“I don’t think that’s an issue,” Marcus said over his shoulder. “The police are working for your future father-in-law. Everyone else seems to know where we are anyway. I suggest that since the convention center is within reach, changing cars now would be a delay.”
Dani looked at her mother and, hopefully, future mother-in-law. She suddenly realized they were waiting for her decision. Somehow she had been elected to be in charge. She sighed. She’d never liked the responsibility that went along with command. Hated it in fact. She’d been more comfortable either working alone, or in just being one of the men.
You have no choice. Get it together. They’re counting on you.
“All right, you’re right. But when we get there, try to find a place to bury the thing so it doesn’t stand out too much!”
The look he gave her spoke volumes.
“I don’t know, park next to a dumpster! Set it on fire! How the hell should I know?”
“You’re thinking like a merc, my angel,” Maria said, leaning in to talk quietly. “You need to think more like an infiltrator. The time for stealth is over. Coming in on the president’s plane removed that option for all time.”
“William is not known for subtlety,” Elaina scoffed. “He has the get-a-bigger-hammer approach to everything. Problem is, sometimes it works.”
“Like now,” Maria agreed. “Right now, we have a foot race to capture the flag.”
“Balls to the wall!” Elaina cried.
Maria looked at the woman and whispered, “Yes. Quite.”
Dani stared at them. Maybe she had been letting her experience in the backwater cities and jungles take over. It was what she’d learned. Luke was the one who’d had to deal with civilization and protocols and interfacing. For a moment she wished she could have him there, to ask his advice. For a moment she wanted him to tell her what to do. It passed quickly.
“You’re right,” Dani said, pulling her shirt down and straightening it.
“Good heavens, your shirt is torn!” Maria pulled the cloth, noticing for the first time the rip along the stomach “Was that from me?”
“Yeah. One of your heels. I still have welt where it grazed me, but the shirt took the worst of the damage.”
“That’s a different shirt?” Elaina asked, looking closer.
Dani opened her mouth to answer, unsure how they’d gotten sidetracked yet again, when Marcus chose that moment to swerve across three lanes of traffic. He rode two wheels on the raised shoulder before cutting back in front of the slow traffic in front of him and bouncing the car so hard the bottom scraped. Sparks showered in an arc that reached over the roof, and he fishtailed into the fast lane. Dani fell against her mother and struggled to right herself.
“I thought it was the same shirt,” Elaina said, clucking over the tear. “You ripped this one, too?”
Dani shrugged, and pulled the hole toward her for a closer inspection. “I usually am better with my clothing than this, but it’s been a tough couple of days.”
Marcus accelerated, passing between two cars, and cut off the one on the right. He hit the exit ramp starting from the left lane and cut across the freeway. A panel van with Nick’s Plumbing and Works locked up its brakes and skidded sideways to make room for the battered car.
“You tore another shirt?” Maria asked. “Where?”
“Same place, for the most part,” Dani said, looking at the hole again.
“No, I mean where is it now?”
“Ah... Air Force One, I think.”
“You left your dirty laundry on the president’s plane?” Elaina covered her mouth, her eyes wide in shock.
“Not the first time dirty laundry was found in the president’s bedroom,” Maria said dryly.
Elaina looked up at her and laughed. “Oh, my dear!” She crowed to Dani, “You’ll save the day by getting the stick, but you’ll topple the presidency with a torn shirt and a pair of old shorts.”
“William bought us all new clothes,” Dani said, feeling a little defensive as Marcus ran a red light and pushed through a busy intersection. He didn’t hit a thing, but the cars around him buckled and fenders crumpled as he passed. Horns blared. The sound of sirens blossomed in the distance. “I left my panties and a bra in there, too.”
Maria looked at Elaina and snickered. Elaina by this time was gasping for breath she was laughing so hard.
Marcus crashed through the signs that said EVENT PARKING $5 and the car flew over the entrance curb, gathering air, and crashed down in front of the convention center.
“Ladies!” he called. “We have arrived.”
They abandoned the car in the front of the center. The suspension groaned once before the passenger axel broke and the wheel quietly rolled away, back to the workers replacing the parking signs with orange cones and hand-lettered signs on cardboard.
Dani led the charge to the front door, but a phalanx of men stopped them.
“Tickets are available over there.” This was Stanley, according to his shirt. The other pocket read “Houston Security Services”, and the huge badge that hung from the front of that pocket pulled his shirt down on one side, making him look less impressive and more like a boy playing dress-up.
Dani caught Marcus’ hand. “No,” she said under breath, “let’s try to do this without weapons, shall we? It’s only a bridal show.” She pelted down the steps and came to realization that she was out of money. “Um... Can someone lend me $20?”
Elaina reached into her pocket and wadded a bill to throw at her. Dani ran back to the ticket booth. “Four, please,” she said, and handed the crumpled bill to the perplexed woman in the ticket kiosk.
“Eighty dollars is your change,” she said, fingering the bill uncertainly and then holding it up to the light. “I hope you don’t mind if you get it in fives.” She pulled out a wad of bills from the cash box. “One.” She turned the next bill to align it with the previous. “Two.”
Dani reached in and grabbed the four tickets, and ran back. The security guard took them and looked back at the woman still counting five-dollar bills. “Don’t you want your change?”
“MOVE, BOY!” Marcus growled, and the startled security guard took an involuntary step backward. His men looked at each other and started forward, only to be quelled almost instantly by a look that struck terror into their very hearts.
It was all the hole they needed to push through into a hallway that culminated in a series of heavy metal doors. One stood propped open down on the end, creating a bottleneck where eager women waited patiently to have their hands stamped so they could go out and come in again later.
“How does she do that?” Dani asked, half under her breath.
Elaina blushed modestly. “Practice. What is the quote? Something about telling someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip?”
“Winston Churchill,” Maria murmured as the three of them pushed through the heavy metal doors. “I wasn’t sure that applied to facial expressions, but you certainly got the point across.”