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Given all that, if the money remained invested as it had been that October, it should still be a very sizeable fortune--soo The market had been fairly stable since then Holy shit
"Sean?"
He’d had a billionaire’s daughter kneeling on the floor at his feet--the son of an unwed teenage irl in every military town Instantly, Sean had a knee-jerk reaction to apologize to Callie, but he checked it They weren’t defined by their pasts or their bank accounts They’d chosen one another because they clicked They stayed together because they were in love He didn’t give a shit if her bank balance had ten zeroes or none
"You didn’t know that?" Thorpe looked at him as if Callie’s inheritance was obvious Because it was For a moment, he felt like an idiot
"Yeah, I did It’s not relevant I guess thatwhatever we have to in order to pry the blasted thing open"
"Hah the bag on the table until he caht tools
"Try not to break it It really is sentiriainst the faint line that bisected the egg and tapped on it as gently as he could The sound filled the little roo to think about what sort of da to the artifact Metal scraped h-pitched squeak that made him wince
After the next tap of the hammer, Callie hissed Thorpe swore softly Sean peered between the with a sentler, the two halves eased apart a bit
His heart juripped his hand with such sweet hope With her free hand, she brushed Thorpe’s shoulder with a gentle touch that was equal parts adoration and thanks
Both he and Thorpe had fingers too thick to work into the little wedge Besides, it was her egg, her life on the line Sean prodded her forward "Go on See if there’s anything inside"
A irl would have perhaps shaken the delicate piece to see if so spilled out or tried to take a closer peek at the innards to see if anything lurked within Not Callie She plunged her thuht into the little open space There was no way her vision could help with this task, so she closed her eyes as she rooted around
Tension gripped the roo presence all its own Whatever they found here couldwasn’t a palatable option either
A asped
"What?" Thorpe barked
"There’s so It’s thin and plastic I’ers on it" She fu her wrist for a better grip
"Does it feel like anything faetting et it"
"Do we need to just break the da open?" Thorpe scowled "Because I will if it helps you"
Callie glanced at hie You kno determined I can be"
Thorpe snorted "Do I ever"
Sean gritted his teeth Da What she found inside the egg could determine the sort of future he had with Callie Would they be riding off into the sunset or living underground and on the run for the rest of their lives?
"Got it!" she shouted triu her hand a few ed with a flat little plastic square It was blue and thin, and he hoped like hell they’d hit the jackpot
"It’s an SD card" Sean stated as probably the obvious, then he blew out a breath "Could your father have saved data on this, then hidden it in the egg?
"Maybe" She shrugged "No clue"
"Then again, we didn’t have a co the inventory of his possessions at your house Hoould he have saved the data?"
"He had a laptop He kept it ht it home occasionally Why would he put data on this card instead of just keeping it on the computer?"
"Maybe this was a backup?" Thorpe surmised "We need to read what’s on this card ASAP"
"Where the hell are we going to find a computer that reads SD cards?" Sean tried not to lose his cool
"Last night when I thought I’d be crashing in the spare room, I peeked in there I saw an old desktop machine Werner said he and his faht? Maybe this is his floating office when he does"
"Let’s go" Sean took Callie by the hand,sure she still held the little blue card, and hustled her out of the galley behind Thorpe, falling in after her as the hall narrowed
They caravanned together past the bedrooht Sean wasn’t sure hoas supposed to feel about the sex He’d never i the woman he loved with another man But he had to admit their romp on that lumpy bed had been one of theCallie’s fulfillive that to her again
A few steps later, they entered the second bedroom It was smaller and darker The head of a double bed, with a faded white comforter covered in little flowers, butted up to the paneled wall It looked soft and worn and ready for a Dumpster Ato the left with a desk in the corner made up the rest of the room An old CRT monitor crowded most of the desk The tower sat on the faintly musty carpet
Thorpe yanked out the spindle-back chair and hunkered over the keyboard in front of the ical prospective, had come from the Jurassic period He bent and exa the sides and front for an SD card slot
"Found it! If everything still works, we’ll knohatever infor soon Give me the card, pet" Thorpe pressed the power button on the computer tower, and it flickered to life
Anxiety skittered through Sean’s system
As they waited for the old h the boot-up process, Callie nibbled on her lip and fidgeted "Why wouldon an SD card and hidden it in the egg, then given it to me?"
"We may never know, lovely" Sean squeezed her hand in reassurance