A Time & Place for Every Laird by Angeline Fortin (reading comprehension books .txt) 📗

Her brother waved his hand beneath his nose.“I smell the mouth-watering aroma of blackmail in the air.”

That had Sorcha smiling. “No, but it’s not abad idea. Make a few.”

“As long as I get to keep one for my ownpersonal amusement,” he negotiated.

“Sure, whatever. As a matter of fact, makeas many as you like.”

Chapter 21

As Danny went to work, Sorcha turned tosmile up at Hugh with the devil dancing in her eyes. Rising, shegrasped his arm, leading him back toward the windows and out ofearshot of her brother. “What do you think?”

“That I hae nae yet a clue to yerdiscovery,” Hugh admitted reluctantly. “Ye seem pleased,however.”

“I am,” she said, her eyes still sparklingin a way that made Hugh want to join in her excitement. “Well, notso much about what I found out—I’ll tell you about that later—butDanny just gave me a great idea.”

Hugh sifted through their conversation onceagain. He hadn’t heard much that might inspire an idea of any sortother than … “Blackmail?”

“Yes!” Sorcha squeezed his armenthusiastically, bouncing on her toes. “This might be just what weneed to keep you safe from Jameson. Don’t you see? They covered upthe breakout, right? They don’t want exposure. Not only would thepublic be outraged by the billions of dollars in wasteful spendingwith the economy as bad as it is, but the backlash from our alliesand enemies around the world for keeping the nature of the projectitself under wraps would be crippling.”

Hugh looked doubtfully at the screen. “Is ittruly something of such a controversial nature that they wouldworry so?”

“I think so,” she answered slowly. “And wecan use it as a bargaining chip in your favor, to keep yousafe.”

“Tae keepye safe,” he amended,knowing that beyond his own personal safety, he needed to know thatSorcha would emerge from all of this unscathed. The billions—Hughcould hardly fathom the amount—wasted in this “project” and therisk of exposure and retaliation, with him standing at the centeras not only proof of whatever it was they were doing but also asymbol of their failure, made the entire situation far moreprecarious than he had originally imagined.

The logical move of any government wouldcertainly be to immediately subdue or kill him and anyone who knewthe truth about him outright. That was how it had been in his timeand Hugh doubted that much had changed in that area at leastthroughout the past 250 years. He explained his suspicions toSorcha in no uncertain terms.

“Then we’ll just have to make sure that therisk to them is greater than the reward in doing so,” Sorcha saidboldly.

Her brother called for her then, and Sorchaleft Hugh at the windows to mull over her words.

He did not share her confidence thatblackmail would assure their safety. The courts of Europe werefilled with intrigue. Blackmail was a common tool to gaincompliance and power. But Hugh knew that, when backed into acorner, people were often far from predictable. There were thosewho would take a chance at exposure to exact deadlyretribution.

To face an entire government head-on was ahazard to be wary of, but Hugh vowed that he would bring them totheir very knees to insure Sorcha’s safety. Exposure would be theleast of their worries if she were harmed in any way.

“Minions are printing for you,” Danny toldClaire when she rejoined him. “Don’t worry, they won’t look. Andhere are your copies.” He held out a pair of utilitarian thumbdrives in one hand but lifted the other with a little objectswaying hypnotically from one finger. “It’s a USB hidden in akeychain of a little Tokidoki Thor. Isn’t it cute?” he asked as hesent it swaying again.

“It’s adorable,” Claire said, taking themfrom him.

“I know Thor is your favorite superhero,”Danny went on, then shot a glance across the room at Hugh. “Yourboyfriend has that whole Thor thing going on, doesn’t he? Exceptfor the dark hair, of course. Kind of Old World Shakespeare meetsRob Roy.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” she insisted,ignoring the heat creeping up her cheeks.

“Of course not,” he readily agreed. “Thatwould be insane, wouldn’t it?”

Claire leveled her brother with a glare thattold him she knew he was trying to provoke her. Normally such a jababout what Danny had once referred to as her “nunhood” would haveangered her but now looking at Hugh standing proudly in the lightcast through the windows, Claire acknowledged that there were worsethings she could be likened to than Hugh’s girlfriend.

She considered him silently for a moment,wondering where this latest discovery would take them, beforeturning thoughtfully back to her brother.

“Danny? How hard would it be to forge apassport?”

Danny barely raised a brow at the unusualquestion. “Are you in some sort of trouble?”

“No, it’s not for me. It’s for Hugh.” Dannyraised both brows at that, and Claire rushed to improvise. “He’sbeing watched by the NSA…”

“What for?” he interrupted.

“What do they watch you for?” Claire shotback, not wanting to spill the entire truth just yet.

“Many things, but I doubt it’s the samestuff they’d be watching him for,” Danny admitted without shame.“Is he a terrorist?”

“No. Does he look like one?”

“No, but neither did Gertrude Moynihan andlook how that turned out.”

Claire didn’t know what to say to that, asshe had no idea who Gertrude Moynihan was. “He’s not a terrorist,just sort of … undocumented … but I’d like to help him get outof the country as soon as possible,” she said, then added, “Beforehe’s unjustly detained, you see. Do you know anyone who could dothat?”

“A forged passport alone wouldn’t get youonto a bus these days,” he said as if Claire were an idiot. “Imean, you can get some good paperwork done, but if you’re not inthe system you’re screwed.”

“Then can you put him in the system?” sheasked patiently. “If he’s in there, maybe he can just go to theembassy, swear he’s been robbed, get a new passport, and that’sthat.”

“Nearest British consulate is in SanFrancisco.”

As with any conversation with her brother,there was a moment that astonished. “I’m not even going to ask howyou know that off the top of your head.”

“I