Page 84 of Code Name: Harbor

He nods to his cup. “Got one.”

She pours one for herself, climbs onto the barstool next to his, and wraps both hands around the mug. “All right. What did you two talk about while I was asleep?”

Bill doesn’t blink. “I asked your boyfriend if you were in danger.”

Josie’s head tips back and she groans. “Dad.”

“He said yes.”

Josie’s head whips my way.

“But that’s all I told him,” I rush to assure her.

“Finn didn’t give me any details,” Bill says, his eyes cutting between me and his daughter. “But I’d like you to fill in some of the rest.”

She looks at him, then looks at me. I keep my hands moving on the cutting board because I’m not going to be the one who answers a question her father asked her.

Josie sighs and says, “All right. I’ll tell you what I can.”

Bill settles in and listens quietly without interruption as Josie tells him about the Voronin case and how Jameson was hired to help. She moves without pause into her stakeout at the docks, and I’ll give her dad credit, I see no signs of distress when she tells him she got captured other than a slight tightening of his grip on the coffee mug. She tells him that I fished her out of the water and then only mentions that there’s the fear that Voronin’s men are looking for her since there’s no proof she died.

She doesn’t say anything more about me and Bill doesn’t ask. When she finishes, Bill lets out a gust of pent-up air, his eyes drifting over to me. “You were out on the water that night and you saved her.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll never be able to repay you,” Bill says with a thick voice.

“No repayment needed.” I let my gaze drift to Josie. “My life got better that night.”

“Be that as it may,” Bill says, and the hardening in his voice has my skin tightening as his attention returns to me, “I am going to ask why you were on the water at that time of night.”

Josie cuts in before I can answer. “Dad… that’s one I’m going to ask you to leave alone.”

Bill looks at her. “Josephine.”

“Leave it,” she says sternly, like trying to train a puppy to leave a stick alone.

They engage in a staring war, but eventually Bill nods. “Okay, fine. And truth be told, it doesn’t matter what he was doing out there.” He turns his entire body my way, eyes locking on mine. “He pulled my girl out of cold water and brought her home alive. As far as I’m concerned, son, you’ve got a permanent line of credit with me on the question of why you were where you were.”

I stare at him a long beat and then nod, a silent thank-you.

Bill picks up his coffee, takes a long sip and sets it down. His attention goes to Josie, who’s smiling at me.

“Now,” he says. “Let’s talk about you leaving Seattle.”

Her head snaps his way. “Dad—”

“I have a friend in Santa Fe with a guest house and a long driveway. We can be on the road in two hours.”

“Dad.”

“Or I can take you to Maui. I have miles. You can sit on a beach and pretend to be a tourist until your people put this guy in a hole.”

“Dad.”

“Josephine.”

“No,” she says with a huff.