“How do you know?”Liam asked curiously.Thishad been a vital chunk of Andres Kadjic’s personality that his own sources had missed.
“Because I wasthere,” Danny said.“The whole reason Kadjic picked up on me is because he saw me palm an authentic antique Berber necklace from a street vendor and then leave it in a museum drop box.The bugger stole the necklace from the drop box and presented it to me as a gift.I spent the rest of the night trying to explain to him why I didn’t want the thing as a gift—I’d admired it for the craftsmanship but didn’t covet it—and when I woke up, well, I was still drunk, and nobody here wants the details.But thepointis, while he didn’t knowMoroccanart or jewelry, it was because he was so fixated on European art and jewelry, and hereallyhad a thing for the nineteenth century British and French artists, which was unfortunate, because he was skipping his entire cultural history.”
“Yes, Danny,” Felix said dryly, “that was the unfortunate thing about Andres Kadjic.He liked Degas.”
Danny snorted.“But moving on….He talked about his home and how it was full of the most beautiful—and the most stolen, I’m sure—art, but he never gave me an address or even a country.All I know is there’s a waterfall nearby and snow in the winter.So like a lot of our gigs, we’ll have to improvise, but in the meantime, well, we have some ideas.”
“Thanks to Josh’s caper with the painting,” Felix said, “we not only know what will draw him out, we also know what will get under his skin.He’s absolutely sure Lightfingers was responsible for what happened last night, and he has vague suspicions about J.D.Morgan as well, although so far the ID has held.”
“So we need to protect Josh?”Grace asked, and Danny and Felix both gave him sympathetic expressions, but it was Liam who got it first.
“No,” Liam said, staring at them like they’d both gone mad.
“Now hear us out,” Danny started.
“No,” Liam repeated, feeling a little more panicked.
“Oh!”Josh said, because he wasn’t stupid and he’d figured it out.
“No,” Liam said, imploring him with his eyes.
“Yes!”Josh said.“It’s perfect!”
“It’sdangerous!”Liam’s voice was rising, and even though Josh was narrowing his eyes and glaring at him, Liam couldn’t help it.
“I bet they have more planned,” Josh said, sounding excited.“Don’t you see it?”
“I see it.I see you out alone, roaming the world, with Kadjic on your heels—”
“Oh, like any of us will let him go alone,” Grace snapped.“If you can’t keep calm, Mr.Interpol Man, we’ll kick you outside for all the planning meetings.”
“Seriously, Liam,” Josh snorted.“You’re planning to desert me now?”
“No!”Liam repeated, feeling the panic flutter in his chest.“No, but I am not enough.”
“I think you should listen to the plan,” Josh replied, infuriatingly calm.“I mean, seriously?”
“You could get hurt!”Liam yelled at the same time Julia said—not yelled, butinsisted, “Honestly, Liam, do you think I’d approve of anything foolhardy?He is my first born, after all.”
A silence rang through the basement as their voices faded, and Josh held up his hand.
“First,” he said, cocking his head, “Liam, I love you.Yes, everybody, we’re there, take a breath, get over it, it’s love.Liam, I love you, but we could all get hurt.I want you by my side, not in my face, so take ten deep breaths and let me deal with the other thing going down here.”
Liam swallowed and then followed Josh’s deductive reasoning to the one place he’d been pretty sure it would go.
“Mom?”Josh said, cocking his head and grinning.“Is there something you’d like to tell us?”
Leon let out an absolutely besotted chuckle, and Julia gave him a sideways glance and blushed.
“I think you already know,” she murmured.“I’m due in February.”
The cheer that went up from the gathered family shook the floorboards of the great Glencoe mansion.
THERE WAShugging—so much hugging—after that, and Tor’s boyfriend came down to replenish the desserts and to stay, this time, for the rest of the briefing.Tor caught him up, and Marco could be heard saying, “Oh!Okay.I get it now.Brisket and ranch salad.I’ll have to get used to that.”
“The first time it was steak,” Felix said happily, and Liam noticed that Danny and Felix were squeezing each other’s hands with joy.
Danny, noticing the attention, gave him a wistful smile.“You don’t understand,” he said softly.“The first time she was pregnant, Felix was the first person she told, because she was desperate and afraid.I was the second, so we could come up with a plan.This time….”He smiled and peered across the room to where Molly and Julia were hugging and crying and hugging some more.“This time she has this entire room to celebrate with, including the father, who couldn’t be happier.”His eyes grew shiny as Josh stepped up to Julia for his turn to be hugged.“And her son, whom she couldn’t love more.We’d planned to wait until the end of the briefing.This changed our plans somewhat, which was why Felix and I took over, but make no mistake, young Liam.This is a good thing.”
