Chapter 16 #6
“I made a painting!” Tienne said excitedly, breaking up the rhythm, but given the fond looks aimed his way, nobody seemed to care.
“Of course you did,” Danny said, offering him a radiant smile. “And in record time too, precious—how did you do that?”
“Two weeks, Uncle Danny,” Tienne said. “But it is fine. As soon as I heard Kadjic had been bidding on the painting, I started to research and plan. Stirling got me a studio—it’s very pretty. I would like to paint there next summer. May I?”
“Of course,” Danny said. “But for now, the painting….”
“Oh.” Tienne gave a shy smile. “It is not my best, but,” he gave a truly Gallic shrug, “it shall suffice.”
“I’m sure it shall,” Danny agreed with a nod. “Now, is it perfect, or….”
Tienne shook his head negative, quite pleased with himself. “A teeny tiny flaw,” he said, almost purring like a kitten. “In one corner, where Kadjic’s letters were before, I placed the Lightfingers logo. It’s almost invisible, but I think….”
“Oh yes,” Danny said. “They’ll be looking for it.
” He sighed. “So here’s our big question.
Do we do the boat job on the same night we’re doing the Klimt job, in spite of the fact that Kadjic won’t be in either place, or do we wait for him to appear at the gala and do the boat job that night, risking that he’ll be tipped off to the Klimt job? ”
Chuck grunted. “I hate to put a number to this, Danny, but it’s literally going to take us every second of the next three days to build a cofferdam, pump all the water out, and cut a hole in the bottom of the yacht.
Besides, if we’re smuggling two people in, they are going to need some time to figure that shit out too. ”
“Decision made,” Danny said lightly. “We should still have people at the gala to keep track of what Kadjic is doing. If he’s as paranoid as he was ten years ago, he’ll get so much as a whisper of Lightfingers on the Klimt and take off for his bigger business venture, and we may need you all to run interference for us while we finish up.
There’s at least an hour between the two—it’s long enough for an emergency escape. ”
“Besides,” Marco said practically, “he’s being driven by his own people around town, in his own vehicle. If you want an in to where his hideaway is—or even where his transportation hubs are—it would be a good time to plant a bug.”
“Or a fish and some broccoli,” Grace said, sounding insanely happy about this. Well, Liam understood that at home, stinking up the cars of rich douchebags was one of Grace’s favorite hobbies.
“I’d rather you not this time, precious,” Danny said mildly. “You’re not merely facing exposure with this one. Kadjic will kill you. A tracker or a destination are both more than enough reason to park the van and do surveillance, yes?”
Grace sighed. “Yes, Uncle Danny,” he said, melting against Josh again.
“That’s my boy,” Danny murmured and then sat back in his chair, rubbing the back of his neck. Felix moved behind him and started massaging his shoulders, and Liam watched as the two of them simply relaxed in each other’s presence.
He glanced around, clocking the other members of the crew, and spotted a hole in their midst. “Where’s Julia?” he asked.
“Resting,” Leon said grimly, emerging from their suite bedroom. “She’s been doing much of the surveillance on the museum, and she’s quite fatigued.”
Josh glanced up from his tapping and said, “She’s doing okay, right?”
“Yes, son,” Leon said softly, approaching them while the room lapsed into murmurs of fierce concentration. “I’ll tell her you asked.”
Josh gave him a thin little smile—not defensive but tired. “Thanks, Uncle Leon.” He paused. “It’s nice, you know, that you take such good care of her. Danny and Felix do too, but she deserves somebody special. And kind.”
Liam had no other word for the look on Josh’s uncle’s face. He melted.
“You think so?” Leon asked.
“Well, yes,” Josh said. He put more energy into his smile, although the night was moving on, and Liam could tell it cost him.
“I mean, you showed up for me, and you sort of jumped right into the family, and that’s great.
I’m glad you did—I might not have said that before.
But my mom… I mean, you know. My mom is sort of too good for anybody.
But you understand that about her, and you work to overcome being a simple human next to a goddess, and I appreciate that.
” He swallowed. “I am really excited about the baby. She’s got so much love to give.
She was an amazing mom for me—and I didn’t know how scared she was, although I understand that now.
I think that with a partner, and my dads, and the whole family—I think she’ll get to be a parent again in a whole new way.
Thank you for giving that to her. Sincerely. ”
Leon’s eyes had gotten shiny, and he palmed them like the macho Mediterranean badass he undoubtedly was. With his other hand, he reached down and squeezed Josh’s shoulder, gently, and then bent over the couch and kissed his temple, like Liam had seen Felix or Danny do countless times.
“You are welcome,” Leon whispered. “Thank you. Thank you so much for letting me join your family. I miss my brother—thank you so much for letting me know you and getting a little of him back.”
And with that he turned away, going back to the bedroom, Liam presumed, to get his composure.
When Liam glanced up around the room, the only two people watching them were Danny and Felix.
“Good job, son,” Felix said softly.
Danny simply held his hand to his heart and nodded.
Josh shrugged in embarrassment and then concentrated fiercely on his work.
Liam checked to see if Grace had caught any of that, but Grace was fast asleep on Josh’s shoulder. It was only then that Liam caught sight of the clock and realized how late it was, how hard everybody had been working, and remembered that Josh had another treatment in the morning.
“Bed,” he said softly.
“Just this one more,” Josh whined.
Liam closed the laptop with gentle intent. “You can finish tomorrow. While you’re at the hospital. Come on, Josh. This is a group effort, and we’ve got three days. You don’t get to play if you get a nosebleed and pass out—that’s the rules.”
Josh gave him an anguished glare and then, to Liam’s intense relief, nodded.
“Hunter?” Liam murmured, and Hunter moved from where he was doing calculations that needed a compass and triangle to stand and scoop Grace into his arms.
“Our room,” Liam murmured, because the suite was busy and it only had so many attached rooms, and it wasn’t like Liam and Josh were going to go have a quick shag right now.
Hunter nodded gratefully and followed them into the hallway, and soon Grace was deposited on one side of the big bed and Josh on the other.
“I’ll be back to get him in an hour or so,” Hunter said. “If you don’t mind, can we crash on your hide-a-bed?”
“No worries,” Liam told him, and then Hunter left, and it was just Josh and Liam while Liam pulled off Josh’s boots. Like Grace and Danny, he was wearing thieves’ clothes—which were great for sleeping, running, and stealing.
Tonight it would be sleeping.
“You did good tonight,” Liam said softly. “I think your Uncle Leon needed to hear that.”
“And now I feel bad for not saying it sooner. Guilt is a terrible thing.” Josh said that last part on a yawn. “Liam?”
“Yeah?”
“Grace and I are going to take over Grace’s dance school when this thing with Kadjic is done.”
Liam smiled and sat on the bed. The two of them had so much potential—so many ideas. “Good idea, boy-o.”
“You’ll visit, right?”
“Aye. And you’ll visit me. And this isn’t our last adventure by any means.”
Josh smiled a little, his eyes closed. “We were thinking about recruiting… maybe not perfect kids. Like, juvenile hall kids. Kids who need a break and have a certain set of skills.”
“And morals,” Liam said. “Don’t take your good hearts for granted.”
Josh hmmed, eyes still closed. “I want to be with you as much as possible. Maybe I can come on your adventures when you’re not coming on mine.”
“Sounds like a lot to do, Joshua Daniel. Maybe you should rest up so we can get this done first.”
“I love you. I love you so much. Nobody else could get me to go to bed early, you know.”
Liam chuckled. “I am aware.”
He lowered his head then and tried to put his soul in the kiss. And then he was back out and down the hall, in the thick of things, working with the family. His family now. Funny how that worked.