Page 44 of Centurion

“Ah … well …” Con snapped his mouth shut and looked to Ronnie for help.

“You promised,” Ronnie growled and elbowed her father.

Anna laughed. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Conner. I’m going to go into the kitchen and cook some food for everyone. The three of you play nice.” She gave her daughter a hug and then took off her coat as she exited the node.

“Malice should be here momentarily,” Con said because the silence was kind of deafening in the most embarrassing way.

“No,” Ronnie’s father said. “He won’t be back until after we leave. I believe he’s taking his wife shopping.”

The man walked past him and went to the back wall. He pushed a button, and Con watched as the entire wall turned—another node. Holy hell. It was another complete node, but one with mesh surrounding it, almost like the shielding of the computer systems at the island where he’d met Ronnie.

Ronnie’s father sat down behind the desk and reached for the phone. When he picked it up, the mesh rolled down to the floor.He could see the man’s mouth moving, but there was no sound. None.

Con pointed at the node. “How … that’s not possible … is it?”

Ronnie sat down at the computer system and looked over at her father. “He has a habit of doing the impossible.”

She started work on the microfiche again. Con stood mystified. He wanted to get a better look at the meshing. He wanted to know how it was wired. Was it wired? How did the sound barrier work?

“Con?”

He jumped and looked down at Ronnie. “Huh?”

“You should probably close your mouth and start work.” She cocked her head at him. “He’s going to be in there for a while.”

He snapped his mouth shut and dropped his ass into his chair. “Right. Work.” He looked at his part of the desk. “What was I doing?”

Ronnie snorted. “Ah … we’re trying to stop someone, possibly the Russian criminal we’re chasing, from nuking the world.”

“Right. That.” He picked up his pen and found his place in the journal. He pushed the weird-ass meeting of Ronnie’s parents from his mind and picked the book back up. As he worked, he summarized each page, including a hyperlink to each of the governmental documents referenced, plus a summation of what that government agency had published as their response.

His stomach growled as a wonderful aroma came from the kitchen. He glanced at Ronnie, whose smile indicated she’d heard his rumbling stomach. “What time is it?”

“Almost dinner time,” she said as she continued to work.

“How many more of those do you have?” he asked as he put the final touches on the document before he shared it.

“About fifty or sixty.” She glanced over at the pile. “I’ve made a good dent in them.”

Con glanced at the completed stack of microfiche. She’d done three-fourths of the stack. He finished typing his summation page and shoved the document into the shared drive, where he watched as people immediately started accessing it.

“I can finish those if you want to take a break.” He stood up, stretched, popping his back, and moved over to her side of the desk.

“Thanks.” She stood up and surprised the hell out of him by toeing up and kissing him. “I’ll go help Mom.” She put her hands on his chest as his hands fell to her hips. “Don’t let him intimidate you.”

Con jerked his head up. “Why would he want to?”

“You’re dating his daughter. Use that big brain of yours, Solomon.” She patted his chest and walked away from him. He watched her walk away and then looked over at the node. Saint’s eyes were pinned on him. Shit.

Con smiled at the guy, dropped into the chair Ronnie had vacated, and started work on the microfiche. His neck tingled, and he swore he could still feel the guy’s stare boring holes into him. “Don’t let him intimidate you,” Con said and then laughed. “Too late, honey. Way too late.”

CHAPTER 17

David Xavier stared at the young man in the outer node. He’d finished his calls some time ago but had watched as his daughter and Con worked together. Con’s glances at her throughout the afternoon weren’t filled with lust. Rather, it seemed he cared for Gabby. He’d always been tougher on Gabby than he was the rest of the children. The textbook answer was that most parents were uptight with the oldest and then mellowed as each subsequent child came into the family.

That was bullshit. At least, that was his opinion. Gabby took the world’s problems on her shoulders. She’d always been the fixer of all things for the boys and Charley. She was a natural-born leader, and she’d been devastated when the events in Charley’s life had spiraled. He didn’t know how hard it had hit her until she’d asked permission to train as a Shadow. Hell, she shouldn’t have even known about the program, but she’d been talking to people and bullshitted her way into them thinking he’d already told her about the Shadows. She’d used his name as leverage. Which was ingenious and, to be honest, made him a bit proud.

If it hadn’t been for Anna, he’d probably have rejected both her and Charley’s attempts to enter the organization. They were his babies, his girls. He was supposed to protect them from all the ugliness of the world. He’d failed. Epically.

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