“Probably around the time you colonized,” Claire replied as she entered the room.
Cassidy chortled. “Probably.” She turned to Hawk. “Jane is looking for you.”
“That’s never good,” Hawk said. “You’d think she signed my paychecks.”
Alex coughed. She might.
Cassidy lifted her brow. “I’m going to see how Dylan is faring. Don’t eat any of that cake,” she warned Alex and Claire.
“What cake?” Alex asked.
“Man, she can be scary sometimes,” Claire commented.
Alex trailed her finger along the edge of one of the cakes and popped some frosting into her mouth.
“No way. Cass is gonna kill you!”
“Nah, she’ll think it was one of the twins.”
“Who are you?” Claire asked.
Alex shrugged. “Like you wouldn’t do it.”
“No way. I’m not risking Cassidy’s wrath or your mother’s.”
“The great Claire Brackett is afraid of a high school teacher.”
“Yeah, a high school teacher who could’ve run circles around both our pathetic asses had she wanted.”
“No doubt,” Alex agreed. “So? How are things?”
“Are we talking about my time with Pyotr or are you asking about me and Hawk?”
Alex popped a piece of shrimp into her mouth.
“Gross. Frosted shrimp?” Claire shuddered.
Alex shrugged again. She was accustomed to gross eating. “I have five kids,” she reminded Claire. “At some point, they’ve eaten everything. So?”
“Hawk would prefer I had stayed at the FBI.”
“Sounds familiar.”
“But she hasn’t kicked me out—yet,” Claire said.
“Yeah.”
“Alex, Cassidy would never kick you out. Like ever.”
“No. She’s having a hard time with all of this, Claire.”
Claire looked down the hallway. “Any more out of McCollum?”
“Nope. Tight-lipped as ever,” Alex said.
“Edmond?”
Alex shook her head. “Same line, different voice.”
“Makes you wonder why he wants Krause to take over,” Claire said.
“Yes, it does.”
“Do you think they’re leading us toward something, or trying to push us away from it?” Claire asked.
“That’s always the question; isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I guess it is.”
“What about you?”
“Orlov is still feeling me out.”
“As long as he’s not feeling you up.”
Claire took the jab in stride. “I’m headed back to Poland on Tuesday.”
“He’s laying the groundwork for something.”
“Want to know what I think it is?”
“Yes,” Alex said.
“I think Energia wants to expand ASA’s nuclear power-plant program in Poland and Romania.”
“It’s more than that.” Alex picked up another piece of shrimp.
“Yeah, loop that in with this hub business they’ve got going,” Claire said. “ASA has nuclear plant projects in Belarus, Finland, China, Hungary, Argentina, and Iran—right now. Access, Alex. They build the plants. They control the source. Power for a price. Hold the grid, control the grid—"
Alex lost her appetite. She tossed the shrimp back on the plate.
“My thoughts exactly,” Claire said. “Any more luck deciphering that drive?”
“There are patterns,” Alex said. “They’ve encrypted the files in multiple ways. We’re making headway, just not fast enough.”
“How much do you want to bet there will be a key at Technologie Applique?”
“I don’t know if I hope you’re right or hope you’re wrong.”
“El will be okay,” Claire said. “Whatever Jonathan finds there, she’ll be okay.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am. She’s made her peace.”
“Claire!”
Claire spun on her heels.
Mackenzie ran into the kitchen with Connor and Abby on her heels.
“What?” Claire asked.
“You’re supposed to help build the fort.”
“A fort?”
Mackenzie put her hand onto her hips. “Claire!”
***
Cassidy wandered into the hallway at the sound of Alex and Claire’s laughter filtering through the house. Mackenzie stood with her hand on her hips—indignant. Cassidy shook her head affectionately.
“What’s going on?” Eleana asked.
Cassidy pointed to the scene unfolding in the kitchen.
“Met her match,” Eleana said.
“Mackenzie, or Alex and Claire?”
“Maybe both,” Eleana replied with a chuckle.
“I love to hear them laugh,” Cassidy said.
Eleana’s eyes sparkled with adoration. She watched as Claire mimicked Mackenzie’s stance.
“Claire!” Mackenzie complained.
Alex fell into a chair laughing.
“Two of a kind,” Cassidy commented.
“Which two?”
Cassidy laughed. “Three of a kind,” she corrected herself. “Come on, I’ll buy you a free glass of iced tea.”
“Cassidy?”
“Hm?”
“Do you think they’ll be all right—with whatever they discover?”
Cassidy watched Connor jump onto Alex’s lap and Abby poke Claire in the stomach with a finger. She worried that there would never be an end to the questions Alex and Claire sought to answer. There would never be an answer that would satisfy what they sought to understand. Cassidy doubted that Alex could ever uncover a fact that would heal the damage her relationship with her father had inflicted. The same was true for Claire, and in many ways for Jonathan and Eleana. Would they be all right? Cassidy hoped that one day, they would learn that their identities were not defined by their parents—shaped, but not determined. She was reminded of that daily when she interacted with her children. They had come through her. They were not her. They shared parts of Cassidy, parts of their fathers, parts of Alex—pieces of every person they loved and every experience they shared. Would they be all right?
“As long as they remember that we love them as much as they love us, they’ll be fine. We all will be.”
“I’m not sure that will be enough,” Eleana said. “For any of us.”
“It has to be,” Cassidy said. “They have to realize what our fathers never have.”
“Which is?”
“We are not our parents,” Cassidy said. “Any more than our children are us. We are part of each other,” she told Eleana. “That should give us all something to hold on to.”
“I’ll miss you,” Eleana said. “All of you.”
Cassidy wrapped an arm around Eleana. “We’re never that far,” she said. “And you can always come home.” She led Eleana into the kitchen. Alex looked at her curiously, and she smiled. You can always come home.
TO BE CONTINUED IN
CONCEALMENT
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