paper cup. “Since the information falls under the caveat of Law Enforcement Sensitive and not Top Secret, the most Vargas would get is two years since it’d be his first criminal offense. The FBI is putting together a RICO case. It could take down the entire organization and enable them to seize his assets. What they’re going after is much bigger. This is as far as they’ll go to help us.”
Groaning his frustration, Dutch swallowed a curse.
“What’s the status with dinner tonight and meeting her uncle?” Allison asked. “Are you in?”
“Dinner with Vargas is a no go.”
Allison sighed, lowering her head in defeat.
“Damn it.” Draper chucked his coffee cup in the trash. “Vargas comes to town for one night to have dinner with his niece and you can’t manage to get yourself invited? Do you understand the mission objective?”
Dutch gritted his teeth at the rhetorical question and Draper’s rude tone.
Allison looked up. “You just spent two cozy days at her apartment with her. I need to ask. Have you slept together?”
Rocking back on his heels, Dutch hadn’t anticipated the question. “How is that relevant?”
“I’ll take that as a no,” Allison said. “And it’s quite relevant. The deeper you get in with her, the easier it’ll be to get access to her uncle.”
“Chen is right,” Draper said. “Women get emotionally invested once sex is involved. You’ve got to up the ante.”
Allison narrowed her eyes at Draper. “That’s a sexist stereotype. You know that, right?”
“But it’s true,” Draper said, doubling down.
“No, it isn’t.” Standing, Allison put her hands on her hips. “Women can have casual sex with no emotional investment. Trust me.” Allison shifted her gaze to Dutch. “Isabel likes you. She’s already invested, but you need to deepen the connection.”
“Look.” Dutch crossed his arms. “She wanted me to go to dinner, but her uncle didn’t want me there.”
“Then she didn’t fight hard enough for you,” Allison said.
Draper nodded in agreement. “Call her and have her press the issue.”
“It doesn’t feel right.” Dutch shook his head. “She’s on her way to meet her uncle now.”
“Get her to tell you the name of the restaurant,” Draper said. “Show up. Bring her flowers. Make it a grand gesture.”
“You want me, the new guy, to pop up uninvited to dinner when she already has a stalker?” Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.
Allison raised a palm at Draper to back off. “We’re desperate, here. Vargas knows where we live, the names of our kids, where they go to school. It’s bad enough he has such sensitive information, but he’s going to sell it to only God knows who. You’ve got to press a little harder. Please.”
Turning his back to them, he scrubbed a hand over his face.
Maybe he could see Isabel after dinner and persuade her to arrange breakfast with him and her uncle before Vargas went back to San Diego. “Okay. I’ll try.”
Dutch took out his cell phone and sent her a text.
* * *
THE WAY TO find someone’s weakness didn’t always mean following a short, straight line. The trail to find Horatio “Dutch” Haas’s was long and curved.
Prior military. Special Forces. La-di-da.
But Chad was getting closer. Or the new private investigator he’d hired to follow Haas instead of Isabel was. So far it didn’t look like he was shagging Isabel, but with all the time Haas had been spending at her place, it would happen sooner rather than later.
Sitting in his car at the most recent address the PI had given him, Chad stared at Haas’s motorcycle. The bike was parked in the rear of a supposedly vacant building that was conveniently located right across the street from Isabel’s art gallery.
“What are you up to?” he asked under his breath.
Grinning, Chad couldn’t wait to figure out the answer because it wasn’t going to be anything good and might just be exactly what he needed to drive a wedge between Haas and Isabel.
Chapter Twelve
Isabel’s phone chimed at an incoming message. She slipped the cell out of her purse and swiped the screen to check it.
Dutch: Can I swing by after dinner? Go for a walk with you and McQueen.
She smiled and texted back.
Yes.
Uncle Emilio cleared his throat across the table from her, drawing her gaze. “Please, Isa. Shut that thing off while you’re with me,” he said, frowning.
Not only did her uncle find the use of personal devices during meals rude, but he was paranoid about some hacker eavesdropping through it to steal his corporate secrets. He was so cautious that when they met for