Espionage

Isaac-Chapter 12

Bright and early, at seven fifteen in the morning to be exact, Isaac dialed Grace's number, a huge grin spreading across his face. She was gonna go on a date with him whether or not she knew it. Besides, he owed it to her. He only managed to get her to laugh four times last night instead of five.

"Hello?" Grace asked groggily after about six rings.

"Hey, Crowther, it's me."

She groaned and took several long moments before answering. "Of course it is. What do you want, Cooper? I swear I've only gotten ten minutes of sleep tonight."

"Well, welcome to the spy life. Hey, there's some reconnaissance we need to do. Will you meet me at a place called Restaurant and Cafe Nytorv?"

"Are you serious?" she asked. "This better not be a joke."

Isaac suddenly felt a little guilty. He just wanted to take her out for breakfast, but she'd probably never agree if she knew that it was a date and not actually reconnaissance. "I'm being absolutely serious."

On the other end, he heard movement that sounded as if she were slowly getting up. "Okay, but you better buy me a cup of coffee. Or two."

"Better yet," he grinned, switching his phone to his other ear as he started tying his shoelaces. "I'll just buy you breakfast altogether. How does that sound?"

Grace managed a soft giggle and he could only imagine her rolling her eyes at him. "Breakfast it is, Cooper. See you in a bit."

Isaac hung up the phone, almost surprised at how easy that had been. Oh boy, when she finds out the truth, he was going to get a tongue thrashing of a lifetime. He could imagine it now. She would put on her adorable angry face and chew him out before storming out of there. But she still had no choice but to be his partner until this whole thing panned out. Grace was already in it for the long haul.

As soon as he made his way outside, he hailed a taxi and hopped in, rubbing his hands together for warmth. At seven in the morning, the air was definitely chilly, more so than in the afternoon.

His heart raced in anticipation when Isaac got out of the cab again and made his way inside. He couldn't deny that he felt excited to see Grace again. The more time he spent with her, the more he came to like her. She still felt out of reach, though... But maybe a breakfast date would help that out. That is if she didn't punch him in the face for waking her up so early.

The hostess showed him to a table and handed him a newspaper and a couple menus. He grinned as he started the timer on his watch—he wanted to see how fast Grace would get here. If she got here quickly, then that indicated that she was serious about her job which was definitely something to admire.

Sure enough, Grace walked in about five minutes later and their gazes met across the cafe. Her tired looking eyes lit up as soon as she saw him before making her way to his table and sliding into the booth across from him.

"Morning, Cooper," she greeted him as she shrugged off her coat. Dang. She looked beautiful for just waking up. The only thing that really looked different was that she wore glasses instead of contacts. She looked amazing with glasses.

"Morning," Isaac grinned, wondering if she would ever start calling him by his first name anytime soon. "Hope you slept pretty well."

There it was, the eye roll. He saw it coming from a mile away. "Yeah, I slept just peachy. Now, before you climb out the window again, why don't you debrief me on who we're doing reconnaissance on."

Uh oh. Here it was. She would storm out as soon as she found out. He needed an excuse to keep her for just a little bit longer. "Actually, let's order first and then I'll get to the point of this meeting."