Page 77 of Operation Protector
Helps that you have the best cavalry around at your back now.
He smiled at the thought, and at the certainty that Ali was included in that force to be reckoned with.
No sooner did the thought form than he heard Quinn’s voice through the earbud in his left ear.
“Looks all clear. The two subjects out on the point are from the US Lighthouse Society, and the family that are out on the beach arrived in a car with Idaho plates.”
He knew the man had them in sight, so he just gave a thumbs-up to indicate he’d heard.
“Can we, Daddy?” Grace drew him back to her initial question.
“I hope so,” he answered. “And soon.”
That made her smile. Then her brows rose sharply. “Oh! I almost forgot!”
She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out what looked like a couple of folded pages torn from a notebook. It lookedrather like that story he’d found, about the little girl and the monster.
“This is for Ali. I promised it to her, for her birthday. She said she didn’t care if it was late, since her birthday was last Sunday.” Grace expression shifted to a sad frown. “You have to give it to her, since I’m not allowed to see her anymore. And we’re leaving in the morning anyway, to go over there. Again.”
She waved her hand in the general direction of the city. He took the folded sheets, tamping down his anger at Liz’s latest tactic. “I guess I shouldn’t look at it, if it’s hers, huh?”
“You can,” Grace said, “if it’s okay with her. But she should see it first, ’cuz it’s her present.”
He tucked the pages carefully into his own jacket pocket. “I’ll see she gets it. But right now, Gracie-girl, we need to talk. Very seriously.”
His girl’s blue eyes, so like his own, looked up at him. “Is this about…fighting her?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it is.”
“We better sit down,” she said wisely, and looked around. One of the north-facing benches was empty, and she scampered that way. Colby ran to keep up, loath to have her anywhere outside of arm’s reach, as if Liz could somehow swoop down and grab her.
Like the vulture she is.
Sending up a silent apology to the birds that were a necessary part of the system, he sat down beside his daughter. He’d thought a lot about how he was going to approach this, what he was going to say. He knew his girl, knew how she thought, even if she sometimes almost scared him with how smart she was.
“How would you feel if I gave up fighting for you?”
Grace stared at him for a long moment. He could almost hear her brain racing, processing. Then, finally she shook her head. “You wouldn’t. You just wouldn’t.”
He couldn’t help the sudden stinging of his eyes, and the tight, grateful smile that tugged at his lips. He blinked rapidly a few times, put his arm around his precious child and pulled her close.
“No. No, I wouldn’t. And I won’t. Ever.” Remembering Ali’s words, he pointed to the tall light behind them. “I will always be there for you, just like that lighthouse is there for the ships going by.”
His girl looked at the solid, steady fixture, and smiled. “I know you will.”
“But honey, I’m going to have to pretend that I’m giving up. Give up fighting at all over her taking tomorrow away from us. And more, I’m going to have to tell her that I’m not going to fight her anymore at all. No more arguing with her when I pick you up or bring you back.”
Grace looked up at him, her brow furrowed. “Why?”
“So she’ll think she’s won.”
“Why?” she repeated.
Although it wouldn’t surprise him if she could totally grasp Sun Tzu, he went for a more modern explanation.
“Because if she thinks she’s won, maybe she won’t be so…careful. Maybe she’ll get careless, overconfident.” His daughter’s brow furrowed again as she processed the words. He shifted to something he knew she’d understand. “I know she’ll get smug, think she’s better than anybody else, that nobody would dare challenge her.”
Grace made a sour face. “She already thinks that.”
