Betrayal (14 page)

“So they want us to follow O’Brien.” Alex shook her head and sighed. “What don’t they want us to follow?”

“That
is
the question,” Taylor agreed. “We follow O’Brien,” he said. “We let Fallon follow Agent Brackett.” Alex sighed heavily. “You know it’s the right way.”

“Maybe. I still don’t like it.”

“Fallon’s smart, Alex. He’ll do well.” He watched Alex as she continually pressed her thumb to her temple and decided a change in topic was called for. “Heading back tomorrow?”
She nodded. “Where’s Cassidy?” Taylor took a seat on one of the long narrow steps near the top of the Lincoln Memorial.

“Took Dylan to O’Brien,” she said somewhat harshly as she sat beside her friend.

“I can see you are happy about that,” he joked.

“I don’t trust him.”

“Me neither, but he is the boy’s father, Alex.”

‘If only you knew,’ she thought silently. “Yeah, well…”

Taylor chuckled. “You know, Alex…Fallon’s not the only one with something more to consider.”

Alex Toles looked out over the scene before her. From her cold, cement seat she could see across the city. The towering obelisk in the center of her view stood as a reminder of the man who first headed a new nation. Just beyond, barely visible in the afternoon haze, she spotted the spire of the capitol. It was the place where men like Christopher O’Brien were sent to do the work of the people. Its halls were erected to provide for and to protect a trusting nation. It was the place Alex Toles had come to view as the ultimate paradox. It was a contrast and contradiction of all she believed in and all that she abhorred. She let out a heavy breath. She had sworn to protect all of this; sworn her life to it so many years ago. It had given her purpose, direction and focus. It had been her compass. Somewhere along the way everything changed. It all paled now in comparison to a school teacher and a little boy.

This investigation was no longer about honor or even obligation. She had been prepared to give her life for those causes since the day she walked into West Point. It was the purpose that she believed eclipsed one woman’s existence. Perhaps it still did. Now, her life mattered to someone else. The safety of her family, their happiness was her objective. She closed her eyes and smiled before turning back to her friend. “Taylor, as long as O’Brien is in this mix Cassidy and Dylan are at risk.”

“Yes, they are,” he swallowed hard.

“Whatever I have to do, I will do,” she said firmly.

“What about where it leads?” he asked.

Alex nodded, an element of apprehension on her face. The implication was clear. The trail that they were following likely led to people they trusted. The greatest risk might not be life nor limb; but the truth. She offered Taylor a sad smile. “Wherever it leads, it leads.”

Taylor nodded his understanding. Two friends now sat in silence looking out over the majesty of the nation’s capital. For most, it was a view that left them breathless by its beauty and artistry. For Captain Michael Taylor and Agent Alexis Toles; it was a stark reminder that everything has a façade. The most beautiful surfaces often hide an unfathomable ugliness underneath. It was their task to remove those masks so that others could build something new and hopefully more authentic. It was a task neither was looking forward to.

“Mom?” Dylan called from his seat in the car.

“Hum?” Cassidy inquired as she navigated a left turn.

“Do I have to go?”

An audible sigh came from the woman in the driver’s seat and she forced a smile to her lips. “Dylan, your dad wants to spend time with you.” There was no response and Cassidy could sense her son’s tension. “It’s only for the afternoon.” She glanced in the mirror to see the boy tracing circles on the window. “You can tell him all about the new house.” Dylan shrugged. “Oh, Dylan.”

“Okay,” he said.

Cassidy shook her head as a million thoughts ran through her mind. Over the last six months Dylan had become more and more apprehensive about his visits with his father. She knew that to a large degree it was because the congressman’s attention was always on other things. She sensed there was something a bit more; not abuse, but perhaps something that
her ex-husband talked about or engaged in that unsettled the boy. She stole another look in the mirror and resigned herself that she would find a way to coax it from him gradually. She pulled in front of the congressman’s building and released her seat belt so she could turn to face her son. “Dylan,” she began as she saw her ex-husband slowly heading to the car. “Daddy is bringing you back before dinner, okay? Try and have fun.”

He nodded as his father opened the door. “Cassie,” the congressman greeted his ex-wife.

“Chris.”

“You ready, bud?” Dylan offered the man a nod and hopped from his seat. “Come on,” the congressman called with a hint of urgency.

Dylan started out and stopped abruptly. He moved back to the center of the car and leaned into his mother, hugging her neck tightly. “I’ll see you in a while, sweetie,” Cassidy said as she reveled in his embrace.

He started back toward his father. “Tell Alex, I am going to win tonight,” he said proudly; thinking about a rematch on the pool table.

Cassidy laughed. “I will tell her that.”

“Bye,” he smiled, now thinking about the night to come rather than the day ahead.

“Go on ahead,” the congressman said to his son. “Cassie,” he leaned back in.

“What?”

“What are you doing?” Cassidy shook her head and laughed. “I’m serious. What could you possibly be planning with this woman?” Cassidy smiled and looked past the man to see her son attempting to take the stairs two at a time. She chuckled and turned her attention back to the congressman. His gaze was severe, as if he were convicting her of some crime with his eyes.

She considered him silently for a moment and then her smile grew. “A family,” she said simply. He stood stunned at the
brief and pointed response. “Have a good afternoon, Chris,” she said. “I am glad to see you up and around.” The congressman stood frozen, staring blankly at the woman in the car. “The door, Christopher?” she reminded him. He started to speak and Cassidy turned away. “I’ll see you around six,” she said as she fastened her seatbelt and turned the key in the ignition.

Christopher O’Brien shut the car door and stepped back onto the curb watching the woman he still regularly referred to as his wife pull away. “That’s my family, Agent,” he muttered. “My family.”

“Nicky called,” a tall, slender older woman said as she hung up the phone.

“Oh?” a man in a large arm chair answered.

“They are all coming Saturday, Nicolaus,” she told him.

“Who would that be?” he asked.

Helen Toles took the paper from her husband’s hand and placed it on the table beside his chair. She looked at him sternly. At seventy, Helen Toles’ hair had begun to turn from its once deep black to a faint gray. She stood 5’10 without the aid of any heels; the addition of which generally placed her nearly eye to eye with her husband. She remained a strikingly attractive woman with cobalt eyes and high cheek bones. There was no denying that Alexis Toles resembled her mother; if not in her manner and lifestyle, certainly in her physical presence and appearance. “Nick,” she said in a deep voice. “Alexis is bringing her new friend.”

“So, Nicky is bringing the family, then?”

“Nicolaus,” Helen repeated. “Please think about Alexis.”

“Alexis has made her choices, Helen. I can’t change that. Do you really think she should be carrying on with this woman; a woman who has a child?”

“Nicky says she is lovely,” Helen raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t berate our daughter if that’s what you are afraid of.”

Helen Toles sighed. Her husband was as obstinate as he was handsome. She sometimes wondered where the idealistic young man she once knew had disappeared to. She still remembered the first time she had seen him at a friend’s wedding more than fifty years ago. He was twenty-six and had just finished his law degree at Harvard. Immediately, he caught her eye just as she had captivated him in the distance. It was Friday, November 22, 1963. While a nation sat glued to images on television screens of a fallen president; two young people began the journey of what would become a lifetime. Helen shook her head and put her hand on his shoulder as he retrieved the paper from beside him. “I’ll make you some lunch.”

He grasped her hand and held it for a long moment. “That sounds fine,” he said continuing to focus on the paper before him.

Helen Toles momentarily turned back to glimpse her husband placing the paper in his lap and rubbing his temples. She sighed and shook her head wondering when he would accept their daughter for who she had become. “So different,” she whispered to herself as she made her way into the kitchen, “and so much alike.”

Monday, April 14th

lex sat drumming on the steering wheel endlessly. Cassidy smiled and raised her eyebrow at the tall agent. “It’s only school, Alex,” she let out a slight chuckle. “He’ll be home in a few hours.” The agent huffed, remaining fixed on the large brick building across the street. Alex shook her head and mumbled something as she turned the key in the ignition. “You know, I’m going to start to think the only reason you keep me around is so you can get me to make tacos while you watch Batman and play pool with Dylan,” Cassidy joked.