Before Dani could take a step, Alex moved in front of her. "You can't do this," he told the senator, "You can't meet with her in private. How do you know she's not with the press? Or the opposition? This could be a setup."

Mark glanced from Alex to her. "Is it a setup?" he asked Dani.

"No. I have ID, if you'd like to run a background check on me." The last statement was aimed at Alex.

"I will," he said smoothly and held out his hand.

"You expect me to hand over personal information right now?" she asked, not sure if she should be impressed by his efficiency or nail him in the shin with the pointy toe of her shoe.

"You expect to speak with the senator. Think of this as a security deposit."

"I'm not sure this is necessary" Mark said calmly, but he didn't try to stop Alex.

Dani dug in her purse for her wallet and pulled out her driver's license.

"You wouldn't happen to have your passport on you?” Alex asked.

"No, but maybe you'd like to take my fingerprints?"

"I'll do that later."

She had a feeling he wasn't kidding.

Mark glanced between them. "You two finished?"

Dani shrugged. "Ask dragon-boy."

Alex nodded. "I'll join you as soon as I get one of the IT people working on this." He waved Dani's license.

"IT people?" Dani asked as she followed the senator into his office.

"Information technology. You'd be amazed at what they can do with a computer." He smiled and closed the door behind her. "Or maybe not. You're probably very computer literate. I wish I were. I know as much as I need to so I can get by, but I still have to call Alex every now and then to get me out of a bind."

He motioned to a conversation area at the rear of the room. There were two worn sofas, a couple of chairs and a coffee table that looked as if it had served time in a frat house.