Page 6

She’d been home often in the past year to visit her folks. Dawn officially had all five of her uncles and both grandparents wrapped around her tiny pinkie finger. Katie shook her head. She hated to see how bad they were all going to spoil her as she got older.

After seeing the emotional condition Alex was in last night, she probably ought to consider making a quick trip with Dawn to Pennsylvania to let him decompress a little more by himself. But memory of the pain on his face as he fought his demons made Katie long to stay and comfort him.Grr. No one had warned herthat the demands of being a parent and a lover could conflict so badly.

Her thoughts jerked back to the present as the taxi stopped at the guard shack in front of CIA headquarters. She climbed out and the vehicle pulled away quickly. She could relate to the driver’s nervousness. A sinister vibe did radiate off the sprawling building. After showing proper I.D. to the guard, she walked across the visitor’s parking lot and through the main entrance.

It was ballsy to show up unannounced at Charlie’s work like this, but she figured her uncle could stand a reminder of just how much he owed her.

She was duly checked out in the agency’s computers at the reception desk and given a visitor’s badge. An escort, a perky co-ed girl no older than Katie, took her up to Charlie’s office.

“Katie! What brings you here? How’s life?”

Which she supposed was spy speak for, Alex hasn’t gone off the reservation already, has he? “I’m great. Everything’s great. Thanks again for sending in the cavalry to rescue us from that hit squad and for arranging Alex’s training.”

He leaned back in his chair and pursed his lips. When he spoke, his low-country Southern drawl was a little thicker than usual. “Oh, I don’t know that my crew did that much to help last year. You and Alex had things well under control by the time we arrived.”

It was a lie, but she wasn’t interested in debating it, today. “I have a favor to ask of you, Uncle Charlie.” She cursed herself silently for using that little girl tone of voice with him. She was done acting like the baby of the whole damned family. She’d grown up a lot in the past year, and her clan could just get used to it. Although, she probably was the first person who had to get used to it.

“Do tell.” His expression went bland and unreadable, his blue eyes oddly opaque all of a sudden. He’d dropped into spy mode. Alex did the exact same thing.

“You said you’d owe me one if I brought Alex to you. And I did. He’s completed his training and has agreed to go back to work for Doctors Unlimited.” Which she knew now to be a CIA front. She hadn’t known it when she’d taken a job with D. U. last year to work as a nurse in remote locations overseas.

“He’s been out of training for one day. And you’re already calling in your chit? So soon?”

“Yes,” she replied firmly. “I’ve had a year to think about it, and seeing Alex last night only confirmed my decision. I need to find out who Alex’s mother is, where she is now, and why she didn’t come to America with his family. Not knowing anything tortures him. I figure it’s the least we all can do for Alex after all we’ve put him through.”

“He talked to you about his training?” Charlie blurted.

She frowned. “No. He didn’t.” But why did Charlie react that way after she used the phrase, “all we’ve put him through?” What on earth did theydoto him?

Charlie leaned back in his leather desk chair. “And what makes you think we know anything about his mother?” Obviously, he didn’t want her to ask any more questions about Alex’s training. She went along with the change of subject.

She shrugged. “You’re the CIA. You can find out anything.”

He steepled his fingers together thoughtfully but didn’t deny the truth of her words. “And then we’ll be even?” he asked.

“Correct. Give me Alex’s mother, and we’re good.”

He didn’t say yes or no, exactly, but she got the impression that he was going to look into it. She supposed that was the most she could hope for out of a spy like him. She’d learned that much around Alex. Spies were hesitant to answer questions directly or commit themselves to anything.

As another intern walked her out of the CIA building, it belatedly occurred to Katie that her uncle hadn’t put up much of a fight at the notion of being able to find Alex’s mother. What did he know that he wasn’t telling?

Had the CIA already found the woman? It would make sense that, in vetting out Alex to become an asset for them, they’d looked into his mysterious, missing parent. Why, then, hadn’t they shared what they’d learned with Alex out of general principles?

Suspicion blossomed in her gut that there was more to the story of Alex’s mother than Charlie was letting on. Why did it feel like she’d just cracked open the lid of Pandora’s box? Maybe she should slam the thing back shut and put a big, fat lock on it.

Memory of the rage and desperation in Alex’s eyes last night as he fought off his impulse to kill her flashed into her mind. Nope. Whatever evils hid in Pandora’s stupid box, it was high time to get them all out in the open and deal with them.

2

Alex reflexively checked for tails or suspicious individuals as he pushed Dawn’s stroller to the playground a few blocks from the house. No one who didn’t belong in the area was obvious. If they were out there, they were good enough at their work to stay hidden. Which meant he didn’t have to kill anyone today.

Relief trickled into his awareness. He wondered idly if he did something like that in front of Dawn, would she remember it? Would it traumatize her or was she too young to register such violence? He supposed babies and murder didn’t often mix. He pushed the stroller deeper into the park.

The sheer normalcy of this place was a shock to his system. After the past year, it was hard to believe that this other world existed…filled with people who were so clueless. So naïve. So completely unaware of the dangerous, parallel world that existed alongside this boring, safe, average existence of theirs.

Spies and criminals, watchers and killers, were out here. Wolves among the lambs. And he was one of the biggest and baddest wolves of all, now.

Dawn squealed, jerking his attention back to her. She wasn’t old enough to play on the climbing fort or swing in the swings, but she smiled up at the sunshine and waved her arms excitedlywhenever other children laughed or shouted nearby. She would undoubtedly spend many happy childhood hours here.