Dani hit the street in what could charitably be called a power walk. It was rage combined with humiliation, and she beat the sidewalk under her feet into submission to refocus that rage. Whoever was fronting Luke’s expenses certainly hadn’t sprung for a nice neighborhood, but that just as well. A deep and feral part of her would welcome a good hard fight right now. She eyed a couple of guys on the corner, all leather jackets and pants down around their knees, and practically dared them to say something, anything. She’d take great delight in pantsing them both.

When that failed to manifest, the gentlemen in question fading back into a shadowed alleyway, she even allowed herself to imagine scenarios, an ambush from that parked car over there. Or an attack from that particular doorway. Her muscles wanted to respond to her mood and to her imagination. She could feel the twitch of her arms and legs as they tried to kick and hit hypothetical foes.

So lost was she in her own world of punches and kicks that she almost took out the sideview mirror of the car that pulled up next to her.

“Excuse us, Miss,” the man on the passenger side said. “We can get you home.”

It was the same two men who’d brought her to Luke’s apartment the night before. She stopped. The car slowed to a halt. The man, a tall skinny guy in a dark suit, jumped out and, with some reverence, opened the rear door for her.

“You were out here all night?” she asked him, realizing that for all the dapper attire, the suitcoat looked somewhat slept in.

“All night,” the driver answered, a balding man of middle age. He hung a long time on the word “all,” indicating a rather unpleasant time of it, adding a look at his partner as if to underscore the magnitude of the patience required of him to do this particular job.

“All part of the job, Miss.” The skinny guy cleared his throat, leveling a glare right back at the driver.

Dani snorted. The job. It’s the job, all part of the job, just doin’ my job. And here it was again, only this time their job was to sit and wait on her. “Tell me, do you gentlemen have families? Wives?” She looked at them for a moment, then figured she wasn’t being politically correct. “Husbands?” She crossed her arms. “Kids?”

The last came out a little ominous and she found that she was ready to do battle for these imaginary children already, lost in a world where people worked and raised the idea of ‘the job’ to such legendary levels as to render unimportant things like duty to family. To the raising of the next generation.

“Uh…yeah.” The driver glanced at his partner, uneasy. She could see the panic blossoming in his eyes.

“Uh…” the man holding the door said. “Yes, ma’am, we both have families.”

“Don’t they get sick of waiting for you to come home?”

“It’s the job, Miss,” the man said before the driver could answer. “It’s just the job.”

“Yeah.” Dani climbed into the back of the car. “We all have a job to do, don’t we?”

The two men looked at each other, but declined to answer. There was no answer to that. The trip back home was a study in complete silence.

Dani spent that time deep in thought. It had been Luke’s promise to help David that had drawn her in. But then he’d gone back on her, on everything he’d said the night before. He’d said he had no choice, it was the job. Was he in trouble with his superiors? He’d seemed unsure of that last night. What if he’d had to leave because of her? Wasn’t it possible that if push came to shove, someone like Uncle Benny could make a strong case of entrapment against Luke, and get any charges against him cleared should it come out that she’d known about the investigation, and she and Luke had been seen as working together?

It was a reasonable worry. One that would…not quite but almost…absolve Luke from having to leave. Right?

But does that have to mean that he has to leave me?

The thought cut through her thoughts as a childish wail, a cry of abandonment that left her shaken and angry all over again, furious that a particular sick feeling in the pit of her stomach should ever have surfaced at the hands of another man.

Or, in short, she was being a fool. A complete and utter fool.

Which brought her right back around to the Job. She’d spent her whole life hearing about ‘The Job,’ what it requires, what it prevents. There were a few things she’d done that weren’t proud moments, that she would rather not remember, but they, too, were under the confines of The Job.

So she thought of those days on the drive home. She thought about it even as she got out of the car, silent as a ghost, wandering across the driveway and up into the house, ignoring the men who drove away before she’d even gotten the front door closed behind her. She guessed their job was done. Maybe they could go home to their families.

I wonder what I’m going home to…

But the house was quiet. No men in dark suits lingered in the corners. No butler at the door. The whole place was eerily quiet.

Maybe everyone’s still in bed…

Uncertain but too tired to care she headed for the stairs, wanting nothing more than a hot bath and nap herself. Maybe not in that order.

She was halfway up the stairs when she heard a crash in the study, loud enough that the banister beneath her hand vibrated. She paused and listened, but heard nothing. No pounding of feet, no armed guards bursting out of the woodwork.

But someone was most assuredly was home.

Reaching for the gun she wasn’t carrying, then cursing herself for not carrying a weapon—still—even after everything that had happened, she eased herself down the steps. Lifting each foot with great care, she moved noiselessly until she stood right outside the door.

Silence.

I know I heard something.

She crossed to the closed door and put her ear to the wood. There was movement, furtive, frantic movement. Maybe her dad had returned home, probably having forgotten something. Either that or his temper tantrum had worn off.

Good, with him back things can get back to normal again.

She smiled at that. In her own strange way, having him back was a welcome thought. She even felt some measure of relief, if not satisfaction, thinking that by now Luke was probably halfway across the country or already on a plane to Bora Bora or some such place while her father was right here under his very nose.

Not that he didn’t deserve punishment if he’d been doing something illegal, right?

It was a strange, conflicting feeling. He was her father, after all. And was moving money around a crime? Well, yes, obviously, or Luke wouldn’t have been there, but was it so bad, say, compared to the kinds of people she’d been fighting overseas? There were people in the world who used a great deal of power to hurt, to destroy. This was just numbers on a computer screen going from one bank account to another, wasn’t it?

Don’t be an idiot. That money comes from somewhere. There are people suffering because of people like Father, so before you go around getting all sentimental you might want to think of this. Besides, the old man has caused a great deal of trouble. You going to let him off for that? For the way he abandoned you and also David. Especially the way he abandoned David after everything going on.

 Angry with herself, but more furious at him, she turned the knob and stormed into the room, more than ready for a fight. “Well, welcome…”

The snarled, rather insincere, greeting died on her lips. All the years of training and several life-threatening adventures had honed her reflexes. At least three times in the last five years, she would not have survived if she’d not had lightning responses. Those served her in good stead now as she stumbled backwards, ducking and evading the first attack easily, but too flabbergasted to move when she came up and saw that this particular attacker wore the face of her little brother and his hands were desperate, needful things.

“David?”

He turned on her and in a rush had her pinned her to the wall, his hands on her arms. Maybe she’d gotten soft. Maybe she just couldn’t bring herself to flatten her baby brother. Surprise was rapidly giving way to the image of the frightened little boy who’d clung to her, grabbing her when they both were children and the world had been a scary place. This was the face that had always looked to her for safety.

“WHERE IS IT?” David’s hysterical scream caused her to flinch.

Dani turned her head away, and saw for the first time that the office had been ransacked. Drawers pulled out, papers spread. Books lay scattered in heaps, pages loose and drifting about like snow.

“Where is what?” It was hard to speak. His arm was across her throat, cutting off her air. She breathed in raggedly, mind already running through the options, not liking a single one. Every self-defense move she knew would end with him getting a broken arm. Or a broken nose. Or something. And she couldn’t quite bring herself to hurt him.

Especially since this little bout of rage really was all her fault. He was looking for that damn USB stick. It had to be that. She pulled one hand free, reaching around behind her to fish it from her back pocket and found it empty.

She’d lost it.

Where the hell had she lost it?

Rapid-fire images from last night replayed the key points. Shorts being flung… dropped… kicked… whatever and wherever. The stupid thing was probably on Luke’s floor somewhere.

And in the meantime she couldn’t fucking breathe.

“Get off me!” With a mighty effort, Dani shoved David hard, sending him stumbling backwards. His foot slid on the papers, and for a moment he seemed to hang in mid-air before tumbling into the mess he’d made. “Now count to ten or something. Then tell me what the hell’s going on here!”

“I don’t know! Fuck! He didn’t tell me. Just that it was here and I had to get it!”

David’s discordant wail conjured images of the child, the deeper baritone making it sound…whiny. Pathetic. Dani looked at her baby brother in surprise, seeing for the first time the unpleasant pout to his lips, the frantic desperation in his eyes and movements. Like a junkie on a spiral down, but without the drugs. There was a strange clarity in his eyes that belied the insanity of the moment.

“David,” Dani said, kneeling in front of him, taking his shoulders in her hands, the way he’d tried to grab her, except her touch wasn’t meant to imprison, only to support. Where in those frantic eyes was the little brother she knew? “What did Dad do to you?”

David blinked, and seemed to suddenly realize where he was. He pulled away from his sister and scrambled to his feet. “I could never hurt you…” He blinked a few times, looking for all the world like he’d just woken up from a very unpleasant dream.

“What’re you looking for?” she asked, noting his tremulous smile, and distrusting this more than the anger he’d exhibited just a moment before.

“Dad said he left me something,” David said, kicking at a broken drawer, sending the pieces flying. Dani flinched away from the debris, but held her ground. “I can’t find anything.” He looked around the room. “I made kind of a mess.” David shook his head. “I can only imagine what Dad would—will, what he’ll say to this.”

“Don’t worry about him,” Dani said. She placed a hand on his shoulder and felt a nervous twitch. He was calm now, but there was another explosion just beneath the surface. She chose to ignore it; the boy was overwrought. “He’s long gone, David. He stole a lot of money and he’s heading out of the country. There’s nothing you can do about it now.”

“I just want you to go.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Don’t look like that. I mean go back to Europe, where you’re comfortable. You don’t need to be part of all this.” He swept the room with his arm. “You’re best away from all the family messes.”

“I want to be here for you, David.” The protest was automatic, but for the first time in her life she was unsure.

David seemed to sense her hesitation. “Really? Don’t lie to me, Dani. You of all people shouldn’t lie to me.” David reached past her, and wrenched the door open so hard and fast the edge clipped her side. “You’ve never been there for me a day in my life. Why the hell weren’t you here ten years ago when it would have done some good? Just get out. GET OUT! I DON’T NEED YOU!”

A hard push and Dani was thrust into the hallway.

The door slammed. A moment later she heard the key slip in and turn the lock.

Well, that’s clear enough…