Athena Force: Books 1-6

by Justine Davis, Amy J. Fetzer, Katherine Garbera, Meredith Fletcher, Catherine Mann

  Slightly surprised, Sam thought about that. She’d known Joseph Lockworth maintained political connections, and he’d used them to help fund the Athena Academy, but she hadn’t known he had enough clout to put pressure on a CIA director in Langley. The fact that Josie had asked her grandfather to do something like that was even more interesting.

  “I’ve been told to grant the air force captain access to you,” Mitchell said, clearly not happy about the situation. “But it’s going to be limited, and it’s going to be monitored.”

  All right, Sam thought, I can live with that. Josie was good at reading between the lines. All of the Cassandras were.

  “I’m going to have an e-mail account established for you,” Mitchell told her. “We’ll clear the messages you send as well as the ones you receive.” He looked at her. “The captain will be informed that you are locked into an important mission and can’t call her. The e-mail contact will be limited.”

  “Josie will check whatever story you give her,” Sam said. She knew her friend would do exactly that. “Your cover is going to need to be bulletproof.”

  “Why should she check?”

  “Because she knows it would take a lot to keep me from being at Rainy’s funeral.”

  Mitchell scowled. “We’ll make the story bulletproof. But you’re going to have to help.” He paused, his face totally without emotion. “If Captain Lockworth discovers that you’re being held against your will and tries to interfere in any way, this Agency will take appropriate steps. You’ll be formally charged with treason. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” Sam answered.

  “You’ve got some good friends,” Mitchell said, “but I don’t know if they’ll stand so steadfastly by you once they learn what you’ve done.”

  For the first time, Sam thought about that. Until that moment, she hadn’t considered what the Cassandras might think of the accusations against her. She wasn’t used to thinking about her world impacting the lives of others. She’d always managed a separate existence. Moving away from the academy had effectively pressed the reset button on her independent lifestyle. Except for occasional gatherings. Would they believe her? Or would they believe the charges?

  Sam looked at the identical faces on the monitor. The evidence, however it was arranged, was damning.

  “So when do I get e-mail access?” Sam stood inside the cell. She wrapped her arms around herself. Even Riley noticed that the room somehow felt colder than when she’d left it.

  He stood on the other side of the doorway. He kept his expression neutral. Keeping himself distant from her and the problems she presented was harder. “You’ll get it when Mitchell says you do.” He stared at her and tried to forget that she looked so damn sexy. He also tried to forget that he’d been responsible for locking her away—again. Guilt was a weapon a spy used, not a consequence one suffered.

  “Josie won’t wait on an answer forever.”

  “Don’t put pressure on me, St. John. I’m not the one calling the shots here.”

  A flicker of defiance ignited in Sam’s ice-blue eyes. Then it passed. “Tell Mitchell that Josie won’t wait.”

  “I think he’s already got that impression.” Anger roiled inside Riley. He hated leaving her in the cell. The guilt that assailed him twisted through his guts. “It’s not my fault you’re in here.” And he said that more to put things in perspective for himself than to post any blame.

  Sam obviously didn’t take the assignation of guilt like that. She glared at him. “Do you think I’m a spy for another country? Or a terrorist?”

  Riley looked at her for a moment. More than anything, he didn’t want to believe the beautiful woman before him could possibly be a spy or served terrorist masters against the country that he loved and had sworn to defend.

  Before he could speak, before he even knew what he was going to say, Sam said, “Because if you think that was me in that video footage, then you’re an idiot.” Without another word she turned away from him and walked toward the wall on the other side of the room.

  Unable to stop himself, Riley snarled, “You want to give me another answer, St. John? Want to tell me how that woman just happens to have your face? Want to tell me why anyone would masquerade as a low-level, wannabe field agent to cause problems for the Agency?”

  Silence stretched between them for a moment.

  “Tell Mitchell,” Sam said in a flat, dead voice. “Tell him that Josie Lockworth won’t wait long before she attacks the situation another way. That’s just how she is.”

  Riley stood for a moment, trying to think of something to say. In the end he could only close the door and walk away feeling empty and miserable for reasons that he couldn’t explain even to himself.

  Chapter 9

  SO, IF YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU’RE DOING, YOU HAVE TO KILL ME, RIGHT?

  Sam stared at the words on the computer monitor. She almost laughed in spite of her situation, and maybe she would have if she hadn’t had two agents in the room with her and known that another team was analyzing everything that was sent either way over the Internet connection. Each message was read by the analysis team before being kicked through cyberspace.

  THAT’S RIGHT, Sam typed, trying to keep the tone light. SORRY I COULDN’T COME TO THE FUNERAL. Keep the topic to Rainy’s death. There’s less chance of blowing your cover then.

  I MISSED IT, TOO. Josie Lockworth responded. BUT THE OTHERS TOLD ME ABOUT IT. THEY ASKED IF I’D HEARD FROM YOU. DARCY’S REALLY WORRIED ABOUT YOU.

  Back in school, Darcy had been like a mother to Sam, caring for her and making certain Sam had everything she needed. At first Sam hadn’t wanted all the attention the other girl had shown. She hadn’t known how to react to it. But once they’d all bonded and become the best of friends, it had become second nature to her to seek comfort from Darcy when she felt down. She’d missed the attention when Darcy had moved away after graduation.

  Darcy had shown a gift for theater and the dramatic arts. After graduation at the Athena Academy, Darcy had gone on to UCLA and had gotten a job in Hollywood as a makeup artist. She’d married and had a son, but there had been trouble that had caused her to split up with her husband. Sam knew that Rainy had helped Darcy leave her husband, but that was all she knew. Darcy had dropped out of sight. It was good to know she was back enough to worry about Sam.

  TELL DARCY I’M ALL RIGHT, Sam typed. She sat in a hard straight-backed chair in front of the notebook computer on a rolling cart.

  YOU SHOULD TELL HER YOURSELF. I HAVE HER PHONE NUMBER.

  I CAN’T MAKE PHONE CALLS FROM HERE.

  CAN’TYOU GIVE MEA HINT WHERE “HERE” IS?

  I DON’T HAVE TIME TO TRACK YOU DOWN, AND THEY TELL ME YOU HAVE TO BURY THE BODIES REALLY DEEP. BESIDES THAT, THE AIR FORCE WOULD PROBABLY MISS YOU AND THERE WOULD BE ALL KINDS OF FORMS TO FILL OUT.

  LOL. JUST TELL ME YOU’RE SOMEPLACE EXOTIC, WHERE GUYS IN SWIMSUITS PLAY VOLLEYBALL IN THE SAND ALL DAY AND ALL THE DRINKS COME WITH THOSE CUTE LITTLE PLASTIC UMBRELLAS.

  YEAH, Sam typed. IT’S REALLY INCREDIBLE HERE. She was fifteen days into her incarceration now. The four walls remained the same. Although, when she paced the cell and the area measured out the same distance, she still had the definite feeling that the walls were closing in on her.

  AFTER WHAT SEEMS LIKE ENDLESS DAYS OF LAB AND DESERT, ANYPLACE WOULD SEEM EXOTIC TO ME.

  LUCKY ME, Sam replied. OF COURSE, I CAN’T MEET ANYONE, AND DOING ENDLESS AUDIO AND WRITTEN TRANSLATIONS CAN’T BE THAT MUCH DIFFERENT THAN STARING AT BLUEPRINTS ALL DAY. OR PLAYING IN A WIND TUNNEL WITH MODEL PLANES.

  SO THE SPY WORLD ISN’T ALL THAT EXCITING?

  NO.

  BET YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU’D GROW UP TO BE A REAL-LIFE SPY.

  NOT ONCE. Or arrested for being a traitor to my country. Thinking about the threat Mitchell had made, about how the Cassandras would react once they found out about the charges of treason that could be filed against her, Sam realized that Josie most of all would more than likely
turn against her. Sam had several pictures of Josie in her air force uniforms as she’d gone through ranks. More than that, Josie was currently working in the espionage field herself, though from a research and development angle.

  I HAVE DARCY’S E-MAIL ADDRESS, Josie typed.

  I’LL HAVE TO GET CLEARANCE TO USE IT. THIS OPERATION IS CLOSED UP TIGHT.

  I UNDERSTAND. I’VE BEEN LIVING IN A LAB MYSELF. FOR FREAKING MONTHS!!!

  THE PLANE? Josie was working with a robot spy plane that could be remote controlled from space-based satellites.

  OF COURSE, THE PLANE.

  Deciding that talking about top-secret projects was getting a little too close to home, Sam asked, HOW ARE RAINY’S PARENTS? Despite her choice to live in Arizona after college instead of returning to California where her family still lived, Rainy had remained close to her mom and dad.

  THEY’RE TAKING IT HARD. SO IS MARSHALL.

  Marshall Carrington was Rainy’s husband. Sam had met him a few times and liked him.

  I NEVER DID FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO RAINY, Sam typed. THE ONLY INFORMATION I’VE SEEN SAID THAT IT WAS A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT.

  THAT’S HOW IT WAS WRITTEN UP. SINGLE-CAR COLLISION. THE INVESTIGATORS BELIEVE RAINY FELL ASLEEP IN THE CAR AND WENT OFF THE ROAD.

  Sam stared at the line of type. The words seemed so artless and ineffective. She didn’t think anyone’s death should have been summed up so succinctly, so bloodlessly. She hesitated before she started typing again.

  THAT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE RAINY. SHE WAS ALWAYS CAREFUL ABOUT EVERYTHING SHE DID. IF SHE WERE SLEEPY, SHE WOULD HAVE PULLED OFF THE ROAD AND STAYED SOMEWHERE. OR HAD MARSHALL COME GET HER.

  I KNOW. NONE OF US CAN BELIEVE IT. ESPECIALLY SINCE RAINY INVOKED THE CASSANDRA PROMISE AND WAS ON HER WAY TO MEET US AT ATHENA WHEN SHE CRASHED. DIDN’T YOU GET A MESSAGE FROM HER? IT WAS EARLY AUGUST.

  Sam swallowed. Rainy had called on the Cassandra Promise? That meant something serious had happened.

  I DIDN’T GET THE MESSAGE. I’VE BEEN IN THE FIELD FOR A FEW MONTHS. WHAT DID SHE SAY?

  WE NEVER FOUND OUT. SHE WAS GOING TO TELL US WHEN SHE GOT TO ATHENA. WE ALL THINK IT’S SIGNIFICANT THAT SHE DIED ON HER WAY THERE. The cursor blinked for a moment. ALEX SAT IN ON RAINY’S AUTOPSY, BUT SHE DIDN’T FEEL LIKE THE EXAM WAS ENOUGH. SHE GOT MARSHALL’S PERMISSION TO DO ANOTHER POST. KAYLA HELPED HER MOVE RAINY’S BODY TO ATHENS AND SHE EXAMINED RAINY HERSELF. SHE FOUND SOMETHING REALLY STRANGE.

  WHAT?

  Alexandra Forsythe was a forensic investigator for the FBI. She’d become a recognized authority in her field. Kayla Ryan was a lieutenant in the Youngstown Police Department and served in the Athens satellite station. She and her daughter, Jazz, lived in Athens. As a single mother and a police lieutenant, Kayla wouldn’t have wasted time on something she didn’t believe in. Likewise, with her contacts through the police department, she would have had access to all the information regarding Rainy’s death.

  Together, Alex and Kayla must have turned the investigation upside down and inside out.

  REMEMBER WHEN RAINY TOLD US ABOUT THE APPENDECTOMY SHE HAD WHEN SHE WAS TWELVE? Josie typed.

  YES.

  WELL, THE PRELIMINARY AUTOPSY SHOWED THAT RAINY STILL HAD HER APPENDIX.

  The information sent a chill through Sam.

  LATER THAT NIGHT, SOMEONE BROKE INTO THE MORGUE AND ALEX WALKED IN ON IT. SHE THOUGHT THE PERSON WAS TRYING TO DO SOMETHING TO RAINY’S BODY.

  WHO WAS IT? WHAT WAS HE TRYING TO DO?

  DON’T KNOW. HE GOT AWAY. BUT DURING ALEX’S POST IN ATHENS, SHE FOUND OLD SCARS ON RAINY’S OVARIES.

  HER OVARIES?

  YES.

  WHY? Sam typed.

  THIS IS WHERE IT STARTS GETTING FREAKY. WHILE KAYLA WAS SEARCHING THROUGH RAINY’S THINGS, KAYLA FOUND OUT RAINY HAD BEEN DOING RESEARCH ON EGG MINING. YOU’RE FAMILIAR WITH THAT?

  FOR FERTILITY TREATMENT.

  EXACTLY.

  WHAT WAS RAINY’S INTEREST?

  AT FIRST WE THOUGHT IT WAS BECAUSE SHE AND MARSHALL WERE HAVING TROUBLE GETTING PREGNANT AND WERE CONSIDERING IN-VITRO. BUT NOW WE THINK SHE’D SOMEHOW DISCOVERED THAT SHE HADN’T HAD AN APPENDECTOMY ALL THOSE YEARS AGO AND WAS ABOUT TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAD REALLY HAPPENED. ALL OF US—KAYLA, ALEX, DARCY AND ME—THINK RAINY WAS MURDERED TO COVER UP THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT SOMEONE DID TO HER. WE THINK HER EGGS WERE MINED.

  Sam stared at the screen.

  WHEN KAYLA INVESTIGATED ALEX’S CAR, SHE FOUND OUT THE SEAT BELT HAD FAILED.

  The announcement struck a chord in Sam’s mind. Accidents and failed seat belts reminded her of something she’d studied during her CIA training.

  THERE WAS NO REASON FOR THE SEAT BELT TO FAIL, Josie typed. IT JUST DID.

  Sam reached for the memory but couldn’t quite find it.

  KAYLA WANTED ME TO ASK YOU A FAVOR IF I GOT IN TOUCH WITH YOU, Josie typed.

  ANYTHING, Sam typed.

  SHE WANTED YOU TO CHECK THROUGH RAINY’S FILES. SEE IF ONE OF THE ENEMIES RAINY MADE AS AN ATTORNEY MIGHT HAVE HAD MOTIVE TO KILL HER.

  I CAN LOOK AROUND. Sam would force Mitchell to allow her to do that. Or assign someone like Howie Dunn to do that.

  LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU FIND OUT. WE WANT TO CHECK ALL POSSIBILITIES.

  I WILL.

  ANOTHER WEIRD THING HAPPENED, TOO. ALEX CAUGHT AN FBI AGENT SNOOPING AROUND AT ATHENA.

  WHY WOULD THE FBI BE INTERESTED? Again, that tendril of almost-recognition danced in Sam’s brain.

  HE DIDN’T STICK AROUND TO TELL HER. ALEX WILL TRACK HIM DOWN.

  The cursor paused again. Sam waited, absorbing the information. Had someone stolen Rainy’s eggs when she was just a kid, and then killed her years later when she found out what they’d done?

  Josie finally continued. AND HERE’S ANOTHER WEIRD THING. WHILE KAYLA WAS CHECKING RAINY’S MEDICAL FILES AT ATHENA, SHE BLACKED OUT.

  WHAT CAUSED IT?

  DON’T KNOW. SHE WAS EXAMINED AND FOUND HEALTHY. YOU KNOW KAYLA. HARDLY EVER SICK. SHE JUST…PASSED OUT. NO WARNING.

  The near-memory tugged at Sam’s attention again. Something was there, but she couldn’t get hold of it. Mysterious blackouts and failed seat belts tied together somehow.

  YOU’LL LET ME KNOW WHAT THEY FIND OUT?

  OF COURSE. WANT TO HEAR SOME NEWS THAT WILL WANT TO MAKE YOU BARF?

  NOT REALLY.

  WELL, YOU’RE GOING TO ANYWAY. GUESS WHO SHOWED UP AT THE FUNERAL?

  Sam remembered the vast number of people. The possibilities were staggering. DON’T KNOW.

  SHANNON CONNER.

  The memory twisted through Sam’s mind. Shannon had been a student at the Athena Academy, too. She’d started the same year that the Cassandras had, and had been part of another orientation group led by Allison Gracelyn. In their junior year, Shannon had tried to frame Josie for theft and create a black mark against all of the Cassandras. Tory had proven that Shannon had staged the theft. As a result, Shannon had gotten kicked out of the academy, the first and only girl to ever be expelled from the school, as far as Sam knew.

  Shannon had gone on to success, though. Oddly enough, she’d become a TV news reporter—as had Tory. Occasionally, Sam had seen Shannon on cable anchoring news for ABS, Tory’s rival station. Tory was a reporter for UBS and covered world news, seeking out headline stories. The rivalry that had begun at the academy had continued out into the world of news. Shannon seemed to be constantly on Tory’s trail, on the verge of getting stories that Tory scooped her on.

  WHAT WAS SHANNON DOING THERE? Sam asked.

  SOMEHOW SHANNON HEARD ABOUT THE EGG-MINING POSSIBILITY. WE STILL DON’T KNOW HOW. SHANNON SHOWED UP AT THE CHURCH RIGHT AFTER THE SERVICE AND STARTED ASKING ALL KINDS OF QUESTIONS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS BEING DONE ON RAINY AND OTHER ATHENA STUDENTS.

  YOU’RE KIDDING.

  NO. ALEX TOLD HER OFF, BUT IT DID HIT THE NEWS.

  The cursor blinked for a moment while Sam gathered her thoughts. She was having to deal with way too much in a short amount of t
ime.

  OOOOOOPPPS! Josie wrote. GOTTA SCOOT. GOT ANOTHER MEETING TO ATTEND THAT I’M ABOUT TO BE LATE FOR, AND I’M THE ONE HOSTING IT. GOOD TALKIN’ TO YA. STAY IN TOUCH, SPYGIRL.

  I WILL.

  I’LL BE CHECKING IN ON YOU FROM TIME TO TIME.

  DO THAT, Sam typed, and hoped that her friend would. The contact with the outside world, brief as it was, made her situation easier to bear. She logged off the computer.

  Without a word, the two CIA agents bundled the computer, the chair and the cart up and departed.

  Filled with nervous energy and frustration that she wasn’t there with her friends, that she wasn’t helping look into Rainy’s death if they all felt something had warranted the attention, Sam started pacing. Once she caught herself doing that, she took a couple of quick breaths, then launched into her martial arts forms, hoping to find temporary peace there.

  Riley McLane had been missing for the past three days, which bothered her, as well. Her nights rotated nightmares about finding Rainy in her wrecked car and unsettling dreams of naked racquetball games with Riley. The nightmares had disrupted her sleep with fears and pain and loss. But the nude dreams had left Sam frustrated in ways she’d never before experienced.

  SOMETHING TRULY WEIRD IS GOING ON, SPYGIRL.

  Trepidation oozed through Sam as she read Josie Lockworth’s message.

  WHAT DO YOU MEAN? Sam typed.

  ALEX HAD A FAINTING EPISODE, TOO. LIKE KAYLA. ALEX, WHO’S HARDLY HAD A SICK DAY IN HER LIFE.

  Sam stared at the screen. Nearly two weeks had passed since she’d first chatted with Josie over e-mail. She’d been locked up for a month. Personally, she knew she was a surprise to the CIA who were keeping her under observation. Only the resiliency she’d learned as a child served to keep her physically, mentally and emotionally away from the abyss of loneliness and despair.

  None of the other Cassandras had been cleared for contact. Sam had the impression that Mitchell wasn’t going to make that happen unless he was forced to. However, Mitchell had allowed Howie Dunn to search for possible enemies among Rainy’s clients. There hadn’t been any, and she had let Kayla know via Josie.