Finding North

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “Why don’t I remember?” Helen asked.

  “Stefan asked you to marry him a few hours before Hector killed Dahlia,” Alex said.

  “What did I say?” Helen asked.

  “You said ‘Yes,’” Troy said. “Dahlia and I knew about you and Stefan. You called to tell me . . .”

  “And you were home,” Helen said. “I remember talking to you, and . . . I’m so sorry about Dahlia.”

  Her demeanor changed, and she looked absolutely crushed.

  “Me, too,” Troy said.

  “I should have warned you,” Helen said. Her voice was laced with guilt. Stefan held her close.

  “You thought it was called off because the contractor bailed,” Raz said. “You didn’t think Hector would do what he did.”

  “I should have known . . .” Helen said and fell silent. “Why don’t I remember?”

  “You were happy and proud,” Alex said. “You told your father . . . We have the security tape.”

  “I did?” Helen asked. “Why?”

  “I think you were declaring your independence,” Alex said. “That’s certainly how your father took it. You’d met a man you loved. You were moving to the West Coast. You were going to be free of him and the family. You had a horrible argument, absolutely terrible. In the middle of the argument, the police arrived to inform you that Hector was dead. Your father went nuclear. I’ve never seen anything like it. He was like a tornado of rage. You got the brunt of it. Your mother came in after, and . . . Well, she didn’t know about Stefan or the marriage proposal or moving to San Francisco or your father’s behavior. She thought you’d lost your mind.”

  “Our father locked you in the basement,” Troy said. “When Mom left to find out what was really going on.”

  “The basement . . .” Helen looked confused.

  “Chained you in like a wild animal,” Stefan said. “I came to look for you. Haemon said you’d left the country rather than humiliate the family by marrying a . . . Let’s just say he was most impolite. I knew something was terribly wrong. I called the authorities, but there was nothing they could do. At that time, I didn’t know . . . your brother or his friends.”

  “How did I get out?” Helen asked.

  “Mom,” Troy said. “She was in jail when she realized that she hadn’t seen you in at least a day. She worried you were in trouble. She negotiated with the police to be able to look for you.”

  “Your mother looked everywhere,” Stefan said. “Lord knows how, but she found you in some kind of hidden room in the basement. You were dehydrated, sick. The medics said you wouldn’t have lasted even a few more hours.”

  “Your mind was . . . gone,” Alex said. “Your mother called my mother, of course. Raz and I came. We had no choice but to take you to the mental hospital.”

  “Mom,” Helen said. “Wow.”

  Helen’s head went up and down as if she understood.

  “Did I get a pretty ring?” Helen asked.

  They heard movement in the background. Stefan returned with the ring. It had a round diamond solitaire sitting on a string of matched rubies that went around the band.

  “It is from my home. It is from Ghana.” Stefan held the ring out to her. “All of the stones and the gold.”

  Chuckling, Helen blushed. She leaned into the webcam.

  “I remember the ring,” Helen said.

  Alex, Troy, and Raz laughed. They heard Stefan say something to Helen. She flushed bright red and nodded. They hugged and kissed. Stefan put the ring on her finger. She looked at the ring and smiled at them for a moment. Her face clouded.

  “Alex, why don’t I remember?” Helen asked. “I mean, Stefan’s amazing, and he says he loves me, even now after all of this. And he says that he will wait until I’m ready to be his wife, and . . . Why do I remember all this awful stuff, but I don’t I remember him?”

  “I think that you had hope, real hope for your own life and a brilliant future with the hot guy, for the first time in your life,” Alex said. “When your father locked you in, you lost all hope. For human beings, there is nothing more deadly. The trauma and disappointment fractured your mind. You couldn’t afford to remember hope when you had lost everything.”

  “You’ve been fighting like hell to get yourself back,” Raz said.

  Helen nodded.

  “Is it all right that you don’t remember?” Stefan’s rich African voice came from off screen.

  Helen looked off in the distance for a moment before nodding.

  “Can we do it all again?” Helen asked.

  “Of course,” Stefan said.

  Helen smiled. She leaned into the webcam again.

  “He’s pretty awesome,” Helen smiled.

  “He is,” Alex said.

  Helen nodded. With each nod, they could almost see the wheels of Helen’s mind working. One last nod, and she scowled.

  “Dad did this to me?” Helen asked.

  “He did,” Troy said.

  “And he took Stefan away from me?” Helen asked.

  “He did,” Troy said.

  “And all of this — the dream guy, the pictures of being so happy, everything — it isn’t fake or a lie?” Helen asked. “Some CIA trickery?”

  “It’s not fake or a trick,” Alex said. “I promise you. If you’d like to see the tape where you tell your father you’re going to marry Stefan, I can show it to you.”

  “I have checked every date and every location of your trips with Stefan,” Raz said. “I have records of your flights, hotels, bar tabs, everything. Before you left, usually at the airport, Stefan always bought you . . .”

  “Chocolates,” Helen said. “I would eat them on the plane and save one for when I was going to see him again.”

  “You have some memories,” Alex said.

  “I have some memories,” Helen smiled, and then her face turned hard. “I told you I didn’t want to talk to Dad.”

  “You don’t have to,” Raz said. Troy and Alex nodded.

  “I’ll do it,” Helen said. “I don’t know how I’m going to pull it off, but I’ll do it. That man . . .”

  Helen nodded.

  “When you get back, we’ll make a plan to stick it to my dad . . . Um, I’m going to call him Haemon Jasper from now on. . .”

  “He was no father,” Troy said.

  “Right,” Helen said. “But we can make a plan, right?”

  “Absolutely,” Raz said.

  “Really mean, right?” Helen asked.

  “How ’bout really tricky?” Alex asked.

  “Even better,” Helen said. “I’m not the mean one. He is.”

  “Right,” Troy said.

  Helen waved her hand in the webcam and clicked off. Troy hugged Alex and then Raz.

  “We did it,” Troy said. There were tears in his eyes.

  “Got her to talk to your father?” Alex asked.

  “Got her well,” Troy said.

  “She’s on her way,” Alex said. “As are you.”

  Troy hugged Alex again.

  “Back to bed,” Alex said. “That’s an order.”

  Troy nodded and left the kitchen. Raz stood for a moment.

  “It’s really good,” Raz said.

  “Yeah,” Alex said.

  She went back to the couch and wrapped up in blankets. Raz took the chair to her left. Lost in their own thoughts, they were silent for a few minutes.

  “May I ask you something?” Raz asked.

  “Of course.” Alex sat up.

  His eyes flicked to the surveillance cameras. She took his hand and led him to the half bath off the living area. She clicked on the white-noise machine they’d set up there to muffle any spoken sound. They stood facing each other with their mouths near each other’s ears.

  “Joshua Peretz?” Raz asked.

  “Junior,” Alex said. “You know Senior expired sometime right after 9-11.”

  “Okay,” Raz said. “Who . . .?”

  “Mammy and the Mister’s oldest,” Alex s
aid. “Have you met him? He took that name as an alias right after you were ‘killed’ off.”

  “No, I’ve not met my son,” Raz smiled.

  “You will tomorrow,” Alex grinned. “He’s an international lawyer. He works mostly with Max and Steve’s team. High clearance level. He’ll be there tomorrow to take possession of the building and then turn it over to Max.”

  Raz nodded.

  “You’ll like him,” Alex said. “He has white-blond hair . . .”

  “Blond?”

  “He wears it natural,” Alex said. “It falls in tight curls. He has the Mister’s hazel eyes and height, with Mammy’s musculature. His skin color is a kind of warm cocoa. He’s really quite the specimen. He says he’s stopped at least once a week and asked to model, but that happens to you all the time, too.”

  Raz nodded.

  “I bet all of her children are gorgeous,” Raz said.

  “They are,” Alex said. “Have you see Mammy since she lost weight?”

  Raz shook his head.

  “The Mister is home at the end of this year. Retiring,” Alex said. “They both are. Then it’s ‘Watch out, world.’”

  “Why did she . . .?” Raz started.

  “She was never actually that heavy,” Alex said. “Most of it was a kind of disguise.”

  “I knew it!” Raz said with a laugh.

  “She has a round face, so it’s easy to think she’s heavier than she is,” Alex said. “That said, she’ll be disappointed if you don’t notice that she’s lost thirty pounds. She’s been working out with her youngest. She’s teaching him the tricks of her trade.”

  Raz shivered at the thought, and she laughed. He kissed her cheek, and he nodded toward the door of the half-bath. They returned to their spots on the couch and chair.

  “Better get your beauty sleep,” Alex said.

  Raz laughed. He was about to say something when he realized that she was asleep. He nodded to himself and fell asleep.

  FFFFFF

  Wednesday afternoon

  May 18 — 2:25 p.m. MDT (4:25 p.m. EDT)

  Denver, Colorado

  “Cian! Someone’s at the door!” Eoin said.

  He opened the door to a thin, medium-sized man in an expensive suit. The man had dark hair, a long beard, and tan skin.

  “Hello,” Eoin said.

  “I’ve come to take the children back to their home,” the man said.

  “I see,” Eoin said — and slammed the door in his face.

  Cian came up behind him.

  “What’s going on?” Cian asked.

  “That thing that Alex said would happen when she left the country?” Eoin whispered.

  “Yeah?”

  “They’re here,” Eoin said.

  Cian ran up the stairs to tell Quince to protect the children.

  “How many?” Jack asked as he came into the entryway.

  “I saw four,” Eoin said. “Two at the car, one driver. Just one man at the door.”

  There was a knock. Neev gave Jack a look and went to answer the door.

  “Yes?” Neev asked.

  “I’ve come to return the unlawfully obtained children to their rightful home,” the man said.

  “Have you, now?” Neev smiled. “What makes you think you’ll be able to do that?”

  “I come with the authority of . . .” the man started again.

  Neev raised her hand. Cian and Eoin came out onto the porch behind her. Jack stood in the doorway.

  “I’d guess you’re a big deal where you come from,” Neev said.

  “I am the tribal authority for the lands which belong to . . .” the man started.

  Neev sucked at her teeth and looked him up and down. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Jack.

  “You’ve been fighting the invaders in your country,” Jack said.

  The man gave Jack an assessing look.

  “Just so as you know, we’re Irish Republicans,” Jack said.

  “We’re not unappreciative of your struggle,” Cian said.

  “We’ve just been at it a while longer than you,” Neev said.

  She looked at Eoin and gave him a nod.

  “When they killed our royalty and tried to breed us out, we murdered them in their sleep,” Eoin said.

  “When they shipped every able man or woman of any decent size off to Australia or America, we got our countrymen to send us money to finance our war,” Neev said.

  “When they starved us and left us begging for food, we blew up their food supply,” Cian said.

  “When they came after us again, we brought the civil war to their homes,” Eoin said.

  “You think you can impress us with your ‘we’re the rightful government’ crap?” Jack asked. “You’d better think again. Like I said, we’re from the north of Ireland. We’ve been fighting invaders for almost three thousand years.”

  “And we’re crazy as all get out,” Cian said.

  “You want to take our babbies from us?” Neev asked. “You’d better think again.”

  “I can pick up the phone and call an Irish Republican with a child in your country,” Jack said. “Doesn’t matter what flag they fight for, they’re Irish first. They’ll go to your house and kill everyone inside just for the fun.”

  “And if they don’t?” Cian asked. “If you win this round?”

  “We Irish never forget,” Eoin said. “Ever. Ask the English. They’ll tell you there’s nothing more terrifying than an angry Irishman.”

  “Or woman,” Jack said.

  “We women are completely mad,” Neev said.

  “Are you threatening me?” the man asked.

  “We thought you should know who you’re dealing with,” Cian said.

  Neev nodded to Jack and followed him inside the house. Eoin gave the man a hard look and went inside.

  “I’m going to call my brother,” Cian said. “He’s been learning Arabic so that, when you contacted us, he could negotiate on his son’s behalf.”

  “And this?” the man asked. “Do I need to warn my family? My children?”

  “No harm done,” Cian said. “You were just testing the waters and found them full of the Irish.”

  The man gave Cian a curt nod.

  “My brother will be here in a half-hour,” Cian said.

  “I will return in a half-hour,” the man said. “We have important business to discuss. The boy is the sole heir to all of the land in our valley. The tribe must decide what to do with it until he is of age to inherit.”

  “We are aware of that,” Cian said. “My brother is ready to discuss this matter with you.”

  The man nodded. Cian turned in place and slammed the door. They huddled on the other side of the door waiting to see what was next. The rooming house was fortified for any major form of attack. They heard the limousine pull away from the curb.

  “Yes!” Jack said.

  They cheered.

  “What just happened?” John asked, coming down the stairs with Joey. “What are you up to?”

  “Uh . . .” Eoin said.

  “You had a visitor,” Cian smiled.

  “We had to explain a few things to them,” Jack said.

  “A few things?” John asked.

  Their heads went up and down in a nod.

  “Let me guess,” John said. “You had to explain a few things about being Irish.”

  They nodded.

  “Lord have mercy,” John said. “Did you go all the way back to Irish royalty and breeding us out?”

  “They came the first time Alex left the country,” Cian said.

  “Did exactly what she said they would, they did,” Eoin said.

  “You needed us to level the playing field,” Cian said.

  “You should be grateful,” Eoin said.

  “Did you give them the whole grandchildren’s grandchildren bit?” John asked.

  “No, we did not,” Cian sniffed.

  “You told us not to tell them that our grandchildren’s grandchildren wou
ld hunt them down for sport,” Eoin said. “And we did not. Doesn’t make it not true . . .”

  John looked at Jack and then at Neev. They shook their heads.

  “You told them something else?” John asked.

  “We might have mentioned the English,” Neev said. “Just in passing.”

  John gave a rueful shake of his head.

  “We’re here to support you, Johnnie,” Jack said.

  “It sounds like they left,” John said.

  “He’ll be back,” Cian said. “He wants to talk about the land.”

  John nodded.

  “Just like Alex told us!” Eoin said. “I wouldn’t trust the bugger. I just wouldn’t.”

  “Because you trust . . .” John raised his eyebrows, and Eoin gestured to his brother, Jack, Cian, and Neev.

  “I see,” John said. “I will take your concern under advisement. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to call our lawyer so he can be here when they arrive.”

  “Good thinking, Johnny,” Cian nodded.

  John scowled at them and went up the stairs.

  “He took that well,” Eoin said.

  Jack looked from Eoin to Cian and laughed.

  F

  Chapter Twenty

  Wednesday night

  May 18 — 11:32 p.m. CEST (3:32 p.m. MDT)

  Paris, France

  “Camille,” Ben’s wife Claire said in a low tone to the child in Alex’s arms.

  Alex was standing with Ben just outside their dining room. During their late dinner, Camille had gotten out of bed to sit on Alex’s lap. She’d slept for hours. Alex would have held the child all night, but of course, her mother wanted Camille back.

  “Maman,” Camille said.

  Not quite awake, the child turned toward her mother’s voice. Claire lifted the little girl from Alex’s arms and carried her off to bed.

  “Don’t stay up too late,” Claire said to Ben in French when she turned on the landing. “I have an early fitting, so you have the little ones in the morning.”

  Ben nodded. They waited until Claire closed the hall door before heading downstairs to Ben’s secure office. Built into the limestone underneath their Paris home, Ben’s office was part cave, part palace. Alex shivered in the cool air. She ducked under the crystal chandelier and walked across antique carpets to the marble fireplace. She built a fire, while he straightened away everything he didn’t want her to see.