Betrayal (39 page)

Krause shook his head. “Asshole,” he slammed the door.

Cassidy grabbed hold of Alex. The agent had raised her fist without thinking and the pain coursing through her made her unsteady. The teacher smiled slightly and shook her head, “Alex…”

“He deserved it.”

“I guess he did,” Cassidy admitted. “Come on, let’s get that back in the sling where it is supposed to be, huh?” Alex reluctantly nodded. Cassidy looked up at the CIA agent and smiled sadly. “Pip, I….”

He gently touched her on the shoulder. “It’s all right, Cassie.”

“Krause, you should have stayed out of sight,” Alex said with a hint of genuine concern in her voice.

“I hate that guy,” he muttered.

“Well, I guess we have more than one thing in common then,” Alex smiled, looking to Cassidy with a raised eyebrow.

“What the hell was that?” Jane asked emerging from the downstairs. “I heard the commotion. I thought I should keep Dylan out of the….”

“Yeah,” Cassidy looked at the former first lady.

“Cat’s outta the bag, Jane,” Alex said.

“What?” she asked.

Krause continued the thought for the agent as Cassidy gently replaced Alex’s sling. “That was O’Brien. He knows…Dylan isn’t his.”

“Does he
know
?” Jane asked fearfully.

“No,” Krause laughed. “He thinks Dylan’s mine.”

Jane looked at Alex and then at Krause. It was clear to Cassidy that a singular thought was passing between all three. “What?” the teacher asked. “I had to…”

“It could be advantageous,” Jane said, receiving a nod from Krause.

“Am I missing something?” Cassidy asked.

Alex reached for the teacher’s hand. “He thinks Krause is Dylan’s father.”

“But Pip told him…”

Alex smiled. “He thinks it’s Krause.”

“But, Alex…what are you saying?” Krause looked at Alex and smiled knowingly. He gestured to Jane and the two left the room silently. “Alex?”

“We let him think that, Cass.”

“No. Alex, we agreed….”

“I know that. Listen to me, it gives Krause a reason for being here. He’s exposed. We need him as much as he needs me,” Alex offered an explanation.

“And tell Dylan what?”

“I don’t think we need to tell Dylan anything just yet. I don’t think O’Brien will make a public case. He’s too concerned with…”

“His image? Yeah, I know,” Cassidy said. “Alex, this is crazy.”

“I know it is.”

“I thought you were going to kill him,” Cassidy said.

“I probably could have.”

“Did I put Dylan in more danger?” Cassidy asked nervously.

The agent shook her head and pulled Cassidy to her. “No, in fact I think he might be a bit safer now. Krause is…well, he has a reputation.”

Cassidy shook her head in disbelief. “God, Alex…How did I end up here? I should have left him so long ago. None of this…”

“None of this is your fault, Cassidy; none of it. Do you hear me?” Cassidy nodded and sighed. “If you had, I might never have found you.” Cassidy looked up at the agent and offered the first hint of a smile. “We’ll get through this.”

“I know.”

“Cass?” Alex asked as the pair began the short trek back to the kitchen.

“Yeah?”

“Why do you call Krause, Pip?”

Cassidy laughed. “Later, Alex.”

hat?” “Claire Brackett asked.

        
“You heard me,” O’Brien answered.

The female agent laughed heartily. “Oh, now this is rich.”

“I’m glad you are so amused, Claire.”

“Oh, come on. The perfect little school teacher isn’t so perfect after all,” she laughed again. “Krause? Really? Can’t say I would have imagined
that
.” He glared at her. “Oh, Chris; are you actually hurt?” she mocked.

“Claire, Dylan is not….”

“So what?” He shook his head. “You know what I think?”

“No. I don’t.”

“I think,” she cooed. “You are just like me.” He stared at her blankly. “You aren’t fooling me, Congressman. What is it that has you so upset? The fact that the boy is not yours?” His jaw stiffened. “Um-hmm,” she smiled. “That’s what I thought.”

“Claire…”

“The fact that she actually was with someone else.” Brackett’s smile grew and she nodded. “Not the picture perfect Christmas card after all,” she teased.

“Shut up, Claire.”

“Oh, Chris,” she pushed him back on the bed. “Do you really miss her that much?” He looked up at her and licked his lips. “No?”

“Do you miss Agent Toles?” he shot back.

“Oh….I think we both know we are where we should be.”

“Where is that?” he asked.

“Congressman,” she whispered as she unbuttoned his shirt. “Love or power?”

“What?” he asked trying to focus as she undressed him.

“It’s a simple question. Love or power?” She pulled back slightly and regarded the questions in his eyes, smiling seductively. “One thing my father did teach me, Congressman; you cannot have both. Either you love or you love power. Which is it?”

His expression changed slightly and revealed the slight twinkle in his eye. “He is my son, Claire.”

“No, he’s not,” she grinned. The congressman’s head was spinning and his heart was racing with the attractive agent methodically seducing him. “Emotional entanglements equal compromise. Information equals power,” she whispered in his ear and then began leaving a trail of kisses down his chest. “You are free of one.” He closed his eyes momentarily until he felt her absence. Opening his eyes, he found her hovering above him. “So?” He kissed her fully and she pulled away with a smile. “That’s what I thought.”

Alex sat at the kitchen table weeding through a stack of documents with Brian Fallon watching closely. “What is it you think is in there?” he asked.

“I don’t know what’s in here, Fallon. If I did I wouldn’t be sitting here looking at this mess.”

Fallon picked up a piece of paper and shook his head. “There’s more blacked out on this than there is written.”

Alex kept her gaze focused on the paper. “And?”

Her partner shook his head. “Anyway, you are supposed to be resting. Cassidy is going to kill me when she finds us here.”

“Nah, she won’t. I was given clearance to do puzzles.”

“What?” he asked.

“I said, the doctor told me I could do puzzles,” Alex smirked.

“I doubt that this is what she meant.” Alex shrugged. “So,” Fallon began. “You think President Merrow was involved in something.”

Alex clenched her jaw as her thumb moved to press on her temple. “I don’t
think
anything.”

“I don’t understand.”

Alex sighed and finally lifted her gaze. “Fallon, he was. What it was and what he was doing; that I don’t know. It got him killed, so whatever it was, it wasn’t good.”

He looked back down at the sheet of paper in his hands and began studying it again. His brow twitched and he squinted in concentration. “Alex?”

“Hum?”

“You never knew Admiral Brackett?”

“The Pentagon is a big place, Fallon.” Her partner sneered at her. “
Really
big,” she opened her eyes wide for effect and laughed.

“Alex?”

“What?”

“Look at this.” Alex accepted the paper from her partner’s hand and began to study it. She scanned it several times before riffling through a stack of papers in front of her and retrieving another page. “Do you think it means anything?”

“Son of a bitch.”

“I guess that means yes,” he surmised. Alex pressed the heels of her hands into her temples and let out an audible groan. “Alex,” Fallon began cautiously. “There’s a lot blacked out there….”

“Yeah, there is. Sometimes what is missing tells the story, Fallon.”

“What would Somalia have to do with Merrow?” he asked.

“Specifically, you mean?” He nodded. “Nothing…probably. But, it’s certainly an interesting path to follow.”

“This is from 2004, Alex.”

Alex nodded again and set the papers down. She pulled out her chair slightly. “Yeah….Fallon, let’s just say that SPHINX was more than a mission to work with the locals and assess potential threats. That’s just what we were told.”

“You mean when you were in Iraq?”

Alex got up from her chair and walked to the back door, needing to move and a brief change of scenery. “Let’s say that our efforts were just a bonus to the actual objective.”

“I don’t,” he began as his partner pressed on the bridge of her nose with some force. Alex felt sick. “Toles?” The agent kept her back to her partner. She rubbed her eyes and attempted to process her suspicions. “Alex?”

“Fallon, look at the second page.” He retrieved the second page of the document and focused on it. His eyes traveled slowly over the paper but he remained unsure what it was that Alex wanted him to notice. “You see that word; the one that looks out of place? Look, Fallon. What word looks out of place?”

“WASHTUB?”

“Yeah, right, WASHTUB. Do you know what WASHTUB was?” He remained silent, shaking his head.

Alex turned slowly. “It was a CIA project in the 1950s.”

“You really do watch too much
X-Files
,” he rolled his eyes.

“It’s not a joke, Fallon. WASHTUB was the codename for an operation that planted fake Soviet arms off the coast of Nicaragua. It was part of an effort, disinformation. The intention was to tie the Guatemalan government to communism. The objective was to overthrow the Guatemalan president.”

“Alex, what the hell would that have to do with anything in Somalia or Iraq?”

“Do you know, Fallon; what two of the most lucrative businesses in the world are today?” He stared at her. Alex chuckled and looked to the ceiling. “Arms and drugs, Fallon….arms and drugs.”

“I really am not following you.”

“Do you know what prompted WASHTUB?” she asked him.

“I would imagine it has something to do with communists. I do recall a bit of that in my history lessons,” he smiled.

“Mm.” Alex let out another heavy sigh. “Bananas.”

“Excuse me?”

“Bananas.”

“Alex, you lost me.”

“Fallon, the world is and has always been about money. Today it’s drugs and weapons….back then, well in Central America it was bananas….and guns.”

“Okay?”

Alex walked back to the table and pointed to the two pieces of paper. “If you want to keep your customers happy, you keep them in control. The money flows to them; the money flows to you. Right? Let’s say WASHTUB was repurposed.”