The bond that had sprung up between Dodge and Lara’s daughter had certainly moved things along, as well. Katya wouldn’t be parted from the giant stuffed pony Dodge had bought her—until he and Sam had trotted out a real live pony. The little girl had squealed with joy and scrambled into the saddle unaided. From that moment, she’d held an unshakable lock on the hearts of both Dodge and Dyadya Sam.
She was right there at the altar with Dodge and her mama. She clung to his hand and that of her mother while the two adults exchanged vows. Her gap-toothed grin when they marched down the aisle in the recessional displayed beaming joy.
The reception that followed the wedding was much less formal. Nick and Mackenzie Jensen had offered their home for the affair. The colonial-era tobacco-plantation mansion was only a few miles outside D.C. The gorgeously restored and enlarged house provided easy circulation for the large crowd. The tree-shaded yard gave the kids plenty of room to romp in.
Nick and Mackenzie’s twin boys squealed with delight when their “cousin”—Maggie and Adam’s adopted grandson—got them soaring on rope swings. Katya hung back, clinging to her uncle Sam’s hand until a delicate, doe-eyed girl her own age approached.
“I am Mei Lin,” the girl announced. “Number-one daughter of Jill-An and Cal-Han.”
At Katya’s blank look, Mei Lin gestured to the couple standing with Dodge and Lara. The woman’s belly swelled against the front of her dress. The man with his arm looped loosely around her waist looked down at her with the same silly expression that came over Dodge when he regarded Katya’s mama.
Deeming it safe to release her death grip on Sam’s hand, she followed the little girl to a child-size table set under the branches of a majestic elm. Within moments, they were pouring “tea” and chattering away in a mix of English, Russian and Chinese.
Gillian Ridgeway Callahan smiled as her gaze rested on the two girls. The oldest offspring of Maggie and Adam Ridgway, she fingered a gold Chinese character embedded in a bezel of rare blue jade. She had her father’s glossy black hair and, Lara had discovered, had once been a part of the same clandestine organization as Dodge and so many others present.
“I told you the girls would hit it off,” she said to Lara with a smile. “You and Dodge should buy somewhere close to us so Mei Lin and Katya can play together.”
Lara nodded but couldn’t commit to permanent living arrangements.
“Everything has happened so fast,” she said with a rueful glance at her husband. “First Dodge tells me that Katya and I must stay at his ranch for several months while Hank Barlow is brought to justice. Then, in almost the next breath, he says it’s done and we are to be married.”
“That’s because my bulldog brother muscled his way onto the case,” Gillian replied, laughing. “We called him Tank as a kid because he always charged straight ahead, bowling over any and all obstacles in his path. He does the same now as an assistant U.S. district attorney.”
“I hear he’s thinking about following in his father, mother and sister’s footsteps,” her husband commented.
“Oh, Lord!” Gillian’s jaw sagged. “OMEGA will never be the same.”
Four pairs of eyes locked on the tall, broad-shouldered attorney engaging Victoria Talbot in a bantering conversation. Rebel’s honey-blond hair spilled over her shoulders as she laughed up at him. Blade stood on Rebel’s other side. Judging by his expression, he didn’t appear to get the joke.
“This could prove interesting,” Dodge murmured. “Real interesting,” he added as Lightning approached the trio.
He’d been with OMEGA long enough to read the signs. Lightning’s smile was easy and his manner casual, but a tip of his chin soon sent Rebel and Blade toward the house. A few moments later, Lara noticed Colonel Zacharov heading inside, as well.
She turned to Dodge, a question in her eyes. “Do we join them?”
His first instinct was to nod. His second, to trust Lightning. Grinning, he framed his bride’s face with his callused palms.
“If whatever they’re talking about concerns us, we’ll hear about it soon enough. And if it doesn’t, we have a honeymoon to enjoy. How soon do you think we can say our goodbyes?”
“Dodge! We only just arrived.”
“So?”
“Go,” Gillian instructed, laughing. “If OMEGA wants you, they know how to get a hold of you.”
Dodge took her at her word and swept his protesting wife into his arms.
“Y’all excuse us,” he announced to the company at large. “The major—correction, the colonel and Katya and I have a suite waiting us at Walt Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.”
The guests hooted and applauded as an unabashed Dodge swooped out with the two females who had become the nexus of his world.
Author’s Note
I first started researching this book almost a decade ago but put it aside to work on other projects. Since then, however, I’ve followed with interest the efforts by several successive U.S. administrations to negotiate a new treaty to reduce the world’s nuclear arsenal.
Talk about timing! I had dusted off this book and started reworking it just about the time the president signed a new START treaty and sent it to the Senate for ratification. Congress voted to ratify the treaty just as I typed THE END. Kinda makes me feel as if I were a part of history!
And speaking of history, don’t miss the next Code Name: Danger adventure. Double Deception, available August 2011, takes Rebel and Blade deep into the dark underbelly of the black-market art world in search of priceless amber panels looted by the Nazis during WWII.
All my best,
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0595-6
STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET
Copyright © 2011 by Merline Lovelace
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*Code Name: Danger
◊Time Raiders
***Holidays Abroad
Strangers When We Meet Page 14