Secret of the Wolf(20)

He met her gaze. "Hopefully one of these days I won't want to slip your hook."

She clapped a hand over her heart. "I can only live in hope."

"Smartass."

Her grin chased the lingering hurt from her eyes and made the humor genuine.

Glad he could restore her normal upbeat mood, Dante gave her a wink and turned his attention back to the device. "Is there anything on the schematics about what this port is for?" he asked, pointing at the connector.

"No. I don't think so, anyway." Tori pushed back her chair. "I'll get it so you can take a look, just in case I missed something." She returned in under a minute and placed the document on the table. Once unfolded, the paper was roughly three feet by three feet wide.

Dante leaned over. "Okay, so this is a microcontroller, not a microprocessor. That would explain why I'm not seeing any other chips." His finger followed the lines drawn on the schematics.

"English, please."

He glanced at her. "I thought you were up on this."

"I know radios. Communications. Not computers." She shot him a dry look. "Why do you think Tobias asked you to help me?"

"Right." He pointed toward the chip. "This little guy has the core processor and memory, possibly some RAM. That's one of the ways they could make this device so small, to have it all on one chip." He studied the schematics. "It doesn't look like there's anything like a GPS, so that should mean the device's location can't be electronically tracked by anyone. Okay. So this little doohickey is a transceiver, right? It can transmit and receive messages."

"Right."

"So maybe this port"-Dante tapped his finger on the corresponding spot on the diagram-"is to hook up to some kind of external memory? Or a power source of some kind? Or maybe it's for a transponder. Something to amplify or retransmit the signal on a different frequency." He looked at Tori. "What do you think?"

"I think we're missing some schematics is what I think." Frustration colored her tone. "If all this does is send and receive radio waves, why would they need external memory? And so far it hasn't seemed to need charging."

"Have you had it on much?"

She shook her head. "Just a few times. And I shut it off almost right away because that guy always asks me for the damned password." She picked it up. "If this port does go to a transponder, why would they need one? The reception on this thing is just fine."

Dante sighed and leaned ba Sandsked yck in his chair. Lifting one hand, he rubbed the nape of his neck and then glanced at his watch. "Aw, hell. I didn't realize it was so late."

Tori grabbed his wrist to see the time. "It's only just after one A.M."

"Lily and I are taking the horses out early, before it gets too hot. Once I go back to work Monday-well, tomorrow, I guess, since it's so late-I won't have much of a chance to ride until next weekend." He started reassembling the device and fought back the urge to haul her into his arms. Just the feel of those delicate fingers on his wrist had made him want them wrapped around another, needier part of his anatomy. Keep things light. "I need my beauty sleep." He dropped one lid in a wink.

Her bark of laughter ended with a snort. "You get any prettier there, and we might just have to slap a dress on you."

"I've got the legs for it." He grinned at her eye roll.

"Since you're playing so hard to get," she said with a sidelong glance, "I guess I'll have to take your word for that."

He flashed her another grin and handed her the device, taking care to let it drop into her palm so he wouldn't touch her. He watched while she wrapped it up in plastic and then returned it to the canister, shoving it deep and moving stuff around before she replaced the lid.

"Flour," she said as she turned around, her fingers coated with white powder. She rinsed off her hand and dried it on a dish towel lying on the counter. She swiped the towel over the surface, wiping up flour that had spilled. "Rand doesn't cook, so there's no reason for him to look there."

"Does he know you have it?"

She didn't answer him right away. Instead, she fiddled, straightening canisters that didn't need straightening. Finally she murmured, "He may have seen it." She muttered something else he didn't catch.

"Hey, one of us doesn't have preternatural hearing. What'd you just say?"

She sent him a little glower. "I said he found it in my bedroom." She went into the dining room and scooped up the schematics, folding them into a square that was roughly the size of his palm.

Dante stood. "What, you just happened to leave it lyin' around on your bed?"

Tori frowned. "No." She looked away and went back into the kitchen. "I had it in the toe of one of my hiking boots. Be right back," she said over her shoulder as she walked down the hallway.

Dante waited until she returned, empty-handed, before he said, "So he was snoopin'." He leaned one hip against the table and folded his arms over his chest. "Maybe your house isn't the safest place to hide this thing."

She sighed. "It's safer here where I can keep an eye on it. Besides, he doesn't know what it is."

"You sure about that?" Dante walked into the kitchen. "What if he does? What if he tells someone you have it?" He put his hands on her shoulders. "You're not safe with that thing here. Let me take it."

"And do what with it? Keep it at your house? With your sister? If it's not safe here, it wouldn't be safe there, either." She shook her head. "It's okay. Rand won't find it again."

"I have a gun safe in my bedroom. I could at least lock it up."

"And that'd probably be the first place someone would look. Besides, your sister is there by herself during the day." She shook her head again. "I don't want to put her in danger."

He bit back a sigh. She was right. He couldn't take the device home and put Lily in harm's way. He dropped his hands and took a few steps away. "We're assuming someone would know I have it." He bl S ite devew out a breath. "Do you trust him?"

"Rand?" Her brow furrowed. "He's my brother," she said as if that explained everything.

"That doesn't answer my question." He braced himself with one hand on the counter. "Do you trust him?"

Her lips thinned. Something flickered in her eyes before she responded with a soft, "Yes. I trust him."

"All right. That's good enough for me." It would have to be. He'd trust her judgment until it was proven faulty. With a flick of his wrist he checked his watch again. "I really gotta go."

They started toward the front of the house. "Thanks for the pie," Dante said. "You're a good cook."

"Well, I don't know about my cooking," she rejoined with a smile, "but my baking skills are pretty good."

"Damned good." He paused by the front door. Now that it was time to go, he wasn't sure what to say. Before he'd gotten on the Special Case squad, and before Lily's life had fallen apart, he'd give the woman he was with a good-night kiss. Hell, he'd probably be giving her a good-morning kiss after a hotter than hell night. But he had to keep his hands off Tori for now. Get the job done and maybe in another year or two he could make some time for a relationship. He hoped she'd wait. Maybe he could shave that down to six months. "Uh, thanks for the pie," he said again, then felt like an idiot for repeating himself.

Her smile widened. "You're welcome."

"I guess I'll see you around."

"Most likely." Humor sparkled in her eyes, making him realize she was laughing at him.

Dante let it go. After his vacillations tonight he deserved to be laughed at. He probably deserved a slap, but what he got was humor and pie. She was a hell of a woman. As he reached the door, he heard her say, "Oh, wait a minute." He pulled his hand back just as the door swung open and a startled young man stood in the opening.

"I heard him at the door," she said to Dante. "This is my brother Randall." Tori put a hand on the guy's shoulder. "Rand, this is my colleague Dante MacMillan."

At the word "colleague" Dante felt something-hurt? disappointment?-slash through him. But he had only himself to blame. Sure, they were just starting to really get to know each other, but he'd at least thought they could call themselves friends.

Dante eyeballed the guy. He looked like the type who would snoop through someone else's things. Taller than Dante had expected, he had shifty eyes and a nervous quality that piqued Dante's interest. Randall's skin was baby smooth with a light dusting of hair on his arms. The hair on his head was as dark as Tori's, cut in a marine style with buzzed-cut sides, and slightly longer hair on top.

"You're human." Randall's voice came out flat, his British accent full of disdain.

Tori's brother was apparently a bigoted jerk. Dante was always surprised when people showed their prejudice, whether it was over the color of someone's skin, their religion, or species. "Yep. Sure am." He hooked his thumbs over his belt and rocked back on his heels. "And you're a werewolf, like your sister."

"Sure am." The younger man tried and failed to mimic Dante's drawl. He crossed his arms, then uncrossed them, repeating the process a few times before he left them folded over his chest. "So you work with my sister?"