After seeing the emotional condition Alex was in last night, she probably ought to consider making a quick trip with Dawn to Pennsylvania to let him decompress a little more by himself. But memory of the pain on his face as he fought his demons made Katie long to stay and comfort him. Grr. No one had warned her that the demands of being a parent and a lover could conflict so badly.
Her thoughts jerked back to the present as the taxi stopped at the guard shack in front of CIA headquarters. She climbed out and the vehicle pulled away quickly. She could relate to the drivers nervousness. A sinister vibe did radiate off the sprawling building. After showing proper ID to the guard, she walked across the visitors parking lot and through the main entrance.
It was ballsy to show up unannounced at Charlies work like this, but she figured the man could stand a reminder of just how much he owed her.
She was duly checked out in the agencys computers at the reception desk and given a visitors badge. An escort, a perky coed girl no older than Katie, took her up to see Charlie. Her uncle was a deputy director of Plans and had a plush office with a nice view of the woods outside.
Katie! What brings you here today? Is everything okay?
Which she supposed was spy-speak for Alex hasnt gone off the reservation already, has he? Yup. Everythings great. Thanks again for sending in the cavalry to rescue us from that hit squad and for arranging Alexs training.
He leaned back in his chair and pursed his lips. When he spoke, his low-country Southern drawl was a little thicker than usual. Oh, I dont know that my crew did that much to help last year. You and Alex had things well under control by the time we arrived.
It was a lie, but she wasnt interested in arguing about it today. I have a favor to ask of you, Uncle Charlie. She cursed herself silently for using that little-girl tone of voice with him. She was done acting like the baby of the whole damned family. Shed grown up a lot in the past year, and her clan could just get used to it. Although she probably was the first person who had to get used to it.
Do tell. His expression went bland and unreadable, his blue eyes oddly opaque all of a sudden. Hed dropped into master spy mode. Alex did the exact same thing.
You said youd owe me one if I brought Alex to you. And I did. Hes completed his training, and he has agreed to work for Doctors Unlimited.
Hes been out of training for one day. And youre already calling your chit in? So soon?
Yes, she replied firmly. Ive had a year to think about it, and seeing Alex last night only confirmed my decision. I need to find out who Alexs mother is. The circumstances of his conception, birth and her leaving. Not knowing anything tortures him. I figure its the least we all can do for him after what weve put him through.
Did he talk to you about his training? Charlie asked quickly.
She frowned. No. He didnt. But why did Charlie react that way after she used the phrase after what weve put him through? What on earth did they do to him during his year of training with them?
Charlie leaned back in his leather desk chair. And what makes you think we know anything about his mother? Obviously, he didnt want her to ask any more questions about Alexs training. She went along with the change of subject.
She shrugged. Youre the CIA. You can find out anything.
He steepled his fingers together thoughtfully but didnt deny the truth of her words. And then well be even? he asked.
Correct. Give me Alexs mother, and were good.
He didnt say yes or no exactly, but she got the impression that he was going to look into it. She supposed that was the most she could hope for out of a spy like him. Shed learned that much around Alex. Spies were hesitant to answer questions directly or commit themselves to anything.
As another intern walked her out of the CIA building, it belatedly occurred to Katie that her uncle hadnt put up much of a fight at the notion of being able to find Alexs mother. What did he know that he wasnt telling? Had the CIA already found the woman? It would make sense that in vetting Alex to become an asset for them theyd looked into his mysterious, missing parent. Why, then, hadnt they shared what theyd found with him out of general principles?
Suspicion blossomed in her gut that there was more to the story of Alexs mother than Charlie was letting on. Why did it feel like shed just cracked open the lid of Pandoras box? Maybe she should slam the thing back shut and put a big, fat lock on it.
Memory of the rage and desperation in Alexs eyes last night as he fought off his impulse to kill her flashed into her mind. Nope. Whatever evils hid in Pandoras stupid box, it was high time to let them out and deal with them.
CHAPTER TWO
ALEX LOOKED AROUND reflexively, checking for tails or suspicious individuals, as he reached the playground a few blocks from the house. No one who didnt belong in the area was obvious. If they were out there, they were good enough at their work to stay hidden. Which meant he didnt have to kill anyone today. Relief trickled into his awareness. He wondered idly if he did something like that in front of Dawn, would she remember it? Would it traumatize her or was she too young to register such violence? He supposed babies and murder didnt mix. He pushed the stroller deeper into the park.
The sheer normalcy of this place was a shock to his system. After the past year, it was hard to believe that this other world existed...filled with people who were so clueless. So naive. So completely unaware of the dangerous, parallel world that existed alongside this boring, safe, average existence of theirs. Spies and criminals, watchers and killers, were out here. Wolves among the lambs. And he was one of the biggest and baddest wolves now.
Dawn squealed, jerking his attention back to her. She wasnt old enough to play on the climbing fort or swing in the swings, but she smiled up at the sunshine and waved her arms excitedly whenever other children laughed or shouted nearby. She would undoubtedly spend many happy childhood hours here.
He silently vowed to make sure her life was nothing like his. Hed spent his youth in a virtual boot camp being turned into a future master spy by Peter Koronov. He only hoped that Dawn would never learn to hate him the way he hated his father when he bothered to feel anything at all for the man.
Although after the past year, he was starting to wonder if Peter had been holding back more than Alex realized as a kid. Was it possible that his father wasnt quite the villain hed always painted him to be in his own mind?
He reached into the stroller and adjusted Dawns hoodie sweatshirt up a little higher around her ears. She smiled up at him and his heart melted at the trust in her dark eyes. He smiled back at her.
His phone rang and he fished it out of his pocket. The unidentified callers number was long and began with a foreign exit code and the country code number for the United States. His jaw clenched. Only one person could be calling him from overseas. He knew better than to ignore the call.
Hello, Peter, he said grimly.
Son. How are you doing after your training?
Fine. Why are you calling me?
To thank you at long last.
For what? Alex asked with long-suffering patience. Hed learned long ago that the best way to get rid of Peter was to play along and not fight him. Peter made people pay when they pushed back against him.
I was able to warn the foreign minister and president of our country to expect that call from the American president last spring.
Our country? Russia was not his country. But Peter steadfastly refused to acknowledge that. The man was convinced that, one day, the prodigal son would come home to Mother Russia. Never, Alex silently swore to himself.
Alex turned the rest of his fathers comment over in his mind. His father must have won a lot of political points for being first to warn the Russian leadership that the Americans had discovered the Russian shenanigans in Zaghastan last year. Competition was fierce between Russias FSB, military intelligence and a few other assorted secret agencies to see who brought in the best information first.
They asked me to pass on their thanks to you, my son.
Peter had given him credit for delivering that intel? What the hell? Was his father pretending to his bosses that Alex was an active FSB asset?
Deep unease rippled down his spine, an unpleasant reminder of how dangerous a man his father was. What game was Peter playing at now?
His father was speaking again. I hear you have accepted long-term employment with Doctors Unlimited.
Alex looked around the park in panic. How in the world did his father know that? Hed only officially been assigned to the aid organization a few days ago, and hed been in various CIA training facilities and out of sight before that.
Not that it should surprise him that there were moles inside the CIA. But still. It was alarming to receive incontrovertible proof of it. Was Doctors Unlimited itself penetrated? Hed thought that was what Peter had wanted him to do. Was getting inside D.U. a test, then? Any intel Alex passed on to his father would be vetted against intel from the other mole in the organization?
It was a neat way to trap him. Alex would have no choice but to pass on real information. Which would constitute treason. Which would make him dead meat if the U.S. government found out. Which meant Alex would have no choice but to throw in his hat with the FSB and accept his fathers protection and patronage.
Peter must be desperate if he was showing his cards this openly.
In the millisecond it took all of this to pass through his mind, the sun passed behind a cloud, casting the park in an abruptly dim and shadowed light. Your intel is correct, Father. I did take a job with Doctors Unlimited.
You will get me that list of employee names and where the organizations members are posted abroad, yes?
He thought fast. Was it worth endangering the lives of dozens of doctors, nurses and translators to throw his old man off the scent? He answered smoothly, Of course. Because of all my training, I havent had an opportunity to get the list. But D.U. is open for business in its repaired offices now. I should be able to get you the list quite easily.
Who in D.U. was the mole? To whom did he dare talk about his dilemma? If he gave a false list of staffers and their postings to hot spots around the worldostensibly to render medical aid and unofficially to observe and gather intelligencehis father would know him for the traitor to Mother Russia that he was. Not that the United States of America trusted him any farther than Uncle Sam could throw him.
But if he gave away the real list, his colleagues lives could be in terrible danger.
I shall await the list with great eagerness, Alexei.
Hed bet. The damned list potentially represented his first step down the slippery slope to treason. And the bastard couldnt wait to push him the rest of the way down that hill.
He disconnected the phone call, careful not to show any physical or facial reaction to the call. Knowing his old man, Peter was watching him on a satellite this very minute for a reaction. Too tense to sit still for long, though, he stood and pushed the pram a lap around the paved path outlining the park. He nodded and smiled at a few mothers with strollers and an elderly man with a pair of hairy little dogs that looked like mops.
Leisurely, he headed back toward the condo.
As if theyd been monitoring his phone calls, a new call vibrated his phone on cue, this time his boss, André Fortinay. The man had put his life on the line for him, Katie and Dawn last year, and had supposedly been a big advocate of bringing Alex all the way into the CIA fold, but did he dare trust the man?
He took the call. Hello, André. How are you today?
Im fine. You?
Good. What can I do for you, sir?
Any chance you could come into the office in the next day or two? Id like to talk over possible postings for you. We have too few doctors and too many crises around the globe where people are desperately in need of medical care.
Not to mention he was a trauma surgeon who could handle the sorts of terrible combat wounds that few physicians were trained to treat. The same sorts of wounds hed spent the past year learning how to inflict.
Whats a good time for you, André?
Now, if youre not busy.
Ive got the baby with me.
Bring her along.
I can be there in, say, a half hour?
Perfect.
Alex flagged down a cab and pulled up in front of the D.U. officea restored mansion on embassy rowin more like twenty minutes. However, it took him nearly ten minutes to get past a phalanx of cooing secretaries and nurses with Dawn to Andrés door. He left the baby and a bottle with the mans secretary. She was in transports of ecstasy at getting to feed Dawn. He stepped inside Fortinays office and threw a harried look at his boss.
Now you know why your old man used you as a cover, André observed dryly. Nobody can resist a cute baby.
Alex scowled and dropped into the chair in front of his bosss desk.
Adapting to parenthood all right? the man asked.
Dawns great. Family life is...relaxing. When he wasnt quietly flipped out over whether or not any of it was real, that was.
So. Lets talk about what youll do and where youll go next.
That sounds like a plan. Im not the type to sit around the house staring at my toes. While he talked, Alex reached across Fortinays desk, picked up a pen and scrawled the words White noise generator? on a sticky pad.
Fortinay nodded and held up a finger. I hear you. Inactivity makes me lose my mind in short order. He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a gadget about the size of an old-fashioned cassette tape recorder and set it on his desk.
All right. White noise in place. Whats up, Alex?
My father phoned me this morning.
Did he, now? The mans not wasting any time calling in the favor he earned by saving your life.
He claimed it wasnt him who gave the order not to kill me last year.
Fortinay leaned back hard in his chair at that. Is he still sticking with that line?
It didnt come up today. But as far as I know, hes standing by the assertion. Not that Id know with him if its true or not. Best liar Ive ever seen. No tells at all.
Duly notednever play poker with the man. Or his son, the way I hear it.
Alex shrugged. Hed made millions gambling at the tables in Vegas and Atlantic City. High-stakes poker had been one of his more profitable endeavors, in fact. It hadnt all been about being a good liar, though. His eidetic memory and masters degree in cryptography had helped.