Conspiracy (Alex and Cassidy Book 4)

by Nancy Ann Healy

  Claire closed her eyes when she felt the Jeep come to a halt. There had only been a handful of people who had ever shown Claire Brackett genuine kindness. In her life, people used kindness as a tool to acquire what they wished—information, connections, physical gratification—it was seldom a gesture without expectation. Perhaps, Claire mused, she did not deserve it—kindness. She had lost everyone who had ever cared for her at all. Her mother had always been gentle with her. John Merrow had tried on more than one occasion to reign her in and convince her that there was far more in life than the games she played. Eleana had loved her beyond what was reasonable. Eleana held Claire, challenged Claire, and confronted Claire when no one else would dare. She had lost all of them in some way. Cassidy had reached out to Claire against the caution and concern of everyone around them. Claire still could not comprehend why. What had any of them seen to even try?

  “No more of this,” Claire whispered.

  “Claire?”

  Claire turned to face Hawk. “No more taking parents from their children. No more.”

  Hawk hopped out of the Jeep and went to open Claire’s door.

  “What are you doing here?” McCollum began to make his way cautiously toward the vehicle. He had gone outside to split some wood for the fireplace. It gave him a reason to step away, and James McCollum was grateful for the air in his lungs, even if it was cold. Hawk opened Claire’s door and Claire emerged gingerly.

  “Claire?” McCollum’s surprise lit his features.

  “Where’s Alex?” Hawk asked.

  “She took Dylan down to the lodge,” he answered. “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be up,” he looked at Claire.

  “Cassidy here?” Claire asked.

  “No, they went to watch her ski. Claire, what’s going on?” he asked.

  “My father is on his way here. He knows you are here. He won’t be alone,” Claire said. “We tried to call but Alex’s phone…”

  “None of us have had any reception since early yesterday evening. Betting the storm took out the tower.”

  “How do I get to the lodge?” Claire asked.

  “It’s about a mile down the mountain. There’s a shuttle that comes by on the main road. Alex took Dylan on the snowmobile. Or, you can drive down to the base. Take the first Bear Claw lift. It leads to The Den. That’s where they are,” he said calmly.

  “Claire,” Hawk turned to her. “You cannot make that trip. You can barely walk. I’ll go, you stay here.”

  Claire balked at the suggestion. “Are you armed?” Claire asked McCollum. He shook his head no. “Too exposed, Hawk. Too exposed. It’s safer if I go. Give me the keys to the Jeep.”

  “Claire!”

  “Damnit, Hawk! We don’t have time for this!”

  “Alex’s Glock is in Helen’s car,” McCollum told them.

  “Get it,” Claire said. “I’ll bring it to her.”

  “Claire, don’t you think Alex might be more receptive to me,” Hawk argued.

  “Hawk, if my father comes here, they are all unarmed. Trust me, I would prefer to stay. I’m not fast enough if…”

  Hawk sighed apprehensively as McCollum returned with Alex’s gun. “Claire, be careful. Your father wants me,” he told her.

  “Not just you,” Claire said. “He wants Dylan.”

  “What?” McCollum went pale.

  “Hawk will fill you in.”

  “Claire, wait,” McCollum said.

  “No time.”

  “Claire! Mackenzie is in the cabin. You need to take her to Alex. Cassidy can take the kids in the Jeep,” he explained before flying into the cabin.

  “Is he fucking insane?” Claire asked. “I can’t watch a baby!”

  “He’s right, Claire.”

  “Fuck!”

  McCollum burst through the door to the cabin and headed directly for Rose. “I need you to listen to me.” She looked up at him. His pupils had narrowed to pin points. “Get Mackenzie and Helen and meet me outside. You need to get to the lodge now. Rose, please, I know you have no reason to trust me, but I am asking you to.”

  “What’s going on?” Edmond asked.

  “Bill. On his way with company,” McCollum explained.

  “How do you….”

  “Claire is outside.”

  “Claire?” Edmond asked.

  “Edmond! Nous savons tous les deux qu'il ne sera pas hésiter! (We both know he will not hesitate)!” McCollum urged.

  “Go,” Edmond looked at Helen. “Please, Helen…Take Rose and Mackenzie and go.”

  “Not to rush our goodbyes,” Hawk poked her head in the door. “But, we’ve got company on the way.”

  Edmond helped Helen with her coat while Rose bundled Mackenzie hurriedly, fumbling in nervousness. McCollum took over Rose’s task handily and passed her their granddaughter. He led her through the door to Claire. “Stay with Claire. She’ll keep you safe until you get to Alex.” He nodded to Claire. Helen and Rose climbed into the back of the Jeep with Mackenzie and he leaned in the door. “It might never matter to you again,” he told Rose. “But, I love you.”

  “This is not what I signed up for,” Claire grumbled.

  “Is there another road?” Hawk asked. “Another way to the cabin.”

  McCollum nodded. “Safest the way you came, but,” he looked back at Claire, who had pulled herself into the driver’s seat. “Go down to where the fork was, turn left and go up the mountain for about a quarter mile.”

  “Up? Why up?” Claire asked.

  “Go up until you see the next fork. There are some condos up there. Take a right and go down. Just in case” he said. Claire smiled, understanding his directive. If anyone were close, they would not pass Hawk’s Jeep coming from the cabin. A few extra minutes was worth the diversion. “Claire?” he said. He looked back at Rose. “Don’t worry about us. You get them out of here, Cassie too. No matter what.”

  Claire nodded and turned the Jeep over. She looked at the occupants of the back seat and shook her head in utter disbelief. “This is not what I signed up for.”

  ***

  Admiral William Brackett climbed into a black Hummer. He took a deep breath and readied himself to come face to face with his old friend James McCollum. McCollum was not a person to be underestimated. When he had served in the field, he had often been tasked with the most dangerous and often gruesome missions. McCollum was an engineer by trade. He was also a master marksman, proficient in martial arts, physically intimidating when needed, and highly intuitive. Brackett closed his eyes. A call from General Matthew Waters had left him with a greater measure of confidence in this chosen course of action.

  Waters had spoken with his sister. He informed The Admiral that she had called him regarding his contacts at Rand. She was sending Krause and Baros back to ascertain what Gray had not been able to show Alex before Carecom had been compromised. Agent Fallon and Agent Brady were pushing paper, Waters had said. The Admiral’s daughter was convalescing under the watchful eye of Agent Hawkins. Jane’s greatest concern was for Dylan, who had apparently met with a small accident. Brackett could not have devised a more perfect scenario if he had coordinated it all himself. The only question marks left to be answered were Joshua Tate and Marcus Anderson. Neither presented any significant worry for Brackett.

  “How far out?” he asked the two men in the front of the car.

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “Good.”

  “You want to surprise them?” the driver asked.

  “Oh, they’ll be surprised,” Brackett gloated. “All of them.”

  Chapter Twenty

  “Fuck! Fallon! Fallon!” Brady moved the agent on top of him and shook him lightly. “Fallon? Damnit. Shit, Fallon.”

  Brady reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “Fuck!”

  He threw the smashed piece of metal and plastic aside. The smoke surrounding him was thick and clogging his lungs. He coughed and spit. His leg throbbed and his head was spinning. Brady c
hecked Fallon for a pulse and closed his eyes. “Goddammit, Brian,” he whispered. He reached into Fallon’s coat pocket and fished for Fallon’s cell phone. “We can’t be here,” he muttered to Fallon. Brady pulled himself upright and began to drag Fallon behind him.

  Fallon stirred slightly. “Go,” he managed to whisper.

  “Brian…” A rumbling above them directed Brady’s sight upward.

  “Get out,” Fallon directed him.

  “Not without you.”

  “Without me. Get to Alex.”

  “Brian,” Brady argued. The rumbling steadily shifted to a constant creaking.

  “Now, Brady,” Fallon opened his eyes. He knew that Brady could not see the hole in his back. Fallon could feel it. Something had pierced him deeply in the explosion. There was no way he was walking or crawling anywhere. Fallon suspected that if he could make it out of this nightmare of wire, steel, and dust he would likely never walk or crawl anywhere again. Alex needed the files he had sent. That was the most important thing.

  “Fallon, I will get you out of here.”

  “No, you won’t,” Fallon said bluntly. He grabbed Brady’s jacket. “Tell Alex—take care of Kate. Take care of those kids, all of them.”

  “Brian…”

  “You know I’m right. Let this beat cop get some rest,” Fallon managed the hint of a smile. He had resigned himself to his fate. He had hoped that it would never come to this, but Brian Fallon had no illusions about life as a cop nor as an agent. He had accepted the risks long ago.

  “You're no beat cop,” Brady told him as bits of plaster fell on them.

  Fallon coughed up some blood through a chuckle. “Always a beat cop,” he said as he closed his eyes. “Get out of here.”

  Brady looked down at Fallon for a moment. “Fuck me,” he muttered. “I’m sorry,” he said. Brady pulled himself into a kneeling position and began feeling his way through the rubble. Fallon was right and Brady hated it. The least he could do for the man behind him was to honor his request.

  ***

  “I don’t understand it,” Krause said.

  “What?”

  “Brady I get. I mean, he’s been off the radar for over a year. But, Fallon? I can believe he’d move on a suspicion, but to not check in—at all?”

  “You think they were compromised?” Eleana asked. “Maybe we just missed them. If they drove, they would have been hours behind us,” she reminded Krause.

  “Maybe,” he muttered. Krause was tense. “I don’t like it.”

  Eleana pulled him to face her. “Alex will be all right,” she told him, sensing his worry.

  “I don’t like any of it.”

  “Neither do I,” she told him. “You can’t do anything about it right now,” she said. “You have to trust that Claire and Hawk will get there. They will. Jane will come through on her end. She loves them too, Jonathan.” Eleana noted the deep sadness in Jonathan Krause’s eyes and moved to kiss his lips gently. “Jane will be okay,” she said. “We’ll get through this. We always do.”

  “That’s the thing, Eleana. Not everyone always does,” he said.

  Eleana kissed him again. “No, they don’t,” she admitted somberly. Her thoughts traveled to her friend Russ Matthews. She would not be in Jonathan Krause’s arms had Matthew’s not moved quickly to save her when the American Embassy had been attacked in Moscow. She thought about Claire’s mother. “Jonathan?”

  “Yeah?” he asked as his hand caressed her back.

  “I don’t want to think about any of it right now,” she told him honestly. He looked at her compassionately. She traced a small scar over his eyebrow with her fingers. “Just love me right now.”

  Krause smiled. He leaned in and kissed her tenderly. “I don’t deserve you,” he told her.

  “Yes, you do. And, I deserve this.”

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “To have someone love only me.”

  Krause smiled. “That, I can do,” he promised.

  ***

  Alex let Dylan lean on her for support as they made their way toward the ski lift. She watched the chair lift climb the mountain and swallowed hard. Dylan pulled on Alex’s hand to guide her toward the platform. “Isn’t there another way up there?” she asked.

  Dylan looked at Alex curiously. “No.”

  “So, you just sit in this until you are halfway up the hill?”

  Dylan studied Alex. “Yeah. Come on, it’s fun.”

  “Can’t we just take the snowmobile up there?”

  “No,” Dylan said. “This lift will drop us just above The Den. We just walk down the path.”

  “See? Your ankle still hurts,” Alex observed. “Can’t we see her down here?” Alex had only skied twice in her life, neither had been an enjoyable or successful endeavor for her, something she had no intention of sharing with her son or her wife.

  Dylan giggled. He was starting to understand that his hero was a bit afraid. “Alex? Are you scared?”

  “What? No!”

  “It’s okay, I was scared at first too. This one is easy.”

  “Uh-huh. Speed, how are you going to hop off of the lift with that ankle?” Alex asked.

  “Boots help,” he said. Dylan’s ankle was sore, but he was excited to be with Alex, and he was looking forward to seeing his mother on the slopes. “It’s not far, Alex. I promise, I can do it.”

  Alex took a deep breath and nodded. There were only a few people ahead of them in line. She was startled by a voice behind her. “Couldn’t keep him away, huh?” Alex turned to find Cassidy lifting her ski goggles.

  “Mom!”

  “Hey. What are you two doing here?” Cassidy asked.

  “Grandma said we should come watch you.”

  “Oh, I see,” Cassidy replied. “Well, in that case, care to share a ride?”

  “I thought this went half way?” Alex asked.

  Cassidy smirked. She had guessed that what prevented Alex from skiing was the lift. Helen had made a few comments to that effect. “It does. There’s another lift on the opposite side of The Den that takes you to the top,” she explained. Alex nodded. Cassidy smiled. They were next. “Be brave,” she whispered in Alex’s ear. Alex looked at Cassidy like a deer caught in the headlights.

  Dylan sat beside his mother happily. Cassidy leaned into Alex’s ear as they began their ascent. “No worries, love, I will protect you.” Alex grimaced and Cassidy chuckled.

  Dylan poked his mother. Cassidy leaned in so he could whisper in her ear. “I think Alex is afraid of heights,” he said. Cassidy winked at him.

  Cassidy noted Alex’s white knuckles on the bar and took pity on her. “You didn’t have to come,” she said.

  “I wanted to see you,” Alex replied. Cassidy took Alex’s hand and held it. “Cass?”

  “Hum?”

  “How high is half way?”

  ***

  Hawk reached inside her jacket. “I trust you know how to use that,” she said to McCollum, handing him a Glock.

  “I do. Suppose you fill us in on why Bill Brackett is interested in my grandson.”

  “I would, but I don’t really get it. Something about his father using him. I don’t get it. I just know Krause thinks Admiral Brackett is on the way. Claire was determined to get here first.”

  Edmond looked across the room at McCollum. “SEED? Is it possible that Dylan was part of SEED?”

  “Anything is possible,” McCollum admitted.

  “If O’Brien used Dylan,” Edmond began.

  “If I hadn’t already killed the son-of-a-bitch,” McCollum groaned.

  “Not too worried about surprising us,” Hawk commented from the window in the common room. She could hear a vehicle approaching.

  “Well, we’ll see who will be surprised,” McCollum commented. He gestured to Edmond to take a seat. The two sat across from one another, each with a cup of coffee on the table, a deck of cards spread between them. “Agent Hawkins,” McCollum addressed the young woman. “Go in the b
edroom over there. There is a closet right inside. In it, there is a panel that opens. I built it to hold Cassie’s gear. You’ll fit.”

  “What? I am not leaving you out here. Alex will kill me, not to mention Claire…”

  “Just do it, Agent,” McCollum directed her. “You don’t know what we are dealing with. You said it yourself. I need to know. He will tell me, trust me on that.”

  “You don’t think he’ll go after them?”

  “Not if he doesn’t guess we’re a threat. Just do it. I can handle Bill Brackett—trust me.”

  ***

  Alex and Dylan sat at a high top table that faced several television monitors. Cassidy had promised that she would join them after her run. Alex watched the monitors carefully, waiting to catch a glimpse of Cassidy.

  “Alex! Here comes Mom!”

  Alex’s eyes zeroed in on the light blue jacket and she felt her lips curl into a smile. Cassidy was graceful. Her descent was fast, but fluid. Alex envied the freedom she imagined Cassidy felt at that moment. The slopes were almost bare. Alex sat in awe. It didn’t surprise her that Cassidy had athletic abilities in the least. She’d seen evidence of that many times. Cassidy could be competitive, but it was always with herself. Alex had never seen Cassidy become frustrated or irritated by losing a game of any kind, not like both she and Dylan could at times. But, Cassidy did push herself. Alex admired the tenacity in her wife as much as she did Cassidy’s gentle nature.

  “Told you!” Dylan said. “She’s really good!”

  Alex nodded. “Yeah, Speed, she sure is.”

  ***

  “You’re Bill’s daughter,” Helen commented.

  “Who is Bill?” Rose asked. “What is going on?”

  “He’s my father, yes. You know him?” Claire asked as she approached the parking lot of the resort.

  “We’ve met,” Helen replied.

  “I’m sorry,” Claire responded. She turned to face the women in the back seat. “How do I find Alex?”

  Helen nodded. “I’ll take you.”

  Claire tossed the keys to the Jeep to Rose. “I think you’ll be fine here. You can keep it running. If you feel like anyone is…Well, just drive away. Just go. They’re not looking for you or Mackenzie,” Claire said.