The only thing Luke knew in this moment was that his world would end if anything happened to Dani. It was impossible to understand how in such a short time she’d become the most important thing in his world. He pictured her face, the range of expressions from laughter to tears. They’d seen each other at their worst, they’d fought alongside each other, and still somehow came out on top. They would again, because they had to. The alternative was just too terrible for words.
He kept picturing her, lying in a pool of her own blood, a victim of his father’s schemes. The car was moving too slowly; they’d never get there in time. And the whole thing would be his fault. No, not his father’s, though he wanted to blame him for it, but his own for pulling her into this whole mess in the first place. It would have been better for the thumb drive to have been destroyed after all. But he’d been so intent on the mission that he’d given little thought to the woman he should have been thinking about all along. Hadn’t he realized then that he loved her?
He had... but he’d loved duty more.
Now, as he looked from William to Thomas, he had an unpleasant view of where that kind of commitment would lead you. Maybe both men had believed in something noble and more worth fighting for at one point in time for another. But to him, they looked too much like squabbling children to take seriously.
Though, as he was finding out, he had plenty of room for the absolute loathing that had led them to this place.
He’d seen a movie once where terrorists had collected a group of hostages. One of the agents had remarked to a member of the S.W.A.T. team that they could go in and stage a rescue with only a 25% projected loss rate. The second man had laughed and said, “I can live with those odds.” At the time Luke had been enraged that the death of any individual at all could be ‘acceptable.’
Now he was seeing it in action.
He stared at his hands balled in his lap. If I ever get out of this, I need to take an anger management class. How many times have I wanted to punch someone today?
Luke shot a look at William. “Tell me what’s so all-fired important on that thumb drive that you’d risk the life of not only my fiancée and mother, but the lives of how many innocent people in that expo just to get your hands on that thumb drive?”
For once William didn’t come right back with a glib comment. He stared out the windshield, jaw set.
“And Maria? You don’t even have an ounce of loyalty to someone who was one of your own? All her hard work? You make that the only thing that matters, and hang her life in the balance the same as everyone else’s.”
“He has a point,” Thomas said into the silence.
William turned his head slightly. “What point?”
“It occurs to me that you have let go the woman whose data this is, ostracized her as a ‘liability’, and abandoned her. Then, a decade and a half later, finding out that she’d borne fruit, you swept in and demanded the lot, even after having refused to support the woman. This is not very polite, William.”
“Again, that was my predecessor’s call, not mine.” William’s words were sharp. Clipped.
“No? You did send them to the...” Thomas waved the flyer, “Convention Center, did you not? To use them as ‘bait’, as your son so helpfully pointed out?”
“He shouldn’t have said that!” William shot Luke a look.
“Are you kidding me? Like I give a rat’s ass about protocols and secrets. You have endangered the WOMAN I LOVE—”
“WHO CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF JUST FINE!”
Luke could feel the vein pounding in his temple. “I know that. Don’t you think I know that?” He slumped against the seat, feeling only the aching loneliness that clawed at him whenever she wasn’t there. “But that doesn’t mean I like when she’s in harm’s way. And I should think if you have any heart left in that withered old chest of yours, you’d understand that.”
They stared at each other, clearly at an impasse.
“I don’t know if this will help or not, but I need to inform you that the bait was nibbled,” Thomas said with a heavy sigh, “if you will please excuse the analogy. Person or persons unknown fired on the passengers of a car rented to you, Mr. Rhinehart. Marcus, Danielle, Maria, and...” he turned to William, “your ex-wife, were in the car at the time.”
“Attempted?” William said coldly. His face was white as a sheet.
Luke stopped breathing.
“Attempted, William. According to my sources... well, perhaps it’s best if I show you.” He pulled a tablet from the seat beside him and pressed PLAY. The angle was from high above. “We had a man in a helicopter in surveillance. He would have provided assistance but, as you will see, it was unnecessary.”
The three of them watched in horror and awe as the scene on the highway played out. At the end, Edwin said, “Wait, why did the car flip over?”
“According to our man, when the passenger door popped open, the former Mrs. McConnell leaned out of the door and fired a single shot into the oncoming car’s tire. Apparently, they are finding bits of her hair on the freeway.”
“She was hurt?” Luke demanded.
“Not that we can tell. She just... lost some hair. We’re on our way to them now.”
“Thomas,” William said, “how did you know? You and Maria and these...” He gestured to the blackened tablet. “How did you all know to be in Houston?”
“As for our foes, I can only assume that there is a leak somewhere in the communications cycle. You have no idea the extent to which Maria’s network spreads. I have never seen anything like it. Apparently, having found no statue at the church matching the vague description provided by your son, our man traced the donation to Mrs. Pinal and did some... exploration of his own. As the statue was not in her possession, but a receipt from Federal Express was...”
“Wait,” Luke said, “while we all slept in our underwear, Marcus slipped out, broke into the church and Mrs. Pinal’s house? Without any of us noticing?”
“Impossible.” William shook his head. “I would have known. I was right there...”
“Oh, I do have a message for you from our Marcus, William. I’m to tell you that he actually loathes the smell of kimchi. I hope that makes sense.”
Luke felt worlds better. Sometimes a good belly laugh at someone else’s expense was just the tension-breaker you need. And for once, he didn’t mind in the least when Edwin butted in, and joined him in his laughter.
William fumed, arms crossed, staring so hard out the window it was a wonder the glass didn’t break. “I can’t wait for the bachelor party,” he muttered half under his breath.
“WE NEED TO DITCH THIS car!” Dani said as they limped past an exit. The next one should be the convention center if they held together in one piece long enough. She slid down in the seat, noticing the looks they were getting from people in the cars around them. “It stands out too much.” Something clattered on the pavement behind them.
“Nothing important,” Elaina sang out. “Just another hubcap.”