Covert Christmas Twin

by Heather Woodhaven

  Did she even want to know? She tamped down the pride that wanted to demand every detail of someone else’s plan before taking a step forward. If she hadn’t selfishly fallen asleep then maybe she’d be the one asking him to trust her.

  He searched her face. “Are you ready? Once we start on this course of action there’s no turning back.”

  The machine sounded like it was revving up to move. Even though they were at the back of the building, once a wrecking ball hit they’d be sunk. Literally. “You’re the analyst. Lead the way.”

  His eyes widened and he gulped. “I’ve never done this before.” Before she could offer any advice, he took a run at the window and jumped, his leg out in a front kick. His heel missed the center of the board but made contact with the left side, precariously close to the wall.

  The wood cracked open as he fell backward. Kendra lunged forward and caught his shoulders before he hit the floor fully. “No sense testing the floor again,” she said with a grunt. He scrambled upright. They ran toward the board, each pushing on either side of the crack.

  “Hurry!” Joe grunted as he shoved out the remaining side of his board. Kendra managed to push hers out enough that surely they would have enough room to get out. She looked down to find the rusted-out frame of what used to be a rickety fire escape. Maybe thirty years ago it could’ve actually been considered a working one. He was right about the palm tree, though. One side of the trunk brushed against the corner of the set of stairs that led down to the next platform.

  Kendra stuck her head out the open window and looked up. Above them the palm fronds looked heavy and hung down precariously. She’d heard that each one weighed upward of a hundred pounds. Apparently, the cities in the area weren’t in agreement on who should maintain the massive trees. Audrey had even pointed out a palm tree on a previous visit and said two fronds had dropped and killed a man last year.

  The protesters were silent, or maybe their chants weren’t loud enough to cover the deafening roar of a crane followed by a crash. Joe’s wide eyes met hers. “It’s started!”

  He lifted a leg and hopped up and through the window. He balanced on one of the few remaining bars left on the platform. Kendra held her breath, waiting for him to fall, but he turned and reached his hands out for her. She heard the whoosh of metal and a crash. This time she felt the rumble underneath her feet.

  She grabbed Joe’s hand and climbed out the window to join him, though she kept a grip on the windowsill. The palm tree shook slightly from the demolition forces, as well. Moving quickly but cautiously, they slid along the remaining rusted bars to the stairway portion.

  She grabbed the metal bar and gingerly took a step at a time until they reached the next platform. “Fourth floor.” She took a deep breath. One floor closer to the safety of the ground, and one floor closer to men with silencers and law enforcement that couldn’t be trusted. Another crash sounded. The entire building shook and rumbled, but amazingly the side didn’t come crashing down yet. The bolts holding the metal to the wall, however, were wiggling their way loose. She forced herself to look away and focus on keeping her feet on the metal railing that looked the least rusty.

  Joe exhaled. “So far, so good. Just keep moving and pray the building doesn’t come crashing down until we have.” He took another step. An ominous creak, followed by a snap, grabbed Kendra’s attention. A six-foot-long-by-six-foot-wide palm frond dropped.

  “Joe!” She grabbed his arm and tugged with all her might to get him out of the path as the formidable palm hit the platform just above them. She exhaled in relief. Joe looked shaken, as well. They rushed to the next set of stairs. The top platform snapped and collapsed into the stairway above them. The palm dropped to the next platform, the one they were just on.

  This time Joe didn’t need her urging. He jumped to the next platform. She was one step behind him, almost running into his back, as she felt the frame of the fire escape give way from the building. Whether it would be underneath a pile of rubble, a heap of rusty iron or a giant palm frond, the result would be the same. They were about to be crushed.

  TWELVE

  Joe turned and grabbed Kendra by the waist and lifted her up over the railing. Her surprise must have given way to understanding because her toes found the edge of the platform and her hands grabbed the outside bar. “Go,” she urged. He released her and kicked his leg over the railing to join her.

  “Now!” Kendra’s voice was full of panic. She twisted as she jumped off.

  Joe didn’t take a second to look back. As soon as his other leg was over, he pushed off. The rumble grew louder from the front of the building. His right foot hit the ground but refused to take the weight. His knees hit the earth and he rolled, groaning, as the force of the impact traveled through his bones.

  Clanging sounded, and he looked up to see the palm tree and metal platform slamming against each other as what little was left of the escape framework came tumbling down. The brick wall seemed to shift, as if unsteady.

  “Joe!” Kendra tugged at his arm.

  He flipped over and struggled to a standing position. She held out a hand. He grabbed it and allowed her to pull, dragging him forward despite his throbbing ankle. They stepped into the alley past the northwest corner. Joe reached for his gun with his free hand. At the far end of the alley, a police car waited. An officer jumped out. “Hey! You can’t be—” The officer looked up. “It’s coming down! Get out of there!”

  Joe looked over his shoulder. The top of the building began to collapse into itself. “The fence!” She didn’t need prodding. She ran at it and grabbed the top of the wooden, vine-covered fence he’d planned for them to jump. Her foot reached the middle of the panel and she scrambled up and over. He struggled to run and his arms strained to lift himself up and over. The fence began shaking as well when he kicked over his legs. The air shifted and shoved a gust of dust at his back. The building was going down.

  He dropped to the ground, his backside hitting the gravel and the back of his head hitting the wooden slats. Little rocks peppered the fence, and he didn’t want to wait around for anything bigger to break past the flimsy protection.

  He shoved himself up and, crouching, followed Kendra. They ran through a yard in bad need of water but completely enclosed and unseen from the street. At the back of the property, a yellow mansion, weathered and in need of repairs, sat with no signs of life at such an early hour. Kendra pumped her arms ahead of him but every few steps she reached for her gun, as if checking to see it was still ready and waiting. She coughed as she ran, and Joe prayed that they hadn’t inhaled asbestos waste or anything with lead that could hurt them years from now. Though he supposed he should focus on today’s murderous possibilities instead of the future.

  Dust fell from his eyebrows. He brushed it away, though his eyes stung as if he’d missed some. He needed clear vision in case guard dogs suddenly approached. Kendra found the driveway leading to a gate first. Joe’s ankle begged for relief, but he gritted his teeth through the pain. He needed to lead Kendra to safety. This was his plan and he needed to see it through.

  At the end of the drive, a control panel held a red button that allowed people leaving the property to easily exit. She slammed her palm on it and they ran through until they reached a sidewalk. “We’re on a different street,” she said.

  “I know. The property takes up the entire corner. Come on, before we get noticed.” Construction-machine noises still reached their ears. Joe prayed the great mass of dust would hide them. The officer had been a fair distance away at the end of the alley. Even though he’d seen them, unless he’d been tipped off, there was no way he could identify them. Although, if the Pirate’s crew had been listening to the police radio, they’d likely hear of two people who ran out as the building crumbled. Hopefully, they’d assume Kendra and Joe were trapped by the falling debris, and it would buy them some time.

  At every property without
a gate, they sneaked through to get to a different street. Kendra wanted to avoid the sidewalks, especially ones with palm trees hanging over them. “I’ll never be able to look at a palm tree the same way again.”

  “And I’ll never look at an old building the same way again,” he replied.

  Following as serpentine a pattern as possible, they reached the southern entrance to the campus.

  Kendra placed her hands on her hips. “Why are we going back here?” she asked.

  “I didn’t want to argue with you about my plan, but I think the only option is to head straight to the Caltech security office and get ahold of the lab’s security footage. I know it’s a risk, but if we don’t, we lose—”

  “The only lead to potentially identify the Pirate.” She nodded and brushed off her clothes. “The fire marshal and the police will be wanting to talk to Professor Audrey Clark about the explosion in the chemical lab by now, but they won’t automatically consider her a criminal. First, they’ll worry about her, check the hospitals...”

  Joe pulled back. He had completely expected a fight. “Yes.”

  Kendra pointed at her face and drew an invisible circle around it. “Any dust still there?”

  “You look beaut—great,” he amended. There was a piece of something in her hair, though. He reached and moved to brush it away. Their eyes met as he did so and her gaze seemed to paralyze him.

  “Thank you,” she said softly. “For what you did back there. You saved my life...again.” She blinked rapidly and averted her eyes. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you listened and dropped to your knees in Afghanistan. I can’t imagine my life without having met—”

  A college student sped past them on a ten-speed so closely that Joe took a step away from Kendra. His heart warmed at her words. She was trying to thank him for the difference he’d made in her life, but the back of his neck suddenly burned with shame. He was looking for some big purpose his life was supposed to fill because he’d been saved once. What hubris to assume he needed to fulfill some extraordinary career path that he felt was worthy of God saving him for.

  The revelation took him by surprise. There was freedom in simply living his life in an honorable way and trusting God would use it for His purposes. His shoulders relaxed, and he smiled.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Did I say something funny?”

  “No. I think you just snapped me out of a prideful funk I think I’ve been stuck in for years.”

  She pursed her lips. He didn’t expect she’d understand, but before he could say anything else she grinned. “Funny. I thought the same thing about you last night.”

  “Really?”

  “We’re not here to chat, Joe.”

  “Right. Security office.”

  “I know where it is. It’s part of the parking garage on the west.”

  “No. According to my study of the campus maps and brochures when we were at Audrey’s apartment, the security administration office is different than the security patrol office. I think we need the admin to get a release of the footage. Two different places, and thankfully for us, the administration office isn’t actually on campus. It’s on the street right next to it.” He pointed to what looked like a farmhouse that’d been remodeled into a house from the early seventies with green shutters. “Oddly enough, security, along with parking, has been relegated to the back of the employee credit union. Should be on the left-hand side. The administrative offices should be open by now.” He struggled to lead the way as his swelling foot pressed painfully against the collar of his shoe. “Do you know what you’re going to say?”

  She flashed him a smile. “Thanks for getting me this far, but this is a job for a covert agent. I’ve got this.” They stepped through an opening of hedges to avoid walking around the front of the building. A stairway led to the second floor of the house. He grabbed the railing and hobbled up behind her. A gray sign with white lettering indicated he was right. Parking and Security Offices. She opened the door and pointed to a bench along the wall. “I think it’ll be easier if you wait here.”

  “So I won’t need a cover?”

  “I think the only thing you need to worry about is using those analyst skills to make sure we weren’t followed.”

  * * *

  Kendra’s heel dragged slightly against the green, aged carpeting leading into the administrative office. She stopped for a second to remove a piece of rock stuck in the tread of her shoes before making a beeline to the glass office that held the placard that read Security Director. She spotted a man in his late fifties wearing a red sweater over a crisp white dress shirt. He waved her inside.

  “How can I help you?”

  “I’m Professor Audrey Clark. I was hoping you could help me access the security footage at all possible entrances and exits of my lab at the engineering building.”

  He stood from his desk and walked around the corner of it. “I’m sure you know that policy dictates you must first get a signed directive from—”

  She sighed. She didn’t know any of the policies, but she knew how to ask for exceptions. “Of course. But you can understand that after the explosion, I have a vested interest—actually everyone on campus should—in expedience so we can prevent this from ever—”

  “Whoa.” His eyes widened. “That lab. Professor Clark? I didn’t realize.” He leaned against the edge of his desk with his hands crossed over his chest. “In that case, we have ourselves a predicament. As I told the fire marshal yesterday, our security footage seems to have disappeared. The hard drive allotted for those two cameras is gone.”

  Kendra almost groaned aloud. “Gone? How does that happen?”

  “Believe me, we’re looking into it. We’ll enlist the police, if need be, to help.”

  “I should hope so. DARPA will not be happy about this. In fact, I would imagine this might make things harder for other labs to get grants if security is going to be lax.”

  His neck flushed a deep red. Anytime funding was at risk, the issue at hand was sure to be taken more seriously. “As I said before, Professor, we will get to the bottom of it. In all my years this has never happened. Caltech’s honor code has served us well.”

  Ah, the famous honor code. It basically said that no member of the Caltech community would take advantage of another member. In her line of work, she couldn’t imagine trusting every FBI agent within the Bureau that much. Collaboration existed but there was also an unspoken sense of competition. She would be the first to admit guilt at trying to one-up her coworkers, at least before she found out she had a twin and biological mother in the world. “Isn’t it best practice to back up the security feed to a server somewhere?”

  “Of course. But, as I explained to the officers, the feed went offline approximately thirty minutes before the incident in question. Except, no alerts or notifications were sent out like they’re programmed to do.”

  “You’re saying you were hacked?”

  His facial expression was impassive. “I’m saying the IT guys are treating it as a top priority, but as of yet, they haven’t been able to get the server back up and can’t find a reason for the anomaly.”

  “What about archives?”

  “Those, too, Professor.” He shook his head. “We are cooperating with the investigation and aren’t jumping to any conclusions until we have all the facts. Off the record, though, these sorts of accidents don’t just happen.”

  The invisible burden on her shoulders tripled in size. The footage was their last hope of a lead to the Pirate. They had nothing to give Beverly—if she still was alive—and the NCS. Her throat tightened at the thought. Was it time to give up, say goodbye to her loved ones and become a ghost?

  “Did the fire marshal reach you?” He tilted his head and studied her.

  She glanced up, so lost in her thoughts she’d almost forgotten the man was still in the room. “What?”

 
“Both the marshal and the police were trying to locate you yesterday to ask some questions. Apparently, you just disappeared after the explosion.” He glanced at the phone on his desk as if unsure whether he should report her now. “Are you okay?”

  Kendra moved her hair back slightly, sure he’d be able to see the lump she felt growing on her temple and the grime and scratches her neck and hands bore. He would assume it was from the explosion as long as he didn’t look too closely. “To be honest, no.” She purposefully let her voice shake. As she hoped, his arms dropped to his sides and he relaxed, so she continued. “As you can imagine, it’s been very upsetting. I did sustain a few injuries but nothing life-threatening. It’s been hard to rest and recover, though, not knowing if my research or staff are safe.” She feigned concern. “You don’t think they think I’m a suspect?”

  Compassion creased his features. “I’m sure they just need to ask you questions, as well. All standard procedure. Get in touch with them. They’ll understand. They allow time for eventualities like injuries before they issue a warrant.”

  “A warrant?” She placed her hands on either side of her face. “I better get in touch soon. Did the fire marshal leave a card?”

  He nodded and picked it up from the desk. She read the name in bold. If the fire marshal was doing his due diligence and investigating properly she might be forced to trust him. At the very least, she’d have to make clear that Audrey Clark had an alibi and was nowhere near the lab. Before Kendra disappeared off the face of the earth, she needed to make sure everyone knew Audrey wasn’t implicated.

  “Thank you.” She spotted a small break room in the corner of with a vending machine and a refrigerator. “Could I trouble you for one more thing?”

  After the surprised look on his face, she managed to leave the security administration offices with two bottles of water and a bag of ice. Joe wasn’t where she’d left him, though, as the hallway was empty.

  “Over here.” A whisper reached her ears.