Kept Secrets

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  “Congratulations, Grace. Your mom and dad would be so happy for you.”

  Tears welled up in her eyes. “I know they would.”

  Chapter 42

  Devin held little Lydia, their oldest, against his shoulder and patted her back. Grace had already fed her, and he had been given the job of burping her.

  Quentin’s mention of Grace’s parents stirred the realization within him that he needed to tell his own of their expanded family.

  Lydia burped much louder than seemed possible from such a tiny being, and Devin looked over at Grace to see her amusement.

  Awed both by his sudden fatherhood and by his wife’s reaction to his return, Devin settled down in the rocking chair beside Grace’s bed.

  Lydia scrunched her little body, and he kept her firmly against him until she snuggled into him and her breathing grew steady.

  “I think you’re a natural.” Grace moved Madeline to her shoulder to burp her as well.

  “Hardly. This is the first time I’ve ever been around babies.”

  “You’re about to make up for lost time.”

  His eyes locked on hers. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  Someone knocked at the room next door, and Lydia tensed. Devin patted her on the back again until she calmed.

  “I was just thinking I should probably call my parents and tell them about our daughters.”

  “Lydia’s asleep. Why don’t you put her in her bassinet and call now,” Grace suggested. “You’ll feel better when you get it over with.”

  “You know me too well.”

  Devin put his hand against the back of Lydia’s head and positioned himself by her bassinet. Gently he lowered her into it, not daring to breathe until he was certain she wasn’t going to wake back up.

  Not wanting any more secrets between them, he looked down at Grace. “You should know that my parents think we broke up.”

  “Did you tell them that?”

  “No, but I let my dad think it,” Devin said. “Our work paths crossed, and I needed to be able to talk to him without our relationship clouding his judgment.”

  “What are you going to tell them now?”

  “The truth.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket to find he hadn’t turned it on after his flight from Sedona. He waited for it to power up and tried to rehearse the upcoming conversation in his mind. Realizing that thinking about it would only make it worse, he dialed his father’s phone number.

  “Hello?” Boyd answered.

  “Dad, it’s me.”

  “Devin. We’ve been worried about you. I haven’t heard from you since I saw you in Tokyo.”

  “I know it’s been awhile, but I have some great news to share.”

  “You already got a promotion?”

  “Even better.” Devin didn’t give him the chance to offer a second guess. “You and Mom are grandparents. Grace delivered twin girls today.”

  Silence stretched over the line for a moment. “Was child support outlined in your divorce decree?”

  “Well, here’s the thing, Dad. Grace and I are still married, and we intend to stay that way,” Devin said, taking care to be firm without crossing the line into confrontational. “We both hope you and Mom will want to be part of our lives and our children’s lives.”

  “I see,” Boyd said tightly. Devin could hear his mother saying something in the background and some whispered response from his father. When his dad came back on the line, he said, “Your mom wants to talk to you.”

  Devin could hear the phone being handed off.

  “Devin, did your father just say Grace had a baby?”

  “Actually, she had twins. Madeline Rose and Lydia Catherine,” Devin said.

  “Lydia Catherine?”

  “Yes. We hope you don’t mind that we named her after you.”

  She took a moment to respond, and when she did, Devin could hear the tears in her voice. “Of course I don’t mind.” She sniffled. “Where are you? When can we see you and the babies?”

  A huge weight lifted off his shoulders. “We’re staying with Grace’s grandfather right now. I got back right before the babies were born, so it will probably be a few weeks before we’re up for visitors or trying to travel, but we’ll send you pictures.”

  “Make sure you tell us which baby is which,” his mother insisted. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

  “I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear you say that.”

  “Hold on a second,” she said, and once again Devin could hear his parents speaking in the background. “Sorry, but I have to go. Your dad has some business he has to take care of.”

  “Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Oh, before you go, is this your new phone number?” his mom asked.

  “Yes.” Devin’s eyebrows knit together. “Didn’t Maureen give it to you?”

  “No. When did you talk to her?”

  “I stopped by yesterday morning.”

  “She didn’t mention it, but I don’t think I’ve seen her since then. She probably left a note on your father’s desk, and he forgot to tell me.”

  “You’re probably right. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Okay. I love you.”

  Surprised by the declaration his mother rarely spoke, he responded automatically, “I love you too.”

  After Devin hung up, Grace said, “That sounded like it went better than you anticipated.”

  “Yeah. Who would have known my mother would be excited about becoming a grandma?”

  “If you want to invite them up for a visit, I’m sure my grandpa would be okay with it. There’s a guest room in the house that isn’t being used.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t want to take any chances that someone might follow them up here looking for me.”

  Devin saw Grace’s concern and reached out to put his hand on her shoulder. “Almost all the people who were threatening us are in custody.”

  “Almost?”

  “We believe there’s one more.” Devin couldn’t bring himself to voice the likelihood of Jun’s involvement. “We’re hoping the man we captured a couple days ago will help us find her.”

  “What happens then?”

  “Then we decide what we want to do with the rest of our lives,” Devin said. “I already put my job first once. I’m not going to do that again.”

  “Are you going to quit?”

  He reclaimed his seat beside her and put his hand on hers. “I need to know what you want for your future before I make any decisions about my own.”

  “Did you like the work you were doing?”

  Devin considered the question. “I loved the analysis side of it, but I would never want to go undercover again.”

  “Are there other options for you there?”

  Devin nodded. “A few. I would have the most opportunities to advance if I took a job at headquarters, but I also might be able to convince my employer to lend me out to another agency.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “If you want to stay here in Colorado, I can see if the Air Force Academy needs any language instructors. Or if we want to try for California, I could try to teach at the Defense Language Institute.”

  “I would love to stay close to Grandpa.”

  “I thought you would.” Devin looked down at the sleeping infant in Grace’s arms. “Here. Let me put her in her bassinet. You should try to get some sleep while you can.”

  “You’re right.” Grace handed Madeline over to him and shifted in her bed to get more comfortable. “Maybe you should go to the ranch and try to get some sleep yourself.”

  “I’ll sleep here.” Devin pointed at the chair in the corner that converted to a bed before turning his attention back to her. “I wasn’t able to help you through your pregnancy. The least I can do is make sure I’m here now.”

  “I really missed you, you know.”

  Devin leaned closer and kissed her gently. “I missed you too.”

  Chapter 43

 
; Qing answered his phone, irritated at the sound. Every time he had received a phone call over the past two days, the person on the other end had delivered bad news. His superiors would not be pleased.

  He checked his caller ID, hope blooming when he saw it was his last remaining operative who could help him out of this corner he had been shoved into.

  “Have you found him?” he asked without preamble.

  “Your plan worked,” she said. “He’s in Colorado with his wife.”

  “Excellent. How soon can you get there?”

  “I’m already there,” she said. “And so is his father.”

  “With his laptop?”

  “Of course.”

  “Perhaps we can salvage this operation after all. Tell me everything you know.”

  “Right now he’s at the hospital with his wife. She just had twins.”

  He pursed his lips in consideration. “Here’s what I need you to do.”

  “Me?” she asked with a hint of panic. “Aren’t you going to send someone here to help me?”

  “There is no one else. Jalen was apprehended by the authorities, and I can’t get another operative to your location in time.”

  “In time for what?”

  “To kill him. I want Devin Shanahan dead. We’re not giving him the chance to slip away again.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to give him one last chance to help us get a real look at his father’s computer?”

  “He doesn’t deserve another chance. He has a laptop with him. I want it.”

  She gulped before she said, “I’ll make sure I get it from him.”

  “Let me be clear,” he said. “Devin Shanahan is going to die before the week is out. It’s up to you whether you will share his fate.”

  Another gulp. “I understand.”

  * * *

  Devin’s footsteps broke the 3:00 a.m. silence as he paced back and forth across Grace’s room, baby Madeline pressed firmly against his shoulder as he patted her back. Apparently this burping thing was a frequent chore. Unlike her sister, Madeline tended to take her time before exhibiting such unladylike behavior.

  The night had been a series of feedings, changings, and burpings, with an occasional hour of sleeping.

  Devin hated to think what this whole parenthood thing would have been like for Grace had he not shown up when he did. This was harder work than anything he’d ever done. Except perhaps that chase through San Francisco. Give him a fussy baby over that any day.

  Madeline finally burped, and Devin settled her into her bassinet. Immediately, she started to cry. Worried Madeline would wake her sister and Grace, he pushed the bassinet into the hall in the hope that the movement would help her settle. Sure enough, the crying subsided as they made their way past several rooms.

  A nurse looked up from where she sat at her station, gave him a look of approval, and then refocused her attention on the computer screen in front of her. A baby cried from behind one of the doors, and Devin stopped long enough to ensure the sound wasn’t coming from Grace’s room. Once satisfied, he turned and started back the way he had come.

  His phone rang, and Madeline let out a cry of her own. Devin quickly leaned down and patted her back. Trying to regain the peaceful silence from a moment before, he pulled the phone free and muted it, surprised to see Ghost’s number on the screen.

  Devin hit the talk button. “Is everything okay?”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m with Grace.” Devin used his cheek and shoulder to hold the phone in place so he could use both hands to push the bassinet. “Why?”

  “An alert triggered when someone traced the GPS on your cell phone, and intel managed to intercept a call a few hours ago. Qing Lao put an extermination order out on you.”

  Devin tensed. As though Madeline picked up on his negative emotions, she let out another wail.

  “What was that?” Ghost asked.

  “That was my daughter. Grace had twins early yesterday morning,” Devin explained. “I’m staying in the hospital with them.”

  “Devin, the Chinese know where you are.”

  “What?” The baby in the bassinet, Lydia and Grace in the other room—the possibility of them being in danger crashed over him.

  “The woman Qing Lao was talking to said something about you being with your wife at the hospital and that she was already in Colorado,” Ghost said. “We believe the woman was Jun.”

  Devin swallowed hard. The idea of Jun being involved still felt like some kind of alternate reality. Now this. Several seconds passed before he managed to voice his disbelief. “You’re telling me the woman who practically raised me has been tasked with killing me?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

  Memories of San Francisco, of the determination of the men chasing him, surfaced and took on new meaning. All of his efforts to protect Grace, and now not only was she in danger, but so were his precious daughters. “You have to help me protect my family.”

  “Chee is heading your way, and we put out a BOLO on Jun. She’ll turn up, but Chee will stay with you until we’re certain she’s been apprehended,” Ghost said. “Are you armed?”

  “Yes. I’ve kept my weapons with me since I got them in Phoenix,” Devin said, now grateful he had followed Chee’s instructions so closely. “When will Chee get here?”

  “He’s already on his way to the airport and should be landing within the next couple hours,” Ghost said. “You should also know that Jun has been tasked with recovering your laptop. Apparently they know you’ve been studying your father’s data and our intel on their operations.”

  “Jalen must have told them what I was working on.”

  “That’s our guess. Unfortunately, he’s still not talking.”

  “What do I do until Chee gets here?” Devin asked.

  “I’ll put in a fake report about a possible kidnapping at the hospital. That will increase their alert level on your floor without raising any suspicions.”

  “Then what?”

  “When is your wife supposed to be released from the hospital?”

  “Today.”

  “If you had your phone with you at her house, they’ll know where that is too.”

  “It was off when I first went looking for her. It’s only been turned on while I’ve been here.”

  “In that case, turn it off, and reset the GPS blocker. Do you know how?” Ghost asked.

  “Yes. Chee taught me.”

  “As far as we can tell, that’s the only way they’ve managed to track you.”

  “I don’t understand how they even identified the number,” Devin said.

  “Maybe they figured out how to track it when you were in San Francisco.”

  Devin reached the end of the hall and wearily leaned against the wall. “Will this ever end?”

  “We’ll make sure it does,” Ghost said. “Fai Meng is no longer a problem. As soon as Jun is taken into custody, this ends.”

  “What do you mean Fai isn’t a problem anymore?”

  “The State Department decided to play hardball with the Chinese. They claim they didn’t know anything about his actions. In fact, they claim he isn’t even one of theirs.”

  “He’s been disavowed?”

  “And wouldn’t you know, he just happened to get picked up by the police in Hong Kong twenty minutes ago.”

  “For what?”

  “Remember that little altercation in the alley? The evidence is pointing to him as the gunman.”

  “Wow. When the Chinese disavow their people, they really make sure they’re out of commission.”

  “Which is great for us.”

  “What about whoever was over Fai? I got the impression he was working for someone else.”

  “Fai has been very careful not to leave an electronic trail that will connect him with his superior, but we’ve narrowed down the possibilities on that too. I should be able to confirm my suspicions shortly.”

  “What do I do if Grace get
s released before Chee gets here?”

  “With a heightened alert at the hospital, I can make sure you get out of there without being seen. What’s the address to Grace’s house? I’ll have Chee meet you there.”

  Devin gave him the name of the ranch.

  “Hang in there. Like I said, it’s only a matter of time until we find Jun, and we’ll make sure your family stays safe until we do.”

  “Thanks, Ghost. I owe you.”

  “That’s what they all say.”

  Chapter 44

  Grace and Devin arrived at the ranch to find a huge banner across the house that read “Welcome home!” Pink balloons were tied to the front porch posts, and several members of the staff had gathered for their arrival, along with Quentin, Caleb, Molly, and Sean.

  Snow covered the front lawn, but the driveway and parking area for the guests was clear. Grace turned to look back at the babies, both of whom had fallen asleep within minutes of leaving the hospital. Her decision to feed them right before going home had been a good one.

  “Let me get your door,” Devin said as soon as he turned off the engine.

  “Thanks.”

  Devin climbed out of the vehicle and circled to her side. After helping her out of the car, he opened the back door, draped Lydia’s blanket over the top of her car seat, and lifted it.

  “Here. Let me help you.” Molly hurried toward them and took the baby carrier from Devin.

  Grace noticed the way Devin waited until he was sure Molly had a firm grip on the carrier before he released it and turned to get their other daughter out of the car.

  Their daughter. She felt an overwhelming wave of love come over her.

  “Need a hand?” Quentin asked, walking over.

  Grace had to give Devin points for acting like he didn’t mind handing their second child over to her grandfather. As he had with Molly, he made sure her grandpa’s grip was solid before letting go.

  He then took Grace by the arm and helped her to the house. They were walking up the front steps when another vehicle pulled into the parking area.

  Grace expected it was one of their guests. Her eyes widened when she saw Devin’s parents climb out of the car with Maureen.