Chapter 3
Quickly backing down because she saw she'd injured his pride, Shane assured him, "I'll be ready then!"
With a nod on his part the conversation ended there. It was time for the bakery to open and the morning rush of customers to start. Both Tony and Shane were kept on their toes between keeping the ovens loaded with new trays and putting the finished goodies out front to be sold. They usually had a short lull between the last of the late morning stragglers and the first of the early lunch crowd and this was when they ate their own midday meal.
Today, however, that lull didn't happen. So instead of their usual time together, Mama Bianchi, the bakery owner, asked if they would take their lunches in shifts.
Reluctant to give up what little time he had alone with her during the day, Clay nonetheless agreed because the elderly woman couldn't manage on her own.
They passed in the kitchen with ironic smiles as Shane came back on duty after eating and Clay headed to the tiny alcove off the kitchen that they used as a break room.
Late that afternoon, just before closing time, two more things happened confirming Clay's feeling that it was going to be an eventful day. Not that having Shane agree to go out with him wasn't enough of an event in itself, but something had told him that wasn't all his 'feeling' had in store.
Mama Bianchi's son was a low life nere-do-well that wanted nothing to do with the bakery except for the money it provided him to live the life he was convinced he deserved. Papa Bianchi had been dead for many years now and unfortunately Luigi was all the family she had left in the world. Her employee's had found out that her son had been in and out of prison more than once and he would only come around the shop when one of his get-rich-quick schemes had failed and he needed cash from his mother.
That afternoon Luigi had come in, looked around, and then joined a man sitting alone at the back of the shop. Clay had been behind the counter at the time working at the register. He made note of the men when he saw them exchanging two envelopes.
Knowing that Mama Bianchi would most likely be able to give him the where-abouts of her son, Webb deduced that he needed to follow the man Luigi was meeting. Quickly explaining to his employer that he wasn't feeling well, Clay was ready to follow the second man as soon as he left.
But clearly the day wasn't over in offering its surprises. As the man he was going to follow got up to leave, the door opened and in breezed someone who could blow his cover sky high!
Francesca Paretti, daughter of his nemesis, Admiral AJ Chegwidden, The Judge Advocate General, walked into the bakery, looked right into his startled eyes and recognized him!
Thinking quickly as his mark was making his way out of the shop, Clay jammed his hands onto his hips and getting up in Francesca's face, shouted, "You tell me, 'Tony, get out of town! I never want to see you again!' and when I do then you show up here?! What kind of game are you playing, Marcella?!"
Francesca was an intelligent young woman who was not innocent in the ways of the world. She remembered Clayton Webb from when her Papa introduced them after she'd had to kill her ex-lover to save her father's life. Him giving her this false name and yelling about a love affair that never happened told her he must be there under cover. Papa had told her that Mr. Webb was a spy. She decided to play along.
Waving her hands in his face she shouted back, "Maybe I just came in here to buy something! Maybe I didn't know you had moved here! Maybe I didn't even know you worked here! Maybe my entire world doesn't revolve around where you are in this world! And maybe, just maybe, I am free to come and go as I please where ever I like!"
To be continued…