Reflections of Grey: Book Three of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles

by Phelps, J. C.

  “What have you got?” White brought me back to the present.

  “I know him,” I sounded as ill as I felt.

  White leaned over me to see the screen. I explained what I knew and what I’d just read.

  I continued to read as White hung over my shoulder. There was no further information of any importance other than what I’d already found out.

  “Do you think this could be useful?” White sounded dubious.

  “I don’t know,” I was still shocked.

  “They’ve had him in custody for five years so I don’t think he’d be able to help us find Dimitri. Chances are he still thinks he’s dead.”

  “No, he was taken into custody before Dimitri faked his death,” I pointed out.

  “I really don’t think we’d get in to see him or any other detainees. The government doesn’t even admit to holding most of these people.” White was still doubtful.

  “I’m sure your right. I’m just surprised that my father would do this to his friend.”

  “Look at the list of offenses. He wasn’t your father’s friend.”

  “I suppose not.” I scrolled the screen down to finish my reading, knowing it would be fruitless. But, when I reached the bottom of the report there was one notation. Ruben had been released ten hours ago. The authorizing signature was Lt. Commander Colin DeLange.

  White had regained his seat and was reading the pages I’d printed when I interrupted him with this news.

  “Really? Now, that is interesting. Still, not much we can do on that angle without risking detection. I’m sure he’s under heavy surveillance.”

  James Ruben was a man I knew from the beginning of time. He’d been to our home on several occasions and I never knew what he really was. I couldn’t imagine how my father felt once he figured out Ruben’s betrayals. I knew White was right; there wasn’t anything we could do here so I went back to researching the other names.

  After hours of reading and cross referencing we only found two possible leads. We knew we wouldn’t be able to speak to any of Dimitri’s past contacts but we could send some men to check out their friends and family on the outside.

  I looked at the time before calling out a team and it was after two in the morning.

  “White, I’m going home but I’ll be back first thing in the morning,” I yawned.

  He checked the time and nodded as he rose to walk me out.

  “I appreciate all your help with this,” I said as I stepped out the door.

  “How about dinner, just the two…” he was stopped short by his phone ringing. “Wait here, this could be important.”

  I stepped back into his apartment and shut the door.

  “Yes,” White answered the phone.

  “Yes, sir.” Must be my father, I thought. I’d never heard White address anyone else as sir. White abruptly hung up the phone and started putting on his shoes.

  “Well?”

  “That was the Admiral. You and I are supposed to meet him at the office in a few minutes.”

  “Did he say what for?”

  “Nope.” He’d finished putting on his shoes and was making his way to the door.

  *****

  Chapter Fifteen

  My father and Colin walked through the door of the office within minutes after our arrival.

  Colin looked absolutely miserable and I felt a pang of sympathy for him. I didn’t know what was going on but knew it must be important for them to show up at this hour and for Colin to look so dejected. I hope no one had been killed.

  “White. Grey,” my father greeted us in a sober voice. “I need your services. Mr. DeLange,” the omission of his rank wasn’t lost on any of us, “has made a grievous error and I need your help to rectify it.”

  “Of course, Admiral,” White answered.

  Colin was trying to hold his head up but I watched as he dropped his gaze to the floor more than once.

  “Mr. DeLange has released a potentially dangerous criminal into the population, thinking he could keep tabs on him. However, the man is exceptionally talented and within hours of release has evaded our supervision.” He paused for several seconds. “I have no paperwork to give you but the man’s name is James Ruben. We worked closely for many years before I found out he was a traitor. He was selling information to several different groups. One of which was the Russian Mafia.” None of this was news to White and me but we couldn’t say anything.

  “I remember him,” I put in.

  “I supposed you would. Dimitri has also gone missing, however, we’ve recently acquired his location. Mr. DeLange thought, because of Ruben’s and Dimitri’s past, Ruben could possibly lead us to Dimitri and we’d have enough evidence to convict the both of them. However, there are details about Ruben known only to me. The man is a threat to more than just the country and should never have been released.” He looked meaningfully at me.

  “What are these details?” I asked.

  “She is going to retire,” he seemed to be speaking to himself. “I have given this a lot of thought and think it prudent for Commander DeLange to know certain facts that only we are privy to. He is going to take my place in the company as well as the government and I feel I can trust him with all of my information.”

  I knew what this meant. He was going to tell Colin who Penumbra was. I had mixed emotions on this subject but he’d said she was going to retire.

  “Are you sure?” This was my mother, after all. I knew Colin could be trusted with the info but I still believed the less people who knew, the better.

  “Yes, Alex. I don’t see any other way around it if we are to protect her.”

  “Who?” Colin’s attitude had entirely changed. He was full of curiosity now.

  The silence was thick until White said, “Penumbra.”

  The air in the room was heavy before this utterance but now it could have smothered us all had Colin not repeated the name, “Penumbra? She’s a she? You know who Penumbra is?” His last question was directed at me.

  “Yes. So do you,” Colin gave me a strange look when I said this. “She’s my mother.”

  The realization on his face was as dramatic as if he’d practiced gaining this knowledge for years.

  “Ruben knows who Penumbra is and that is the reason I had him detained. All of the allegations are true,” my father added to make sure we knew he wasn’t holding Ruben under false pretenses. “I would have had him killed years ago if I thought I could get away with it. That kind of information cannot be ignored. He is a very well known man throughout the entire world on both sides of the game. I am the only person who’s known where he was these past few years. I should have taken the risk years ago to protect Penumbra but because of his connections and our previous friendship I put him under lock and key. He’s not had contact with anyone but me for more than five years and his mental health has declined. He’s very unpredictable and I don’t know where he’d go. It is possible he may contact Dimitri so I’d like you to set up surveillance around him. We need to keep an eye on him anyway.” I looked at White with relief. Finally we were going to be able to finish the job I’d taken on.

  “I need White and Associates to locate Ruben but I’m asking for an outside job as well,” Colin’s ears perked up again when he heard the Admiral mention an outside job.

  “Ruben must be eliminated once he’s found,” the Admiral looked directly at me.

  “Of course,” I didn’t hesitate. I knew this was the only course of action if my mother was to be saved.

  I watched Colin’s face. He was the only person in this room that didn’t fully appreciate my role outside the company. Again, I wasn’t disappointed. The look of shock on his face actually made me smile. Now he knew exactly how much I could take care of myself.

  “You look ill, Commander DeLange,” White was also openly grinning.

  “I,” he paused to compose himself. “I didn’t realize you would involve her in situations like this,” he accused White.

  “He didn�
��t,” my father stopped the potential argument. “I did. She’s been in training for this since she was born.” Now it was my turn for a wake-up call. Everything was clear to me now. It hit me all at once and I knew my true role wasn’t that of Alexis Stanton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanton. It wasn’t Alex Stanton, data processor. It wasn’t even Ms. Grey. I stood from my seat, ready to object to my revelation.

  “Not now, Alex,” the Admiral rose from his seat. “Soon enough. Here,” he reached inside his jacket and pulled out another sealed envelope. I knew what was inside and didn’t want to touch it. Tears welled up into my eyes.

  “But,” I was breathing heavily.

  “Decide, right now. You know you can do it.” He held the envelope out to me.

  I looked at White who sat with an unreadable expression. The tears had welled higher into my eyes and a single drop flowed down my cheek as I took the envelope. Internally I was saying goodbye to Alexis Stanton and Ms. Grey. Nothing would ever be the same again.

  Colin had come into this meeting not knowing what we knew and was leaving without full comprehension. I assumed the Admiral would tell him, eventually. I’d let him pick the time.

  As soon as Colin and the Admiral had left the office I turned on White.

  “You knew! This whole time you knew!”

  “Well, yes, but in my defense, I didn’t know from the moment of your birth.”

  “Did you know when I came looking for the job?” I wanted to know if he and my father had set me up to become a partner in White and Associates.

  “No. I’ve only known for a few months. But, your father was the one who suggested we take on a female partner. The ad you answered had been running in the paper for almost a year before you found it. You wouldn’t believe the people I had to turn down. Though none of them were you, anyway.”

  My emotions were tangled and confused. “Would I have gotten the partnership if my last name hadn’t been Stanton?”

  “Yes,” White’s answer was simple and quick.

  “Even if I wasn’t the one my father had set up?” I spat the last two words out as if they tasted vile.

  “Even if you weren’t the one. We’d just have two female partners.” He looked at me closely. “Alex, you are more than qualified for any job that comes your way. Of course you still have things to learn; but we all do. Don’t let your father’s plan make you think you don’t have what it takes. You do.”

  I considered his words and decided they would do for now. “We better get to work moving the teams around,”

  “My thoughts, exactly.” He came over to me and pulled me into an embrace. After what seemed like an eternity our lips parted.

  “Finally,” he sighed. Finally, I thought but couldn’t say anything. Taking me by the hand he led me to the elevator.

  Black showed up early that morning at White’s apartment. White put him to work helping us rearrange the teams we hadn’t gotten to yet. Now that we really had a job from the Admiral we could let the rest of the partners in on some of the details.

  A lot of the people and places under surveillance didn’t change. Most of Rubens contacts were also associates of Dimitri. Not a lot of rearranging needed to be done so all we needed to do was wait.

  I considered taking out Dimitri immediately but decided against it just in case Ruben did try to contact him. We still had the same problems as before but with a different person. We were still looking for a man whose identity couldn’t be revealed to anyone.

  My mother showed up, accompanied by Colin. I took them to my apartment and helped her get settled in. She’d be staying with me until Ruben was found. My mother was obviously put out and the look of awe on Colin’s face every time he looked at her was priceless.

  “Your father thinks I need to be here,” she began.

  “You do, Mom. Let us do our job and be nice to Colin.”

  “He didn’t even tell me about Ruben. Can you believe that? I could have fixed this years ago.” She was furious.

  “I know, but now I’ll do it.”

  “I know you will, honey,” her tone changed as she rubbed her hand down my hair. “I’ve always known.”

  “I know,” now it was my turn to have an angry tone. “Colin, I know my father told you to stay, but I’m telling you to leave. If you stay, it’ll raise more questions than if my mother comes for a visit. We need to keep this between us and it doesn’t help if we raise eyebrows.”

  He started to object but one look at my mother was enough to shut him up and he left without a word. My mother and I giggled as soon as the door shut behind him.

  “Ah, the power of a name,” she laughed.

  “Ah, the danger of a name,” I played on her words. I made sure she was comfortable and left her alone to go back to C.I.C.

  White was alone when I returned.

  “We should get you into position,” he said.

  “But how are we going to explain my absence to the partners?”

  “I’ve got that worked out. I have another prospect whose reports will be credited to you. Don’t forget, I’m the only one who see’s the reports. No one else knows who we are looking for or that we’ll be watching Dimitri. The Admiral has men attached to him right now but once you are in place he’ll call them off.”

  “Won’t the guys get suspicious if you send me out alone? And what about the hit? Don’t you think they’ll put things together afterwards?” I didn’t know how to go about all this secrecy.

  “No. It’s not unusual that you’d go out to help your team with something like this. It won’t mean you took out Dimitri just because you happened to be in the vicinity when it happens. Don’t forget, the men don’t know you’ve actually completed any missions of this type. You’ll have the go ahead as soon as we locate Ruben and maybe before, if it’s possible Dimitri is going to relocate.”

  It was suspected he’d left the country so most of their manpower had been focused in that direction until someone read the new information I had entered into the database. Dimitri had never left the city, which was a risk, but one that had paid off until Colin’s men located some old friends of his family.

  I loaded up my gear and met White at the office to retrieve my rifle.

  “I’ve rented you a car under a false name. It’s in the parking garage,” he tossed me the keys. “I also managed to talk the Admiral into allowing us access to the house across the street that his men have been using. He doesn’t know it’s you who will be taking over surveillance so do not enter the premises until you are sure it’s unoccupied. It’s fully stocked so you won’t have to leave for anything. If you do need something, contact me. The Admiral’s men should be packing up as we speak so the house should be empty when you get there.”

  I left the office building in the rented car and found myself at the destination in less than half an hour. Parking the car two blocks away, I made my way to the house from behind and did a thorough perimeter check as well as looking through every window I could. It seemed uninhabited so I gained entrance through the back door. After a quick check I was sure the men had packed up and weren’t going to come back.

  The house was in a quiet neighborhood. I wasn’t looking forward to breaking the peace in an area like this, but I might have to. White had set me up with a night vision binoculars and a long distance listening device. I was glad he hadn’t sent much more in case I had to make a quick exit.

  I sent hourly reports to White through my phone for a full day. I was getting anxious. I’d seen Dimitri several times, though he never left the house. There were two other men who, upon orders, left the house to get food. Leaving me the perfect opportunity to complete my mission. However, I was under strict orders not to do so, yet.

  Through White, I learned that the house had belonged to Russian immigrants who’d been friends of Dimitri’s parents. Neither of them were still alive but the house was still in their names so Dimitri thought he could stay there undetected. How long he’d be satisfied with this arrangement was still
up in the air. However, he’d made mention to his men, after they returned, about making preparations to move on.

  I kept a close eye on things after Dimitri mentioned he didn’t know how much longer he’d stay. The men didn’t seem to be making any solid preparations. No phone calls were made for any transportation but that didn’t mean they hadn’t made the arrangements during their trip away from the house. Dimitri didn’t bring up leaving again after the one seemingly off-hand remark.

  I was having a tough time staying awake after dark. I’d already been up for several days without a break. If I were outside I might be able to stay alert, I thought to myself. But I knew being outside in a situation like this would just complicate my ability to remain invisible. I didn’t even dare open the windows for fear of someone noticing a change in the house’s appearance. I got up and started pacing the floor while Dimitri and his men were watching television. I kept the earphones on while I paced so my range was limited.

  Fifteen minutes before I was scheduled to report to White I received a call. White said pictures of Ruben were forwarded to him from a location inside the city.

  “This would be much easier if we could tell the men exactly who to look for and have them tail him. Those pictures are useless.”

  “Not entirely. Now we know he’s in the area.”

  “But why? Does he know Dimitri is in town? If he does, how does he know? I need to take care of Dimitri and then we can start to actively search for Ruben. I could be out of here in less than five minutes and we could go to Ruben’s last known location. He can only be so far away.”

  “I’m already on my way there. You need to sit tight.”

  “I don’t see why,” I complained. I really didn’t think keeping Dimitri alive was going to help matters.

  After Ruben had been sighted I didn’t have any more problems staying awake and was diligent with my surveillance. I thought about taking Dimitri out over and over. Every possible scene played through my head. My biggest worry were the two extra men in the house. I knew I could easily take Dimitri. He had a tendency to stand near the kitchen window and stare out. My current view through my scope was exactly that, Dimitri at the kitchen window. The other men, however, rarely neared the windows and I wondered why they’d allow the man under their protection to stand there.