Conspiracy (Alex and Cassidy Book 4) Read online

  “Excuse me?” Alex asked.

  “I’m sorry about your father,” he said. McCollum outstretched his hand. “McCollum…James,” he said. Alex stared at him blankly. “Not the father you expected, I know. I’m afraid you will have to settle for your father-in-law.”

  “No fucking way,” Claire’s voice carried through the room.

  Alex stood frozen in place. She held the older man’s gaze and studied his eyes for a moment. She looked down at his waiting hand and promptly turned her gaze back to Krause. “Call Jane and make arrangements for our uninvited guests,” she instructed him. She moved to face Brady. “I trust you and Fallon can handle things here until reinforcements arrive?”

  “Not a problem,” Brady promised. “I’m sorry about the….”

  Alex held up her hand. “Not your fault. Clearly there were more invitations to this party than we were made aware of,” she said.

  “Damn,” Claire groaned in pain. Eleana tried to keep pressure on Claire’s shoulder. “Nice shot,” Claire hissed at Alex. Alex grinned.

  “What about Claire?” Eleana asked.

  Alex considered the question for a minute. She looked at Krause. “I think I have just the place.”

  “Hey!” Claire called out. “What are you gonna do? Dump me with Dmitri?”

  Alex shrugged. “No,” she smiled. “I’m taking you home,” she said casually. Alex walked past McCollum without any acknowledgment and headed for the office door.

  Brady moved to Krause’s side along with Fallon. “You look like shit,” he said to Fallon. “This is becoming a thing with you.”

  “Funny,” Fallon replied.

  “You coming?” Alex called back as she kept moving forward.

  Krause sighed and looked at McCollum. “That went well,” he said before moving to help Eleana get Claire to her feet. “Can you walk?” he asked Claire as cordially as he could manage.

  “I sure as hell am not having you carry my ass over Toles’ threshold.”

  Eleana shook her head. “This is not happening.”

  Claire was starting to feel lightheaded from the loss of blood and shock to her system, and her knees gave way. Krause flung her over his shoulder. “Hey!” Claire yelled. She looked at the older man walking beside them and chuckled. “Bet they hate you more than they do me,” she said honestly.

  McCollum suppressed an earnest laugh. “Not even a question,” he told Claire. “Not even a question.”

  Chapter Ten

  Alex had remained silent on the drive to her mother’s home. The only exchange in twenty minutes consisted of Eleana expressing concern over Claire’s injuries. Alex had insisted on driving, commandeering a Carecom van. She needed to be in motion to still her mind. McCollum and Eleana found themselves in the back with a bleeding, irritable, and slightly silly Claire Brackett. Eleana had piped up amid Claire’s babbling and groaning to urge Alex to take them to a hospital. Alex had promised that she would see that Claire got medical attention.

  Alex pulled into her mother’s garage and turned off the car. She was grateful for the late hour, the fact that her mother’s house was set back from the road a bit and the knowledge that no one in the family was close by. “Follow me,” she instructed the group.

  “Where are we going?” Krause asked. He followed Alex as she made her way to the back of the house and the hatchway. “I thought you said no one was here?”

  Alex ignored Krause. She led the group into the basement of her parent’s home. The first room was a laundry room. The next was a large family room. Alex moved to the far wall. It was adorned with a large mural of Santorini. Alex moved a few paces left of the bar. She reached underneath and in less than a second, a panel in the middle of the mural opened.

  “Holy shit! Does your dad have this too?” Claire asked Eleana sluggishly.

  “She really does need something,” Eleana said. “She’s lost a lot of blood.”

  “She’ll be okay,” McCollum said assuredly. “She’s lucid enough. If I know Nicolaus, there will be something here to at least help with the pain.”

  Alex shot McCollum a disgusted glare and led the group down a short hallway to another door. She typed in the passcode and directed them through. She looked at Krause and gestured to a large couch in the corner.

  “Alex, are you sure this is a good idea?” Krause asked as he laid Claire on the couch.

  “Fuck!” she yelped. “You could be a little more gentle!” she scolded him.

  Krause glared down at Claire and Eleana stepped in. She put her hand on Krause’s chest to calm him and made her way to Claire’s side. Eleana shook her head at her former lover, the hint of a smile touching her lips. “Will you ever learn?” she said as she moved a pillow behind Claire’s back.

  “Alex,” Krause began again.

  “It’s fine. Cassidy took the kids with my mother and Rose to Maine for the weekend. Besides, Mom has been staying with us. I told you twice, no one is here,” Alex assured him. Alex turned to Eleana. She pointed to a chest in the corner of the room. “You’ll find some supplies in there. I’ll make a call. Just keep an eye on her,” Alex instructed the younger agent with a nod toward Brackett.

  “Hey!” Claire barked. “I tried to save your ass and this is my thanks? You shoot me and lock me up in some basement on a couch?” Claire complained. Eleana put her face in her hands.

  Alex grinned evilly. “I can think of less comfortable accommodations if you prefer.”

  Claire huffed. “Jesus, I couldn’t have been that bad,” she muttered.

  Alex chuckled in spite of the situation. Claire remained a wildcard, but Alex would have been lying to herself if she had claimed to hate the younger woman. She didn’t trust Claire. She did recognize Claire’s weakness and it was kneeling beside the wounded Brackett right now. “Save that bravado,” Alex said. “You might need it later,” she said honestly.

  Alex began making her way from the room with Krause and McCollum trailing behind. She deliberately kept her back to both men as she made her way back down the small hallway. This time, she made a turn and headed up a small flight of stairs. Her thoughts had turned from the altercation at Carecom and its implications to the implications her current company held for Cassidy. Alex had scarcely had a second to ponder the reality that followed a few paces behind her. Alex pinched the bridge of her nose as she climbed the stairs and tried to comprehend who was following her lead. She opened the door that led to her father’s office.

  “Alex,” Krause began.

  Alex continued to ignore her older brother. She turned and secured the panel in the wall that led to the safe room her father had constructed years ago. Without so much as a glance, she turned and continued to make her way into the hallway. She was not ready to discuss anything, believing that a few more soundless moments would serve them all best. Alex began massaging her temples with her thumbs as she finally reached the hallway and made her way toward the large living room.

  “Alexis,” McCollum called in a demanding tone. “We need to…”

  Alex reached the center of the room and spun on her heels to face him. “Don’t,” she warned him sternly.

  “You can’t…”

  Alex’s voice lowered and her expression darkened. “Don’t,” she repeated her warning. “I have no idea what I am even going to tell Cassidy about this.”

  “You have no idea what you are going to tell me about what?” a voice asked from a short distance.

  Alex turned as Cassidy entered the doorway that separated the dining room from the living area. She immediately felt the blood drain from her face and her heart plummet in her chest. “I thought you were in Maine?”

  Cassidy folded her arms across her chest. “I was on my way. Kenzie has an ear infection. I left you a message,” she said.

  For a split second all of Alex’s thoughts turned to her daughter. “Is she all right?”

  “Grumpy,” Cassidy said. “She’ll be fine. Now, what is it that you need to tell me?” Cassidy as
ked pointedly. She regarded Alex thoughtfully as Alex stared blankly at her. “Alex?”

  “Is Dylan here?” Alex asked, partly hoping to stall for time and needing to know the answer.

  “No. He stayed with YaYa and Grandma,” Cassidy explained. She pinned Alex with her gaze.

  “Cass,” Alex drew her wife’s name out and shook her head. “This is…”

  “Alex. We promised each other—no secrets. None. What on earth are you so afraid to tell me?”

  Before Alex could respond, a figure stepped into Cassidy’s view. James McCollum offered his daughter a sad smile. It was weak, tinged by both deep regret and boundless love. Cassidy’s eyes lifted from Alex’s and studied the older man standing just behind her wife. She narrowed her gaze, attempting to process what her heart already knew. He had aged. His once thick blonde hair had thinned and grayed. But, his eyes—his eyes were the same. Green with flecks of gold stared at Cassidy. The brilliance and liveliness had dulled noticeably, but intelligence still sparkled clearly in the changing irises. Cassidy’s lips parted slightly then closed tightly in recognition. She stood paralyzed. Time stopped. Thought ceased. Emotion evaporated. This was not possible. She was dreaming. Cassidy tried to close her eyes, hoping that when she opened them again, the figure would vanish, but her eyes would not obey her command. She could not process a thought nor any concrete feeling. Blankly, she stared at the vision before her as if the man facing her were transparent.

  Alex moved quickly to Cassidy’s side to steady her. She looked into Cassidy’s eyes and called to her softly. “Cass? Cassidy, look at me.”

  “You,” was the only word that Cassidy could manage, her eyes penetrating the man a few feet away.

  “Cassie,” James McCollum took a slight step forward.

  Cassidy’s eyes finally closed. She licked her lips and shook her head. “I can’t,” she said.

  “Cass?” Alex tried to reach her wife.

  Cassidy pried her eyes open and looked into Alex’s. “I can’t,” she said. “I need to look in on Kenzie.”

  “Cassidy,” Alex whispered.

  Cassidy touched Alex’s cheek to give her some sense of reassurance. “I can’t,” she repeated so that only Alex could hear her.

  Alex watched as Cassidy shook her head again and left the room silently. She desperately wanted to follow. She wanted to fold Cassidy into her arms and take away the pain she saw flickering in the typically playful green eyes she adored. Alex fought back the urge to scream and cry out in anger at the unfairness of the world. Why Cassidy? Cassidy was the kindest person Alex had ever met. Cassidy was compassionate and giving. No one was deserving of this type of deceit—no one, Cassidy least of all. Alex’s eyes tracked Cassidy until she disappeared and then turned to bore a hole into the older man facing her.

  “Maybe you should,” Krause chimed in.

  “No,” Alex responded, leaving her sight squarely on McCollum. “She needs to be alone right now,” Alex said.

  “Alexis,” McCollum began. “This is not an ideal…”

  “Not an ideal what? Situation? No, I would say not,” Alex cut him off.

  “Cassie will need…”

  “I don’t need you to tell me what my wife needs,” Alex sniped.

  “She is my daughter.”

  “You certainly have an unusual method of parenting,” Alex shot.

  “Maybe we should take a second here and talk about why we are here,” Krause interjected with his suggestion.

  Alex moved to face her older brother. “A call would have been nice,” she said heatedly.

  “Alex, there was no time. You were on the move. It wasn’t safe,” Krause said.

  “It wasn’t safe?” Alex asked. “Safe for whom? This is what you call safe? Brackett is bleeding in the basement, Brady and Fallon are cleaning up the mess that was Kargen, and I am standing in front of a man who has been dead for over twenty years—who happens to be my wife’s father. What exactly do you find safe in this scenario?”

  “Don’t play semantics, Alex. You know exactly what I meant,” Krause replied evenly.

  “Semantics?” Alex raised her voice. “I could give a shit about what words you use, Jonathan. I thought you were looking for our father.”

  “I thought so too,” Krause told her honestly.

  “Edmond led you,” she began.

  “Edmond led you both to what he believes is the truth,” McCollum interrupted the dialogue.

  “Just how much does your being here endanger my family?” Alex asked pointedly.

  “They are my family as well,” McCollum replied calmly. Alex remained unflinching. McCollum sighed heavily. “The truth is, Alexis, we are safer in the open now. Hopefully, stopping Kargen will stall their plans.”

  “Stall?” Alex asked. “What exactly do you think they are planning?” she looked at him curiously.

  “Extermination,” McCollum answered evenly.

  “Of?” Alex asked. She caught the tension in Krause’s eyes.

  McCollum took a deep breath and answered her honestly. “You.”

  ***

  Alex paced the hallway, glancing up the stairs every few seconds. She looked back toward the kitchen and shook her head. She needed to put some space between herself and everyone in the house—everyone except the person who needed space from her. “Oh, Cass,” Alex looked up to where Cassidy had disappeared nearly a full hour ago. Alex was not surprised when Cassidy had sent her a text message. It was simple and to the point: Just give me some time.

  “What the hell is this all about? Why didn’t you warn me, Pip?” Alex mumbled to herself. She had just begun to forcefully rub her temples when she heard a car pull into the driveway. Without waiting, she opened the door and smiled at the woman approaching. “I owe you,” she said.

  “Again, it would seem,” Major Jennifer Garrison replied with a smirk.

  “It would seem,” Alex agreed as she led her old friend through the door.

  “At least, you’re not bleeding this time,” Jennifer Garrison observed.

  “For once,” Alex chuckled. She led the surgeon through her mother’s house and into her father’s study.

  “God, Alex….What is this? A fortress?” the surgeon asked when Alex revealed the hidden door in her father’s study.

  Alex shrugged. “Not a very secure one these days it seems.” She led her friend the short distance to her father’s safe room and opened the door. “Good luck,” Alex mumbled.

  Major Garrison poked Alex lightly and made her way to the couch where Claire Brackett was lying. “What is it with your friends?” she asked Alex.

  “I’m not her friend,” Claire groaned in pain.

  “Well, good to see you have a sense of humor,” the surgeon commented.

  “I’m not kidding,” Claire replied.

  Eleana looked at Alex helplessly and Alex sighed. “Major Garrison will take care of Claire, I promise.” She noted the doubtful expression on Eleana’s face. No matter what had passed between any of them, it was obvious that Eleana would always care deeply for Claire. Alex nodded. “Eleana, I promise, she is in the best hands. I promise you,” Alex said. “What’s the verdict?” she turned her attention to her old friend.

  Jennifer Garrison looked at Alex sternly. “It passed through,” she explained. “Pretty clean, but Alex, I would prefer to do this in a hospital.”

  “Not an option.”

  “Why?” Jennifer Garrison challenged.

  “Yeah,” Claire chimed. “You hate me that much?”

  Alex shook her head. “It’s not safe. And not just because I don’t trust you,” she told Claire. “It’s not safe for you.”

  Jennifer Garrison patted Claire’s knee and made her way to Alex. Alex shook her head again. “Alex…”

  “Can you treat her here?” Alex asked directly.

  “Yes, I can,” Jennifer answered. Alex began to turn away and Jennifer grabbed her arm. “I would prefer not to,” she said firmly. “You need to give me something h
ere, Alex. She’s lost a significant amount of blood. Enough to kill her? No, but enough that I would opt for a transfusion. We’re not even beginning to cover possible infection,” she explained.

  Alex nodded and sighed deeply. She looked over at Claire and grabbed the bridge of her nose. “Look, I am not deliberately keeping you in the dark,” Alex promised. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

  “Then tell me what you do know.”

  “The issue is what I don’t know, Jen,” Alex explained.

  “Alex, Kargen is dead and his men,” Eleana began to protest.

  “Yes, but we don’t have the surveillance from the building. Not any of it. The discs are gone for a three hour period. Maybe, maybe we can recover the hard drive, but that will take time. Normally, I would opt to call in a favor at Quantico. Given certain developments, I don’t think that is our best option,” she said. “We have no idea who else was in that building,” Alex said. “We have to assume that they all know that we were. That compromises Claire as much as it does me, you, or anyone else,” Alex told Eleana.

  “Hanscom is a secure facility,” Jennifer started to argue.

  “No,” Alex said. She smiled sadly at her old friend. “You need to trust me on this one, Jen. No place is secure, least of all Hanscom. Like it or not, and believe me when I tell you, I do not like it—this is our best option right now.” Alex pointed to her father’s chest. “There are supplies in there,” she said. “If you need something else, we’ll secure it.”

  “Jesus, Alex. What the hell are you into?” Jennifer asked.

  “Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you,” Alex said honestly. “You’re safer that way. I’m not even sure I want to know,” she admitted.

  “Me neither,” Claire mumbled. Alex smiled slightly.

  “She’ll need to be in a more…”

  “I have a place for her,” Alex said. “Just not yet, Jen. Please? You let Eleana know what you need. I promise you, I will make sure Claire gets whatever you deem necessary. You have my word.”

  Jennifer Garrison nodded reluctantly and returned to her patient.