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“I’m fine, Rowe,” he said around the lump that had grown in his throat. Maybe Edward was right about how Rowe saw his fit with the company. The man talked like he was willing to lead a rescue mission into hostile territory. But it wasn’t necessary. He and Edward were doing just fine. “And yes, Edward has me covered.”
The groan on the other end was loud. “At least I didn’t hook you up with someone. Damn dating service I have going on here.” His muttering came through clear over the line. “Please keep me informed of what’s going on. Call me directly, day or night.”
“I will.” Daniel shut down the call and stared at Edward. “What now?”
“Now I call my guy and we figure out our next move.”
Edward grabbed a pair of pants and pulled them on before he called. He stayed in the room this time, and Daniel watched as he paced and filled his handler in on what had gone on. He couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end because Edward didn’t put the call on speaker, and he understood why. The handler probably wouldn’t appreciate just how much Daniel knew at this point.
“There has to be another person involved, and we need a way to draw them out,” Edward said as he ran one hand through his hair. He walked to the bed where the laptop was still sitting. “I’ll send you everything on the thumb drive now.”
He was quiet as the other man spoke, his dark gaze tracking Daniel as he moved to put on his clothes.
“Okay, got it.” He hung up and set down his phone. “They’re going to go over everything once all the information is transferred and call back. We’re to sit still until we can map out a plan.”
“What kind of plan do you think it’ll be?”
Edward gave him a solemn look. “More than likely, we’ll be setting some kind of trap to lure in the other party involved. We have to find out who else is trying to sell government secrets.”Chapter FourteenA gray sky hung low over the small town that had grown up around Château de Fontainebleau. Daniel wanted to scoff at the idea of calling the sprawling palace and grounds a château. When Edward had told him that morning the meeting would be held at Fontainebleau, he immediately googled the location on his phone.
Okay, so he was a total book nerd and history geek.
Fontainebleau was worth geeking out about. Located roughly thirty-five miles outside of Paris, the location had started as a hunting lodge for the royal family until one of them got the bright idea to make it into a grander retreat worthy of royalty. The château was expanded to include fifteen hundred rooms and extensive gardens. And then of course, there was the Fontainebleau forest adjacent to the château.
The trip to Paris had not held much room for sightseeing, which was incredibly frustrating. But after the encounter in La Défense, he wasn’t too keen to press his luck. When Edward had suggested they stay close to the hotel, Daniel hadn’t argued. Visiting Kevin’s apartment and the trip up to the bank in La Défense had given him the chance to see a few sights, at least from a distance. And then there was their dinner out that concluded at the top of the Eiffel Tower. A moment Daniel was never going to forget.
But the trip to Fontainebleau was almost torture. The magnificent palace had seen the birth of French kings, housed mistresses, and even held one pope prisoner. Napoleon had turned one of the bedrooms into a throne room and Marie-Antoinette designed her own boudoir. There was a ballroom and ornately decorated royal bedchambers, all time capsules for a period long gone from the world.
And he wasn’t going to see one bit of it.
So, maybe he was pouting a little on the drive out of the city.
Sure, they were headed to a dangerous meeting with foreign spies. That was all he’d been doing for the past several days. Well, that wasn’t quite right. He’d also run for his life and had some amazing sex, but there’d been a shit-ton of spy meetings as well.
This one was going to be held within the tree-covered private garden called the Garden of Diana. It was inside the grounds of the Château de Fontainebleau, but they wouldn’t have to cut through the palace to get to the garden.
“How do you do it?” Daniel finally exploded in the silent car. They’d left the city behind and were cutting through some gently rolling countryside.
“That’s kind of vague. Can you narrow it down for me?” Edward said in a teasing voice.
“How can you travel to all these amazing places around the world, but not actually see the significant historical locations? I mean, we’re in Paris for God’s sake! Have you been to the Louvre? Or Sacré Coeur? Or the Centre Pompidou? Or, oh my God, all the museums! You’ve obviously been to Barcelona and Toulouse, but have you done the sights there?”
