A Time & Place for Every Laird (27 page)

Danny gri
nned.  “I have that same issue.”

“Oh, ha ha,” she said, slapping her brother on the back of his head.  “You know what I’m talking about.  There are holes everywhere in this!  Hugh can’t get into Canada without the passport he’s going there to get!  And how am I supposed to go there with him?  If I flash my passport at the border, I might as well call up Jameson myself and tell him where I’m going.” 

Danny’s eyes widened
with mock surprise.  “Kudos on the big brain, Sis.  Is that all?”

Claire was still shaking her head.  “
No, that’s not all.  What does Hugh do in Scotland after he’s there?  He can’t get a job or an apartment or even a bank account.”

Her brother rifled through some papers on his desktop and came up with a slim envelope
, from which he withdrew a passport.  “Seeing as the only Hugh Urquhart in the entire UK is a four-year-old kid, I figured we’re safe letting him use his own name.” Claire thumbed through the small book before handing it to Hugh with a nod.  She was impressed that Danny had accomplished so much in less than a week, but was even more so when he pulled out a birth certificate as well that looked suitably worn to Hugh’s age.  “You’ll have to hide those well on the way over, in case he’s searched.  It would be hard to explain.  I’ve started building records for Hugh Urquhart in all the normal UK databases and should have it done by the time he gets there.  He’ll have to pull his same story back home to replace his other ‘lost’ documents like his driver’s license or NHS card, or maybe a tragic fire will have burned down his family home.  I’ll build him such a solid life that there will be nothing to link him to Rupert Waldroup or Mark-Davis’s lost science experiment.”

“Okay, fine.  But what about Canada?” she asked, concerned on that o
ne sticking point.  “Surely San Francisco would have been easier.”

“That’s a fourteen-
hour drive,” Danny pointed out.

“A
fourteen-hour drive in the same country.” She met Hugh’s gaze and read the question there.  “Vancouver is less than three hours from here but it is in Canada, and to get in there these days, you need a passport,” she explained before turning back to her brother.  “I told you we should have just made him American!”  Claire caught his incredulous look and shrugged.  “Fine,
you
said make him an American, but why didn’t you then?  Since you decided to just replace some random guy with Hugh’s picture, wouldn’t it have been easier to get him a passport here instead?”

“Really?  Think about what you just said.”

Damn, she hated it when someone was smarter than she was, and there had been a lot of that going around lately.  “Because in the U.S. you can’t just get an emergency passport to fly out of the country.  Fine, I got it.  So how do you propose we get into Canada?”

“
Isn’t it obvious?”

Claire glared at her brother. 
Nothing was obvious any more, other than the fact that she had gotten in way over her head.  She had no idea what Danny might be referring to.  Hugh must have sensed her impulse to tackle her obtuse brother to the ground, because he laid a calming hand on her shoulder and leveled one of his haughty, ducal glares at her brother.  “Come now, lad, this is nae time tae rile yer sister so.  Tell us yer idea.”

Danny sighed impatiently.  “Claire
, when was the last time your car was searched going over the border?”

“You want to sneak him into Canada?” Claire asked incredulously.

“What’s the big deal?  You’re trying to sneak him out of here, aren’t you?” Danny snapped back.  “Or have you suddenly drawn some fine line between legal and illegal that I don’t know about?”

“Enough.”  Hugh’s calm command halted both the siblings
, and they turned to him with identical expressions of surprise.  “Arguing will accomplish nothing.  Sorcha, yer brother has been naught but our ally thus far.  Trust that he has a plan.  Danny, lad, dinnae provoke yer sister unnecessarily.  She’s had much tae deal wi’ these past days.”

“When did you become the peacemaker?” Claire asked.

“When I was eighteen and my uncle turned the dukedom’s courts over tae me,” Hugh said.

“You’re a duke?” Danny asked.  “I suddenly feel so humble.”

“That would be a miracle,” Claire mumbled. “So, dear brother, what’s your plan?  I hope it doesn’t involve the two of us in one trunk.”

Danny
grimaced.  “It might have … Well, I suppose we’ll have to go with a boat then.  Here’s what I was thinking. One of the minions has a brother who works a small fishing boat out of Blaine.  It’s right on the Canadian border and he’ll do anything for a buck.  So if you can be at the marina there by five a.m. one morning, he’ll take you up into Surrey.  From there you’ll just have to take the bus or something.”

“Or something?” Claire
taunted.  “Nice plan.  What’s next?  We grow wings?”

“Am I expected to do everything?” her brother asked.  “You don’t want the trunk, you get to use your imagination.”

Hugh held up his hand once more, preempting another argument.  “I imagine we’re clever enough tae make it the rest of the way.  And then?”

“I’ll book you a hotel room in Vancouver, prepaid but with your name on it.  They’ll need ID but won
’t run a card,” Danny continued, turning to shuffle through some papers on his desk before handing one to Hugh.  It was a copy of Waldroup’s passport with Hugh’s image from his database.  “I’ve printed this for backup.  You can say it’s a photocopy of your passport that you carry with you or something.  I hear they recommend that.  I read the procedures for emergency travel, so when you get to Vancouver, the first thing you need to do is get robbed. Yes, your idea, Sis. Shouldn’t be too hard.  I recently read that Vancouver is the eighth most dangerous city in Canada.”

Claire scoffed at that.  “Yeah, in
Canada
.  Not like it’s L.A.”  She looked down at the copy in her hands.  “Couldn’t we just use this to get into Canada legally?”

“Wouldn’t risk it,” Danny shook his head.  “You only want one use on that thing
, if possible.  God, Sis, you’re worrying over the easiest part of the whole thing.”

“I’d just hate to get caught before we even got started.”

Danny rolled his eyes yet again and Hugh began to understand where Sorcha had developed the habit.  “Anyway, I got a nice hotel already picked out in Gastown.  Eastside downtown in an area heavily populated with vagrants and addicts looking for a handout or their next fix, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get robbed there.”

“Or killed,” Claire said dryly.  “Great.  I’m loving this plan.”

Hugh laughed.  “In my time, ye hae a better chance of getting robbed than avoiding it in many cities but why need we risk such a thing at all?  What we need is merely the appearance of a robbery.”

Both siblings looked at him curiously, their rivalry forgotten.  “What do you mean?” Danny asked. 

“Might we not simply go tae the constable’s offices and report the ‘crime,’ as it were?  I shall be this Waldroup fellow, in town on business.  Sorcha shall be a mere witness tae the robbery.”

Claire nodded
while her brother looked at Hugh with growing respect.  “With your accent, it would be easy to assume that there is no connection between us.”

Danny chimed in as well.  “Our friend Rupert is staying downtown at the Hotel Georgia.  So in case they ask, you can tell them that to support the lie.”

“You know where he’s staying?” Claire asked with raised brows.

“Sis, I could tell you where he ate breakfast this morning.”  Danny turned to Hugh.  “
But why would a guy from Scotland be hanging out alone in Gastown?”

“Doesn’t that restaurant at the top of the Harbour Center attract a lot of upper
-class businessmen?” Claire asked.

Danny nodded.  “Yea
h, he could say he was having dinner with clients there or something.  It will get him close but not close enough.  Why would he be walking alone?”

“To get somewhere no one else wanted to go,” Claire said and leaned across her brother to call up GoogleMaps, searching for nightclubs in that area of Vancouver.  She hovered over the pinpointed options one by one
, but Hugh stopped her search, pointing at the list on the left. 

“That one,” he said decisively.  “The Blarney Stone. 
There isnae a person I’ve met beyond Scotland’s borders who could tell a Scotsman from an Irishman.  I doubt there would be any question of a weary traveler longing for his homeland.”

Claire beamed up at Hugh, impressed with his cleverness
, but Danny said, “It’s not in the worst of it.”

“It’s close enough.”

“It willnae be too much of a blow to my pride to claim I was lost,” Hugh said at the same time and he shrugged, his dimple deepening in response to Claire’s raised brow.

Danny only
shrugged.  “You should probably agree on a description of the guy who robbed you, too, while you’re at it.  Who do you want to admit robbed you?”

“
A short, frail fellow of sallow complexion, perhaps?” Hugh suggested.  “If I am comprehending your term ‘addict’ appropriately?”

“Not a new epidemic, I take it
?” Danny asked curiously.  “What was the poison in your day?”

“Opium
, mostly.”

Danny snorted at that.  “Guess not much has changed.  Heroin is made from the same stuff.”

“Okay,” Claire said.  “So Hugh’s got his police report saying that his passport was stolen.  We just take that to the British Consulate?  And then what?  They issue a new one just like that?  What if they question him?”

“You do worry too
much, lass.”  Hugh’s fingers entwined with hers. 

“Planning, not worrying,” Claire corrected.

“Dinnae fash yerself.  I’m certain I can get what I need.  I will just ask nicely.”

“That’s what you’re going to go with?  Your charm alone?”

“Haven’t we already determined that I am the greatest flirt in Scotland?”

Or in the world.
  “What if it’s a guy?  What if they try to call someone or …” 

“Sorcha, please,” Hugh cupped her cheek in his hand and forced her to look at him.  “Trust me.  How did you say it?  I got this.”

“I’m just scared they’re going to figure out that it’s a scam and detain you or something.”

“
I’m certain Danny will keep a weather eye on their computers and telephones.  I hae every faith in his abilities tae protect me from exposure.”

Danny nodded
, looking speculatively back and forth between Claire and Hugh.  “I’ll be watching the surveillance feed, too.”

“Then I shall feel doubly secure,” High said, clapping
a hand on the young man’s shoulder.  “For what ye hae done for me, lad, I shall be forever in yer debt.”

Danny shifted uncomfortably
, and Hugh suspected, after hearing Sorcha’s description of her brother, that the lad was more comfortable praising himself than receiving it from others.  “Yeah, well, don’t thank me yet.  It might not work at all.”

“I hae faith in yer abilities,” Hugh
repeated assuredly.  “Ye dinnae need tae gae tae such extremes after ye realized the truth of the matter.”

“I did it for Claire.”

“I know.”

Danny looked up at Hugh then with a grin.  “Someday, man, someday I’d like to sit down with you and hear your side of this whole thing, like where you’re from and all that.”

“And someday I’ll be happy tae oblige.”

Hugh looked at his solemn face peering out from the computer monitor and thought about all that it represented. 
Safety for himself and Sorcha.  Second chances.  Freedom.  Hugh thought of his homeland, waiting now within reach.  As much as Rosebraugh would be missed, it was Scotland itself that his soul yearned for.  The smell of the heather in the Highlands, the salty winds from the North Sea.  In a matter of days it would all be his once more … and Sorcha!  How she would love it there!

“Good enough.”  Danny lifted another envelope out of the pile on his desk.  “Claire?”

Lost in thought, Claire started and blinked at her brother, taking the envelope he held out.

“Anticipating that this whole thing is alarmingly bigger than you first implied and since you haven’t accessed your credit cards or bank accounts since last week, I assume you’ll need this.”

Claire peeked into it, finding a thick stack of twenties.  She stared at him, dumbstruck.  “Danny
…”

“It’s nothing.” He brushed away the thanks.  “I’ll also get one of the minions to book an emergency flight out of there when you’re ready.  Can’t do it too early or it will look too planned for his emergency travel documents.”

“Thank you, Danny.”

“I already said
…”

“I know, don’t thank you yet.” 
Claire nodded, swallowing back the lump in her throat.  Brothers were notoriously pesky things, always teasing and tweaking, but every once in a while they did something that forgave it all.  She pulled her brother out of the chair and into her arms for an affectionate hug.  “Can we at least get a ride back to the ferry?”