Identity

by Nancy Ann Healy

  “Don’t.”

  Claire laughed. “Talk to you when it’s done.”

  Alex leaned back in her chair, covered her eyes, and let out a long breath of relief. “She’s going to be the death of me one of these days.”

  “Claire?” Jonathan guessed.

  “Does she ever stick to a plan?”

  Jonathan laughed. “She’s Claire Brackett, Alex.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I know how you all want to see her,” he said. “Maybe Claire has changed. She’s still Brackett. You can’t undo who she is. Even if she tries to undo how she acts.”

  Alex sighed. “I know you have issues with Claire.”

  “I don’t,” he said.

  “You don’t trust her.”

  “You didn’t listen to what I said. I trust her because you, Cassidy, and El trust her. You’re all better judges when it comes to character than me.”

  “That’s not true,” Alex disagreed.

  “Yeah, it is true. All I’m saying is that Claire is still Claire. You’re two of the best agents I know. You both sense what is ahead before most people. Once you’re in it, Claire follows her gut. You follow your head. It’s why you’re a good team. Don’t expect her to change. She doesn’t expect that from you.”

  “That almost sounded like an endorsement,” Alex observed.

  “It’s an observation,” he replied. He returned to his computer.

  Maybe, you’re right, Pip. Maybe you’re right.

  RUSSIA

  “I didn’t expect to hear from you,” Pyotr Gregorovich said.

  “You’ll find I can be full of surprises,” Claire replied.

  “I thought you’d be in Poland by now.”

  “I am in Poland.” Or rather, I will be in about an hour.

  “Enjoying some time with Ms. Baros?”

  “I am,” Claire replied. “But that isn’t why I called.”

  “Why did you call?” he asked.

  “I had a call early this morning from Agent Toles.”

  “Checking up on her old partner?”

  “Trying to convince me to beg the Assistant Director for my job back,” Claire said. “And to tell me that the president called to see if she knew anything about a certain warehouse in Ukraine.” Claire heard Gregorovich’s breathing change. Got him. “Given El’s contacts and mine in the area, she wondered if we might be able to help.”

  “What does this have to do with me?”

  “Maybe nothing. Only you know that, Pyotr. Those close to the president have advised her to remove a biological threat. Biological material moving from Ukraine to Kaliningrad. I didn’t have anything to offer. Without any contradictory evidence, it appears the president is inclined to order intervention. If my call has wasted your time, I apologize.”

  “You wouldn’t have called if ASA were not implicated.”

  “I called because you don’t trust me, Pyotr—and, to be clear, I don’t trust you.”

  He laughed. “Thank you for your consideration,” he said. “I hope you enjoy your free time with Ms. Baros.”

  “I hope your friend in Poland offers me something more interesting than dinner,” she said.

  “We’ll see each other soon, Sparrow.”

  “I look forward to it,” Claire said. She rolled her eyes.

  “Did he take the bait?” Eleana asked.

  “Hook, line, and sinker.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. That warehouse will be empty within the hour.”

  “Crisis averted,” Eleana commented.

  Claire pulled the travel-drive from her pocket and looked at it. No. It’s only beginning.

  THE SITUATION ROOM

  6:15 A.M. EST.

  Candace let her eyes meet each of her advisers and end with Joshua Tate. “Joshua and I spent the night in this room. I will spare you the number of calls that were made. Where do we stand?” she asked the room. She already knew the answer. Tate had whispered in her ear the moment the door to the Situation Room closed that Gregorovich had moved on Claire’s information. He had three operatives who confirmed trucks began emptying the warehouse in Ukraine less than ten minutes after Claire called Pyotr Gregorovich.

  “It appears someone may have been tipped off to our plans,” Admiral Rollins offered. “Movement in Ukraine suggests that the building is close to abandoned already.”

  Candace nodded. “How would anyone know what you had proposed?” she asked. She watched as every person at the table shifted in their chair. “I see. Any more information on what might have been in those trucks?”

  “Not specifically,” General Melvin said. “Although, we remain confident it’s biological in nature. Evidence clearly points to Biocon’s involvement with ASA. We all know that ASA is state sanctioned.”

  Candace nodded again. “How many people knew about this intelligence?”

  “Senior Staff only,” Rollins replied.

  “I ask you all that question because for the last month, it appears that our meetings have become a leaky ship.” She looked around the room. “I’m not accusing anyone present. Not yet. I would suggest that you tighten your circle of confidence. Now. We haven’t dodged a bullet. We’re as much in the dark now as we were fourteen hours ago. I’d like a little light—without it slipping through the cracks.”

  “Of course, Madame President,” General Melvin said.

  “Find out what role our friend, President Barbu plays in this game. And, find out what we are looking for before you ask me to sign anyone’s death warrant again.” She shook her head and stood. “Now, I have a plane to catch.”

  NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS

  Alex looked at the information Jonathan handed her. “This is insane.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “How do you think Energia plays into this?”

  “I don’t know yet,” he admitted. “More than one way, I would imagine. They have a program that creates hubs.”

  “For energy?”

  “And technology. It links universities, corporations, government agencies and facilities through energy sharing.”

  “Which means through intertwined networks,” Alex gathered.

  “Yes. They have programs in Moscow, Rome, Brussels, Copenhagen, Seattle, and Paris. And, do you know who holds their purse strings?’

  “I assumed it was ASA.”

  “So, did I. Look at the second page,” he directed her.

  “Technologie Applique?”

  “It would appear.”

  “I think your talk with your father-in-law is overdue.”

  “Funny, you should mention that,” Jonathan said.

  “Why?”

  “He called while you were out talking to Cassie.”

  “And?”

  “He wanted to make me an offer.”

  Alex set the file in her hand on the desk. “What kind of offer?”

  “He wants me to leave Carecom.”

  “Why?” Alex asked.

  “To assume his role in Paris.”

  “He wants you to take over Technologie Applique?”

  Jonathan nodded.

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him I would be in Paris tomorrow.”

  Alex considered the information. “What about Carecom?”

  “You’ve been sidelined at the bureau—”

  “Oh, no. I left that behind years ago,” Alex said.

  “No one ran the company better than you,” he said. “In every way.”

  “Do you honestly think they are looking to build on Project SEED?” she asked.

  “You know that is the tip of an iceberg.”

  Alex did know. “I hope there is something on that drive Claire has.”

  “Me too, but that’s no more than a scratch on the surface,” he replied. “Alex, this goes beyond law enforcement encroaching on privacy to acquire DNA for investigative purposes.”

  “No shit. I get that, Pip. I get it. What you’re asking me
—I don’t know.”

  “We need you there as much as we need me in France. It’s our best chance to finally get underneath all of this. This isn’t something new, Alex. I feel it. We all feel it. They’re building on what Jim and Edmond started. Follow the money, right? What better way than to run two of the largest intelligence operated corporations on earth?”

  “Don’t you worry that might be what someone wants us to do?”

  “I thought of that. It could be,” he conceded. “It’s all the more reason we should do it. Listen, it’s not just Candace Reid or Dylan at risk.”

  It wasn’t. Alex knew it. Candace asked Alex for her assessment of the risk earlier that morning:

  “There are different types of risks,” Alex replied.

  “The government has collected blood and tissue samples from millions of people for years from servicemen to hospital patients to school children. What makes this different?”

  “Everything. Aside from the fact that it is freely given, it increases the pool exponentially. Candace, they can profile with this information. Not just DNA. They can draw patterns. The worry isn’t what you read in ethics journals. This goes beyond improper use or racial profiling in law enforcement. They can build databases of people according to age, health risks, ethnicity, link people to relatives next door or living on another continent.”

  “And do what with it?”

  “Anything. It gives them control groups if they conduct experiments. It allows governments to deny passports, Visas, citizenship based on identifying factors. Sell it to the highest bidder. How many insurance companies would love to open a file, click a name, and see the words, cancer risk? Then take their stamp, and press, denied coverage? What about employers? Racial profiling is only part of the equation. Who wants to hire and offer benefits to that same cancer risk? From there?”

  Candace felt sick. “I get the picture.”

  “You and I both know that there has been a hard turn to the alt-right all over the globe. For the first time in my life, domestic terrorism is a bigger threat than foreign terrorism.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “Once you can categorize people—”

  Candace cut off Alex’s thought. “Whatever you need,” she told Alex. “You’ll have it. I want to know who is in the driver’s seat on this.”

  “You should know,” Alex said. “It won’t end with what we found today. I don’t know what is on the files Claire downloaded yet. I guarantee you the scope is far-reaching. Knowledge isn’t always power, Candace. The more you know, the more you become a liability to many.”

  “Then we will have to make the many believe I am blind.”

  Alex nodded. “Are you sure?”

  “Are you?” Candace countered.

  “Completely.”

  “Then let’s get on with it.”

  Alex turned to her brother. “I don’t think I have a choice.”

  “You do,” he replied. “Just not a good one.”

  Alex massaged her temples. Not at all.

  ELBLAG, POLAND

  “You need to go,” Claire told Eleana.

  “Go?”

  “El, you’ve worn out your welcome.”

  “With you?”

  “Never with me. Gregorovich will be more suspicious than he already is if you stay.”

  “Claire, I know that we—”

  “I love you, El. You have always been my best friend. That’s what I need to be for you. Go home to Jonathan. Take him the drive. Get back to your life.”

  “Jonathan is on his way to see my father.”

  “Good time for you to catch up,” Claire offered.

  “I don’t want to see him.”

  Claire took Eleana’s hand and led her to sit on the bed. “You were right, you know? I avoided you. I stayed away because it hurt.”

  “Claire—”

  “It hurt to see you happy, and that made me feel like shit. It hurt because it could have been me—maybe, if things had been different. But things weren’t different. I was happy for you. I am happy for you. I hated me. Hated me for what I put you through. Hated me for what I let go. Hated my father for causing it all. Except, he didn’t.”

  “He did.”

  “No, El, he didn’t. He took away a memory,” Claire said. “It was cruel. He never took away my choice.”

  Eleana bowed her head.

  “I know why you’re angry with him.”

  “Claire, my father had a hand in hurting you. He had a part in deceiving Cassidy and breaking her heart. He offers excuses.”

  “But you still love him,” Claire said. “I remember the way you ran to him when he visited us at school. Papa! You would jump into his arms. He smiled and twirled you around. I envied you. He loved you. Just loved you. He didn’t try to make you into anyone or anything you didn’t want to be. He just loved you.”

  Eleana’s heart ached from Claire’s sadness. “Your father did love you, Claire.”

  “My father didn’t know how to love,” Claire said. “That wasn’t my fault.”

  “Is that what you’ve thought all these years?”

  Tears gathered in Claire’s eyes. “Isn’t that what we all think? Somehow, whatever brokenness they have becomes ours. Who are you angry with?” Claire asked. “Edmond because he isn’t who you want him to be, or you for believing he was someone else?”

  “I don’t know anymore.”

  “None of us can make someone love us, El. It doesn’t mean we don’t love them just the same—even when they turn out to be someone we never knew at all.”

  “Claire, you know that I—”

  “This isn’t about you and me—not now. We made our choices. Both of us. Mine pushed you away for years. I accept that. You chose Jonathan. I chose Hawk. That will never change how I feel about you. Nothing will ever be able to do that. You will never be able to stop loving your papa. Stop trying. Face him, El. Say what you need to say. Even if you choose to walk away, you’ll be glad you told him. I can never do that,” she said. “Never tell my father. Never tell my mother.”

  “Claire—”

  “Don’t become me,” Claire said. “If you can still love me after all the things I’ve done; then there is room for Edmond.” Claire kissed Eleana’s forehead lightly. “I need to call Hawk,” she said.

  “Claire?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re right. We’ve made our choices. Maybe it’s time you stop dwelling on the ones you can’t change and start looking at the ones you are making right now. You put up a good front. You forgive everyone except yourself. I’ll talk to Papa. Do me a favor? Look at the person in the mirror today. She’s pretty amazing.”

  Claire choked back mounting tears and nodded. “If she is, it’s because you taught her.”

  Eleana held her breath until Claire walked out the door. “Someday, Claire, you’ll see what we all do. Someday.”

  WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT

  Cassidy heard the front door open and close. She stepped into the hallway and watched Alex toss her bag at the foot of the stairs. “Hi.” She made her way to Alex and stepped into a warm embrace. “You look as tired as I feel,” Cassidy said.

  “No rest for the weary,” Alex replied. She kissed Cassidy’s forehead. “I missed you.”

  “Yeah?”

  “You know I did.”

  “Did you sleep at all?” Cassidy wondered.

  “Nope. You?”

  “Not really,” Cassidy admitted. “You should go up to bed.”

  “I’d rather sit down here with you for a while.”

  “You just drove over two hours on no sleep.”

  Alex shrugged.

  “Overload?” Cassidy guessed.

  “Something like that.”

  “How about some tea?”

  Alex sniggered. “We really are getting old.”

  Cassidy swatted her. “Stop it.”

  “I need to sit,” Alex confessed. She headed for the sofa in the living room. She reached down
to untie her boots and winced.

  “Sit back,” Cassidy directed her wife. “Let me.”

  Alex was too tired to protest.

  “You should have stayed at Jonathan’s tonight,” Cassidy said.

  “No thanks. Thank God, Mom is staying there this week.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I only know one person who can make a bigger mess with a diaper than Fallon.”

  Cassidy laughed. “I’m sure he does fine.”

  “If you like poop on your hands, in your hair, and on your desk, he does great.”

  “So, that’s what you and Pip were doing for two days and two nights? Diaper duty?”

  “Until Mom got there and saved us.”

  “I’ll make the tea.”

  “Cass? Come sit down.”

  “It’ll only take a minute.”

  “Sit. Tell me what happened with your dad.”

  Cassidy reluctantly took a seat next to Alex. “Nothing happened.”

  “Something happened that upset you. I heard it in your voice when we talked this morning.”

  “There’s nothing to say. He says a lot of words that have absolutely no meaning,” Cassidy told Alex. “You know, I feel like a fool.”

  “Why?”

  “Even if he did leave because he was worried for me and Mom, he never stopped, Alex. You have to know that. Whatever he was doing with your father and Edmond, it didn’t stop when he disappeared. Tell me that I’m wrong.”

  “I wish I could.”

  Cassidy covered her face and sighed.

  “I don’t know, Cass. Maybe they tried. Maybe they thought that they had to stay on the inside if they hoped to change anything.”

  “Like you?”

  Alex was taken back by the question.

  “That is what you think, isn’t it?” Cassidy questioned. “That you have to be in the middle of the mess in the world if you want to make a difference.”

  “Someone has to be.”

  “Do they?” Cassidy got up from the sofa and put some distance between them.

  “Cass, I didn’t ask for this.”

  “Yes, you did, Alex. You, Claire, Pip, even Eleana—you did ask for this.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “It is fair,” Cassidy argued. “You’re all so angry with your fathers. You think it’s their fault you are stuck in this mess. Maybe, maybe they led you, but you put yourself in it, Alex. Just like they did.”