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She could feel one of her premonitions coming on and this one felt like a doozy.
Everything had happened so fast. Capable as Ben Michaels had seemed in the crunch today, she did not want to work with a civilian, even if he was a former soldier. She had only the bare bones of his career; Mercier had run a quick check on him, then read her the high points over the phone, assuring her Michaels was qualified to act as an agent of opportunity.
Michaels had been out of the army for almost two years after serving for seven, an officer nearly halfway to retirement, now a bank manager. Medical discharge, Mercier said. Probably high blood pressure, Dani figured.
“Follow me,” Michaels ordered as he reached his vehicle, a fairly new Mercedes SUV sporting snow chains. The boy must make pretty good money, Dani thought.
“We’ll go to your sister’s house to drop your car. Since I have chains, we’ll take mine from there. My dad can drive us to the airport.”
Mercier was arranging for their tickets to Grand Cayman. Even though the account there was closed out now, she’d been ordered to collect any surveillance tapes or paperwork that might be important, conduct some interviews and back up Michaels in his attempts to collect info on where the money went. Back up. Ugh.
He was already trying to take charge, but Dani decided to pick her battles—no point sweating the small stuff. This type of op was new to her, so she would have to follow his lead in some respects. But she was in charge and he needed to understand that. If it had to do with anything other than locating that money, he would damn well have to do what she said.
“Bud could drive us to the airport,” she offered, a little reluctant to offer the services of her brother-in-law when he had a new baby at home to help care for.
“We’ll see. It depends on how my mother reacts to the news that I’m leaving,” he replied.
Dani frowned as she slid into her rented sedan and slammed the door. It sounded very much like she might be dealing with a mama’s boy. One of her few forays into relationship territory had pitted her against a proprietary mother turned tigress. What a disaster that had been. Soon as Mama had found out about Dani’s Gypsy roots, she’d started applying weed killer.
Funny, Dani would never have figured Ben Michaels for a guy who hung on the apron strings. Showed how clueless she still was about men. Too bad her famous premonitions didn’t extend to profiling. Her gust of frustration produced visible vapors in the freezing air. Oh well, it was nothing to her. She wasn’t interested in him that way.
Still, the little frisson of disappointment wouldn’t go away. Maybe she was a bit more interested than she wanted to admit. With more force than necessary, she twisted the key in the ignition, jerked into Reverse and backed out of her parking space.
If Mama said he couldn’t go, Dani would just leave him the hell at home. Not as if she needed to play nursemaid to a damn banker anyway.
Mercier had agreed the banker’s assessment of the terrorist funding deserved checking out. More manpower would be on it shortly, he had assured her. She was to get a jumpstart by going to the Cayman bank and hopefully getting a lead on whoever had been there in person.
Mercier had spoken on the phone with Michaels at some length and decided the former army officer ought to lend his expertise in banking operations and contacts in the field to Dani’s investigation, at least to the preliminary portion of it.
When Dani turned into the driveway at Bud and Carol’s house, Michaels pulled up behind her and got out. He had her door open before she even had her seat belt unlatched. “Mind if I come in with you? I haven’t had a chance to congratulate them on the baby. Bud’s an old friend.”
So he knew Bud. She wished there were time to grill her brother-in-law for the local skinny on Michaels. “Sure,” she said, slipping a little when she stood on the icy cement.
He clamped an arm around her waist. “Careful there.”
Dani didn’t jerk away from him. She knew she should have, would have automatically, as a rule, but there was no point risking a fall. And, to tell the truth, she didn’t mind a bit that Bud saw the embrace through the window where he was watching them approach the porch. He was always teasing her about her badge putting men off, but Dani figured he was just worried that she would influence Carol to be more independent. Men could be so insecure.
Bud met them at the door. “Are you all right, Dani? Ben? I just heard the bank was robbed! Come on in and sit down!”
Now she felt guilty for her sniping thoughts about Bud. He really did love her like a sister, and he had a big brother attitude. “Where’s Carol? We need to talk.”
When her sister appeared, Dani wasted no time relating what had gone on at the bank. Ignoring Carol’s worried frown, Dani laid out her plans to leave while Michaels sat quietly next to her on the sofa. “Ben has agreed to assist with tracking the stolen funds, so he’ll be coming with me.”
“I can not believe this,” Carol said, rolling her eyes. “What is it with you, Dani? Every single time you show up…”
“Not every time!” Dani argued pleadingly. She sensed that she and Carol were about to take up their age-old conflict again and wished she could avoid it. The visit, up until now, had gone so incredibly well.
For two women whose features were so much alike, they were polar opposites otherwise. Carol the peace lover, versus Danielle the daredevil. They had gone through life that way.
“I’ll take you to catch your plane, Ben,” Bud declared. “Your dad’s gonna have his hands full.” He shook his head at the thought.
Michaels declined. “Thanks, but I’ve actually decided to drive us and leave my car at the airport.”
Dani exchanged a look with Carol, who had obviously decided not to fuss anymore. Her sister merely raised her eyebrows and gave Dani a tightlipped grimace.
“Let me say goodbye to our Little Buddy first,” Dani said, heading for the nursery. “I won’t be but a minute.”
“I’d like to see him, too, if it’s okay,” she heard Michaels say. She sensed him follow her down the hall.
The baby slept, his tiny rosebud of a mouth slightly open, the multicolored knit cap slightly askew on his bald head.
Dani couldn’t resist picking him up. Her maternal instincts fired up again as she held the sweet-smelling bundle against her chest, enjoying the waking squirm, the mew of protest at his nap being disturbed.
She laughed softly and whispered, “No rest for the weary, huh? You be a good boy while I’m gone and Aunt Dani will bring you a surprise when I come back.” She swayed gently, soothing him back to sleep. “Bye, sweetie.” She placed him back in the crib, touching the soft blanket with her fingers in a last caress.
Michaels stood beside her, looking down with something that read like yearning. “I always forget how small they are when they’re brand new.”
She smiled up at him. He had not mentioned a wife or children. There had only been a photo of an older couple in his office, probably his parents. “You have any kids of your own?”
“No, no children.” His words were slow, somehow sad.
“This one’s a little miracle, isn’t he?”
Michaels nodded, his gaze fastened on Buddy. “A new life. Always a miracle.”
Dani left him standing there in the nursery, hands clasped behind him and looking at the baby. As she went to pack what she needed for the trip, two questions bugged her. Did he want children all that much? And, why should she care?
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