Conspiracy (Alex and Cassidy Book 4)

by Nancy Ann Healy

  Cassidy smiled. “Only one.” Alex raised her brow. “Who’s on top?” Cassidy asked, flipping their positions again and straddling Alex.

  “That would be you,” Alex admitted defeat happily.

  “For now,” Cassidy replied as she happily gave over to her wife.

  Chapter Two

  “How is our guest today?”

  Agent Steven Brady shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Disagreeable as always,” he said. The older man laughed. “Why keep him at all? I mean, he’s given you absolutely nothing of consequence. Do you really think that it’s worth the risk of someone finding….”

  “Finding out he’s alive or that I am?” James McCollum inquired.

  “Sir, all due respect, but there has been a great deal of interest in this ghost,” Brady observed. McCollum smiled. “Sir? What if they find you? If Claire…Well, Alex and Krause will follow her.”

  “Oh, Agent Brady, that is only a matter of time. It always has been. Even a ghost cannot stay hidden forever, not even out here.”

  “I don’t understand,” Steven Brady admitted.

  “I know you don’t. What matters is who comes. There is no if in this equation. Now, what of the sparrow?”

  “Same, just like him,” he pointed to the man on the other side of the glass window. “A puppet.”

  “Yes, but whose puppet, Agent Brady? Who is pulling Claire’s strings these days?” McCollum posed the question rhetorically.

  “Kargen and Ivanov?” Brady guessed.

  McCollum smiled. “I don’t think so. You go keep our guest company for a bit.”

  “Today’s agenda?” Brady asked.

  “I want to know who sent him to The Broker,” McCollum said.

  “Krause recruited him. I’m sure the introduction was made before any campaign funds were deposited or diverted…”

  “No,” McCollum stopped the man. “No, he went to The Broker not long before he received the first threats against him. That is unusual. Contact with The Broker is limited and for good reason. As brash as O’Brien is, he would not have made that move on his own. I still don’t know who sent him there. The answer to that question is the key to many things.”

  “You mean he had gone to The Broker before the president sent Alex to New Rochelle?”

  McCollum nodded. “Yes, I do. That is why Alexis was sent to Cassidy and Dylan. Jonathan was not involved in O’Brien’s meeting with Nicolaus. Trust me on that. It would surprise me if Jonathan even knows that they met. O’Brien knows something. He may not even realize what he knows. Who wanted those threats sent to him? Who orchestrated that? And, why involve Cassie?”

  “Wait. What are you saying? You’re telling me….Jesus, Alex’s father orchestrated her being sent to Cassidy. You think O’Brien knows that?” Brady asked. McCollum’s jaw became taut, but he did not answer. “You think O’Brien was in on the threats themselves? Why would anyone tell him they were going to do that? Why haven’t you asked him before?”

  McCollum stood silently watching the subject of their discussion. He had kept Congressman Christopher O’Brien in his custody for nearly a year. He’d made the congressman moderately comfortable during that time, utilizing more abstract fear than physical intimidation to secure information from the man. He had been patient, biding his time carefully, waiting for the right moment to press for what he needed to know. Timing was everything in James McCollum’s world. Some who had known him in his past life would have claimed that McCollum had a sixth sense about things. He seemed to possess an innate ability to anticipate a change in the weather. The storm he had been awaiting was finally gathering strength. He cleared his throat. “Timing, Steven, timing is everything. Now is the time to press, before our company arrives.”

  “If Claire discovers….”

  McCollum turned to Agent Brady and smiled. “Claire will not be ringing our doorbell,” he assured the younger man. He noted the puzzled expression on Brady’s face. “Someone else will, and sooner than you might think.”

  “You want them to come,” Brady surmised in amazement.

  “There is a time for everything, Agent Brady.”

  Steven Brady looked back at the congressman in the sound proof room and shook his head. “They’ll kill you,” he observed. “They will certainly kill him.”

  “We’ve both been dead a long time,” the older man said. Brady looked at McCollum in disbelief. “Go spend some time with my former son-in-law. See what he has to say.”

  “How far should I press?”

  “Don’t break him. Bend him as far as he will stretch,” the older man directed stoically.

  Agent Steven Brady watched the older man for a moment. McCollum remained still, never changing expression. Brady had been with the man for a year in this underground hideaway. The assignment had been given with no explanation and little detail until he had arrived in Siberia. He had been told simply that he would be reporting to a senior agent, the codename given was Lynx. He recalled the brief conversation with his handler well.

  “Siberia?” Brady clarified.

  “Yes, Agent Brady,” she repeated her directions.

  “Why? Taylor is gone.”

  “I know. And, that is all the more reason that you are the right person for this, Agent Brady,” she said. “You need distance from this. Believe me, when Alex learns that Taylor is…”

  “I know what Alex will do. This is your answer? My banishment?”

  She sighed. “The man you will meet—he is called Lynx.”

  “So? And, when you call on me I am Stallion. What of it? I don’t understand this. I got you Mitchell’s information. I followed, gave it to Taylor. I took care of O’Brien as you instructed.”

  She shook her head. “Do you know why he is called that? Lynx?” she asked. She watched as Brady’s expression hardened. “A lynx has second sight. That is what they say.” She noted the crease deepen in Steven Brady’s forehead. “Listen to me, you will understand more when you meet him,” she said thoughtfully.

  “Just tell me,” Brady asked. She met his gaze. “I’m not coming back, am I?” he asked. She smiled. “Jane?”

  “I don’t know, Steven. We have all chosen our path now—all of us. That path sometimes leads us in unexpected directions,” Jane Merrow answered. Brady took a deep breath. He had just closed his eyes in resignation when he felt her hand on his. “I do believe, if he has anything to say about it, you will make it home again,” she said.

  “Just who is this man?” Agent Brady asked.

  “Just a ghost from the past,” she replied.

  Steven Brady took one last look at the man beside him and headed off to his appointed task. Living in these conditions for the last year had afforded Brady the opportunity to get to know the older man. It would have been impossible for most people to believe that this man had served as the heavy hand of The Collaborative for many years. James McCollum was soft-spoken and mild-mannered, even in the presence of a man like Christopher O’Brien. Brady turned his attention to the former congressman sitting in an over-sized chair across the large room. He looked back at the mirror behind him, unable to see the expression of the man on the other side. He imagined it remained stoic, even passive. Brady gently bit the inside of his lip and steadied his breathing. Mild-mannered, passive, stoic—it was funny he realized, those were the attributes required in this line of work. Only a few men could endure these conversations, whether the interrogator or the subject. A calm exterior often concealed an inner beast that raged supreme when set free. A controlled beast, as Brady had learned, is the most dangerous. Its prey are left unsuspecting, deliberately allowed to gain false confidence. They never see the beast lurking beneath the surface until it is ready to devour them. That was the manner of things in Steven Brady’s line of work. “Well, Congressman, I guess it’s time we had a little talk.”

  ***

  February 21st

  “You are going to see my father,” Eleana said flatly.

  “I am,” Jonathan
Krause replied.

  Eleana regarded the man before her as he finished packing his suitcase. Jonathan Krause’s jaw was taut and his temple was occasionally twitching on its own accord. Seldom could anyone detect stress in Jonathan Krause’s demeanor or stance. His need to always conceal his emotions frustrated Eleana at times, even if she did understand its origins. Over the last year, she had learned to read the subtle signs that slipped out from underneath his control. The telltale signs of stress or concern only revealed themselves when she and Krause were alone or in the presence of Krause’s family. Looking at him now, Eleana was sure that there was something he was not telling her. Visiting Edmond Callier was no cause for stress or apprehension and Jonathan Krause was obviously anxious. Krause suspected something. Either that, or he was concerned about protecting Eleana from something.

  Eleana and Krause’s relationship had grown well beyond professional respect and kinship. Eleana had been waiting for the aloof agent standing before her to admit his feelings for her. She sensed his reluctance and was well aware of its cause. Now, a new tide was rising in their lives. Everyone in the life they shared could sense it. Eleana noted the increased tension that permeated the room when their small group of fringe agents and operatives had met just before the New Year. Alex had been uncharacteristically impatient. Jane Merrow had been unusually quiet. Her father had been deliberately evasive. After the meeting, Krause had grown distant. Eleana was the youngest in the group. She understood that Jonathan Krause often mistook her lack of field experience for naïveté. Eleana was no more naïve to the workings of the world than she was aware of the emotions that coursed between her and Krause. She’d let him dictate the pace of their work and their personal connection. A vague shadow of fear in Krause’s eyes compelled her to change that dynamic now.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked him pointedly.

  “Nothing,” he said with a smile. “I just need to follow up on a few things.” Eleana nodded. Her expression was a roadmap to her suspicions. Krause smiled again. “Your father hasn’t told us everything,” he said. “You know that as well as I do. He has held back. It’s time. We need to know. Something is festering. I can feel it.”

  Eleana sighed deeply. “You think Claire’s ghost is real, don’t you?”

  “I think someone thinks it’s real,” he corrected her.

  “No,” Eleana said flatly. “You wouldn’t be going to France now unless you believed she was chasing something that might undermine our efforts.”

  “Eleana, it’s just a precaution. We have to know what your father is holding back. There is something.”

  “Fine. Then I am going with you.”

  “No,” Krause said emphatically as he closed his suitcase.

  “Yes. I am,” Eleana said.

  “Eleana…”

  “Don’t,” she warned him. Krause stepped back slightly. Seldom did Eleana Baros become cross. “Don’t tell me what I am not doing. You aren’t expecting a quick visit to France.”

  “I have no idea where this will lead.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Jonathan,” Eleana said.

  “I’m not lying to you. I don’t know.”

  “You know perfectly well that this trip will not end at my father’s villa. Where exactly do you think it will end?” she asked. Krause remained silent. “That’s what I thought.”

  “Eleana, I have no idea what I am going to confront…”

  “You mean who you are going to confront,” Eleana said. She shook her head. “You think you are going to cross paths with Claire.”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted.

  “You think I will fall apart if I see her,” she surmised.

  Krause shook his head. “No,” he told her. He massaged his aching temples for a moment and looked back at the woman glaring at him. Krause wasn’t sure he could pinpoint when it had happened, but at some point, he had fallen in love with Edmond Callier’s daughter. Alex had seen it before he had. He still had not told Eleana what he felt. Jonathan Krause had spent many years loving a woman that would never return his affection. That was not a pain that he planned to endure again. He was sure that Eleana felt something for him. He was also sure that Eleana loved Claire Brackett. He’d witnessed it in her eyes repeatedly when Claire’s name would arise. Now, those same eyes penetrated him with a defiant gaze he could not recall.

  Eleana stepped directly in front of Krause and placed both her hands on his chest. She looked up at him and held his stare with her own. “You are not going this alone,” she said.

  “It’s not safe.”

  “For whom?” she asked him.

  “For both of us,” he replied honestly.

  Eleana shook her head and took Krause’s face in her hands. “It’s not me who needs to let go of Claire,” she told him.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he asked.

  Eleana smiled and her expression softened. “Jonathan. Please,” she shook her head slightly. “I know you. I can see it in your eyes. You’re worried.”

  “I’m cautious. If this person exists, this ghost of Claire’s…Who could be so important that the admiral wants her to follow? That your father would not tell us? We are standing at the edge of something, something that people have gone to great lengths to keep us from. Don’t think they won’t go even further if they need to,” Krause explained.

  Eleana closed her eyes for a moment. “You don’t expect to come back,” she surmised painfully.

  “I never know what to expect.”

  Eleana reached out and took Jonathan Krause’s face in her hands. She opened her eyes and looked into his. “I can’t lose you too,” she whispered.

  Krause felt his heart rise into his throat. He wiped a single tear from Eleana’s cheek. “Eleana…”

  “No, Jonathan. I am going with you,” she repeated her demand firmly. Krause started to speak and Eleana stopped him. “I need you, Jonathan.”

  “You don’t need me,” he said softly.

  “You’re wrong,” she said.

  “Eleana, if Claire…I can’t promise you…”

  “I know,” she said. “Look, I will always love Claire,” she confessed. “I loved her my whole life, but life changes. I understand that. Claire never has.”

  “Eleana, I know…”

  “I love you, Jonathan. I can’t lose you.”

  Krause took a deep breath and tucked an errant strand of hair behind Eleana’s ear. “I will be back.”

  “I’m not taking that chance,” she told him. She looked up at the man before her and smiled.

  Krause leaned over and brushed his lips against her forehead. There was a great deal that he needed to say. It did not feel like the right time. He was positive from the look in Eleana’s eyes that the words she spoke were true. And, he was sure that she was aware of his feelings. His reluctance to allow Eleana to accompany him was not simply about Claire Brackett. Edmond Callier was Eleana’s father. Jonathan Krause had developed a new perspective on family over the last year. He intended to press Edmond as hard as was necessary to obtain the information he needed. It no longer mattered what Callier’s reasoning or intention was in withholding information. Being an ally did not guarantee one’s honesty and it definitely did not ensure transparency of any kind. Everyone had an agenda, something to protect. Krause believed that Callier’s motives were pure. That simply did not matter any longer. Information was not only power, but knowledge was also security. He did not want to subject Eleana to the possibility of seeing him press her father physically. On top of that, Claire Brackett remained a wild card. Claire delighted in the adventure of an agent’s life. She could be impulsive. Krause also understood that Claire loved Eleana. That concerned him. He had witnessed loss enough times. He did not want to subject Eleana to that. He sighed and held Eleana close. He surprised himself with his words.

  “I wish you would walk away from this,” he whispered.

  Eleana listened to Krause’s heartbeat in her ear as he held h
er. “You mean the agency or do you mean you?” she asked him softly.

  Krause sighed. “It’s not safe.”

  “I’ve never known anything worthwhile in life that was,” she told him.

  “Perhaps so,” he said.

  “Now,” she began as she continued to lean against him. “When do we leave?”

  ***

  Cassidy and Helen walked through the front door and Cassidy stifled a giggle at the sounds coming from the distance. She gestured to her mother-in-law to step softly so as not to alert Alex to their presence. Cassidy had a strong desire to see what was unfolding in the living room.

  “Moo!” Alex’s voice carried through the house.

  “Bah Bah!!” a small squeaky voice babbled.

  “Not bah, Kenz. Bah is a sheep, silly. MMM…OOOO… MOO! That’s what the cow says. MOO!”

  Cassidy and Helen looked at each other in amusement, both struggling to contain a burst of laughter.

  “Try again, Kenzie. Like Momma. Moooo!! Mooo!! Mooo!” Alex repeated. Each time Alex released the sound, Mackenzie would giggle uncontrollably. “Moo!” Alex howled again to Mackenzie’s delight.

  Cassidy shook her head and motioned for Helen to follow her.

  “Moo is an easy one, Kenzie. Moo! Then we have to learn oink. That one is harder,” Alex said seriously. “Cows say moo. Pigs say oink. Ducks say quack. Sheep say bah.”

  Cassidy stepped into the doorway and smirked. Mackenzie was on Alex’s knees lying on her back. Her eyes were wide as she watched and listened to Alex. Each time Alex made a noise and a silly face, Kenzie would erupt into a belly laugh. Cassidy looked at Helen, who was stifling a laugh and shook her head at the seriousness in Alex’s plea to their daughter. “Good luck,” Helen whispered. “I’m headed for my first glass of wine in over a month,” she said with a wink.

  Cassidy smiled. Helen was feeling better and more confident after a positive visit to her cardiologist. Cassidy understood. She was looking forward to a nice glass of wine soon as well. She watched Helen head back down the hallway and turned her attention back to the farm animal lesson in the next room.