Well, the press sure was eating this up. And the look on Elle’s face was showing it. Chris sat offstage as Simon, Larry and Elle sat with the news anchor talking about the recent breakthrough.

  “So, how soon until you make this marvelous breakthrough avaible to the public?” The anchor, Brice Jacobson, asks. His voice sounded as fake as those in TV comedies.

  “We’re gonna continue doing some tests. To make sure the procedure is safe and stable.” Larry tells him. “I’d say about a year.” He looks at Simon.

  Simon nods. “Yeah. I would say a year two at max as of right now. We want to make sure everything is in the green before we go ahead with public trials. And then, we’ll still need to be careful. We’re still blown away by how much attention it gets. The nervous system is incredibly complicated. It took almost twenty hours to fix Elle’s spine.

  “Wow! That long? I couldn’t imagine.”

  Larry ughed a bit. “There were plenty of coffee breaks throughout the procedure. We all had to be alert during the procedure. If we psed, we could have made a significant mistake. Though we did miss something.”

  “Yeah, but we got lucky. We pced one of the artificial vertebrae off by two millimeters. Which is why Elle was having so much trouble walking shortly after. We just thought that was how it was supposed to be. Then it slipped into pce, and well…”

  Elle smiles and gets up. She walks around, showing the ease with which she can walk.

  Brice cps and says how amazing it is. “Tell me, Elle, does it hurt at all?”

  “No. The incision scar itches every so often, but other than that, it doesn‘t hurt at all.”

  “So what do you pn on doing now that you have the use of your legs again?”

  Elle sits down. “Well, I just had a birthday and…”

  “Happy Birthday!” Brice cuts in. Good job Mr. Rude, Chris mumbles to himself. Jerk.

  “Thanks. My dad, Mr. Talvert, and his son all set up dance csses for me. I start in less than two weeks.”

  “That sounds great. I bet you’re excited?”

  “I am.” She smiles wide, looking Chris’ way. He gives her a thumbs up, smiling back.

  Brice wraps up the interview, thanking them greatly for their time and wishes them the best of luck.

  Now finished, the trio take Chris and leave. Several of the crew thank them on the way out.

  “Is this the st of them, dad?” Elle says sounding tired of them. Chris can’t bme her. Three news papers, two television interviews ter and even Chris was tiring of them, and he was just sitting offstage.

  “Yes hun, that’s all of them.” Simon tells her and rubs her back for comfort. “We can go home now.”

  She breathes a sigh of much needed relief. Chris can honestly say he’s relieved, too.

  After dropping off Simon at their home, Larry pulls into the drive at home. He mentions they have company. A nice Lexus is in the drive.

  “Who’s that dad? Chris asks.

  “Don’t know.”

  Larry pulls up next to the Lexus. Chris and Elle get out and check out the car.

  “Whoa. How much do you think this costs?” Elle asks checking out the interior.

  “Don’t go breaking your piggy bank. I’d say about fifty grand.” Larry says as he gets out and shuts the door.

  Chris just whistles in amazement.

  “Come on kids, let’s go meet our guest.” Larry says waving them on.

  Just inside, Ariel welcomes them home and introduces Mr. Antonio Vega. He says he would like to discuss becoming partners. Mr. Vega reaches his hand out.

  “Mr. Talvert. Pleased to meet you.” Mr. Vega says happily.

  Larry takes it graciously. “Pleasure to meet you. Please come in and have a seat.” He offers, they sit at the dining table.

  “I’ll get you both something to drink.” Ariel says.

  “This is my son, Chris.”

  Chris shakes his hand and greets him.

  “A firm handshake? You practice martial arts?”

  Whoa. How did he know? “Uh, a little.”

  “He started a couple of months ago.” Larry tells him. “And this is my friend’s daughter, Elle Prowman.”

  “And such a lovely little angel.” Mr. Vega takes her hand and kisses it.

  Chris’ jaw drops. What was with this guy? Mister Rico Frickin’ Suave or something? Elle’s expression was one of shock and awe. Even Chris’ dad raised an eyebrow.

  “Forgive me. It is custom when meeting such a beautiful young woman.” His smile was wide, warm, and alluring. Chris suddenly felt extremely jealous.

  Ariel comes out with a couple of cups of tea. “Is Simon coming over, hun?”

  “Yeah, he’ll be over in a bit.” Larry tells her. “Kids, if you want to go out back or something, go ahead. We’re just gonna talk boring business stuff.”

  “All right.” Chris says, taking Elle’s hand firmly and smiling graciously at Mr. Suave.

  “Bye.” Elle says and waves.

  Chris and her walk to the patio door and exit. He takes her out to the other side of the pool.

  “Chris? Hold on.” Elle says.

  Chris lets go. “Sorry. I just…”

  “What? Don’t like the fact that I got my hand kissed? Hmm?” Elle pokes him in the arm, teasing him.

  “I…don’t like him.”

  Elle tickles his ribs and backs up into the grass. “Ooh, someone’s jealous!” Still teasing.

  “Elle! It’s not the hand thing…okay it is. But I don’t like the way he carries himself. He seems like he’s trying to get my dad, and your dad, into something bad.”

  “What, you saying he’s trying to smooth talk to our parents?”

  “Smooth talker, that’s what I was trying to say.”

  “Or maybe he’s legit and the whole smooth talker thing is just how he works. He is Spanish. So he says.”

  Chris just puts his hands on his hips. Smooth talker or not, he just doesn’t like something about him. He doesn’t feel right. Elle comes up and wraps her arms around his waist.

  “Chris. Our parents are too smart to let anyone smooth talk them into anything that sounds suspicious.”

  Chris felt better hearing that. “Yeah. You’re right.” He shakes the thought from his head.

  “Plus, he can kiss my hand all day. It actually kinda freaked me out.”

  “So, you wouldn’t like it if I say…”, Chris pulls away and takes her hand, “gave you the royal treatment?” He acts royally and kisses her hand, exaggerating the moment.

  Elle has to ugh. “Well, a little princess worship wouldn’t be so bad.” She tosses her head back, flipping her hair. Exaggerating her actions.

  “Oh, your Highness.” Chris kisses her hand feverishly. Slobbering more as he goes. Increasing his grip on her hand as she gets grossed out.

  She finally gets her hand away, making a sick face as she shakes and rubs the spit off her hand. Chris just smiles wide. Elle hops back a few steps, Chris feels her raising her power. He raises his in response. They have a standoff until he feels another power…and they start sinking into the ground.

  “Jerry!” Chris and Elle say in unison.

  Chris hops up out and hovers. He goes over and pulls Elle out. He can hear her brother’s ughter, along with Jackson’s coming from the swimming pool.

  “Wow! What was that? The ground must be unstable here. Hmm.” Jerry says, sounding concerned and serious.

  Yeah, right.

  “Hey, who’s that guy inside?” Jackson asks.

  “Senor Smooth Talker Suave.” Elle tells him, sounding all important, mocking him.

  Everyone busts up ughing. “Yeah.” Chris says. “He even kissed Elle’s hand.”

  Jackson and Jerry look at each other. “Wow. So does that mean Elle’s got two boyfriends?” Jerry jokes, then gets a small water ball in the face.

  Chris gets next to Elle as Jerry sputters and raises his power. A smirk on his face.

  “Jerry, hold on.” Jackson tells him. “Seriously, who is he?”

  “Some business guy. He wanted to talk to our my dad about being business partners.” Chris says.

  “He wants to join the company as a money man, or whatever. He said he’s from Spain.” Elle says.

  Chris shrugs his shoulders. “Other than that, we don’t know that much.”

  Jackson shrugs an ‘oh well’.

  “But, I felt uncomfortable near him. He just doesn’t feel right. I think he’s up to something that’s not in the best interest of the company.”

  Jackson and Jerry just sigh. “Okay, so he’s a smooth talking businessman from Spain who’s possibly trying to swindle money from our parents and take over TalCorp. All the while, kissing Elle’s hand and getting felt up by Chris…got it.”

  Chris and Elle look at each other, then give him the evil eye. He smiles innocently. Jackson backs away as Chris sms him with an air bst, knocking him back into the pool.

  He climbs up out of the pool, sputtering. “Not fair.”

  The dry ones of the four point and ugh.

  *********

  Garcia returns to his suite at the hotel, contempting the st couple of hours. Stinger and the Twins following behind him. Several hours of talks with the heads of Talcorp, and he has nothing. They didn’t bite. It’s clear that money doesn’t motivate them. They genuinely do it to better the world. How admirable. No matter. He has other ways of getting what he wants.

  “Get me the others.” He tells his subordinates.

  He takes off his suit jacket and hands it to one of his girls, not looking to see who it is. He doesn’t care. He loosens his tie and sits down on the room’s sofa. How to go about getting the Director’s old data?

  “Sir, I’ve gotten through.” Stinger says, holding the satellite phone out for him.

  He takes it. “Autumn?”

  “Yes, sir.” She responds promptly, good girl.

  “I need you, June, and Julia to come over here immediately. The sooner the better.”

  “Yes, sir. Should we bring any provisions along, sir?”

  Garcia thinks for a moment. “Infiltration.”

  “Yes, sir. Right away.”

  “Call me when you arrive. Out.” Garcia ends the call and hands the phone back to Stinger.

  “Sir, will we be infiltrating TalCorp bs?” Suki asks.

  “Yes. When the others get here. Until then, I want you three to observe the facility from afar. At night, observe the security.”

  “Yes, sir.” They respond.

  “Shall we start tonight?” Yuki asks.

  “No, get some rest for tonight. You will begin tomorrow by scouting the perimeter and setting up watch points. If there are patrolling guards, make notes about changes and anything else. I want a full report before I head in.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Garcia gets up and heads to the bathroom, taking his tie off. He pauses at the door. “Stinger.” He calls her name, then nods into the bathroom. She obeys and enters the bathroom. He enters and shuts the door. She starts the water for the shower and checks the water, then goes to him. Taking each article of clothing as he takes it off, folding each accordingly.

  Garcia’s mind was surprisingly calm. The TalCorp head’s denied him, which normally made him upset. But he was actually gd. Maybe he was happy with the prospect of the challenge of breaking into their facility.

  “Is something troubling you, sir?” Stinger asks as she takes his boxers and folds them and pces them on the counter with the rest of his clothes.

  “No. I’m happy. I think breaking into this facility is making me anxious.”

  “It has been a while since you did a mission on your own, or with us, sir.”

  “That is true.” He motions for her to undress. She complies. “Yes. I think this is just what I need. It’s been a while since I’ve had fun. This kind of fun, that is.”

  He guides her into the shower with him. She thers him up as he thinks about the prospect of breaking into a secure facility. He hasn’t done that in years. He smiles wide.