Dinner was a success

Rick gestured the waiter aside and handled the job of seating Nancy himself. It gave him a legitimate excuse to brush his hand against the skin of her neck.

The human body communicates within itself via a set of electrical and chemical charges. The electrical, he'd trained himself to pick up visually. The chemical took physical touch. And Nancy was signaling like crazy.

The waitresses wore little bathing-suit style outfits that showed off their asses and cleavage, which probably appealed to the mostly male high-rolling gamblers who had to be the target audience for an expensive restaurant catering to those willing to set foot outside the casino buffet lines. Rick let himself appreciate the big-busted blonde who scurried over to take their drink orders and, when Nancy ordered a Coke, got one himself. Nothing like a little mirroring to increase the bond. Lucky for him she hadn't ordered one of those sicky-sweet umbrella drinks some women go for.

Another waitress, this one clearly Native American, took their dinner orders and Rick matched Nancy's vegetarian choice.

They made small talk for the next ten minutes, until their meals arrived, then both dug in doing little more than expressing an occasional appreciation for really excellent pasta dishes. Clearly Nancy was hungry. Well, Rick was too... although his hunger went beyond the meal before him.

When her initial feeding frenzy had subsided, he put down his fork. "The thing that gets me," he started with, "is that you're clearly being set up."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm sure you did well in college. My assistants haven't found you anywhere so you went by a different name then but it's clear that you're intelligent and well-educated. I'm guessing you majored in criminal justice or law or something. Law school is my guess, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

He'd been working on the accent and had decided it wasn't Asian despite her appearance. She had to be Native American... or maybe a mix of Asian and Native American. "So," he concluded, "your family must have been very proud."

"Again, so?"

She was playing tough and she was good at it. Before bio-DNA, he would have fallen for her act. But bio-DNA gave him an edge and he planned to take full advantage of it. "So they're going to be disappointed when you take the fall for whatever is going on."