and she should go down around 10:00 p.m. Order whatever you want from room service and watch whatever you want on TV.” She added dryly, “And no boys in the house, please.”
The agent grinned. “You forgot to ask me if I have a current CPR license and a babysitting certificate from an accredited after-school program.”
Laura laughed. “I’m not paying you that much.”
Morris looked around the plush suite. “Hey, this is the best babysitting gig I’ve ever landed. You and Mr. Cass have a nice evening. Ellie and me, we’ll get along just fine.” He patted the bulge on his right hip and added grimly, “Mr. Glock and I will see to it that nothing happens to your little princess on my watch.”
Laura nodded, abruptly serious. “Thank you.”
She stepped out into the living room and Nick made an appreciative sound. “You’re stunning, Super Mommy.”
She made a face. “I’m not feeling very super at the moment. I feel like I’m hanging on by my fingernails.”
“Well, you’re doing it with style. You look fabulous.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’ve been over this before. I’m the thirty-year-old mother of two.”
“That’s correct. You’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more.”
Her heart melted a little. It would be so easy to ignore his trespasses from the past. To fall into his beautiful blue gaze and forget everything else. Exactly the way she had for the past year.
Like it or not, she had to face up to the fact that their current predicament wasn’t entirely Nick’s fault. She’d been as guilty as he of ignoring the past and pretending that nothing bad could be lurking in that giant memory gap of his.
If she lost herself in him and his damnably magnetic charm again, she’d regret it as sure as she was standing here. Someday reality would rear its ugly head again, just like it had this time, and bite her. Who would get hurt the next time? Her? The kids? All of them?
It was time. She and Nick had to confront the past head-on and make peace with it once and for all. They had to do it for their children … no matter what the cost to the two of them.
The place Kloffman had picked for their meeting was dark and quiet. The booths had tall dividers separating them and plenty of privacy. Laura sighed beside Nick as they stepped inside.
“What’s wrong?” he murmured.
“Too easy a place to do surveillance. Not a good spot for a clandestine exchange.”
“Really?”
“Loud, rowdy, and crowded is a better venue. It’s impossible to eavesdrop more than a few feet away, there’s lots of noise pollution to foul up directional microphones, and people are hard to keep track of in a big crowd.”
It made sense. And she was the former spy, after all.
She continued, “Our best bet is to get in and get out of here, fast.”
“We’ll just order drinks, then. We’ll get what we came for and leave immediately,” he replied.
She nodded beside him and pasted on a pleasant smile as the maître d’ approached. They were led to a booth near the back of the place, and Kloffman was already there, looking impatient. Nick smiled to himself. Typical German. If the guy wasn’t five minutes early, he considered himself late.
Kloffman stood as they approached. Laura took his hands and greeted the German warmly. Quick on the uptake, Werner kissed her cheek and ushered them to the table like they were old friends. A waitress took their drink orders and left. Finally. They were alone.
Laura leaned forward and murmured past a warm smile that kept her lips from moving in any significant way, “Do you have the files?”
“Yes, my dear, I do.” He brought out a small box from under the table, gaily wrapped in hot-pink paper and tied with a wide white ribbon. A white bow nearly overwhelmed the fist-sized box.
“How delightful!” Laura exclaimed. “You shouldn’t have brought me a gift. Now I feel bad for not bringing you anything.”
Werner laughed back. “My wife insisted. She said you should open it when you get home.”
Laura duly tucked the box beside her on the banquette. She then led the conversation deftly into a discussion of how Werner’s grown children were doing, and what he’d thought of Southeast Asia, where he’d taken a recent vacation. Nick was impressed. How she knew that about the German executive, he hadn’t the slightest idea. Or maybe she’d just made it up and Werner was adept at following along with her patter.
Nick forced himself not to look around the place, not to check for listeners or watchers. He leaned back, looping an arm over the back of the banquette and smiling at Laura like a proud husband enjoying his attractive and effervescent wife. It wasn’t hard to act besotted with her. He was besotted with her.
In due course, he and Werner argued good-naturedly about who would pick up the tab for the drinks, and he ultimately let Werner pay the bill. With a promise to stay in touch and come visit Werner in Germany soon, Nick and Laura stood up to leave.
And just like that, the entire records of AbaCo’s Special Cargo division for the past several years were in their possession.
Nick hailed a cab and Laura climbed in as he held the door for her. He settled in the seat beside her. “Now what?”
“When we get back to the hotel, we open his gift and see what he gave us,” she answered lightly, glancing warningly at the back of the cabbie’s head.
He supposed she had a point. They couldn’t be too careful at this late date. He relaxed and watched the city lights pass by outside. Washington really was a lovely city, a gracefully aging lady.
Agent Morris was on his feet, gun in hand and leveled at their chests, when they walked through the door to their suite. Nick nodded his approval as the guy lowered his weapon.
“You two are back early. Everything okay?” the FBI man asked.
Laura shrugged. “I made it through cocktails, but I’m not comfortable being away from Ellie. I convinced Nick to bring me back here for a quiet dinner in our room.”
Morris nodded in sympathy. “How about I go take a nap with our little princess? Then I’ll be in good shape to stand watch through the night. And in the mean time, you two could probably use a little privacy.”
As the agent retreated, Nick called room service and ordered dinner.
He joined Laura at the desk in the corner of the living room as she booted up her laptop and plugged in the thumb drive she’d found inside the gift box. A long list of file names scrolled across her screen.
“How’s it look?” he asked.
“If
