bridal show he’d vanished into the crowd and no one had seen him since.

Judging from the look on Dani’s face, she’d like to be first in line to catch up with him. He’d left with a lot of issues unresolved between them. And though she hadn’t said anything about it before leaving for Paris, Luke suspected his mother had gained something of a liking for the con man as well.

Luke’s hands clenched in his lap.

“What we’re considering—”

“We would like you to find him,” Thomas said suddenly, cutting William off mid-sentence.

“We?” Luke echoed. “Who? Which country?”

The two men looked at each other. “We haven’t worked that out yet,” William admitted.

“Although your mother and Marcus work for me,” Thomas addressed Dani, “your family ties,” he indicated Luke and William, “are most decidedly with the American office.”

“But you’re both looking for Edwin? Why?”

“He provided the code key on the screen at the convention,” William said slowly. “He didn’t tell anyone what it was.”

“Oh, come off it,” Luke snapped. “You have people and resources that can pop that; it was only a couple of numbers.”

William looked at Thomas. “That wasn’t a code key. That was a password. We have that. We will have the code key soon, but it may take some time. In the meantime—”

“In the meantime, Edwin has in his possession certain sensitive documents,” Thomas finished.

“Now what?” Dani sat back and crossed her arms. Luke wondered if either agent had any idea what that fire in her eyes meant. “Really? Again?”

“Apparently,” William said, shuffling some papers then laying them down on the desk again. “Let me ask you, Danielle.” William looked up at her. “Does your father strike you as being trustworthy, loyal, and intelligent?”

“Uh...” Dani looked to Luke.

Luke thought about it a moment. When it hit him, struck his forehead with an open palm. “SHIT!”

“What?”

He turned to her. “Your mother is a spy. A good one!” He turned to Thomas for verification. Thomas nodded. “Why in the hell would she trust a man like Edwin?”

Dani spun back to the two men at the desk.

“She didn’t,” Thomas admitted. “The little movies on the stick you saw were all that it contained that we can get to, even with the key.”

“The rest of the information is on another device.” William sighed, looking almost personally affronted. “Another stick, a hard drive, we don’t know.”

“But Edwin does,” Thomas said emphatically, “and we need to find him.”

“I don’t understand,” Luke said.

Thomas shook his head. “When a computer writes information to a drive, it writes it out in sectors. There’s a table that keeps track of what sectors contain what data.”

“Think of it this way,” Dani supplied, “you can write a book and bind the pages one after another, or you can write a book and store the pages individually across three hundred files. You can still read it, so long as you have a record of which page is where.” She looked at the men and felt a bit put off by their expressions. “I really was a computer operator when I entered the military, so I know—”

“Part of the book is missing,” Luke grumped.

“And part of the book is... somewhere,” William said, “and we don’t even know what we’re looking for.”

“But Edwin does,” Thomas said.

Luke looked from one to the other. “And where does that leave us?”

William positively beamed. “Come work for me, my boy.”

“Or with your mother,” Thomas murmured, eyeing Dani.

Luke looked at Dani. She shrugged. “What about our wedding?”

“So, we are getting married after all?” he asked, an expression of mock surprise on his face.

“What? You want me to kneel and ask you?” She got up from her chair and made as if to do just that.

“We really do need to have a talk about who’s in charge.” Luke dragged her onto his lap. “And, so you know, we’re not getting married in Houston,” he said, shaking his head ruefully, “But we are getting married! Only, I’ll do the actual asking, thank you.”

“So, ask!”

“Here?” Luke lifted one eyebrow.

“You can’t get married yet,” Thomas said with a sly smile. “You’ll need someone to walk you down the aisle.”

Dani made a rude noise.

“I was referring to Marcus,” Thomas said coolly. “He won’t be out of the hospital for a few days. Plenty of time for a quick little side trip.”

“You bring home that data, kids, and we may just make this a permanent relationship. I’ll have you both working for me full time,” William said, smacking the table in delight. “I think this calls for a celebration!” He jumped to his feet and held up his hands as Luke shoved Dani off his lap and got up. She scowled at him and bounced to her feet, giving him first a good hard poke in the stomach, right where she knew he was bruised.

He winced and grabbed her around the waist, bringing her in snug against his body, with his arms around her waist to anchor her there. “We haven’t agreed to anything yet.”

William laughed. “Oh, you will. In the meantime, shall we? Not you two. You two have to get going. Thomas, what do you say? Let’s cannon ball into a glass of Champagne!”

The two other men left, laughing and already deciding on dinner, as though the whole thing was a done deal.

“I think we’ve just been conned,” Dani said, staring after them.

“Or at the least recruited.” Luke shook his head.

“Tell me something,” Dani said. “Do you think there are cameras in here?”

“No.” Luke shook his head. “Father always told me that he has the room swept for bugs every day.”

“Good.” She twisted in his arms, reaching up to draw his face down toward hers for a kiss. “About that proposal...”

He smirked. “And here I thought you were going to suggest sex on the desk...”

“In due time. That proposal?”

Luke framed her face, staring into the beautiful, intelligent eyes of the woman he loved. “How in the world did I ever get so lucky?”

“I thought it was me who was the lucky one,” she murmured, her fingertips brushing his cheek.

“So, we’re both lucky?”

“Definitely.”

“Think that luck will hold long enough to get married?”

She gave him a look. “That depends on how much longer Marcus is in the hospital. I swear he’s faking the severity of his wounds because of that cute nurse he’s been flirting with.”

“Can you blame him?”

She swatted him. Hard. “The proposal?”

Luke rubbed his arm. “Wow. Really? Nope, I don’t think so. I think I’m going to ask you later.”

“Later??”

He tucked her back in her arms, burying his face in the crook of her neck, nibbling his way to her ear. “Later. In the meantime, that desk...” He growled the last words, tugging at the buttons on her shirt.

She batted his hands away. “You’re never going to ask.”

“Oh, I’ll ask. Male prerogative. I get to decide when.” He slid her blouse down over her shoulders, exposing creamy skin that just called for him to explore with lips and tongue.

Her head tilted back, and she sighed long and low as his hand found her breast. He loved her reactions. “But you’re asking before the wedding...”

“Which will be when Marcus gets out of the hospital,” he agreed, popping the clasp on her bra.

She stared at him. “You’re a nut.”

“And you’re wearing too many clothes.”

“Look who’s talking!”

“Shh...enough chatter. How long do you think they’ll be at lunch?”

THE END