Betrayal (61 page)

“Sparrow.”

“What is it you need, Dimitri?”

“You delivered the message?”

“Of course.”

“Good. We have a situation. I need you to handle it,” he said.

“Oh? And what kind of situation do you need me to handle?” she purred into her phone.

“The House.”

Claire Brackett stretched her tall frame. “When?”

“He’ll let you know. Do not tell your father, Sparrow.”

She chuckled. “Oh, Dimitri, are you worried about Daddy?”

“Heed my…”

“Relax,” she moaned.

“Very well. Go prepared.”

“Never took you for a boy scout,” she mocked him. “You of all people know I am
always
prepared.”

“We’ll see,” he responded before dropping the call.

“Thought we could talk over an ice cream. What do you say?” Dylan nodded his agreement enthusiastically. “The usual?” Alex asked. He nodded. “All right. Two hot fudge sundaes with extra whipped cream coming up. Why don’t you go find us a seat and I’ll be there in a minute.” Dylan scurried off while Alex stepped to the counter to order. She hoped that she could coax the truth from him. She knew Cassidy was touched by Dylan’s affection for and desire to be with Alex, but it was also evident that Cassidy was a bit hurt. Alex understood. Dylan was the center of Cassidy’s world. They were the center of Alex’s. Somehow she needed to find the middle ground. She was learning more and more every day that navigating a family required its own brand of diplomacy.

Alex set down the ice cream sundaes and took a seat across from Dylan. “So, what do you think, Speed? You think Mom will like the ring?”

Dylan nodded as he spooned his sundae into his mouth. “Yeah, and your dress,” he giggled slightly.

“Is my dress funny?” Alex asked as she took a bite of her own ice cream. Dylan shrugged and started toying with the cherry on top.

“Dylan, don’t play with your food,” she warned him gently. “So, my dress isn’t funny then?”

“Nah.”

Alex swirled her ice cream around in the dish. “Are you excited about the wedding?” Dylan tipped his head slightly. “Speed?”

“I guess,” he said.

“Something you want to talk about?” she pried. He shook his head.

“You know your mom is really looking forward to you walking her down the aisle.” Alex paused. “Even if it is a really short aisle,” she joked.

“I guess.”

“Speed? Don’t you want to walk with your mom?” He shrugged. “Hey, I know you love your mom. What is it?” He looked up at her as tears formed in his eyes. “Dylan, what has you so upset?”

“Your family stands with you, right?”

“Sometimes they do.” He shrugged. “Dylan?”

“I’m not really your family.”

“What?” Dylan twirled his ice cream in the bowl. Alex scooted her stool closer. “Why would you say that?” she asked, feeling as if her heart had just broken.

“Cause…I’m not.”

Alex sighed. “I thought you wanted Mom and me to get married?” Alex noted his tears beginning to escape. “Dylan, I love you as if you were my own son. I told you that. Wedding or not I would still want you to be my son.”

“Jason says steps have to say that, but blood is thicker than water and steps are just water. His brother told him. That’s why
you have Nick and Mom has me. He has a step mom and a step dad. You don’t marry the kid, you marry the mom.”

“Jason from soccer said that?” Dylan nodded. Alex thought for a moment. ‘Kids,’ she griped to herself. “Well, Aunt Barb is standing with your mom and they aren’t
blood
related.” Dylan looked at her closely. “Do you remember when I asked you if I could marry Mom?” He nodded. “You do? Well, I did that because we are a family. We all fit together, you and me and Mom. As far as I am concerned you walking your mom to me is the most important job in the whole wedding.” He looked at her curiously. “But, I think I understand and you are right, Dylan.”

“I am?”

“Well, most people think of weddings as about two people. So, Jason is right, but he is also very wrong.” She looked at the small boy across from her and smiled. “A lot of times when people get married it is just the two of them. You really can only marry one person at a time, and I can’t marry you Dylan,” she joked lightheartedly. “You are too young for me and that would be weird. You’re my son.” He tried not to laugh. “But, you raise an interesting point. When someone like me marries someone like your mom, it isn’t really only two people; is it?” He crinkled his mouth slightly. “I have an idea. You are going to have to help me with it and we will surprise Mom.” He looked up hopefully. “That is if you still want me and Mom to get married? Because, Speed, you have to want that too.” She could see the answer plainly on his face. “Okay, then how do you feel about talking in front of everybody?” He shrugged. Dylan was outgoing much like his mother. “Good. So, new plan…but you still walk Mom.” He nodded.

“Will Mom be mad?”

Alex smiled at him in reassurance. She had been giving the situation a great deal of thought all day and she was quite proud of the plan she had devised. She had shared some of her thoughts with her mother after their lunch while they watched
Dylan on a nearby playground. Alex could tell her mother was touched by her idea. Helen had assured Alex that Cassidy would be moved by it as well. Dylan’s concerns were not exactly what she had expected, but she understood his feelings. He needed to be a part of this in a very tangible way, not as a token. “Ready for the plan?” He nodded vigorously. “Okay, here it is…”

“You did well, Ambassador.”

“I did nothing, Dimitri…but act as the gopher I am,” Russ Matthews responded.

“Nonsense, this was an important mission. You know what is at stake,” Dimitri said.

Matthews sighed. “I do know what is at stake. I wonder how we justify the risks.”

“Well, Ambassador, we all know these are necessary evils to keep control. You know that as well as anyone.”

“Giving terrorists the means to use biological…”

“Don’t be naïve, Ambassador. They have the means to acquire what we have provided from any number of sources. Best it be us so that we can ensure containment.”

Matthews laughed sardonically. “Containment?”

“You would do well to remember why you are here,” the SVR agent reminded Matthews.

“Oh, I am more than aware why I am here, Mr. Kargen. I just wonder when we will all accept the fact that we are dinosaurs in a new age.” Kargen looked at the Ambassador harshly. “Oh, come now, Dimitri. This is a new world. Control and containment are illusions. What is to come is inevitable.”

Kargen stood stoically. “What is to come is whatever we decide it will be. We are the commanders.”

Matthews shook his head. “You know what happens when you try too hard to maintain control, Dimitri?” the ambassador asked as he looked across Red Square. “No? Control is
the pretext for containment, no? There is only one outcome, Dimitri, only one.” Dimitri Kargen remained expressionless. “Fools; that is what we are. Collapse is the inevitability in all of this.”

“You have lost your courage and your conviction,” Kargen said simply.

Matthews’ caustic reply came swiftly. “Con artists can have as much conviction as any commander I have ever known. As for courage, well…I suppose we will all need that soon enough,” he remarked as he began to stroll away. Ambassador Russ Matthews combed his thoughts as he made his way through the square. “Going to take a lot more than courage,” he said quietly as he continued forward. “I just wonder how many more casualties we will suffer first,” he mused. Heaviness overtook him as he studied the historical sites in the heart of Moscow. Now, he would simply wait and watch until he was called upon again.

Tuesday, May 26th

“I have to say I was surprised you wanted me here already.”

“It’s not about the wedding, Fallon,” Alex said.

“So what is it?” he asked as they walked toward the stream that abutted Alex and Cassidy’s property.

Alex took a seat on a large tree stump near the water’s edge. “Dylan loves to sit here and skip rocks,” she said softly.

“Alex?” Fallon asked with some concern.

She skipped a rock across the water’s surface. “Fallon, I think you are probably the only person I can be certain of right now.”

“What’s going on?”

Alex closed her eyes, threw her head back and pinched the bridge of her nose. She was about to invite Brian Fallon into a world the likes of which she could barely fathom. If he
accepted, it would mean immersing himself in a culture that defied the logic she knew he relied on so heavily throughout his career. Worse still, it would mean secrecy, deception, and danger. “Look, before I tell you anything; there are things you need to understand. And, if you choose to accept what I am about to ask you,” she stopped and momentarily reconsidered her actions.

“Toles? What is it?” She did not answer immediately, staring out at the ripples in the water and shaking her head. “Whatever it is; I’m not afraid to…”

“You should be. I am,” she warned.

“I didn’t choose this profession to walk away when it got nasty or when it got dangerous. There are always risks, Alex. We both know that. Exposing the truth, protecting people, that….”

“Fallon, if you choose to follow me into this you are going to discover that truth is not a two sided coin.” She stood and regarded him closely. “Even a coin has multiple dimensions. Truth is like that. Heads or tails, Fallon?” She shook her head. “Which is right and which is wrong? All about perception.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked in confusion.

“You know when I first started working as a profiler I realized quickly that most times the people I was chasing didn’t view their actions as wrong. You can call it justification or rationalization. You can call it whatever you like. I had to learn to walk in their truth in order to discover their secrets, uncover their weaknesses, and root them out. They were easy. Serial killers, warlords, drug dealers, even terrorists. They existed in small networks, seldom elaborate. No matter how intelligent or how creative; they were easy to expose. Their agendas were clear; money, idealism or sex. It was all self-gratification. This… this is…”

“Alex,” he moved toward her. “I can’t walk away from this. I won’t.”

She grimaced at his statement and clasped his arm. “I know. I just need you to understand, this is totally off the grid.
Do
you understand?” He searched her for her meaning silently. “Nothing to Tate, nothing to Taylor, and nothing to Kate. As far as any of them know nothing has changed with your allegiance, your objective…”

“I understand. Now tell me what you need.”

Alex pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. She handed it to Fallon and watched him study it. “They are coordinates. Code names and coordinates.”

“For what?” he asked.

She shook her head. “That I don’t know yet. At least not all of it. Some were easy to discern. Many are embassies. A few are military bases. Some, well…they seem to be in the middle of nowhere, or in the middle of a major city; but obscure. Moscow, Berlin, Paris, London, even Washington all appear on that list. But there is no landmark to correspond. It’s dead space. A residential neighborhood, a street.”