Betrayal (27 page)

Dylan looked up at his mother with watering eyes, “but Alex isn’t here. What if the bad guy comes again?”

“Listen to me, Dylan. Alex is doing what she needs to do to keep us all safe.”

“She is?”

Cassidy nodded. At the moment the fear she held was solely for the agent. “Yes.”

The boy hopped up and headed to the small book shelf at the far side of his room. His mother studied him curiously. He seemed to be focused on something and Cassidy nearly lost her breath when she saw the object that commanded his attention. He ran his small hand over the toy airplane and stared. “Will the bad guys shoot at Alex?”

Cassidy caught her breath and closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts. “Why would you ask that?” He picked up the long white airplane that his friend, the president, had given him and turned to his mother with questioning eyes. Cassidy immediately understood. “Sweetheart, Alex is very good at what she does.” His skepticism was evident. She gestured to the toy in his hands. “You know, it was your friend the president that sent Alex here to help us.” He looked up at her in surprise. “Um-hum. He wanted to make sure that we were safe and he sent the best protector he knew.”

“But, then he died,” Dylan said sadly.

“Yes, Dylan, he did.”

“Mom?”

“What, honey?”

“If Alex was with him…”

“Dylan, come here. Alex would not have been with him, even if she wasn’t with us. And, he wanted her to be with us.”

“Why?” he asked.

“I guess because he loved Alex, just like you and I do. And, because he liked you very much. And, he knew that Alex loved us just like we love her.”

“He did? Like me?”

“Yes, Dylan. He did.”

“But what if that bad guy wants to hurt Alex?”

Cassidy ruffled his hair and pulled his face to meet hers just as her mother reached the doorway. Rose looked on as her daughter tenderly touched her grandson’s cheek and she saw the younger woman’s eyes soften. “Dylan, has Alex ever broken a promise to you?” He shook his head. Cassidy smiled. “The truth is sometimes bad things happen, Dylan. Sometimes even to the people we love.” Cassidy’s thoughts momentarily turned to her own father. It mattered very little what his shortcomings had been. Losing a parent produced unimaginable pain. And, losing John Merrow had set her thoughts in a new direction. There were things she needed to set right. The fear, her fear, Dylan’s fear of losing Alex was real, but Cassidy understood now more than ever that even if Alex had a desk job; there were never guarantees. Her own father was all the proof she needed of that fact. What Alex did for work was attached to dangers and Cassidy was certain that the agent tried to shield her and Dylan from that reality as much as she could. It was a reality that the teacher would need to learn to accept and learn to make some peace with for all of them to feel safe. She smiled at her son. “That’s why Alex went away. To keep the people she loves safe. And she loves you very much.”

“She loves you too.”

“Yes,” Cassidy giggled. “I guess she does.”

“Mom?” Cassidy opened her eyes wider, encouraging him to continue. “I don’t want Alex to die.”

She pulled him to her chest and took a deep breath. “I know, baby. You have to trust Alex, okay? Why would you be thinking about that, Dylan?”

“Cause Alex has a gun.”

Cassidy kissed his head. He had asked a lot of questions about the president before Alex left. He didn’t understand everything. He did understand very clearly that a ‘bad guy’ killed someone he thought of as a friend, and that had
happened with a gun. “I know she does, but what did Alex tell you about that?”

“She doesn’t want to use it.”

“And?” Cassidy urged.

“It doesn’t make her a hero.”

“That’s right.”

“I still think she is a hero,” Dylan said proudly.

“So do I, Dylan.”

“Mom?”

“Hum?”

“Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“What the hell would he be doing here?” Brady wondered.

Alex looked out the windshield and shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t like it.”

“A pier? I mean, Toles; does that make sense to you? Seems like a bad spy movie.” Alex clenched her jaw and focused on the pier ahead. “Toles? I thought Fallon said the email on Claire’s computer indicated they wanted him framed.”

“That’s what he said, yeah.”

“Does it look that way to you?”

Alex sighed. “I don’t know what it looks like, Brady. That is why we are watching.”

Brady shook his head. “You think Brackett is with him?”

“Yeah, I do and that’s exactly what worries me,” Alex said. She pressed on her temple with her thumb and bit her lower lip. “Claire, Claire,” she whispered. “What is your game?”

Ian Mitchell pulled up alongside a small building that stood on the narrow road to the pier. “Well, Congressman, I wonder if she has a bullet for
your
back,” he said as he loaded his Glock
30 and placed it is his holster. “We’ll just see, Sparrow, where you fly to now.”

“Here he comes, Toles.” Brady gestured out his passenger side window as the congressman emerged from the cement façade across the long pier. “What the hell is he carrying?”

“I don’t know. Just keep an eye on O’Brien,” she said as she carefully opened the car door.

“Where the hell are you going?” he grumbled at her, trying to keep his voice low.

“Just stick with O’Brien, Brady. No matter what, you stick with O’Brien. Understand?”

“Toles,” he cautioned.

“Something doesn’t feel right here,” she said holstering her HK 45.

“I’m coming with you.”

“The hell you are,” she said leaning back into the car. “This is what we do. I saw something over there on the right. I don’t think we are alone, Brady.”

“I will back you up.”

Alex was growing impatient. “Follow O’Brien and Brackett. We can’t lose them. I can take care of myself.”

“You aren’t James Bond, you know,” Brady reminded her.

Alex shook her head and chuckled. “No, he didn’t speak as many languages…I don’t think.”

“Toles…seriously….”

“Brady, don’t make me sorry I brought you.”

“Taylor sent me.”

Alex was already moving away from the car and edging herself closer to a large pile of stacked pallets. It seemed her best hope for concealment while she moved closer to O’Brien. Seeing wasn’t enough. She needed to hear, to know who was behind all of this and why. John Merrow and Christopher
O’Brien were linked to her family. That presented very real dangers for the people she loved. One way or another she was getting to the bottom of it all. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” she whispered, sensing another presence nearby.

Ian Mitchell walked deliberately toward the tall pole that held a dim light. He had been in these exact situations thousands of times with only one exception; the woman who murdered his best friend was here also. Like all ghosts, Agent Ian Mitchell was a master at appearing confident and remaining emotionally distant. His stride gave away no emotion to the man that had begun to tremble just paces away. Mitchell would sweep in, sweep away any evidence of his existence, and glide away as quickly as a cloud carried by the wind; seen one minute and invisible the next. “Where is your friend, Congressman?” he mused to himself.

Christopher O’Brien felt his throat go dry and his hands tingle in fear as he watched the approaching figure. No one was supposed to show. Claire had arranged that. “Calm down,” he told himself as he desperately tried to tame the beating of his heart. He felt in his pocket, fondling the hard, cold plastic that rested there. He caught his breath as the figure came even with him and he forced his stance erect.

“Congressman, we meet at last,” Mitchell smiled, extending his hand.

“What in the hell? Shit. Mitchell.” Brackett retrieved her sidearm and readied herself. If Mitchell was here then he likely knew about the meet and its purpose. The question was who had sent him. Brackett shook her head and released a heavy sigh. “Couldn’t have been Mercier,” she said aloud. “Unless he
told you before…” It didn’t matter. She needed to get O’Brien out of the area and fast. The question was how to do so without compromising herself in front of Mitchell. The redheaded agent stretched her neck and dropped the gun to her side. She skulked along the edge of a cement barrier, just peering over its top. “Just be ready, Congressman,” she said as she licked her lips. “It’s show time.”