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25

STAR

There was a surprise waiting for us on the jet that would take us back to the US—my grandfather had perched himself on one of the bucket seats, a paper in his hands, one of several he had discarded on the table beside him.

“You have the subtlety of a jackhammer, Star, but in some instances, it’s to our benefit,” was his greeting. He didn’t even look up from the article he was reading.

“The nation is distracted,” I agreed.

“Which is why I said it’s to our benefit, but it won’t last forever. Three important men have gone missing within the space of a month,” he pointed out.

“Isn’t that what you’re for? To deal with any repercussions?”

He sniffed. “It’s fortunate for you that I have the power I do.”

Though I squinted at him, I only asked, “Is that supposed to be an olive branch?”

“I didn’t know we were in need of one. Interpol is awaiting the influx of your files and they have already commenced their investigation now that they have the means of accessing the Sparrows’ communication app via DeLaCroix's account. Is that not enough of an olive branch?” The paper crunched as he peered at us over it. “Conor,” he greeted, his tone more cordial than it had been with me.

“Anton.” Conor seated himself with a weary sigh as he sank into the bucket seat.

A quick scan revealed to me that he was less tired than the other day but that jet lag had worked its wiles on him.

Something he confirmed by rocking his head back against the rest and closing his eyes.

"Did you see DeLaCroix is dead?" I inquired.

"See?" Anton chuckled. "My dear girl, I made it happen."

My brows lifted at that. "Interesting."

"Some pigs just can't be allowed to live," he stated, retreating behind his paper.

I didn't disagree, but it was still curious when his Brotherhood was so pious.

“This Interpol department… How did you pick the officers manning it?”

He heaved a sigh. “I hand-selected them but, by all means, I will have the list of officers sent over to you for vetting.”

Surprised by the easy concession, I murmured, “I’d appreciate that.”

“There are no skeletons in the officers’ closets as far as my Pauks could uncover, but a second set of eyes, especially when they’re yours, is always a wise decision.”

I had no idea why but my mind shifted to something Sheridan Reinier had said: ‘If you trust him, then you’re a fool.’

As a result, my question came out more abruptly than I'd have liked:

“Was my mother’s real name Galena?”

His hand tightened around the paper, making it crunch in his hand.

“I’ll take that as confirmation.”

“Her name was Galena, da .” He folded the newspaper in his lap. “Why do you ask?”

“President Davidson implied they were friends.”

“They met when he visited Moscow in his role as an emissary to the defense secretary in the late eighties.”

“And a friendship was born?” I queried.

“It was. Your mother could be persuasive when she tried.”

“Was it romantic?”

“She never said. I didn’t task her with seducing him if that’s your question.”

“Good to know you didn’t pimp her out on that occasion,” I mocked.

His eyes narrowed upon me, the papery skin crinkling between his brows, but he stayed silent.

“I spoke with Eamonn Keegan, Dagda , before we flew to England. He confirmed that Mom’s death was related to Jorgmundgander.” When he didn’t say anything, I demanded, “Well?”

“I wasn’t aware that you asked me a question.”

“Why have you gone to such lengths to avenge your son but not your daughter?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Not to me. I’m not a child and I deserve to know what happened to her, dammit.”

“She does, Anton,” Conor rumbled softly. “She only went down this path and ended up where she did because she needed to understand what happened to her mom.”

Anton appeared to ponder that before, eventually, conceding, “The reason I don’t need to avenge her is because she’s already avenged.”

“Dagda’s living and breathing in New York City.”

“And you yourself told me that Troy should not be erased for killing Aleks.”

“Who was behind her death?”

“He’s currently sitting in a shipping container in the Catskills listening to his colleagues being eaten by the local fauna.”

“Sheridan Reinier was behind my mom’s death?” I cried, digging my nails into the leather armrests to hold me back. Conor’s hand slipped over mine, and I knotted my fingers with his, clenching down so hard that it undoubtedly hurt us both.

Anton rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Your mother was a beautiful woman. She was memorable. Too memorable. Reinier met her when he and Davidson came to Moscow. When she was a part of my guard,” he clarified.

I swallowed. “He recognized her.”

“Yes. And used it as a hold on her.” His mouth tightened. “I suspected for many years that she was… that she’d turned. Had become a Sparrow. It was one of the reasons why I kept my distance. Not just from the investigation into her passing but from you too. I only waded in once I knew what they’d done to you, and like always, I was too late.”

“I wondered what prompted your involvement,” Conor mused. “Now, and not back then, I mean. What changed?”

Anton shot me a pointed look. “My granddaughter waded into the fray and began killing my colleagues then targeted me.”

“Don’t expect an apology out of me.”

“I expect nothing from you apart from a bad attitude,” he sniped.

I grunted.

“ Was she a Sparrow?” Conor asked.

“Temperance Black has spoken with Reinier while under our custody. I’ve been assured that Galena wasn’t a Sparrow, nor a double agent.”

“So why kill her?”

“Because Reinier spoke with her personally. She had to die because she could implicate him as a Sparrow.” He rubbed his chin. “As long as there are Sparrows, there will be Brothers. I like to think we are better, but in this, I’m as bad as one of them—my satisfaction in knowing of their suffering knows no bounds. Those men killed my children. I’m glad their pain will be excruciating before they are robbed of their lives, just as they did with my Aleks and Galena.” His gaze was measured as he leveled me with a verbal blow: “Your mother does not deserve to be hated.”

“You acted as if she?—”

“Do you know the pain of losing two children, Star?”

There was such agony in his voice that even I, in all my selfish, childish rage at a mother who’d abandoned me too soon, quieted.

“It is the nature of life for a child to lose a parent but to suffer the reverse? Twice?” He shook his head. “Their sacrifice wasn’t in vain, but that makes it no less of a sacrifice.”

“I-I thought you resented her,” I rasped.

“I did. For dying. I lead a double life, child. There are few who know all of me and your mother was one such person. Aleks was younger than her and there were… There were things he didn’t know about me.”

“Things Mom did?”

He dipped his chin. “Weaknesses of mine, strengths. She was a good girl. The best daughter. Yes, Reinier deserves his suffering. It is not in me to be needlessly cruel, but I see nothing needless about his end.”

“Why was she with my dad? Was it love?” I braced myself. “Or was it a mission?”

“It started as a mission, an easy means of traveling the globe, hitting the major cities without suspicion—travel back then wasn’t as laissez-faire as it is now. Then, over time, it became love. She wouldn’t have stayed with him, wouldn’t have given birth to you if that weren’t the case.”

“How do you know? Why did I never meet you?”

He sighed. “Because of one of my weaknesses.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your grandmother was a difficult woman. Ours was not a marriage of love nor was it a mission. It was a union. A way of creating tighter binds between myself and another on my council.”

“Your council?” Conor peppered.

“The men Star killed to reach me.” His lips quirked. “I hated most of them so it is no waste to me, but you must curb your homicidal tendencies once this situation with the Sparrows is complete, child. I can keep you out of jail only as long as I’m alive.”

“I only kill people who deserve it.”

“I’m not sure the police would agree with such a mindset.”

“Liberalism gone mad,” I grumbled under my breath, making Conor snicker tiredly.

“Your grandmother was royalty—Edward of Midlothian’s eldest daughter. We did not like each other. Most of the time, we despised each other, but we played too good a role for Galena and Aleks.

“Both of us had been raised with miserable parents in miserable households and we’d vowed to be different with our children.”

“She caught you cheating, didn’t she?” Conor questioned, his voice low.

“She did,” he confirmed. “And never forgave me for it.”

“Ever?”

“Not before she died. It undoubtedly played a part in keeping her away when she always called Russia home.”

The words pained me—that Russia was ‘home’ when I remembered spending every Fourth of July at a massive party she organized to celebrate the occasion because she loved her country.

That she was capable of being as childish as me—judging our parents with the mindset of betrayed children rather than that of an adult—was oddly comforting.

But her life with us hadn’t been a total lie, and his admission enabled me to admit to a solid, undeniable, indefatigable truth—hating her was harder than loving her.

“I loved her,” I whispered brokenly, swiping at my cheeks like the child I was at that moment. A child who’d lost her parents.

“I did too,” Anton rasped, reaching over to pat my hand.

“I didn’t want to lose her.”

“Nor did I.”

“How did it happen? Dad would never tell me and when I was old enough to go looking for details, I was stonewalled.”

He tipped up his chin. “That was my doing.”

Around us, the flight attendants prompted us to prepare for take-off, but even the flight’s departure didn’t stop our discussion.

“Why?”

“It was a file filled with lies. I’d rather there be a question mark over her death if anyone went hunting for answers than those miserable falsehoods marking the so-called truth of her passing.”

“What happened?”

He rubbed his forehead. “You know of Dagda’s skill. It was fast. It was lethal. It was from a distance. One minute she was strolling down a street, the next she was bleeding out on it. Simple. Tragic. It happens to too many in your country and, that day, my daughter became another statistic.” He released a sharp breath. “I attended her funeral, as did Aleks. We did not make ourselves known.”

“Why not? Did you not think I needed you?”

“What could we bring to you but more death and intrigue? If we withdrew, you had the chance at a normal childhood. We had no way of knowing that you’d seek answers until it led you down the rabbit hole we inhabit.” He studied me. “Your father never told you the details of her passing?”

“No. He wouldn’t talk about it. At all. Would just say she died of ‘shortness of breath.’”

His brow furrowed. “An unusual turn of phrase.”

“Dad thought he was a poet.”

“He was in the music industry,” Conor rumbled.

Though my eyes were red from crying, his words had me rolling them. “If you say so.”

“Did he know who she was?”

“He knew she was in the CIA. I don’t think he knew about the Brothers. He wouldn’t have been able to keep it out of his music.” I arched a brow at Conor. “We have our resident noxxious expert in the house. Any mention of secret societies in his lyrics?”

“No. He did refer to the CIA and your mom though. ‘ In the shadows, she hides, alphabets keeping me safe, but no one can save me from her.’ That was in ‘Fractious.’ ”

“Before she died?” At his nod, I mumbled, “See? He couldn’t keep anything a secret.”

“But he kept the truth of her death from you,” Anton pointed out.

“He was heartbroken. For the next year, he was either stoned or drunk. Everything changed when she died. Everything.”

“I’m sorry, child.”

I sucked in a breath. “Me too.”

“Is that why Temperance was on me when Riggs called me into Langley?” Conor asked softly.

The abruptness of the question had me blinking, but Anton merely drawled, “You’re talking about Reinier’s kidnapping?”

“Yes.”

“Operation: Eagle’s Claw is a genuine project, but I learned of a leak that led Reinier to suspect you were friendly with Star. I’ve been waiting for a long time for his tangled webs to strangle him.”

Conor frowned. “I’d like a name.”

“Priestley O’Reilly.”

When his lips pursed, Anton asked, “You know who that is?”

“The wife of a Five Pointer who was turned by the Sparrows. We were close friends once upon a time.”

“Why would she be speaking with the CIA about you?” I questioned.

“I don’t think she was speaking to Reinier in his capacity of CIA director.”

Fury flashed inside me as Conor winced then blew out a breath. “This is a mess.”

“Tangled webs often are,” Anton intoned. “However, we are coming to the end of this web. You will be relieved to know that Jorgmundgander is now defunct.

"Upon my arrival in the States, I will be interceding with the FBI to make sure Reinier, Smythe, and Foundry become statistical anomalies. And Interpol will make their moves and rid the world of the trash heap that are the Sparrows. The only thing left to do is to help their victims return home.”

The words settled so deeply inside of me that they became a part of my DNA.

I stared at him a little blankly, unable to accept the truth of what he was saying yet feeling a relief so virulent that I sagged in my seat, knowing he was right.

This was dusk for the Sparrows but the dawn of a new day for Conor and me.

What was that saying?

The sun shines on the righteous?

For the first time, I felt as if that could apply to me too.