Page 8 of For The Days We Can't Forget

“You didn’t. I’m offering. I love spending time with her, and I can watch her during the night.”

“Do you mean it? I’m sure you have other things to do; go out, meet friends.” I hated to think there might be some male friends in the count.

She giggled. “There’s not much to do in Holy Water, I have one friend—April—and I haven’t had the urge to go out since I graduated. Even before that.”

“That would be a huge help for me. I’ll pay you double, of course.”

“This isn’t about the money, Danny. Yeah, this is my job, and I get paid to be with Fee, but I do love our moments together.” It was way more than Fee’s own mother ever offered to my baby. I ignored my mother’s scrutiny as Lisa went on. “We can have a pajama party between the two of us and have fun.” It took me a while to realize she was suggesting a pajama party with my baby, not with me, and in a very different capacity.

“Then it’s a date. With Fee, I mean. Not with me. I’m not saying I wouldn’t go out on a date with you. I’d love to. Not that I’m asking. Although I’m notnotasking.”What the hell is wrong with me?“What I mean is—”

“Look,Papi. We made this.” Thank God for my daughter.

CHAPTER FIVE

The space was big. Bigger than I was comfortable with having only the three of us to peruse. We drove to where Mia pointed to and kept our car hidden, closing the remaining distance on foot.

I wasn’t a big hacker by any means, but I knew my way around a security system and the best way to glitch it or turn it off. Although, if we wanted to expand, as it was our original intent beforeeverything, we still needed a true tech wiz.

I shut the security down, but it wouldn’t be for long, so we needed to be fast.

“I just got in.” I heard Mia on our radio. “Reckoning north now.”

“Copy that. I’m going to check my side of the wing. Ben?”

“It took me a while; the guard wouldn’t leave his post,” he complained.

“Remember. We’re not here to attack, we’re here to gather intel. We need to be as invisible as possible.” At their agreement, I went on. “I’m sending the bird now. Tomorrow, we rest.”

When they repeated after me, I kept waiting for Mia’s prayer to begin, but it never came.

I turned on the infrared drone and let it do its magic, making sure it was recording everything we’d need for later. I couldn’t risk it compromising our presence there, so some nooks and crannies would be checked by each of us.

“Ben, there are a couple of men to your right. If you go around them, you could take the left hall, it seems to be empty.”

“On it.”

I directed the drone to the north area. “It’s unclear for you yet, Mia. Wait a bit.” I let the drone hover as close as it could without being spotted. “Stay still. Just a little while. Damn it, they’re getting closer.”

“I can distract them away and head inside.”

“No! It’s too risky.”

“I can’t just stay hidden, Benny, and we can’t stay here the whole night.”

“But how could you distract them without compromising your position?”

There was a little bit of silence, and all I could hear was their breathing.

“I’ve just spotted a dog and a cat roaming around.”

“For God’s sake, Mia, there’s no time for petting right now.”

When she snapped, I was glad I wasn’t the one to say that, even though I thought it as well. “No, damn it. They’ll be my diversion.”

I watched as she stepped further away from the animals and threw something in their direction to break what appeared to be a saint made of ceramic. The noise startled the men, and the cat shrieked, slapping the dog. The three men lurking around Mia went to check the disturbance, and she used it to get inside without being seen.

“Now I feel bad for the dog. Okay, I’m going to check around.”

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