Untold

by Nancy Ann Healy

  Alex shook her head. She was relieved to see that Jenny Carter was smiling.

  “Certainly, feels like one sometimes,” Jenny told Claire.

  “I feel you,” Claire said. “And, I don’t have any of those,” Claire pointed to the little girl who was now lying on the couch beside her mother.

  “No kids?” Jenny asked.

  “Nope. Toles here is enough for me to deal with.”

  Jenny laughed. “I’m sorry if I didn’t help you at all.”

  “That’s all right,” Alex said. “We really were just trying to get with people who worked for that landscaping company to ask them about a couple of the places they might have worked.”

  “Do you want his number?” Jenny offered.

  “That would be great,” Alex said.

  “I don’t expect him to call again tonight, but I can tell him…”

  “Don’t worry too much about it,” Alex played off the conversation.

  Alex felt confident that, at least for the moment, Jenny Carter and her daughter were safe. She did have every intention of putting them under surveillance—not just in the hopes of finding the elusive BJ, but for their protection. If Brandon Jack Carter or whatever he called himself was who Alex suspected he was, once he learned she was this close, anything was possible.

  “Thanks again,” Alex said. “One thing,” she said. “If you hear from Brad Lawson by chance, I’d love to talk to him. He used to be the owner at Greenscape.”

  “Sure. Like I said, I’ve never met him, only heard of him.”

  “In any case,” Alex said. “Take care. Nice meeting you. Sorry to barge in.”

  “Hey, it was company,” Jenny replied good-naturedly.

  Alex took a deep breath when she heard Jenny Carter close the door. “Set up surveillance on Jenny Carter,” she told Claire.

  “I was thinking the same thing. Should I guess? We’re heading to Albany?”

  “You should charge for that psychic ability of yours,” Alex deadpanned.

  “Pretty close to your friend the governor.”

  “Too close,” Alex said. Much too close.

  ***

  “Bryce?”

  “This is Bryce.”

  “This is Alex Toles.”

  “Alex? Don’t tell me there’s an issue with the system?”

  “No, I’m afraid I’m not moonlighting for my brother this time. I was hoping you might be able to help me with something.”

  “If I can.”

  “You travel a lot with Gestalt; right?”

  “That’s an understatement. Donna’s ready to divorce me. Why?”

  “How difficult is it for security guards to get assigned to your facilities?”

  Bryce pulled his van over. The tone of Alex’s voice told him this conversation required his undivided attention. “We use three agencies,” he said. “All three have the highest credentials. You know what I mean—top notch security clearances. Anyone assigned has to also pass muster with Gestalt.”

  “Who does that?” Alex asked. “Is that on paper or interview?”

  “It depends,” Bryce said. “Someone in senior management makes that call.”

  “Have you ever been that person?”

  “A couple of times. Alex, what is this about?”

  “Bryce, I am going to go out on a limb here; you don’t know a Jack Carter do you?”

  “Jack Carter? No, I don’t think so.”

  “No Jack Carter works as a security guard that you’ve encountered?”

  “I don’t pay much attention, Alex.”

  “Bullshit,” Alex said. Bryce was a retired Navy Seal Captain; he recalled everything. He was the senior person in the most lucrative and scrutinized department at Gestalt. It was his job to pay attention to the smallest detail. “You notice everything.”

  Bryce chuckled. “There is a Brandon Carter who works the gate occasionally.” He heard Alex sigh. “Alex?”

  “Did you see him today by any chance?”

  “Not today. He’s a part-timer that’s usually on second shift, though.”

  “In Albany?”

  “No,” Bryce replied. “I’ve never seen him at the Albany office. He’s always in New Haven.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Alex, is Brandon in some kind of trouble?”

  “Just trying to hunt down some leads.”

  “If you say so. You know, if he’s a risk to our security…”

  “I can’t tell you that,” Alex said. “He’s someone I need to track down.”

  “Do I get a bonus for helping?” he joked.

  “Call my brother.”

  “So?” Claire asked.

  “Bryce knows him.”

  “Is that a good thing?”

  “Well, Bryce is a retired Navy Seal. He’s been where you and I have been; if you get my meaning.”

  “You mean he was one of those secret squirrels chasing other people’s tails too?”

  Alex laughed at Claire’s assessment. “He’s trained to remember everything he sees. He says he’s never seen Jack Carter or Brandon or BJ, whatever he goes by in Albany.”

  “So, he lied to his wife. Doesn’t make him a serial killer.”

  “Not by itself, no,” Alex agreed. “It does mean he has something to hide.”

  “What about Lawson?” Claire asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Think he’s covering somehow for Carter? Maybe Carter is covering for him.”

  “We need to find one of them if we hope to find that out.”

  “Well, we know what BJ looks like now. I saw that fishing photo.”

  “That’s something.”

  “Let me guess; we’re taking a detour to visit to Crow Electrical.”

  “No, you are.”

  “Me?” Claire asked.

  “Yeah, and not with your FBI badge.”

  “Ooo. Sneaky,” Claire said. “I like it.”

  “Just do me a favor?”

  “What?”

  “Be careful.”

  “I can be very charming,” Claire said.

  “I know. That’s what worries me.”

  ***

  Michelle Fletcher held the door open for the volunteers at her mother’s campaign headquarters.

  “Any place good to eat around here?”

  Michelle smiled. “It’s Albany, Brad. You should just ask if there’s any place good.”

  He laughed. “Come on, I don’t spend much time in this area.”

  “Try The Merry Monk down the street,” she said.

  “Get a little God with my beer?” he joked.

  “My mother would say a little prayer and a little wine are good for the soul.”

  “Care to join me?” he asked.

  Michelle looked off in the distance. “I would,” she said. “But I have a standing date with my step-mother on Wednesdays.”

  “Really?” he asked

  “I swear. It’s painful, but someone has to do it.”

  He followed Michelle’s line of sight to the attractive brunette coming toward them. “That’s the governor’s wife; right?”

  “Yep. My evil step-mother,” she laughed.

  “Hey, Shell. Ready?” Jameson Reid greeted the pair.

  “Only if you’re buying,” Michelle replied. “JD meet Brad. He’s our newest recruit.”

  Jameson offered her hand. “Thanks for helping out on Candace’s campaign.”

  “Who wouldn’t want a beautiful woman in the White House?” he said.

  “You’d be surprised,” Jameson replied.

  “Thanks for your help today,” Michelle smiled at Brad.

  “Not sure I helped all that much, but you’re welcome.”

  “I hope we’ll see you again,” Michelle said.

  “I have a little time between jobs. I’ll stop by sometime tomorrow to see if you need any help.”

  “Great,” Michelle said. “Come on, old lady,” she grabbed Jameson’s hand.

  “Nice me
eting you,” Jameson said to the man. “Sorry, I need to get this one home before her bedtime.”

  “Yeah, she’s got Bible Study at eleven and she needs to concentrate,” Michelle said.

  Brad shrugged, not understanding the inside joke between the two women. “See you tomorrow then,” he said his goodbye.

  “Bible study? Really, Shell?” Jameson laughed.

  “Well, Mom certainly calls God enough after eleven.”

  “Just rent a billboard,” Jameson laughed. “Let’s go before I get a ticket for you violating curfew.”

  ***

  “Can’t sleep?” Jim McCollum asked his daughter.

  Cassidy set down the book in her hands and smiled. “Just enjoying a little quiet.”

  “Alex is still on the road, I take it?”

  “She’s in Albany. Looks like she’ll be working from that office for the next few days, maybe longer.”

  Jim sat down on the end of the couch where Cassidy had been sprawled out. “How are you doing with that?”

  “It’s what she needs to do.”

  “That’s not what I asked you.”

  Cassidy smiled. “It’s not the first time that Alex and I have been apart, Dad.”

  “I suppose not. It’s been a long time, though,” he pointed out.

  “I guess it has,” Cassidy agreed. “But this comes with the territory.”

  “Worried about her?”

  “I always worry about her when she’s working a case. I don’t have any illusions about the danger she sometimes faces.”

  Jim nodded. “How do you deal with it?”

  Cassidy looked at her father curiously. He had worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for years. He had been far more than an analyst or an office worker. She didn’t know all the details of his past and she had no desire to. Cassidy was confident that her father had been exposed to violence, danger, and uncertainty many times. She wondered what was prompting his questions. “How do I deal with the reality that Alex might get hurt?” She took a deep breath. “There isn’t any choice,” she said. “When I met Alex, she was with the FBI. I know about her past. I don’t know every detail and I don’t need to. I’ve seen her lying in a hospital bed after taking a bullet. I’ve watched her hobble up the stairs after an altercation. I know the kind of people she sometimes pursues and what they’re capable of. I’ve experienced it.”

  “Cassie, I’m sorry that you had to see any of that. I wish I’d been able to protect you from the likes of Fisher.”

  Cassidy sighed. “Things happen for a reason,” she told him. “Maybe that happened to me so that I could understand why Alex feels compelled to do what she does. Maybe it helped me to understand why it matters so much that she is able to do it.”

  “So, you support her being back in the FBI?”

  “I’ve always supported her going back to her roots, Dad. It was her decision to leave Carecom and the CIA. It was her choice not to take a job back at the FBI or NSA, not mine.”

  “It almost sounds like you wanted her to go back.”

  “Does it?” Cassidy chuckled. “No, I don’t think that I would say that. I love Alex because of who she is. I accepted that I would always worry when I agreed to marry her. If I thought that teaching or coaching fulfilled her; I would encourage her to do that too. She loves those things. I know she does. But what she’s doing now is her passion. Things happen, Dad. Look at you.”

  “Me?”

  “Well, I didn’t know the truth for years. So, let’s talk about the lie.”

  “Cassie…”

  Cassidy shrugged. “I wish you would just hear me out.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I spent most of my life believing you were dead, not from a firefight or some villainous plot—from a car accident. Things happen to people. That’s just part of life. I’m not suggesting there aren’t more risks for Alex, but she could work twenty years as an agent without injury and get killed driving down the street. Am I supposed to stop her from driving?”

  “Interesting perspective.”

  “I love Alex. I trust that she will do everything she can to be here for as long as she can be. That’s all I can do.”

  “You didn’t want me to stay here; did you?” Jim asked.

  Cassidy could see the hurt in her father’s eyes. “I’m not sure how to answer that.”

  “Honestly?”

  “Part of me is glad that you’re here.”

  “Because you and Alex hope I can find out if there is anything to worry about with Dylan?”

  “No,” Cassidy replied flatly. “Alex is more concerned about whether Chris subjected Dylan to any psychological experiments than I am.”

  “You don’t think that he did.”

  “I don’t know what to think where my ex-husband is concerned. Just like I don’t always know what to think where you are concerned. You both lied to me. You both pretended to be someone else.”

  “Cassie, I…”

  “But I also know that he loved Dylan just like I know that you love me. He may have been an absentee father. He may have been a self-absorbed liar, but I saw his face when Dylan was placed in his arms. So, while nothing would shock me, the answer is no; I don’t think he deliberately tried to harm Dylan.”

  “Then why agree to have me stay here?”

  “Because the kids love you, because it will ease Alex’s mind…”

  “I see.”

  “And, because I want you here.” Cassidy smiled at the evident surprise in her father’s eyes. “It’s not easy for me sometimes—seeing you celebrate milestones with my children; milestones that you missed with me.”

  “I didn’t want to miss them.”

  “That’s not the point,” Cassidy said. “Whether you wanted to, you chose to. Neither of us can change that.”

  “I know that sorry will never cover it.”

  “No; it won’t,” she replied. “I will always have to confront the hurt, Dad. That’s not something I can change.”

  “I know,” he confessed. “Every time I see one of your children cross a threshold, I find myself wondering what that was like for you. I love being with them, but it doesn’t replace that time.”

  Cassidy reached over and took her father’s hand. “I know that.”

  “You do?”

  “I see that with Dylan and Alex all the time. It’s different because the circumstance is different, but the emotion is the same. Alex missed the first six years of Dylan’s life. When she sees Mackenzie or one of the twins do something new, as excited as she gets, there always comes a time later when I find her quietly reflecting. She thinks about Dylan. It’s the same for him.”

  “Never thought about that,” Jim said.

  “It’s part of loving someone. You can’t be there for everything, even if you wish that you could.”

  “Alex is lucky.”

  “It’s not about luck,” Cassidy said. “It’s about love. If it hadn’t been for her job, if it hadn’t been for some of the darkness in life, we might never have found each other. Things happen the way they are meant to, I think. Maybe I just need to believe that.”

  “Well, you make sure you tell me if I overstay my welcome.”

  “I don’t think that’s possible, Dad.”

  “Alex will be okay.”

  “I know she will,” Cassidy said.

  “What do you think of her and Claire working together?”

  Cassidy smiled. “I think it’s exactly what they both need. Neither will let a thing happen to the other.”

  “Because of you,” he guessed.

  “No,” Cassidy said. “They’re a lot alike.”

  “You think they’re alike—Alexis and Claire?” he nearly laughed.

  “You don’t? They both spent their life trying to win their father’s approval. They both feel they failed in that endeavor. They’re the two most intelligent people I know, and they both need a challenge.”

  “And they both love you,” he reminded he
r.

  “They do,” she agreed. “Alex and Claire both want to feel part of a family more than they want anything else. They’re more alike than most people realize.”

  “More than they realize,” he chuckled.

  Cassidy grinned. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” she said. “Though, I doubt either will ever admit it.”

  “Safe bet,” Jim laughed.

  Cassidy sighed. “If any two people can find this psychopath; it’s them.”

  Jim nodded. “Probably so.”

  “So?” Cassidy stood up. “I’m awake. You’re awake. How about some ice cream?”

  “At midnight?”

  “Why not? Don’t have to share with any kids. I’d offer you wine, but I’m afraid my best substitute is in the freezer.”

  Jim helped Cassidy off the couch. “Got any whipped cream?”

  “Never go without it,” she laughed.

  “Then you’re on.”

  Cassidy walked hand in hand with her father to the kitchen. For a moment, she felt like the little girl he’d left behind. Her heart swelled. Alex’s suggestion to have Jim McCollum stay at their home for a while had little to do with safety or Dylan. Cassidy hadn’t seen it clearly until now. Alex wanted him here for me. How did I not see that? She giggled.

  “What’s so funny?” Jim wondered.

  “Nothing. Just realizing how lucky I really am.” I really am.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Alex closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. She was not looking forward to the conversation she was about to have with the governor of New York, not even a little bit.

  “You look like hell,” Candace observed as she entered the room.

  “Thanks,” Alex opened her eyes.

  Candace took a seat across from Alex and smiled. “Let’s have it.”

  “I think our guy is close. By that, I mean close to you.”

  Candace nodded. “You actually think I’m in danger? We haven’t had any threats that have been viewed as credible. And, trust me; with Jed Ritchie and Lawson Klein out doing the two-step together about my ineptness, there have been plenty of promises to show me the light.”

  Alex sighed. “He won’t come directly to you,” she said. “It’s not about you.”

  “You lost me, Alex.”