He tucked himself into her when she finally sat down across from Frank’s desk. Rowan pulled his chair closer to his wife, and put his arm around her, drawing her in. She leaned against him, physically drained. Kitty paced behind them.
“Dr. Donovan?” Frank asked, causing her to pause and turn her gaze to him. “Do you have something to share? A message for us, perhaps?”
Kitty nodded, pulling another chair over, sitting down. “I learned everything I could from Dr. Grayson ... Michael,” she said. “My brain is still trying to process it all, but he told the story of two brothers, one betrayed by his father, and angry at his brother; the other, a protector of mankind. The two fought a war for control over the earth and the angry one lost. He was cast from Heaven and banished to Hell; enslaved in the world he sought to destroy. The Protector vowed to return and cast out the other brother; to free mankind from the destruction his brother wrought.”
Frank listened patiently, folding his hands, laying them on the desk. He nodded as she spoke.
“In Russia, there is a little known religion that arose because of the Russian’s need to win the space race. A cult of the cosmos, if you will. It started with Yuri Gagarin.”
“Gagarin?” Rowan puzzled.
Kitty nodded. “In a movie called, The Moon, made in 1965, there was a line that went something like We had made it to the stars and there was no bearded old god there. Only science. Only the Soviet System. But as Russians turned away from the more mainstream Christian religion, the fallen brother began to gain power, and a darker cult began to grow. Malakoff was an agent of the fallen brother, or the Dark One, as he is sometimes called. There will be more of these minions after him,” she said, her tone growing dark as she glanced at Lauren. “Michael says this is only the beginning. We have to continue the work our NATO Task Force has begun, but we have to work to build our relationships here. We will all need to work together if we are going to face this threat in the future.”
“How much time do we have?” Frank asked.
“It’s hard to say,” Kitty said. “All we can do is prepare.”
“Did Michael say ...” Lauren started, but hesitated. “What my role is in all this?”
“What makes you think any of this has anything to do with you, Dr. Pierce?” Frank asked.
Lauren looked to her hand as she remembered the feel of the energy racing through her bones. “I don’t believe in coincidences.” She lifted her eyes to him. “I have a gift ... gifts ... I have to think there’s a reason for it.”
“He said, you are the Hand of the gods.” Kitty said. “Here to do their work and to find the truth in all things.”
“That’s not very specific,” Lauren said.
“Well you’re work here is done,” Frank said. “Once the agents have taken your statements, that is.”
“What do you want me to tell them?” Lauren gulped. “I used magic given to me by the gods to defeat a demon?”
“Dr. Pierce,” Frank had an impish grin in his eye. “This is Washington D.C. That won’t even be the craziest thing any of us have ever heard.”
Lauren puzzled a moment, her nose wrinkling. “I’m not crazy.”
“No one said you were.”
Chapter 24
“Sister.” Lauren rolled over in her sleep, finding Rowan’s warm body against hers. She snuggled into him and drifted back to sleep. “Lauren.”
“What?” she said, turning to find Michael standing on the fallen log at the edge of the river behind the home where they’d grown up. The moonlight made his raven tresses glow blue in the darkness. “Michael! What are you doing here?”
“We couldn’t leave things ... unsettled between us,” he said as she approached, still dressed in the oversized cotton t-shirt she’d fallen asleep in.
“Kitty told us most of what you taught her, but ... what am I supposed to do? What’s my purpose?”
“You are to be a good wife and mother. Seek the truth and make wise use of it. Stay curious, always.” Tsul’Kalu’s words came back to her in a rush that left her feeling oddly disconcerted. “When the time comes, you will know what to do, and will have all the tools you need to accomplish your task. Allies will come to your aid, and you need not fear, for We will be with you.” He hopped down off the log and walked towards her. “In the meantime, We have some things We need to ask of you.”
“What can I do?” Lauren asked.
“Take care of our mother,” he said. “Time is too short to spend it being angry, for not speaking one’s mind, and not letting go of the past. Can you do that, Lauren?”
“I can try,” she said.
“We know you and Rowan have a job that needs to be done, one you haven’t been able to do,” Michael said, changing gears. “Go to your husband’s home. Take Kitty with you. We will provide aid. Watch for a package We will send you.”
“But what am I going to tell our mother about you? Where you’ve gone ... what you’re doing?”
“No one can know,” he said. “This is a secret that must remain between us. We trust Rowan and Kitty to guard this secret, too.”
“Of course they will,” Lauren said. “But ...” she hesitated. “What do we tell people?”
“Just don’t tell anyone your brother died,” he said. “It was too much to bear when he thought he lost Kitty. He doesn’t want to put anyone through that.”
“But what do I tell people? Tell our mother?” It didn’t even register in her brain that he’d yet to speak of himself in the first person, or singular.
Michael smiled, drawing her into his arms. “We are sure you can come up with something,” he said. “Do your best to make certain it’s a ... good story.”
“And Kitty?”
“Care for her as a sister,” he said. “She will need your aid as much as you need hers.”
Lauren nodded and hugged him fiercely. She hesitated to let him go, and felt tears welling up in her eyes. “Can we stay here a little while longer? I don’t want to say goodbye yet.”
“We will not say goodbye, Lauren.” He kissed her head. “We will simply say, sigwu do na dagwa do’hv.”
* * *
“You had an ancestor run for president?” Eleanor sat at Martha Pierce’s dinner table going through the stacks of white three ring binders. They contained everything she knew about Rowan’s family history.
“He might have won, too, if he hadn’t been so ... gregarious,” Martha mused.
“That’s a nice way of saying he was an asshole,” Charles said, gruffly in side bar to Lauren.
“Charles!” Martha gasped. “Do you want your grandson to hear you talk like that?”
“Pshaw!” Charles bounced the boy on his knee, delighted with his first grand-child. They’d spent the day in the back yard playing with Mr. Buttons, the Pierce’s Boston Terrier. Henry had been delighted and took a quick liking to both the dog and his grandparents, especially Charles. Henry giggled, blowing bubbles and making faces at his grandpa, who returned the favor.
“Your work here is quite impressive.” Eleanor kept flipping pages. “How far back have you gotten?”
“I have documentation going all the way back to Robert the Bruce.” Martha beamed. “Once you get into the royal lines, it gets much easier. I can trace us back farther, but I’m just going to have to go to Europe and get those records myself. The oldest documents can’t always be found on-line.”
“How do you feel about going with us to Scotland?” Rowan asked, wincing when Lauren’s head shot up. “Once we get done with Lauren’s family tree, of course.”
“Well I’m sure that would be nice, but ... we just bought an RV and intended to hit every National Park in the US,” Charles said. “After that, we’re headed to Canada.”
“Oh,” Lauren reached for her coffee cup. “Too bad.”
“Maybe next time.” Rowan shrugged, sitting back in his chair. Lauren insisted she liked his parents, but he could tell her mother was starting to get on her nerves. Four days ago they�
�d arrived in Denver, following her brother’s instructions. Clearly, Lauren’s limit was three days; maybe two. Lauren and Kitty had managed to sneak out for a few hours the day before to do some shopping. Their bags from South Africa had been delayed. They arrived in Colorado with little more than the clothes on their backs, and the few things they’d gotten in DC to get by with. Henry needed diapers and the Pierce house wasn’t exactly child proof, so Lauren had picked up some plug covers and a few other things to keep Henry safe as he crawled around the house.
“Rowan, you have enough here for a whole season, just on your family tree,” Eleanor beamed. “Did you know if you can get to Robert the Bruce, you can get to Charlemagne the Great?”
“Charlemagne is my middle name,” Rowan said.
“It’s an old family name on my side of the family,” Rowan’s dad said. “It was my grandpa’s name, and my great grandpa’s name,” Charles said. “They had to call me Charles so they wouldn’t get confused.”
“Did you figure out what you’re going to do about Lauren’s family tree?” Eleanor asked.
“I got some good information from my cousins and my brothers,” Lauren said. “Not as much as Martha has, but ... turns out, my family is pretty interesting after all.”
Eleanor’s bookish face brightened. “See, I told you so.”
* * *
Just as the family sat down to dinner, there was a knock at the door. “Rowan, dear. Could you get that?” Martha asked, passing Charles the basket of dinner rolls.
Rowan nodded and stood to do his mother’s bidding. It had always been his job as a kid. He paused as he opened the door, finding a man in an unmarked brown shirt and shorts, despite the chilly night. “Rowan Pierce?”
“That’s me,” he said, brightly.
The man held out an envelope with Lauren and Rowan’s names written on it. “Have a good day,” the delivery man said, as Rowan took it.
“Thanks,” Rowan said, studying the envelope, turning to close the door. He hesitated and turned back. There was no one there. Rowan’s brow narrowed as he stepped out onto the front porch, trying to see down the cul-de-sac, but there was no delivery truck; no traffic at all.
Rowan scratched his head as he returned to the table and sat down.
“What was that?” Lauren asked. He handed the envelope to her. She recognized the handwriting, and her eyes brightened. “It’s from Michael.”
“Your family records, dear?” Martha asked.
“Maybe,” she said, laying them aside, returning her attention to feeding Henry his dinner.
Rowan could tell it was everything she could do not to rip the envelope open right then and there. Only Martha Pierce’s meatloaf kept him from doing it himself. His mother was an excellent cook.
* * *
After dinner was done, Lauren pitched in and helped with the dishes, then made excuses about needing to get Henry ready for bed. She gathered him and the envelope up and headed upstairs to Rowan’s old room. She did get Henry ready for bed, before tearing the envelope open. Inside, she found an unusual device. It looked like the cord for an iPhone, but it had a strange block at the end, unlike anything she’d seen before.
She found the new iPhone she’d gotten to replace the one she’d left behind in South Africa. She’d been due for a new one anyway, and this one had all the bells and whistles, and enough storage to film a whole season of The Veritas Codex on. Collecting Henry, she lay down to nurse him while she fiddled with the device.
Rowan came in and stood at his dresser, emptying his pockets, removing his watch and ring, and preparing for bed. It was a ritual she’d watched him do every night for almost ten years, and she smiled to herself as he turned, peeling out of his plaid shirt, still in his t-shirt and jeans as he kicked off his shoes.
Rowan’s room had changed little since he’d gone into the military. His books were all still in the shelves, his plastic model of the Starship Enterprise still hung in the corner along with a Styrofoam planet. According to Rowan, the only thing different was the queen size bed with navy blue sheets and a plain comforter. She watched him as he took a book off the shelf and came over to lie down beside her.
“So what is it?” he asked.
“Some kind of storage device,” she said, as she scrolled through the strangely configured icons. They were more like Sumerian glyphs than anything she’d ever seen on her modern device. Lauren scooted in, moving Henry so she could feed him and show Rowan the phone. She tapped on one of the icons, surprised to find it was a video clip. While Rowan hadn’t taken a lot of film during their time at Michael’s lab. This video showed the scene of her and Michael from the airplane as he’d played her the audio file of the signals from space. It was as if the camera had been mounted over the flight attendant’s station.
“What the ...” Lauren gasped, closing that file; opening another. There were files of videos from Lauren’s trip home, and the family reunion, but something was different. In this video, Lauren was sitting beside her mother and they were holding hands, talking, and laughing in a way they never had. It gave Lauren hope. It was a promise from Michael that everything would be made right, given time and attention. Lauren found herself looking forward to returning home. She didn’t know when that would happen, but she’d be ready when time permitted.
“Do you realize what this is?” Rowan sat up, taking the phone from her hand, scrolling through the videos. “Michael gave us our episode ...” he said. “This is the story of you two ... working together.” He ran his hand down his beard.
There was a tap at the door. “Come in,” Lauren said.
The door opened and Kitty stepped in, looking sheepish. “Sorry to bother you,” she said. “Another delivery arrived, and your mother keeps talking about trying to teach us how to play canasta and bunko. Am I disturbing you?”
“Of course not,” Rowan said, waving her in. She came in and held out the package. “Let me guess, message from Mars?”
“Actually, this one is from Tahlequah,” she said. “Fed Ex just dropped it off.”
Henry had nodded off, and Lauren picked him up and moved him to the travel crib she’d gotten at the mall. She returned and patted on the foot of the bed, encouraging Kitty to sit as she took the package.
“It’s from my mother,” Lauren said, studying it. She glanced up at Rowan. “Wonder how she knew where to find me?”
“If your Mom is anything like you or Michael, then I don’t think you need to wonder.” Kitty mused. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” she said. Rowan stood and went to the dresser, picking up his Swiss Army knife and brought it to her.
Carefully, Lauren used it to slit the packaging, doing her best not to cut what was inside. She closed the knife and handed it back. Reaching in, she pulled out a bundle of cloth wrapped in tissue. There, she found a beautifully crafted ribbon skirt; made from navy blue calico and satin ribbons in a variety of colors to match the red flowers, and green stems in the fabric’s print.
“That’s pretty,” Rowan said with an arch of his brow.
“Beautiful,” Kitty added.
Lauren smiled, beaming with pride. “Mom said she was going to send it to me ... so I’d have it when I needed it.”
“I guess you’re going to need it soon then.” Rowan shrugged. “Knowing your mother.”
Lauren nodded, turning to Kitty. “Any luck thinking of a way to explain what happened to my brother?” She addressed the question to both Kitty and Rowan. “I don’t think my mother will buy he’s in the witness protection program.”
“It has to be something pretty spectacular if we’re going to fool anyone,” Rowan scratched his chin, leaning his elbow on his knee.
“The secret to any good undercover project is to try and keep as close to the truth as you can,” Kitty said. “It’s too easy to get caught in a lie if you stray too far from reality.”
“Have you done many undercover projects?” Rowan asked.
“I infiltrated a top job
at NASA, and you question my abilities as a spy?” Kitty feigned indignation. “I have gone on dozens of clandestine projects. I know my way around an undercover job.”
“So how do we use your abilities to hide my brother in plain sight?” Lauren asked.
Kitty sat up straight, as if a light bulb had just come on over her head. “I just might have an idea ...”
Epilogue
Lauren beamed, watching Rowan’s expression as they walked into Mission Control in Houston. Jean-René had the cameras on him, capturing that expression as he totally geeked out. His eyes were filled with wonder as he gasped, “Wow! This is incredible!” The words escaped from deep in Rowan’s chest.
The videographer had returned from France with hours of footage from his parent’s retelling of their family history. Once his father’s health-crisis was addressed and they were sure he was out of the woods, their secondary mission had taken over. He’d taken Bahati to all the places his mother had identified with their family’s long and well-documented past. If her research and records were accurate, the Toussaint family was descended from French nobility; nobility that had taken part in the Crusades, as well as several notable wars. While Rowan’s family tree made it to Charlemagne the Great through the Merovingian line, Jean-René’s tree met Rowan’s through the Carolingian line. He came from the branch of French royalty through Phillip VII, who had been aided by none other than Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans. They truly were blood-brothers ... well, more or less.
Today’s program, a complete left turn from their original mission, had taken nearly two months of working with Kitty, and NASA, to get to this point. Jean-René too, had been working covertly with some of his buddies that did special effects for the movies, and today was the culmination of their efforts. They were all confident they’d be able to pull it off, and the world would be watching.
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