Undercover (26 page)

An unsaid, “But,” lingered after the word, and he sounded pleading when he tried, “You know I couldn’t live if anything happened to you.”

“Do you still want another baby?”

She heard he didn’t make the connection. “Yes. Why? Do you want to go make one?”

“I think we already did.”

He hugged her tight and said the words she most wanted to hear. “Really? That is wonderful.”

*****

If Jenny found Alex overprotective when they expected Lindsay, it was nothing compared to this time around. She tried to be patient, but nine months is a long time to have someone hovering over you, and at times she burst out at him. It made him look at her with uncomprehending puppy eyes, and she regretted it every time. They didn’t fight, but that was just because he never argued back.

The day finally came, and the family grew into one of four. The newcomer was a little boy, and they called him Alexander. He was sort of named after his father, even though Alex still refused a Russian name. She didn’t point out that many famous people from his country were named Alexander…

Lindsay seemed skeptical at first. She didn’t even like to play with dolls, and Jenny suspected she couldn’t fathom why her childish parents would want another kid to take care of when they couldn’t even act like grown-ups themselves. Looking at Lindsey, it was easy to imagine the girl visualizing a future where she’d have sole responsibility over her sibling while her parents played with food and slept on the sofa instead of in bed. It didn’t turn out like that, of course, and once Lindsay held her little brother, she approved.

They didn’t hear anything from Alex’s Russian superiors for all this time, and Jenny hoped the old man had told the truth when he promised to let them off the hook. On the day Alexander was born, Alex got a telegram to the hospital, saying, “You have done very well. Take care of your family.”

She hoped it actually meant what it said, and refused to regard it as a threat in disguise.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

A couple of years passed in peace and quiet while Alex and Jenny loved, worked, and raised their family. Life seemed perfect in every little detail. At first, Jenny was afraid to appreciate it, she thought she might jinx it, but time lulled her fears to rest.

Then, a lazy Saturday morning in mid June, someone knocked on the door. Knocked hard. Jenny was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, and to her, it sounded like the visitors were trying to rap the paint off the building.

She called out, “Hold your horses, I’m coming,” dried her hands off on a towel and went to open, suddenly filled with bad feelings. They lived far out in the countryside, and few people bothered to come over without calling first.

Her eyes widened when she saw five large men standing outside. They were all in civilian clothes, and she didn’t recognize any of them, but they had an aura of “Police.” She didn’t see any weapons, but could swear they were armed to the teeth.

The two closest to the door were each other’s opposites. One was younger, tall, and looking fit, dressed in jeans and a checkered shirt. He had short brown hair and kind eyes, and she was sure in another lifetime, before she met Alex, she would have tried to flirt with him.

The other was shorter and scrawny, with graying hair and a bushy moustache. He would be able to hide behind a flagpole if he stood sideways. His eyes were piercing and impossibly blue, and even though she tried not to show it, his gaze made her stomach feel like ice. She imagined any small animal foolish enough to meet his eyes would wither and die. He spoke, and at first she was so preoccupied with his broad Texan accent she didn’t pay attention to his words. Was the accent real, or something he just did? “Good morning, ma’am. We have an outstanding warrant for a Russian agent living in your household, Alexei Roshenko, does the name sound familiar?”

Once the words penetrated her mind, Jenny wanted to wince, or maybe run and hide. She did neither. She frowned and tried to look certain of herself. “Who are you?”

“I’m Tom Johnson from the CIA, ma’am.”

That wasn’t good news, couldn’t possibly be good, and she blinked a couple of times as she tried to get it all together. Shouldn’t the CIA tend to matters outside the country’s borders? Oh yeah, Russian agent. “The CIA? Are you kidding?”

The younger man looked at her, with something resembling pity in his eyes. “I’m Garth Cooper from the local police department, ma’am. May we come in?”

They expected her to say, “Yes.” Tom Johnson was already moving forward. Jenny, however, didn’t intend to play along. “No. You have no business in my home. You all stay on that side of the door.”

They would come in eventually. They would come with a search warrant and turn the house upside down, finding all sorts of forged documents and illegal weapons. Not good.

She heard steps in the staircase behind her, and when she glanced over her shoulder, she saw Alex come down. He looked newly awake. He hadn’t shaved yet, and his hair stood in all directions. He never seemed more precious to her. “What’s going on?”

The man from the CIA pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket, unfolded it and squinted at Alex, pretending to compare the real life person to a photo. He sounded much too content when he said, “Alexei Roshenko? I have a warrant for you on charges on international terrorism, murder, espionage, and various violations of international treaties. You will come with us.”

Panic was too light a word for her fear. “No! You can’t just…”

The man who introduced himself as Garth Cooper interrupted in an even voice. “Actually, we can.”

She stared at him and he seemed embarrassed. Enough so to make an attempt to comfort her. “Maybe it’s all a mistake. Maybe you’ll have him home soon.”

Alex looked resigned. “I love you. Please, tell the children I love them too.”

Tom Johnson couldn’t care less about her words of staying on the outer side of the threshold. He pushed past her and placed a hand on Alex’s back, futilely trying to force him towards the door. Jenny shouted, “Wait,” and the man looked at her with the same distant interest he might give a kitchen chair.

One of the other men followed his superior’s example and entered the hall. He too slammed a heavy hand on Alex’s shoulder. “It’s time to go.”

If the circumstances hadn’t been so grave, she would have found the way they all looked at her husband funny. They seemed to regard him a very dangerous form of predator who might kill each and every one of them if they weren’t careful. It wasn’t all that far from the truth, but they were many and armed, and he didn’t even wear socks.

Lindsay came running down the stairs. She must have been listening. Tears flowed down the girl’s cheeks, and she screamed, “You can’t take my daddy! Where are you taking my daddy?”

She had always been old for her years and understood all too well. Her sobbing broke Jenny’s heart, and when she pushed her way past the police, Alex swept her up in his arms. He kissed the girl’s tear drenched cheeks. “I need you to be strong now, and help your mother and your brother. Please do that for me, pumpkin. I love you.”

One of the men tried to lift the girl down from her father, and she screamed with that special piercing voice only little girls have. Jenny wanted to cheer when the child hit him. She swallowed down her own tears. “Leave my daughter alone. You never answered her question. Where are you taking my husband?”

Garth Cooper frowned, and she suspected the great bust wasn’t going down the way he expected. “To the station in town, to begin with. I’m sorry about all this, ma’am.”

Tom Johnson looked as if he wanted to hit his colleague for disclosing that information, but Jenny didn’t care about either of them. She shoved her way in between the men to kiss Alex goodbye. This might be the last time she saw him. Ever. She whispered, “I love you.”

Their eyes met when he handed Lindsay over to her, and he mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

Then, he was gone, swept away by the police, and Jenny and her daughter stood alone in the hallway. The sunshine flowing in through the windows was an ultimate scorn. Surely, a day like this should be accompanied by a thunderstorm, or why not a hurricane.

*****

It took a few minutes for Jenny to get going, and she might never have if her daughter hadn’t declared, “You have to get him back. It’s your responsibility, Mom.”

She stared at her daughter and wondered how old this child really was. Surely, her soul was much older than seven. Lindsey met her eyes and tried again, “Mom, they took Dad. Go get him back.”

Her daughter was wise in many ways. They had talked about what might happen many times during the years, ever since their visit to Russia so long ago. They discussed it and made loose plans, and she knew Alex had prepared. She just never expected him to be snatched away by the
CIA
. If
they
got the idea they wanted him, they would get him, no matter what.

She drew a deep sigh to steady herself and nodded. “You’re right. I love you so much, Lindsay. Go upstairs and get some outdoor clothes on. Dress Alexander if you can, if not, I’ll come do it in a few.”

The child nodded and ran upstairs, and Jenny headed towards the kitchen, gathering up things they might need, and a couple that were just sweet memories. When she packed, she was proud of her hands being steady, and she wished Alex had been there to see it, so he could be proud of her too. It wasn’t a rational thought, but at this point, being rational didn’t seem all that important.

All this could be futile. Maybe she would end up nowhere but in prison, but at least it gave her something to fill the time with. She blocked all thoughts out, and for a while just moving worked surprisingly well. She carried the bags into the basement and loaded the old Chevy inside the garage, safely away from windows and prying eyes.

Going back up the stairs, her feet seemed to weigh at least a ton each. She needed to get the children.

Lindsay hadn’t just dressed Alexander, she had also packed bags for herself and her brother, and Jenny once again wondered just how much the girl knew and understood. Surely much more than either of them ever gave her credit for. For the first time, she thought her daughter might know everything about her parents and Alex’s past. It wasn’t difficult to imagine the girl crouched in the staircase, safely hidden from her mother’s eyes, listening to every confession her father ever made through the years. The thought made her shudder involuntarily, and she forced herself to return to reality.

Alexander was too young to understand what was happening, but Lindsay stood in the middle of the room, staring at a large stuffed dog Alex bought for her birthday. Jenny put a hand on her shoulder. “You two will have to stay at Nana’s for a while. Maybe just for the day, maybe longer. Do you want to bring it?”

Lindsay nodded, and Jenny sighed. Dealing with the law would be one thing, and handling her mother quite another. When she drove away from the house and watched it in the rear view mirror, she knew she had seen it for the very last time.

*****

Jenny parked outside her mother’s apartment and lifted Lindsay down from the car. The girl had to carry her little bag herself; Jenny had her hands full with Alexander, his bag, and the large stuffed toy. Her daughter seemed very fragile and very precious.

It took a couple of minutes from ringing the bell until the apartment door opened, and Jenny was sure her mother stood there, peeking out, trying to determine if it really was them or just someone disguised as them. The older woman had always been a bit peculiar, but lately, it bloomed into full-scale paranoia. She sometimes phoned to report big and threatening cars followed her, or that the curtains contained hidden cameras and microphones. Earlier in her life Jenny might have found it funny, or at least ridiculous, but after getting entangled in a world of real spies, cameras, and microphones, she wondered if her mom might be the sane one.

Lindsay smiled in spite of it all, and exclaimed, “Nana!” and Jenny filled in, “Hi, Mom. I need you to watch the kids for me. I don’t know for how long, maybe just for a couple of hours, or maybe until tomorrow.”

Her mother shook her head and answered with a stubborn look on her face, “I’d love to, but it’s not good for them to stay here. The neighbors are having a campaign against me, and they keep dropping something on the floor above just to disturb me. And the kids will make noise, and—”

Jenny wanted to scream with frustration. Luckily, Lindsay offered an alternate solution. Her lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears. “Nana, some men took my daddy.”

The older woman stared at them with a frown. “Really? Why?”

It might not be the right thing to do, but Jenny decided to take the ball her daughter dropped and run with it. “Yes, they took Alex. They want my children too. I need you to look after them, and you must not open this door for
anyone
except me or Alex. Do you understand?”

A good daughter wouldn’t use her mother’s disease to achieve her own goals, but for now, it was all she could do.

Her mother nodded, and her eyes seemed clearer when facing a real, tangible, threat. “Yes. I understand.”

“You can’t open for anyone, not even for the police. Just pretend you’re not home.”

Lindsay looked up, and Jenny was convinced her daughter would point out everything wrong with the rudimentary plan. The child asked impatiently, “Now are you going to go get Daddy?”

Bending down to look into her daughter’s eyes, Jenny thought she could see both Alex and herself reflected in them. It gave her hope. “Yes, pumpkin. I’m going to get Daddy. You just take care of your little brother, and I’ll be back as soon as I can. I love you.”

The girl nodded. “I love you too, Mommy.”

Kissing her children goodbye and leaving them there was one of the hardest things she ever had to do, and the very foundations of the world rocked under her. As she left, her mother called out, “Jenny, I love you.”

She turned back and somehow managed to smile. “Mom, I love you too. And thank you.”