Chapter 86 (2/2)
Abby's fury reignited. ”That's right! You said you weren't doing that anymore!”
The old woman chuckled. ”It's a recent thing. I try very hard to give you your privacy, Abigail, and you're very good about being safe, but your little,” she wiggled her fingers between them, clearly searching for a word. ”liaison has made you sloppier than normal. I had to take measures for your own sake. To keep you safe.”
”Excuse me for having a life, grandma!” Abby snapped.
Ice blue eyes softened, and Anastasia smiled wistfully. ”I don't blame you, sweetheart. Infatuation is a wonderful thing. The rush of emotions. The passion of youth.” The smile widened. ”I nearly got shot shortly after my second date with your grandfather,” she admitted. ”It was sloppy. Dangerous. I don't want you making the same mistakes.”
And then the smile vanished. ”But we've drifted off-point. Who are you really, Daniel Newman, and why has Marcus Mercury suddenly taken an interest in worldly affairs?”
Daniel's mouth, poised to defend his girlfriend, clicked shut. She knew. Of course she knew; she admitted to bugging Abby not ten seconds ago. But her question, it was off target. Wrong. Marcus had never cared about Anastasia, or Abby. He'd offered less than a grunt of interest when Dan had finally spoken the Summers' name. His sole obsession at present was the Gap.
Meaning Anastasia didn't know, not everything. She was making a guess. An educated one, almost certainly, but Dan didn't talk about Marcus very often, not even to Abby. The Summers' matriarch had likely only caught the name once or twice. Maybe a mention of space, or Neptune. She didn't know his origins. She didn't know about t-space.
Which led neatly to Dan's immediate issue: should he tell her? More importantly, could he get away with not. He could see Abby glancing at him, coming to the same conclusions. He could see Anastasia watching them, her eyes not missing a single thing. It was with a sense of glum acceptance that he understood a single truth.
He couldn't fool this woman.
Not wouldn't. In this particular moment, he'd happily lie to her until he was blue in the face. It would just be pointless. She'd nod, and smile, and then calmly threaten him again. Her love for Abigail did not at all supersede her desire to keep the younger woman safe. There was no contest.
Dan almost laughed at the realization. Anastasia Summers was the walking embodiment of a helicopter parent.
His mirth faded as quickly as it came, as he remembered the reason why she was so protective. There was real, tangible danger out there. There were people who wanted to hurt Abby, who thought it good and right. They might still be around.
He couldn't fool this woman. He wouldn't fool this woman.
In the end, it was an easy decision to make.
”Marcus doesn't care about you,” Dan said. ”Not a whit. Not you, nor Abby, nor anybody else on this planet.” Not even Dan. Not really.
Anastasia's eyes hardened into steel. ”Don't lie to me boy.”
An invisible force crashed down on him, choking him, suffocating him, drowning him on dry land. His body remained perfectly still, unable to move even if he wanted to. His vision darkened at the edges. Abby was shouting something, but all Dan could hear was the babump babump babump of his heartbeat. Of blood pounding in his ears. He managed to force open his mouth, his tongue flapping uselessly. The muscle was spasming, and he fought for control. He took a deep, shuddering breath.
”Not lying,” he forced out with a strangled gasp. The pressure vanished, and Dan's eyes managed to refocus. Abby was across the room, eyes wide, one hand fisting her grandmother's shirt and the other locked in a submission hold behind her back. Anastasia casually gripped Abby's free arm, and plucked it off her shirt. For an insane moment, Dan contemplated crossing the distance between them, and planting his feet on her face.
He didn't, because he wasn't suicidal. It was a narrow decision.
”You've made your point,” Anastasia stated calmly, utterly unperturbed by her granddaughter struggling against her grip. ”I'll let him have his say.”
”But first I'll have mine.” She released her granddaughter, and Abby darted back across the room, to stand at Dan's side. Anastasia noted the motion, but ignored it, choosing the stare down at Daniel. She held up a fist.
”Let's keep track, shall we? First,” she ticked a finger, ”you interrupted an attempted bombing on the APD by a pair of mercenaries, hired by a scientist with ties to the People. Odd, for a no-name neophyte, but stranger things have occurred.” Dan's eyes widened, but Anastasia bulled onward before he could speak. ”Next!” Another finger, ”You join an Academy class for disaster relief, of all the things, and”—she makes air-quotes—”'stumble' upon hard evidence of the People's involvement in that clusterfuck of a forest fire.”
He did what now?
”Third, you had my granddaughter push me to investigate a woman with a direct link to a known People sympathizer.” She scrutinized his face. ”I'm curious. Did Marcus know that Matilda Fairbanks was being groomed to spy on the Austin Police Department, or was it just a hunch?”
She did what now!?
”And fourth,” Anastasia continued ruthlessly. ”You purchased the home of Morgan Strauss; a People technician that even I was unaware of. I can't fathom what Marcus hopes to achieve by feeding me this information, but you're going to tell me.”
Dan struggled for words, flabbergasted by this turn of events. Abby looked bewildered by her grandmother's accusations. Had the old woman gone senile, or did she simply expect such insane machinations from a man like Marcus Mercury?
Actually, no. Expecting something like this from Marcus seemed entirely reasonable. Shit.
”Ok.” Dan quickly decided on a plan of action. ”That's— well, a lot to take in. But it's really just a string of coincidences, combined with bad luck, and a poor choice of friends.”
Anastasia snorted. ”Once is chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is enemy action. What would you call four?”
”I'm only counting one,” Dan defended loudly. ”I stumbled on that collar through sheer blind luck, but I could see why it might be suspicious. I'll give you that one, but the rest of your claims are ludicrous! I don't even know what you're talking about for half of them!”
He searched for a reasonable defense.
”If Marcus wanted to subtly manipulate you, he wouldn't use me to do it. I'm not smart or subtle or clever enough. Not even by accident.”
Anastasia blinked, her accusatory stare faltering for a moment. She nakedly considered him, what she knew of him, the things he'd gotten up to in the time since she'd heard of him.
”Well now. That might be the most convincing thing you've said all day.”