"You look nice," Mills said as he pulled out of the hotel parking lot.
Callie nervously tugged on the hem of her dress, wishing it was a little longer. "Thanks. You look nice too."
"Hmm?" Mills answered distractedly. "Oh, thanks. You too."
"Where are we going?" Callie asked.
It took Mills a second to respond, and it sounded as if he had been pulled away from some deep thought. "Um, it's called . . . I can't remember. It's mostly seafood. I hope that's okay."
"That sounds great," Callie tried to force some contrived excitement into her voice, but it quavered with nervousness. "I love seafood."
"Good," Mills grunted.
Callie's anxiety was lessened by the fact that Mills appeared to be more on edge than she was. He muttered to himself as he drove and constantly checked the mirrors and looked over his shoulders. She was relieved when they reached the restaurant at Pike Place Market on the waterfront. Mills cursed under his breath as he tried to find parking.
"We need another plague," he muttered as he illegally cut across traffic to pull into a tight spot, one wheel up on the curb.
Mills escorted her inside where she grew more comfortable when Mills failed to show any indication of hitting on her.
"I can't believe I still get carded," Mills grumbled. "The whole side of my head is gray."
Callie chuckled. "You may be exaggerating a little. You don't look that old."
"I look too old to be here with you. That Karen over there is giving me the evil eye."
Callie turned mid-sip to see a middle-aged woman with short brassy hair glaring at Mills with pursed lips. Callie almost spit out her water but managed to hold her laughter in.
"Do I even want to ask how old you are?" Mills said with a concerned look.
Callie grinned. "Probably not."
Mills folded his arms and grimaced. "Great."
Callie attempted to shift the conversation. "I have a question for you."
Mills raised an eyebrow. "Ok."
"When we first started, you said you didn't know how the IT systems worked, but then I heard someone say you were the attorney who oversaw them."
"Ok."
"How does that work?"
Mills sighed. "My age becomes relevant again. You've seen the other attorneys in the department, right?"
Callie nodded.
"Well, I'm the only one under the age of fifty. That's why I oversee IT compliance. They assume that because I can send a text message that I'm some computer expert. I basically just tell the IT people what laws they have to follow; I really don't know anything specific about our systems."
Callie stirred her water with her rapidly dissolving paper straw.
"What about how the airline runs? Do you know anything about that?
"Just what comes up in my cases. You have anything specific?"
"What do you know about baggage handling?"
"I know it's a pain when we lose luggage. When I first started, I had to handle all the nonsense small-claims court lawsuits people brought."
"Do you know any of the workers?"
"I know a manager named Steve. I had him sign the affidavits."
Callie reached across the table and grabbed Mills arm as he lifted another drink to his lips.
"I don't want to be rude, but you do have to drive me back."
A hand grabbed Joe's wrist, throwing off his knockout blow. He spun to see Vanessa and froze.
"Joe!" she screamed. "What are you doing?"
Joe rose to his feet, panting from exertion. He looked between Vanessa and Frank for a few moments.
"I have got to get better timing," Fenton said as he walked up the hall holding a bag of Chinese takeout. "I feel like I'm missing half of a movie."
"You mean-" Joe stuttered. "That's really Frank?"
Fenton nodded. Joe extended a hand to help Frank up before enveloping him in a bear-hug. Joe then turned and picked up Vanessa, sprinting halfway down the hall and back before gently setting her down and covering her face in kisses. After a few seconds she laughingly raised her hands to defend herself from the attack.
"Sorry about that Frank," Joe apologized. "I thought that you were a Lazarus clone or something. I know it was stupid."
"It's fine." Frank said. "It's actually not that stupid an idea, turns out the Assassins are wrapped up in this after all. Where's Callie?"
"Uh, on a date," Joe said sheepishly.
"What?!" Frank exclaimed.
"I learned of the plan after Joe and Callie had already hatched it," Fenton explained. "Don't worry, she's just using her feminine wiles to try to get through the defenses of a thirty-year-old man. Again, I wonder if I need to be concerned about this."
The next half-hour was spent talking through what all had happened.
"It's possible that whoever was behind the stock-shorting hired the Assassins to carry out the plane bombing," Fenton theorized. "Someone who makes money in the stock market likely doesn't have the institutional capacity to blow up an airline and had to outsource it."
A few minutes later, Frank finished up his story of what happened that afternoon.
"I went in to the place and told them I had the address to deliver a subpoena, but I lost the cover sheet that had the company name on it. I said I couldn't remember the name, but I would know it if I saw it and asked for a list of the companies that they took service for here. They refused, so I made a big stink."
"That's how you got the information?" Joe said skeptically. "You made a big stink?"
"No," Frank said smugly. "I made a big stink as a distraction. Vanessa got the information. While I distracted everyone by yelling about how they were going to cost me my job, Vanessa picked the lock on the back door, snuck in, and took a bunch of documents off the desk."
Fenton whistled. "Nice work. Where'd you learn how to pick a lock? Did Joe teach you?"
Vanessa blushed. "No, actually Frank showed me how." She reached over and touched Frank's bicep before yanking her hand away like it was red-hot.
Frank grinned. "She's a quick learner."
Joe narrowed his eyes. "What all did you teach her?"
"Come on Joe," Fenton interrupted. "Let's see if any of this means something."
Fenton and Joe stepped over to the desk to look over the papers Vanessa had retrieved. They were scanning the documents when Joe froze.
"Does that company name ring a bell?" Joe asked, his face white as a sheet.
"I'm afraid it does." Fenton said.
"What's going on?" Frank asked, standing up from his chair.
Joe grabbed his coat as he rushed to the door. "Callie's in danger."