Free Hooper, Kay - [Hagen 09] by It Takes A Thief (V1.0)[Htm] Page A

certainty was always yours,
or you'd have never gotten into this business. It's being in love –
with her in particular – that's thrown you. You've already
committed yourself to this job, which is one Instance of Integrity,
by the way; you're stuck in the masquerade for the duration, and it's
sheer habit to stick to those half-truths you were talking about.
She's got buckets of doubts, understandable after what happened to
her father. But I didn't notice those doubts holding her off very far
a few minutes ago."
    "Voyeur," Dane muttered, but with a spark of
amusement.
    Satisfied with the reaction, Skye went on calmly. "I'd
be willing to bet, assuming Jennifer's instincts are in good working
order, that she knows integrity when she sees it. She'll probably be
mad as hell when you finally confess, but I doubt she'll be very much
surprised."
    "She could never love a gambler," Dane said
roughly.
    "She's already loved one," Skye pointed out,
and before his partner could respond, he added, "And, to
you, gambling is business. The odds and skill fascinate you, not the
winning. You might have folded a few times with a winning hand, but
you've never dealt off the bottom to win. That's another line you
haven't crossed."
    "I may have to cross it this time."
    After a moment, Skye asked, "Is Kelly that good?"
    "Rumor has it. And unless he starts passing that
phony money from the start, I'll have to back him right to the wall.
We don't have a hope in hell of finding that press unless he leads us
to it, and I doubt hell go anywhere near it until he needs money
badly. I have to win this time. I have to."
    "It's business, Dane."
    "No. This time, it's personal. I want to
beat him. Don't you see? I can't tell myself there's a precise line
between right and wrong, a line I'm balancing on. Not this time."
    "You want to beat him because you're in love with
Jennifer. Hell, it's so obvious. That is your point of honor.
You can't stomach what Kelly did to Jennifer and her mother; you
can't walk away from it; and you can't leave somebody else to clean
up the mess. You promised her she'd have her home back. And you'll
get it back for her, come hell or high water. Because you love her,
and you made a promise. If that isn't integrity, then I don't
know what is."
    Dane chuckled suddenly, the sound of balance restored.
"I don't know if you're right, but it sounds good."
    "I'm right. Trust me."
    After a glance at the luminous dial of his watch, Dane
murmured, "Ten minutes until dinner. God, this has been the
longest hour of my life. They'll think I'm lost out here." He
looked at his partner. "Why were you looking for me?"
    "A slight hitch in the plan."
    "'You couldn't find Seton's room?"
    "Oh, I found the room. And Seton found me in it,
worse luck. The only thing I could think of was to have him pack a
bag quick and get him out of there."
    Dane frowned a little. "So Kelly will assume he got
nervous when Jenny showed up, and bolted?"
    "Cross your fingers."
    "Where is he now?"
    "He had an excuse for a car parked out back, so I
trussed him up and put him in the backseat. There's a service road
leading to the main highway; I drove a little way along it and pulled
off. That's three ways onto this place I've counted," he added
parenthetically. "Security must be hell."
    Dane was thinking it through. "The plate?"
    "Top shelf of his closet. Kelly should find it
easily enough, I'd think."
    "Okay. What'll we do with Seton?"
    "I've considered that. Remember Tony from Baton
Rouge?"
    "Of course I remember."
    "I'll give him a call. He owes us one, so he'll be
happy to keep an eye on Seton until we can get the rest of this
cleared up. Two hours by car, and he's here."
    Dane nodded slowly. "Good enough."
    "I thought so."
    "You have any trouble with Seton?"
    "Did he try to be a cowboy, you mean? No. He came
along meek as a lamb."
    Dane wasn't surprised. He'd seen hulking brutes who
bashed people's heads in for fun obey Skye without a murmur. "All
right, then. We go on from