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

“What’s the big deal? You’re trying to sneakhim out of here, aren’t you?” Danny snapped back. “Or have yousuddenly drawn some fine line between legal and illegal that Idon’t know about?”

“Enough.” Hugh’s calm command halted boththe siblings, and they turned to him with identical expressions ofsurprise. “Arguing will accomplish nothing. Sorcha, yer brother hasbeen naught but our ally thus far. Trust that he has a plan. Danny,lad, dinnae provoke yer sister unnecessarily. She’s had much taedeal wi’ these past days.”

“When did you become the peacemaker?” Claireasked.

“When I was eighteen and my uncle turned thedukedom’s courts over tae me,” Hugh said.

“You’re a duke?” Danny asked. “I suddenlyfeel so humble.”

“That would be a miracle,” Claire mumbled.“So, dear brother, what’s your plan? I hope it doesn’t involve thetwo of us in one trunk.”

Danny grimaced. “It might have … Well, Isuppose we’ll have to go with a boat then. Here’s what I wasthinking. One of the minions has a brother who works a smallfishing boat out of Blaine. It’s right on the Canadian border andhe’ll do anything for a buck. So if you can be at the marina thereby five a.m. one morning, he’ll take you up into Surrey. From thereyou’ll just have to take the bus or something.”

“Or something?” Claire taunted. “Nice plan.What’s next? We grow wings?”

“Am I expected to do everything?” herbrother asked. “You don’t want the trunk, you get to use yourimagination.”

Hugh held up his hand once more, preemptinganother argument. “I imagine we’re clever enough tae make it therest of the way. And then?”

“I’ll book you a hotel room in Vancouver,prepaid but with your name on it. They’ll need ID but won’t run acard,” Danny continued, turning to shuffle through some papers onhis desk before handing one to Hugh. It was a copy of Waldroup’spassport with Hugh’s image from his database. “I’ve printed thisfor backup. You can say it’s a photocopy of your passport that youcarry with you or something. I hear they recommend that. I read theprocedures for emergency travel, so when you get to Vancouver, thefirst thing you need to do is get robbed. Yes, your idea, Sis.Shouldn’t be too hard. I recently read that Vancouver is the eighthmost dangerous city in Canada.”

Claire scoffed at that.“Yeah, in Canada.Not like it’s L.A.” She looked down at the copy in her hands.“Couldn’t we just use this to get into Canada legally?”

“Wouldn’t risk it,” Danny shook his head.“You only want one use on that thing, if possible. God, Sis, you’reworrying over the easiest part of the whole thing.”

“I’d just hate to get caught before we evengot started.”

Danny rolled his eyes yet again and Hughbegan to understand where Sorcha had developed the habit. “Anyway,I got a nice hotel already picked out in Gastown. Eastside downtownin an area heavily populated with vagrants and addicts looking fora handout or their next fix, so it shouldn’t be too hard to getrobbed there.”

“Or killed,” Claire said dryly. “Great. I’mloving this plan.”

Hugh laughed. “In my time, ye hae a betterchance of getting robbed than avoiding it in many cities but whyneed we risk such a thing at all? What we need is merely theappearance of a robbery.”

Both siblings looked at him curiously, theirrivalry forgotten. “What do you mean?” Danny asked.

“Might we not simply go tae the constable’soffices and report the ‘crime,’ as it were? I shall be thisWaldroup fellow, in town on business. Sorcha shall be a merewitness tae the robbery.”

Claire nodded while her brother looked atHugh with growing respect. “With your accent, it would be easy toassume that there is no connection between us.”

Danny chimed in as well. “Our friend Rupertis staying downtown at the Hotel Georgia. So in case they ask, youcan tell them that to support the lie.”

“You know where he’s staying?” Claire askedwith raised brows.

“Sis, I could tell you where he atebreakfast this morning.” Danny turned to Hugh. “But why would a guyfrom Scotland be hanging out alone in Gastown?”

“Doesn’t that restaurant at the top of theHarbour Center attract a lot of upper-class businessmen?” Claireasked.

Danny nodded. “Yeah, he could say he washaving dinner with clients there or something. It will get himclose but not close enough. Why would he be walking alone?”

“To get somewhere no one else wanted to go,”Claire said and leaned across her brother to call up GoogleMaps,searching for nightclubs in that area of Vancouver. She hoveredover the pinpointed options one by one, but Hugh stopped hersearch, pointing at the list on the left.

“That one,” he said decisively. “The BlarneyStone. There isnae a person I’ve met beyond Scotland’s borders whocould tell a Scotsman from an Irishman. I doubt there would be anyquestion of a weary traveler longing for his homeland.”

Claire beamed up at Hugh, impressed with hiscleverness, but Danny said, “It’s not in the worst of it.”

“It’s close enough.”

“It willnae be too much of a blow to mypride to claim I was lost,” Hugh said at the same time and heshrugged, his dimple deepening in response to Claire’s raisedbrow.

Danny only shrugged. “You should probablyagree on a description of the guy who robbed you, too, while you’reat it. Who do you want to admit robbed you?”

“A short, frail fellow of sallow complexion,perhaps?” Hugh suggested. “If I am comprehending your term ‘addict’appropriately?”

“Not a new epidemic, I take it?” Danny askedcuriously. “What was the poison in your day?”

“Opium, mostly.”

Danny snorted at that. “Guess not much haschanged. Heroin is made from the same stuff.”

“Okay,” Claire said. “So Hugh’s got hispolice report saying that his passport was stolen. We just takethat to the British Consulate? And then what? They issue a new onejust like that? What if they question him?”

“You do worry too much, lass.” Hugh’sfingers entwined with hers.

“Planning, not worrying,” Clairecorrected.

“Dinnae fash yerself. I’m certain I can getwhat I need. I will just ask nicely.”

“That’s what you’re going to go with? Yourcharm alone?”

“Haven’t we already determined that I am thegreatest flirt in Scotland?”

Or in the world. “What if it’s a guy? Whatif they try to call someone or …”

“Sorcha, please,” Hugh cupped her cheek inhis hand and forced her to look at him. “Trust me. How