Heather Woodhaven - Covert Christmas Twin

They rounded a corner to find floating bright lights racing toward them. “What—”

Joe operated on instinct and grabbed Kendra by the shoulders, tugging her off the path into the grass, before a group of almost a hundred bikes almost ran them over.

“Sorry, Professor Clark,” someone called out.

“Come with us, Professor,” another student shouted, glancing back toward them briefly. “Christmas light ride!”

“You have to see Christmas Tree Lane,” another bicyclist shouted.

Kendra awkwardly held up a hand in a wave but didn’t answer. Two minutes later the path was empty. She grimaced. “So much for keeping a low profile. If they know Audrey is engaged, we might’ve started some rumors.”

His mind drifted to what it would be like to pretend to be a couple with Kendra, but he refocused as she’d started walking again. The thought did trigger a question, though. “Are you okay with your twin getting married to your partner?”

“Former partner,” she corrected. “Lee is getting transferred to be an FBI recruiter at UCLA soon, to be closer to her.” She smiled, and maybe he wanted to believe it, but the gesture seemed genuine. “Lee’s like one of my brothers. Like I said, Audrey and I are very different people. I don’t know how she could see him as anything more, but I’m genuinely happy for them. If there was any jealousy it’s only that I’m pretty sure they’re going to live happily-ever-after.” She sighed. “And how often does that happen?”

He wanted to ask if she ever hoped for a happily-ever-after and what type of man she’d look for, as a natural continuation of the conversation. But, given the awkwardness after the plane ride, he decided to keep his follow-up questions to himself. “I’ve met Lee before. It’s been a few years, but he seems like a great guy.”

She reached the bottom steps of the apartment building. “Is that your professional opinion as an analyst?”

“I didn’t profile him, but I’m typically 70 percent right about a person based on my first impression, yeah.”

“Isn’t that 30 percent room for error the most important part?”

“If your sister is anything like you, I’m sure she’s made a smart choice.”

That prompted another smile. “She is smart. Obviously. Or we wouldn’t be here.” They took the stairs to the second floor. Kendra hesitated at the top and spun around to face him. “Listen, the focus is on stopping the Pirate. We aren’t going to bring up Beverly again until Audrey is gone.”

“Are you sure? That’s a pretty big piece of the puzzle to leave out.” It was true he didn’t know for sure that Beverly had survived the blast, but he preferred to remain optimistic.

Her eyes narrowed, ever so slightly. “It’s not my place or even my right to explain our birth mother works for the NCS. Audrey loves to gather facts and develop hypotheses. She’d have made an excellent interrogator, and I can’t take the time to rehash every word and gesture Beverly made today. Besides, Beverly seemed to think Audrey wasn’t in danger at the moment. I think the safest route for Audrey is to keep information on a need-to-know basis.”

While Beverly had told him about her daughters under the guise of having a crisis of faith, she hadn’t talked about their careers. He found it interesting that each daughter seemed to excel at elements of Beverly’s job. One was a researcher while the other was a covert agent. “Information on a need-to-know basis,” he answered. “Got it.”

Her shoulders dropped with an exhale. She nodded, then took two more steps until she reached an apartment door covered up by a wreath dotted with Disney characters wearing lab coats and safety glasses. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What—”

Joe couldn’t help but smile at the cute display, as Kendra had probably stopped at the wrong door. She wasn’t the type of person to take part in holiday decorations, and as near as he remembered, she wasn’t a big fan of Christmas.

The door in question swung open and Joe felt his eyebrows jump. There were two Kendras in front of him, except only one of them wore an ugly Christmas sweater and a jubilant smile while bouncing on her toes.

“I thought that was you outside.” The twin wrapped her arms around Kendra’s neck while simultaneously pulling her inside the apartment. “I was so happy to get your text. Did you find her?”

“I honestly don’t know where our birth mother is, but that’s not why I’m here.” Kendra shook her head slightly and stepped out of the embrace, but her eyes were wide and dazed as she looked around the apartment.

Joe stepped inside the threshold, without asking, curious what he’d see. The smell of cinnamon and nutmeg hit him first as an oven timer beeped. Every wall in the apartment was covered with Christmas decorations. In the corner, a tree was so full of lights he almost needed sunglasses to look at it. Even the windows were outlined in lights, but the blinds were pulled open to see the outdoors. That was how Audrey had known they were coming. He crossed the room and closed the blinds. Someone else could be watching. If news got to the Pirate that Audrey had a twin, their chance to lure him into the open would disappear.

“Uh, who is this?” Audrey asked in a cheerful voice, her green eyes full of consternation that a strange man was taking such a liberty in her apartment.

Joe tipped his cap and opened his mouth to introduce himself but Kendra gestured toward him first.

“This is Joe Rose. He’s my partner for a last-minute mission, and I’m afraid we’re here to ask for your help.”

Audrey bounced over to the oven, seemingly nonplussed, as she pulled out a baking sheet of gingerbread men and turned off the timer. “You need me to pretend to be you again?” She smiled. “Because I’ve gotten pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.”

“Actually, no. I need to take your place.”

Her smile faded, and she didn’t turn from staring at the oven. “That’s a big ask. You know my research is classified.”

“So was my mission to stop the Masked Network.”

Audrey grabbed a spatula and started transferring the cookies to a cooling rack. She gave a side-glance to Joe. “Are you any good with icing?”

That took him off guard. “Um, maybe?”

“Good. Because I think my sister is going to have a lot harder time pretending to be me than the other way around.”

Kendra barked a laugh. “I’m trained to do undercover work, Audrey.”

“Hmm. We’ll see. If you wouldn’t mind taking over...” Audrey picked up an icing packet and handed it to Joe. “Outline these men, dots for eyes, a smiley face and three cinnamon buttons down the torso.” She finally turned to Kendra. “It sounds like we have a lot to talk about while your new partner works on these.”

“We can talk in front of him. He’s trustworthy.”

“But this is my research, and I can’t take your word for it.” She held up a hand. “No offense, Joe.” She approached her sister. “Besides, if I go along with this switcheroo, which I assume you have good reason for, I need to know you can pull it off.” Audrey stuck out a thumb in Joe’s direction. “And he can be the one to prove it.”

Joe sensed a test in the making, and he wasn’t sure how to study.

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