Nolan leaned in the doorway, looking too tired to stand. “Look, I know you’re mad, and I don’t blame you, but I want to see you again. We got off to a bad start because we were lying to each other—”
“I never lied to you,” Trudy said, outraged.
“You like faculty cocktail parties? And you really wanted to see that foreign film I took you to?”
“I was trying to help you,” Trudy said. “I was trying to fit into your world.”
“You were boring as hell,” Nolan said.
“Hey!”
“But not last night. Last night you were somebody I want to see again. Without the violence.”
Trudy leaned in the other side of the doorway, watching the snow swirl behind him. “You know, if I didn’t know what I do know, I’d be pretty happy with that speech. But I know what you came for. Tell me the truth and you can have it. And then you can go away forever.”
“If I’m going away forever, I’m not getting what I want,” Nolan said.
“Funny,” Trudy said. “Okay, play your stupid game. Courtney’s getting the doll.”
“What doll?” Nolan said.
“The one with the smashed-in corner and the X. Like the MacGuffin. Only this year it’s the Twinkletoe—” She stopped as Nolan’s face changed from exhausted to alert.
“Let me see it,” he said, and stepped inside, pushing her in front of him and closing the door behind him as Courtney came into the hall with the box.
“Hi. I’m Courtney, Trudy’s sister.” Courtney handed him the Twinkletoes.
“Nice to meet you, Courtney.” Nolan took the box.
“The instructions are in there,” Trudy said, a little uncertain now. “The USB key is in the nail file this time.”
“You are kidding me.” Nolan opened the box and took out the manicure set. Then he tucked the box under one arm, took out the nail file, and yanked the handle off. “You’re not kidding me,” he said, looking at the end of the USB key. “I will be damned.” He put the file back in the case and the case back in the box. “I have to make a call. You stay here.” He went back out onto the porch, shutting the door behind him.
“Thanks, I will,” Trudy said to the door.
He hadn’t known about the Twinkletoes.
Courtney went up on tiptoe to see out the little windows. “He’s on his cell phone.”
“Yeah?” Trudy said.
He really hadn’t known about the Twinkletoes.
Courtney sank back on her heels. “He didn’t know about the Twinkletoes, Tru. I think he’s a good one. Plus he’s hot.”
“Maybe,” Trudy said, and then the doorbell rang again.
“I’ll just go see what my son is doing with his new tac nuke,” Courtney said, and went back into the living room.
Trudy took a deep breath and opened the door.
“The thanks of a grateful nation are yours,” Nolan said, meeting her eyes and taking her breath away. “Now about us.”
“Us?” Trudy said, her voice cracking.
“Yeah, us. I know I really screwed you over last night.”
“Well, national security and all,” Trudy said.
He really hadn’t known about the codes in the Twinkletoes.
“But I keep my promises,” Nolan said, his eyes steady on hers.
“Good for you,” Trudy said.
He hadn’t known.
“I said you’d have this on Christmas morning.” Nolan held out the other bag. “I know it’s a mess, but…”
Trudy took the bag and looked inside. “What the…” She pulled out the Mac One. The box was gone, and the doll was battered and mangled, but it was her Mac. She squeezed it, and it made a crackly sound. “What did you do to it?”
“They had to take a code machine out of it,” Nolan said. “So I got some paper from the paper shredder and restuffed it.”
Trudy pulled up the Mac’s jacket to see a broad band of duct tape wound around its belly. “Duct tape.”
“I don’t sew,” Nolan said. “Besides, duct tape is better. It’s a guy thing.”
Trudy smoothed the little camo shirt back down and tried to rub the smudge of dirt off the Mac’s nose. He looked nicer now, she thought, all ripped up and eviscerated and dirty. More vulnerable. Plus one of his eyebrows had come off, so now he just looked half-mad. Kind of like me.
“Reese threw the box away in the warehouse,” Nolan went on. “I looked but couldn’t find it. The silencer was the thumb drive, so that has to stay with NSA. They think the ammo belt may have something in it, too. And his boots—”
“How did you ever talk them into letting you take the doll?” Trudy said, amazed.
“I didn’t give them much choice,” Nolan said. “My future was riding on it.”
Trudy blinked up at him.
“You know. Assuming you’re ever going to talk to me again.”
“You got in the cab thinking you already had the codes, didn’t you?” Trudy said. “Did the NSA tell you to do that?”
“No, they told me to stay put since they had the cab under control.”
“Why’d you get in?”
Nolan shrugged. “I wasn’t that sure they had it under control.”