Chapter 5

"Oh Papa! I was only trying to say how sexy you look tonight…"

"And I was telling you I don't want to appear 'sexy' to the men," AJ teased back.

Rolling her eyes at his silliness she told him to sit down while she brought the food to the table. However, AJ was a man of action and not used to being waited on, he followed his daughter into the kitchen to help and saw the bright blue box from Mama Bainchi's bakery on the counter.

The first indication that AJ wasn't still in the other room was when he asked "Could that be one of Mama Bainchi's famous tiramisu cakes?"

Nearly jumping out of her skin at the shock of him being there, Francesca spun around and scolded, "Papa! You've ruined the surprise! I got that for your desert! I remembered you saying it was the only thing you missed about being stationed in Italy."

"That's not true! I miss you Francesca!" he vowed.

"Ah! But I wasn't here yet when you were stationed here! Mother said I was conceived here but born in the United States. So you see, there are no hurt feelings on my part that the cake was number one on your list. However, it does make me feel bad for Mother that she ranks somewhere behind the cake!"

Giving her a chiding glance, AJ replied, "You know that your mother and I had our problems, but it has nothing to do with my love for you."

"I know Papa, and I am ever so glad that we have reconnected like this! Now will you please go in the other room and let me serve you your birthday dinner?! If you are very good, I will tell you the surprising thing that happened while I was at the bakery."

Once inside the motel, his mark headed right for the stairs and Clay was glad to note the 'out of order' sign on the elevator. Following someone into an elevator and getting off on the same floor wasn't a good way to keep from being noticed.

Clay carefully tailed the guy to the third floor and then stealthily peeked out of the door to make sure he hadn't been made before turning the corner in the hallway to see where his mark was going. The guy entered the fourth door on the left and gave no indication of leaving anytime soon.

Listening at the door, Clay heard nothing for several minutes and then a shower was turned on. Giving the guy another minute or so to get settled in the shower, he used his handy dandy spy tool to open the door. Putting the credit card back in his wallet, he quietly snuck into the room.

The envelope wasn't hard to find, it was laying on the dresser, right next to the room key, some loose change, and the man's wallet. Hesitating only a moment as his hand hovered between the envelope and wallet, Clay made his decision and quickly opened the envelope. Inside was a single piece of paper with an address and a time on it. It seemed that Mama Bianchi's son was only setting up a meeting rather than actually passing information along directly. Carefully putting the envelope back down exactly as it had been, Clay reached for the wallet.

Clay would take the information he found on the man's driver's license back to his rented apartment and run a search on him.

AJ grinned at his beautiful daughter and attempted to tease the information out of her. "Well, it would be surprising if you went somewhere and a man didn't try to hit on you…Is that it? No one at the bakery tried to hit on you?"

With a light laugh Francesca replied, "Actually I was scolded for following an ex-lover…well I assume we had been lovers…"

"Wait a minute!" AJ interrupted. "Are you saying you don't remember if the two of you were lovers or not?!"

To be continued…