I waved away the bother of meeting the queen and smiled at Derrick. “Then I insisted that we come find you.”
“You came to find me? Why?”
“That’s a story best told over some drinks, don’t you think?”
I waved to the waitperson and read her name-tag. “Hi, Agnes. Could we get a round of drinks here? I’ve been dying to try a draft Guinness.”
She looked at me with the head-to-toe appraisal women use, pinched her nose up at how close I was sitting to Derrick, and said, “Certainly.”
Mike and Manny joined me by ordering Guinness, while Derrick stuck with a gin and tonic.
I closed my eyes and spent a minute inhaling the aromas from my drink: hops, roasted barley, and malt.
I opened my eyes and saw that my tablemates were frozen. What were they waiting for?
Oh, they were waiting for me to drink first. It was nice to be around polite men.
“Cheers!” I said, then sipped. Damn, that’s good. “This is so much better than the canned version we had in Riyadh.”
Derrick looked shocked. “I’ve been instructed not to discuss that period.”
I scrunched my nose in dismissal. “We won’t talk about the really secret stuff,” I said. “I just wanted to thank you for saving our lives that day.”
“Not to mention saving the ambassador and Lady Birdsong,” said Manny. “Ex-officer, huh? You Brits aren’t big on gratitude, are you?”
“I did my duty,” Derrick said. “Nothing more. I didn’t join because I wanted gratitude.”
“Well, I can show gratitude, Derrick,” I said.
Agnes was hovering behind us with a full tray of drinks for another table. I ignored her as I pulled an item out of my tiny purse and placed it on the table in front of Derrick.
“I got you this to show how grateful I am,” I said as I activated the BITCHCoin.
The tray of drinks fell, splashing an entire table of customers.
Shouts of “Oi! Oi!” were ignored as Agnes grabbed Derrick’s shoulder with a possessive hand. “Is that thing real?”
“What about our drinks—” said the wet man at the next table. He was cut off by a murderous glare from Agnes.
“Would you be offended if I verified this?” asked Derrick.
“Please do.”
“I’ll have to download the app,” he said as he pulled out his phone. “I never expected to see one of these in my life.”
“I got it, luv,” said Agnes as she scanned the coin.
The app dinged with the cash register sound Mason had set up for approved coins. The woman’s breath caught in her throat.
“We’re rich, Derrick!” she exclaimed.
Derrick warmed my heart when he said, “What do you mean, ‘we,’ Agnes?”
“Why, we’re practically engaged!” she said as she stroked Derrick’s shoulder.
“We went on one date. You thanked me for the meal and said you couldn’t see a future with a ‘cashiered grunt who can’t discuss his job.’”
Manny gave a laugh. “Let me guess—you bought her a fancy dinner and didn’t even get a goodnight kiss.”
Derrick’s face was all the answer we needed.
I leaned close to Derrick and shot a glance at Agnes as I whispered, just loudly enough for her to hear, “You can do better, Derrick. Much better.”
Then I turned to Agnes. “Would you be a dear and get us another round of drinks, Agnes? I have a lot to discuss with Derrick.”
Agnes stalked away in rage, her steps stiff and angry.
“He’ll never be able to drink in here again without running the risk of being poisoned,” said Mike.
“You know I can’t accept a bounty for doing my duty,” said Derrick. He pushed the coin back my way.
Agnes was returning with our loaded tray. “Leave it as a tip for Agnes,” I said, which almost caused her to drop the tray again.
“No, I still can’t accept a bounty,” he insisted.
“Don’t think of it as a bounty,” I said, then pointedly waited for Agnes to clear away our old glasses before speaking again.
She kept compulsively wiping down the table next to us, until the bartender shouted at her to pick up her next order.
I pushed the coin back over to sit in front of Derrick. “Don’t think of it as a bounty, think of it as a sign-on bonus.”
“Signing on to what?”
“We discussed a new position with Lady Birdsong, a sort of liaison between Her Majesty’s government and my little…” Here I stumbled, searching for the correct word in English. “You can’t call it a kingdom, and I don’t represent Queen Mab directly. Maybe the word is ‘Princessdom’?”
“Fiefdom,” said Derrick, “is what I believe the correct term would be, Princess.”
“That’s not quite the essence, but it’ll do for now,” I said, then waved away the distraction. “In any case, Lady Birdsong has requested a liaison between your government and ours.”
“And what does that have to do with me?” asked Derrick. “Surely there are many men better suited to act in this position.”
“Derrick,” I smiled warmly, “there are not ‘many men’ like you. You have risked your life to save others, you’ve worked well with us, and I trust you. You’re the man for the job.”
“What does this mean? Am I being called back into service?”
“Well, basically. But I think you should come back at a slightly higher rank than warrant officer.”
“I’m getting a promotion?”
I ignored him and turned to the grumpy eavesdropper at the next table. “Sir, would you please tell me your rank?”
Anger warred with pride, then he answered, “I hold the rank of major in Her Majesty’s Royal Marines.”
“Thank you,” I said warmly, then turned back to Mike and Manny.
“What’s two ranks higher than major?”
Mike leaned back with an amused smile. “Colonel is two ranks above the rank of major.”
“Well, it’s settled then,” I said brightly. “I’ll ask them to bump you up to colonel.”
The grumpy, newly-outranked major seemed to be having trouble breathing. “Preposterous, impossible,” he gasped.
“You can do that?” asked Derrick.
Mike answered for me. “We were given wide latitude in what inducements we could offer to get you back, once Luna
