Commitment Page 28

  “I’m clearly missing something,” Eleana interjected.

  Alex laughed. “With all the excitement and recent revelations,” Alex looked at Krause, “I haven’t had much time to think about home. I guess I’m missing my family.”

  “You mean Cassidy and her son,” Eleana surmised.

  Alex nodded. “I mean Cassidy and our son, yes,” she corrected her friend. “Haven’t talked to them in almost a week. Never been that long. Just hoping that they are all right, and Cassidy is feeling better.”

  “Is she sick?” Eleana asked.

  Krause turned to look out the window to hide his knowing smirk. “No,” Alex answered. “She’s pregnant,” she said with a smile.

  Eleana’s surprise was evident. “Congratulations. I assume it was planned,” Eleana said lightly.

  “Well, if it hadn’t been I’d have been a lot more surprised than you were just now,” Alex joked.

  The car pulled in front of the grand stone structure. Alex shook her head at its extravagance, musing silently that the inside must be something spectacular to behold. As the door opened, she noticed the figure swiftly moving down the stairs. Alex had yet to meet Edmond Callier in person. She had wondered if the Frenchman was deliberately avoiding such a meeting. After hearing Krause’s news, she was certain her assessment was correct. Eleana’s pace increased as her father approached. Alex could not stop the swell in her heart when she saw Callier embrace his daughter gratefully. It made her ache for home.

  “Eleana. Je souhaitais que vous choisissiez pas cette vie (Eleana. I wish you would not have chosen this life),” Callier spoke softly to his daughter as he held her tightly.

  “Je vais bien, mon Père (I am all right, Father),” Eleana reassured him. Callier stepped back and regarded the woman his daughter had become. Eleana was no longer a child. She was a beautiful, intelligent, and capable woman. He touched her cheek affectionately and turned his attention to Krause and Alex.

  “Edmond,” Krause greeted the older man. “We have a great deal to talk about,” he motioned toward Alex. “My sister and I have some questions,” Krause raised his brow.

  Callier nodded his understanding to the younger man and then turned to Alex. He took her hand and looked into her eyes compassionately. “We have much to discuss,” he agreed, “but now is not the time.”

  “Edmond!” Krause interjected.

  Callier kept his gaze on the young woman in front of him. “Not now, Jonathan,” he cautioned. “Ne faites pas nos même erreurs (Don’t make our mistakes),” he told Alex. Alex studied him carefully as he continued. “You have a plane to catch, Alexis.”

  “I don’t….” Alex began.

  “Your family needs you now,” Callier said. “Cassidy…”

  “Cassidy? What’s….” Alex’s asked desperately.

  “Stop,” Callier spoke gently. “Call home,” he handed Alex his phone.

  Alex could feel hear heart racing as she waited for Cassidy’s soothing voice to answer. The voice that greeted her was calm, but it was not her wife’s. “Mom?”

  “Alexis,” Helen greeted.

  “Where is Cassidy?” Alex asked as a wave of panic began to take hold.

  Helen let out a detectable sigh. “She’s at the hospital with Rose,” she explained.

  “Why? What happened? Is Rose….”

  “Rose is fine, Alexis,” Helen said. “It’s Cassidy.” Krause watched as Alex became unsteady and stepped in to support her.

  “Mom?” Alex begged fearfully.

  “She’s all right. She collapsed earlier. You need to come home, Alexis,” her mother said firmly.

  “The baby?” Alex’s voice cracked.

  “They are both all right, Alex. Cassidy is not fine though, and neither is Dylan. They need you here more than you need to be saving the world,” Helen said a bit more sharply than she had intended. Alex could only nod. The lump in her throat seemed to prevent any speech. Krause took the phone from Alex’s quivering hand.

  “Helen?” Krause asked.

  “Jonathan,” Helen answered him bluntly. “She needs to come home. Now.”

  Jonathan Krause knew a parental demand when he heard one. “She’ll be on the next plane,” he assured the older woman.

  “Thank you,” Helen said earnestly.

  “Helen...” Krause began.

  “Cassidy will be all right, Jonathan,” Helen assured him. “You take care of my daughter right now. Alexis likes to think she can carry the weight of the world. She can’t.”

  Krause looked at Alex and smiled. “I understand,” he said.

  “Good. I’ll see you both soon,” Helen told him.

  “Alex,” Krause directed Alex to look at him.

  “Jonathan….” Alex tried to make the words come. “What have I done?” she whispered.

  Edmond Callier stepped between them. “Alexis, stop this. I have my plane waiting. You’ll be home by morning,” he told her.

  “I should be home now,” Alex scolded herself. Krause looked to Callier helplessly. “How did you even find out?” Alex asked the older man.

  “That’s not important right now,” Callier said. “Jonathan, will you be accompanying Alexis home?”

  “No,” Alex answered for him. “You and Eleana need to follow up on what we gathered at ASA.”

  Krause knew a protest would be futile. “All right. At least let me ride with you to the plane,” he said.

  Callier watched the exchange between Krause and Alex and motioned for his daughter to follow him inside and give them some privacy. Eleana looked at her father curiously. “What is it?” she asked him. Her father’s eyes glistened slightly in the faint light that surrounded them. She had seen the genuine affection and concern cross his face as he spoke to Alex.

  Edmond Callier looped his arm around his daughter’s. “You and Elliot were never that close,” he said.

  “No,” Eleana admitted. She and her brother were drastically different people. She would’ve liked to say that their distance bothered her, but that would have been a lie. She had not missed his presence in her life. Elliot’s primary interest was in lustful pursuits of any kind. He seldom visited home and when he did she recalled the arguments that erupted between her father and her brother. “I sometimes wondered if he was really my brother,” she confessed.

  Callier laughed. “He was. He had more of his mother in him,” Callier said. “Those two,” he glanced back at Krause and Alex, “they are kindred spirits.”

  Eleana followed the direction of her father’s gaze. She had only just met Alex, but she had known Jonathan Krause for many years. He softened in Alex’s presence. It was as if Alex somehow smoothed the rough edges of his life. Eleana smiled. “Do you think it’s good for them? Working together?” she asked.

  Callier nodded as he led his daughter inside. “I think it is what was meant to be.”

  “Claire has gone missing.” Assistant FBI Director Joshua Tate said.

  “Missing?” Agent Fallon asked.

  “Apparently,” Tate answered.

  “What does that mean…exactly?” Fallon asked for clarification.

  “It means she’s off the grid entirely,” Tate explained. “No one has had contact with her since last Friday.”

  “Coincidence?” Fallon asked. “She disappears the day the embassy in Moscow is attacked. I doubt that is by accident.”

  Tate nodded. “I don’t imagine it is, Agent Fallon. It is not what you are thinking,” Tate said. “I suspect her absence is of a personal nature.”

  “I don’t follow,” Fallon said.

  “Imagine learning that you were involved in killing the one person you were close to,” Tate said. Fallon’s confusion was unmistakable. Joshua Tate pulled a photo from his jacket pocket and handed it to Fallon.

  “I don’t understand,” Fallon admitted.

  “Claire spent Christmas in Belarus with a friend; an old friend. I would say her only friend; a Spanish national on the CIA’s payroll,” Tate explain
ed.

  Fallon looked up at the assistant director in disbelief. “You’re telling me that the translator killed in the embassy attack was agency?” he questioned.

  “That’s not something you find very surprising; is it, Agent Fallon?” Tate mocked him slightly. “What’s more surprising is her choice of companions,” Tate offered.

  “You think that this Eleana Baros was complicit in the attack?” Fallon asked.

  “No. I don’t. I think she was a fixture in Claire Brackett’s life. I know that Claire had a hand in orchestrating the attack. That Cesium she and Anderson absconded with last spring is playing a leading role in the propaganda machine. That is not a coincidence,” Tate said.

  “I’m still not following you,” Fallon shook his head.

  “Agent, if you unknowingly were complicit in the death of someone you loved…if you believed the people you worked for betrayed that personal trust; what would you do?” Tate posed the question to his agent.

  “You think she is going to go after Kargen and Ivanov?” Fallon asked knowingly.

  “I do; among others,” Tate supplied.

  “So…what does that mean for us?” Fallon inquired.

  “Check in on our old friend the congressman,” Tate instructed.

  “You think she’ll go to O’Brien? What can he do? He’s due in court again on Tuesday,” Fallon reminded his superior.

  “Just check in on him,” Tate repeated his direction. “You don’t seriously think the only money Christopher O’Brien squirreled away all these years was in Cheryl Stephens’ accounts?”

  “Holy shit,” Fallon groaned. “You think she wants him to finance her.” Tate just smiled. “She’ll never be able to get him out of the country,” Fallon said.

  “She may not have to,” Tate chuckled. “If she chooses to, believe me, Claire Brackett has more than enough connections to get Christopher O’Brien anywhere she chooses. He is just foolish enough to botch her plans without knowing. If her father and Taylor don’t know where she is….we follow O’Brien.”

  “Don’t you think they will do the same thing?” Fallon asked.

  “I’m counting on it.”

  Sunday, January 25th

  lex looked out of the tinted glass as the car slowed its pace.

  She stilled herself as her eyes swept over the place she called home. She accepted her bag from the driver and flung it over her shoulder, keeping a steady pace toward the front door. The faint caress of snowflakes tickled her bare hands and nose, and she took a deep breath when her fingers reached the door handle. This moment reminded her of another time she had come home to the woman she loved. That was less than a year ago. Alex had left early that morning to travel back to Washington D.C. Only a few hours later, Cassidy had been taken against her will. Alex remembered the note that Cassidy had enclosed in her bag along with a photo of the two people she loved most in her life. The myriad of emotions running through her now was eerily familiar; anticipation, relief, anxiety. Only the sight of the woman who held her heart would serve to quiet the competing sensations and emotions.

  Alex stepped through the doorway quietly and removed her coat. She was struck by the silence that in its own way was deafening. She closed her eyes for a moment. As she opened them, a presence made itself known in the distance. A shimmering green gaze captured her attention. Cassidy stood perfectly still in the doorway to the kitchen. Alex was certain she had never seen anything so magnificent. She dropped her bag and began to slowly close the distance between them.

  Cassidy’s eyes shut instinctively just as Alex reached her. The feeling of Alex’s hands tenderly cupping her face sent Cassidy’s emotions crashing. As she opened her eyes, she saw an expression that she was certain mirrored her own. Tears spilled over Alex’s cheeks as blue eyes sought to convey every thought and feeling that coursed through Alex’s being. Cassidy reached for Alex’s hands and held them as they continued to caress her cheeks gently. She felt Alex’s lips brush against her forehead and the release of a breath that she knew signified the relief they both felt.

  Alex lifted Cassidy’s chin to look into the eyes that she had grown to adore. She wasn’t certain how it was possible to become completely lost and found in one perfect moment. Alex was convinced that looking into Cassidy’s eyes was the closest thing to perfection that could exist. They told a story. They whispered unspoken secrets known only to these two souls. They were the doorway to home; Alex’s home. She captured Cassidy’s lips with her own tentatively and lovingly; a promise without words. As Alex pulled back, Cassidy’s lips curled into an understanding smile.

  “I missed you,” Cassidy whispered. The pace of Alex’s tears increased as she continued to marvel silently at the woman before her. Cassidy sensed Alex’s fear and guilt and set out immediately to quell it. “I’m all right, love,” she said.

  “Never again,” Alex whispered. Cassidy wiped a tear from Alex’s cheek with her thumb. “I’m so sorry, Cass.”

  “Stop. You’re here now. You’re safe. And you are holding me,” Cassidy said. “That’s all that matters.” Alex closed her eyes again, reveling in the tenderness and compassion her wife always offered.

  “Alex!” an excited voice broke through their private moment. Within seconds, a lively little boy crashed into Alex’s hip.

  “Hey, Speed,” she welcomed his embrace and lifted him to her waist. “Did you behave while I was away?”

  “Yeah,” he answered. “Mom was sick,” he told her.

  Alex sighed and fought the surfacing tears she feared might be endless. “I heard,” she said softly. “I’ll bet you took good care of her, though.”

  “Yeah and Mackenzie too,” he said. Alex looked at Cassidy inquisitively. Cassidy just chuckled.

  “Mackenzie?” Alex asked.

  “Yeah, my brother,” Dylan said as if she should know that.

  For the first time in hours, Alex felt a sense of lightness wash over her. She smiled at her wife. “Guess we have some catching up to do,” Alex surmised. Cassidy just arched her brow.

  Helen stood at the top of the stairs listening to the conversation below her. She wiped a falling tear from her eyes as the sound of laughter that had been absent for many days began to filter through the house. Rose came up behind her and smiled.

  “Guess she’s home,” Rose said.

  Helen nodded. “I hope she realizes just how lucky she is,” Helen said softly.

  “She does,” Rose patted her friend’s shoulder. “Come on. I think our daughters could use some family time. You, me and a good bottle of wine,” Rose suggested.

  “Sounds perfect,” Helen agreed. “Who’s driving?” she laughed.

  “Alex still has her penance to do. We’ll call her if we need to,” Rose joked.

  Helen followed Rose down the stairs, listening as Dylan prattled on to Alex and Cassidy about his name and Mackenzie excitedly. “Oh, Alexis,” Helen thought to herself. “Don’t waste a single minute,” she prayed silently.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Christopher O’Brien screamed in disbelief. “Jesus, Claire, you have me in their back yard for God’s sake? What the hell are you thinking?”

  Claire Brackett ignored her companion’s tirade. She found the congressman’s constant complaints aggravating. He was very much like a spoiled child and children were not something that ever interested Claire. She ran her hands over the mantle that held several frames, stopping occasionally to study the faces behind the glass. “Relax,” she told him.

  “Relax? Claire….”

  “It’s perfect,” Claire bragged. “No one will ever look for you here, believe me. No one knows about this place. It may just be my best kept secret.”

  “You’ll forgive me….I never pictured you enjoying the comforts of small town New England,” O’Brien said sarcastically.

  “And, how have you pictured me?” she inquired. O’Brien was not amused by her banter, and that made Claire all the more delighted. “You are such a baby,” she told him. “Since
you are so curious…I went to school not far from here. This… this place was our escape,” Claire explained.

  “You think staying in one of Daddy’s homes is a good idea?” he asked.

  Claire scoffed at his assessment of the situation. “My father has no idea this exists. No, this was a rundown old farmhouse when I used to come here,” she told him. Claire stretched out in a large chair and sighed as she examined her surroundings. “She was amazing,” Claire whispered in admiration.

  “You have lost your mind,” O’Brien observed. “What are we here to rekindle your lost childhood? I thought we had an agreement.”

  Claire closed her eyes and relaxed her body. She had not been to this home in several years. Life had conspired to keep her apart from much of her past and that included this place. It was the first place Eleana had kissed her. It was the sanctuary that they had created to avoid the demands of expectant fathers and academic pressures. It was, Claire began to realize, the closest she had ever felt to ‘home’; whatever that was. Claire had traveled in luxury her entire life. Somehow; whenever she and Eleana found cause or opportunity to escape to this place; Claire felt comforted. She chuckled at the memory of sleeping bags and camping gear, Pop-Tarts and warm soda. It had been heaven. The first time she made love to Eleana they were here, in this room. Eleana swore she would make this a real home one day. Claire thought it was the naïve fantasy of youth. She opened her eyes and shook her head at the simple yet elegant room. How could she have ever doubted Eleana’s commitment to that dream? Eleana never failed to deliver on a promise to Claire; never; until now.

  “This is the safest place I know,” Claire said, her voice crackling with uncharacteristic emotion. “You can be certain of that. No one will look for you here. This is a small town, Christopher. Stay here for now. I will make certain you have everything you need before I leave.”

  “You don’t seriously expect me to stay hold up in this place; do you?” he demanded.

  Claire rose from the comfort of her seat and led him several rooms away to a large kitchen. She directed him to look out the window. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked him.