Conspiracy (Alex and Cassidy Book 4)

by Nancy Ann Healy

  Daniels chose silence as his ally at the moment. Admiral William Brackett had set his course. He was the navigator on this ship, a ship he had deemed unsinkable. Daniels had accepted an appointment to his command. As he watched the Admiral sip his scotch and shift the conversation to small talk with the Colonel beside him, Daniels found himself secretly hoping that they were not headed straight for an iceberg.

  ***

  Alex emerged from Gray’s car in a fury. “Just what the hell are you doing?” she called across the small parking lot.

  Fallon and Brady turned immediately to the sound of Alex’s frustrated voice. Hawk blew out a heavy breath and stilled herself for battle. The last person she expected to see this evening was Alex. Alex was approaching the threesome rapidly with Gray in tow. Hawk pivoted to face her former partner.

  “Alex,” Hawk held up a hand in mock surrender.

  “Don’t you Alex me,” Alex chastised her. “What the hell are you doing here, Hawk?”

  “Well, Agent Fallon and I….”

  Alex let out an exasperated groan and shifted her attention to Brady. “You look pretty good for someone who is dead,” she said flatly.

  Brady chuckled. “Long story.”

  “Always is,” Alex observed.

  “One we do not have time for. You are on the radar,” Gray said. “We need to get you out of here fast.”

  “Nice to see you, Robert,” Hawk greeted the man.

  “Hawk,” he replied.

  Observing the familiarity between her former partner and the Director of Research for Rand, Alex rolled her eyes. “I am sure I do not want to know,” Alex commented.

  “One of us needs to stay put,” Hawk told the group.

  “Now, I’m sure that I am the one who doesn’t want to know,” Gray said. Hawk shrugged. Gray shook his head. “Your credentials are still good,” he told Hawk.

  “Then it’s settled. You get this motley crew out of here,” she said to Gray. “I’ll deliver the package.”

  “Hawk,” Brady cautioned.

  “What package?” Alex asked pointedly.

  “Later,” Hawk told Alex. Alex groaned.

  “Come on, Alex. Let Hawk finish what they came for,” Gray suggested.

  “Pretty amicable to that scenario,” Alex said.

  “Like I said, it depends on which boss I am answering to. Come on,” he instructed her. He looked at the service van and turned to Brady. “You came in here with that?” he laughed.

  “Yeah?” Brady responded indignantly.

  “Brave,” Gray laughed again. “You have papers, I assume?” he asked. Brady nodded. “Good. You drive. Alex, you and Fallon get in the back. I’ll get us through security. My car won’t rouse any suspicion out here. Hawk will have time.”

  Alex reluctantly climbed in the back with Fallon. Fallon smiled sheepishly and started to speak. “Don’t,” Alex held up her hand. A persistent buzzing in her pocket caused her to shift her position. She retrieved a small, black phone. “Oh shit, now what?” Alex looked at the message display. 4-1-1. ECHBOR TTU - 3-5-2. “Fabulous,” she mumbled. Alex slid open the window and peered into the front seat. “Don’t suppose you have a plane you’d like to lend us?” Alex inquired jokingly of Gray.

  “Can’t say that I do,” he replied.

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “What is it?” Brady asked.

  Alex pressed down her frustration, anger, and her inclination to question her old friend. “Compromise at home base. That means the Natick facility. Timetable unknown.”

  “Threat?” Brady asked.

  “To be determined.”

  Brady nodded. “Faster if we drive.”

  “We are over four hundred miles from Natick,” Fallon piped up.

  “Alex?” Brady asked.

  Alex massaged her temples forcefully. “How about a car?” she asked Gray.

  “Funny you should ask. I think I might have just what you are looking for,” he replied.

  “Great,” Alex said as she slid the gate closed again. Fallon looked at Alex expectantly. She shook her head. “Don’t even tell me right now. We’ll have six hours to catch up.”

  “Six? Alex, it’s over an eight-hour drive to Natick,” Fallon reminded her.

  Alex just smiled. She needed silence now. She’d felt the storm brewing for months. They all had. A dark, cold night seemed appropriate to her. She needed to get her bearings. Something told her that the skies were about to open. “Here we go,” she thought silently. “I just wonder where the hell we are being led.”

  ***

  March 2nd

  “You’re sure about this?” Claire asked Anderson.

  “As sure as I can be. The source is reliable,” he answered her.

  “What makes you think Eleana is in any danger?” Claire challenged him.

  Anderson glanced over at Claire, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat of his car. “Claire…”

  Claire shook her head. She turned to look out of her window. Anderson did not need to complete his statement. Eleana had made a choice. Although Claire had not seen her old friend in many months, she was well aware of the changes in Eleana’s life. Eleana had aligned herself with Alex Toles and Jonathan Krause. It was not surprising. Claire let her thoughts wander to her former lover. Eleana had always possessed a moral compass that pointed directly north. Claire chuckled softly. It was the reason Claire loved Eleana. For many years, Claire regarded Eleana’s conscience and compassion as naiveté. Claire closed her eyes in resignation of the truth. Eleana was not naïve, nor was she weak in any way. Eleana was simply put, an honest woman with a genuine heart. Where Claire’s moral compass spun wildly, Eleana’s had remained steady. The only thing that surprised Claire in the least was the knowledge that at some point, Eleana had fallen for Jonathan Krause.

  All indications were that Krause’s compass mirrored Claire’s more closely than it ever could Eleana’s. The senior agent had been involved in numerous activities that Claire was certain would send shivers up Eleana’s spine. While, she may not have been naïve, Claire understood that Eleana would always remain somewhat idealistic. She wondered how Krause had captured Eleana’s heart. She was certain from what she had observed at a distance, and what she had been told that he had. Perhaps, she mused, Eleana was not so concerned about the past. Krause seemed to have taken a different track in the last year. Claire suspected, however, that no matter his motivations, he still gravitated more toward Claire’s inclinations than Eleana’s. Perhaps it was as much those similarities, as the different paths they had taken that drew Eleana toward the man.

  Claire derived a sense of pleasure, albeit temporary, from power and violence. She enjoyed the rush of physical exertion, the thrill of a chase, and the exhilaration that accompanied danger. Eleana, Claire had no doubt, could navigate any scenario that presented itself expertly. Eleana was intelligent, thoughtful, and discerning. Claire also knew that Eleana was a skilled fighter. She had proven that to Claire many times. Most people would never expect the beautiful Eleana Baros to possess expertise in several martial arts forms. Eleana was slight in appearance. Claire imagined that appearance itself would give Eleana an advantage against an unsuspecting foe. Her unassuming demeanor would likely evoke false confidence in an adversary. While Claire knew that Eleana detested guns, Eleana was also an expert marksman. Eleana had bested Claire many times in a sparring ring and at a shooting range. Claire smiled as she recalled one of their sparring matches. Eleana’s cool demeanor gave her the upper hand in confrontations. She could easily sense the frustration in Claire, and used it to her advantage.

  “Something amusing?” Anderson inquired, hearing a snicker slip from Claire’s lips.

  Claire shook her head. “Just remembering something,” she told him.

  Claire continued to gaze out of the window, watching the scenery as it passed by. She had been feeling unsettled for months, not that the sensation was foreign to her. Claire had felt deeply discontented for mos
t of her life. She had never gained a real sense of self, only of self-defense. Eleana had always been the one person, the one place that Claire had been able to calm herself, to be still, and to be content in the stillness. In every person’s life, one thing held purpose above all others. Claire had been raised by a man whose purpose was a sense of duty that she could scarcely comprehend. For as long as Claire could remember, only one thing held any meaning in her life at all—Eleana.

  “You ready for this?” Anderson parked the car on a side street.

  “You really think someone wants to harm her?”

  Anderson observed fear and concern play over Claire’s features. In her eyes, he noted something he was certain few took the time to see—sadness. He nodded. “She means something to….”

  “To him,” Claire said softly.

  “Yes, and to you,” Anderson commented.

  Claire looked up in astonishment. “That gives her power,” he explained. “Because she gives you both power,” he continued. “And, that makes her a target as much as it makes you one.”

  “Me?”

  Anderson watched Claire closely. She was a unique individual—charming, brilliant, and cunning, even witty. Claire was often so consumed in her own game that she failed to see what was unfolding around her. He smiled at her, realizing that his assessment of the cocky agent had been correct. Claire’s bravado masked something that ran far deeper—fear.

  Anderson had been chosen for his role carefully. He understood that. His skills differed from Claire’s or even Alex’s. Jane had brought him in two years earlier, preparing him slowly for his entrance to this world. Marcus Anderson was one of the most intuitive agents Jane had ever met. He possessed what few people in the field did, an innate ability to understand people, not in a cursory way. Anderson had a rare capacity for sensing a person’s emotions, a person’s inner turmoil. It was an attribute that could not be taught nor learned. It could be honed. Anderson was a master.

  Claire had been a wildcard in the game that Jane found herself immersed in. It was a game that was affecting everyone central to her life. It demanded her full attention, and she made the decision to accept her role as an orchestrator. It was the only way she could seek to protect what she held most dear. Early on, she had taken the time to assess the people entrenched in the same circles. Claire presented a challenge. At some point, Claire would either need to be cut loose entirely or reeled in. Jane had left that assessment to Agent Anderson. He had made it. Now, was his moment of truth.

  “Claire, she still loves you.”

  Claire could not meet Anderson’s gaze. Eleana would always love her. She knew that. She also understood that Eleana would never hold the place in her life that she once had. She had never considered what it all meant, at least not what it might mean for Eleana.

  “She might not be….”

  “When they strike, they will be certain it makes the impact they desire. The right people will be present,” Anderson said. “It will not be enough to destroy a building full of distant acquaintances and strangers.”

  Claire looked up and directly into his eyes. “How do you know they will be here, now?”

  “I don’t. Not for certain. This is their opportunity.”

  “What do you mean?” Claire asked.

  Anderson debated with himself for less than an instant. Few people trusted Claire Brackett. Anderson surmised that if he were to ever hope to earn Claire’s trust, he would have to show her his first. “Toles is in Virginia. Krause and Baros are across the globe.”

  “Where?”

  “Chasing ghosts,” he replied.

  Claire shook her head. “More of my father’s dead ends. Right where he wanted them.”

  Anderson opened his door. “Maybe,” he said.

  Claire rolled her eyes. “He always gets his way,” she muttered.

  “Maybe not,” Anderson offered. “Ready?”

  Claire chuckled. “You make it sound like a date,” she told Anderson.

  “I’ve had worse,” he joked

  Claire smiled at him. “You might just be crazier than me, Marcus.”

  “Maybe.”

  ***

  “What are you doing?” McCollum asked Krause.

  “Calling Alex.”

  “Bad idea, Agent,” McCollum gave his unsolicited assessment.

  “You want me to show up on her doorstep with her dead father-in-law in tow? Think that is a better idea?” Krause spat vehemently.

  “We’ll have time, Jonathan, time for you to do as you see fit. She’s in Virginia.”

  “How do you know that?” Eleana asked.

  McCollum winked at the young woman. “She has a meeting at Rand.”

  “And?” Krause asked.

  “We are not showing up on her doorstep, Jonathan.”

  “I thought you said we had to move quickly,” Krause replied.

  “Good to know your hearing is intact.”

  Krause’s patience was waning. “The least you can do is give us some answers.”

  McCollum sighed and nodded. “There are people who deserve those answers first,” he said honestly.

  Krause’s posture stiffened. Eleana put a hand on his knee to calm him. “Jonathan,” she whispered. “He is right.”

  “Look,” McCollum began. “There’s a lot you need to know, all of you. I promise you that when we reach Boston, I will explain things as best I can. What I can tell you is that Dmitri had been sent to Carecom in your absence.”

  “For what purpose?”

  “My assumption is that they intend to place a mechanism.”

  “A bomb?” Eleana asked.

  “Perhaps or perhaps something more subtle, something that can be triggered at a great distance, something with eyes as well as teeth,” McCollum said.

  “To what end?” Krause asked. Before McCollum could respond, Krause continued. “And, just what the hell did we walk into back there?”

  McCollum shifted in his seat as the plane began to take off. He had expected questions. He had anticipated anger and confusion. He had promised himself that the answers to these questions were owed to Cassidy and Alex before he dove into them with anyone else. He realized now that his hope had not been realistic. Krause needed some perspective. Moreover, the pair before him deserved it.

  “For a long time, we suspected that O’Brien had been placed. It was a suspicion, Jonathan. One for which no one had gained any confirmation.”

  “Placed? Placed by whom?”

  “That remains the question,” McCollum said.

  “I don’t understand,” Eleana admitted. “You mean that someone placed him in Congress? That’s how it’s done, isn’t it?”

  “No,” McCollum said. “I mean that he was placed in Cassidy’s life.”

  Krause felt a wave of nausea roll through him. “To what end?” he asked.

  McCollum’s lips tightened. “To try and flush me out.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Krause mumbled. “What about Alex’s father?”

  “Your father is gone,” McCollum said honestly. “I wish for all my life that were not the truth, Jonathan. While, I am sure nothing I say will hold any truth for you yet, I swear to you that is the truth.”

  Krause’s gaze was impassive. Eleana smiled sadly at the older man accompanying them. The tension in the plane was thick, heavy like the air in the tunnel she had traversed earlier.

  “He was Russian,” Eleana observed.

  McCollum shook his head. “He was American, Eleana. Who placed him—that remains the question.”

  “His Russian was impeccable,” she said flatly.

  “As is yours,” McCollum reminded her.

  “Yes, but I was raised with the language,” she said.

  She recalled her mother in that instant. Maria Baros had been an amazing woman and mother. She had raised Eleana as best she could with a sense of who both her parents were. Maria’s father was a Spanish businessman who had fallen in love with a Russian dancer. Maria had been rais
ed in Spain, but with the languages of both her parents. At seventeen, her father had purchased a vacation home for the family in France. It was there that a young Maria met a much older Edmond Callier and fell in love. Eleana had lived a charmed life, one much different than her older brother had in London. She spent winters with her mother and grandparents in Spain and the rest of the year with her parents in France, until her mother’s illness compelled then to send her away to school. She adored both of her parents. She considered her exposure to language a priceless gift that her family had given her. Spanish, French, English, and Russian were all as familiar to her as her own skin.

  “To be able to speak with that confidence,” Eleana began, “that was not so much taught as given.”

  “Mmm,” McCollum hummed his agreement. “Given is an excellent word,” he told her. He turned back to Krause. “I will tell you what I know about where we are headed and why. The rest, you agree to wait for,” he said. “I cannot give you what you seek before I give it to her.”

  “You mean Cassidy.”

  “If it comes to that, yes. At the very least, I owe it to Alexis,” he said. Krause reluctantly nodded. “This new merger you two are hell-bent on,” McCollum began. “It’s the proverbial straw on the camel’s back,” he said

  “Why?” Krause asked pointedly. “Carecom has taken control of at least four major competitors to MyoGen and Rand over the last year. Alex has…”

  “Alexis has no idea what she is taking over,” McCollum said.

  “And you do?” Krause asked skeptically.

  “I should. It was my project,” McCollum replied.

  “Lynx,” Eleana whispered, more to herself than to the two men with her.

  McCollum looked at Eleana proudly. “You are your father’s daughter, Eleana. Where did you hear that name?”

  “It was on some documents we found,” she told him.

  “Well, you are further ahead than I expected then.”

  “Somehow, I doubt that,” Krause interjected. “So? Why the rush now? Why come out of hiding now, after all of these years?”