Kim Baldwin - The Gemini Deception

“I’m staying. And not because you’re the president and it’s my duty.” She lifted Ryden’s hand and raised it to her lips. “But because you’re you.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

Southwestern Colorado

Early next morning, March 8, one a.m.

Montgomery Pierce drummed his fingers on the conference table and studied Cassady’s face as she poured herself coffee and took a seat to his left. The dark circles under her eyes matched Reno’s, sitting to his right; none of them had slept since Jaclyn went missing. But despite the late hour, they were all alert and expectant because the front-gate guard had just phoned to announce Agent Chase’s arrival. Monty hoped their best tracker could come up with a lead, because so far they’d had no luck whatsoever finding out anything about TQ. He’d called every contact he could think of and come up empty. Reno had been working around the clock as well but so far could find no record of anyone with that moniker or initials, at least none that matched.

“I’ve been working for the company for twenty years, give or take,” Landis Coolidge said as she entered the conference room. “But you’ve never pulled me off a job before.” She nodded at Reno as she removed her blazer and draped it over the chair next to Cassady’s. “Hey, Cass, how’s life?”

“They clearly haven’t told you,” Cassady replied, studying her face.

Chase looked at Cassady, then at him. “Tell me what?”

“Jaclyn is missing,” Monty replied.

“What do you mean?”

“He means TQ is avenging her brother’s death,” Cassady answered.

Chase remained silent, staring past him, at the wall. Her jaw muscles twitched. Monty could see she was trying to hide her worry for Cassady’s sake. “Do we know if she’s alive?”

Monty looked at Cassady. “No, but I’m sure she is.”

“Damn it.” Chase retreated a couple of steps and leaned with her back against the wall. “Why can’t that woman stay out of trouble?”

“Have a seat,” Monty said. “I’ll tell you what we know so far.”

“I’m fine. Go ahead.”

Monty told Chase everything they’d learned to date and that searching for TQ was proving an impossible task.

“No one knows who she is or what she looks like. We might as well be looking for a ghost,” Cassady said when he’d finished.

“Ghosts don’t exist. This bitch does, and we have to find her.” Chase started pacing.

Monty had never seen Chase get upset; if she ever was, she never expressed it. But now she paced the room like a beast. “Maybe someone in China. The prisons. Can any of TQ’s contacts there ID her?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Chase stopped beside the window. “We tried when we were looking for her brother.”

“I don’t see how this woman doesn’t have records,” Cassady said.

“What do we know about Dario’s family?” Chase asked.

Reno looked down at his computer printouts. “Parents deceased. A female child, registered as stillborn, born ten years prior to Dario Imperi, but no other siblings. I couldn’t find any record of another sister, which leads me to believe TQ wasn’t really a sister or she paid someone to alter the records.”

“What do we know about the stillborn?” Chase started pacing again.

“The family doctor signed the death certificate,” Reno reported.

“Has anyone talked to the doctor?” Chase asked.

Reno shook his head. “Dead end. He died twelve years ago.”

Chase paused behind Reno and peered over his shoulder at the printouts. “Do we know where the stillborn was buried?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “Same cemetery in Wichita, Kansas, where the parents were interred.”

“But…we don’t know there’s an actual body,” Chase said.

“What do you mean?” Cassady asked.

Monty looked at Chase. “An exhumation.”

“You think it’s empty?” Cassady asked. “That the child never died?”

“Everything is possible.” Monty smiled, happy to have anything at all to go on.

“Like I said, no one is a ghost.” Chase started her restless pacing again. “I bet my PEZ collection that grave is empty.”

“Why would the parents fake the death?” Cassady asked.

“Illegitimate child, couldn’t afford a child, too soon for a child.” Chase stopped and looked pointedly at Monty. “Or simply an inconvenient child. Pick one.”

Cassady turned to glare at him as well. “Yeah, Monty. Pick one.”

Monty wished both women would stop staring at him. Cassady was aware of who Jaclyn was to him, but did Chase know as well? And if so, did both of them think of him as despicably as he did of himself? As much as he had wanted to tell his daughter the truth, he’d never had a reason. He’d kept assuring himself all those years that Jaclyn was with him and that was all that mattered. But he’d never considered what mattered for Jaclyn. “There are reasons to give away or not want to acknowledge a child.”

“If you say so.” Cassady turned to Chase. “Which means the evil sister is alive and thriving.”

“If TQ was given to another family, it was an off-the-record transaction,” Chase said, “which would explain why we can’t come up with anything, not even a social security number, under the Imperi name.”

“How are we going to find out who took the child?” Cassady asked.

“We don’t have the time to jump to conclusions, so first things first,” Monty replied. He turned to Reno. “See if you can cross-reference—”

“I’m on it.” Reno scooped up his printouts and headed back to his office.

“Skip the paperwork,” Chase said. “Have someone in the area check it out now.”

Monty reached for the phone and called Joanna. “Who do we have near Kansas?”

*

The White House

Two a.m.

Ryden was dreaming, deep in slumber, when the phone rang, but because she wasn’t used to calls at this hour, the jangling startled her into heart-pounding full awareness in an instant.

She hadn’t been able to sleep when she’d finally turned in close to midnight. Thoughts of Kennedy and everything she had told her kept replaying in her head. She wasn’t certain that Kennedy realized the severity of the situation both of them were in. Though she was confident she wouldn’t deliberately do anything to harm her, Ryden worried she might do something irrational to protect her and uncover whatever she thought was going on.

When she closed her eyes, all she could see was Kennedy. Her expressive blue eyes, determined chin, enticing mouth. That soft whisper of Kennedy’s lips on her wrist; how could anything feel that soft? And how could a simple smile be so sexy? How had she never noticed women before, and especially women like Kennedy? Maybe because woman like this EOO guard usually didn’t enter her world unless they were lost or looking for directions.

She glanced at the clock as she snatched up the phone before it could ring a second time. Two a.m. She’d slept less than an hour. “Yes?”

“It’s time. I’ll be at your door in ten minutes,” Ratman said, and hung up.

Her heart boomed double time in her panic as she fumbled for the bedside lamp. When it blinked on, she let her eyes adjust and looked around the room, taking deep breaths. It was time to go home, wherever that might be. And it was time to start a new life—one that didn’t include Kennedy.

Almost as if in a dream, she went to the closet to begin the departure procedure they had drilled her on. She grabbed the jeans, long-sleeve T-shirt, hoodie, and sneakers they had supplied her with—items that had nothing to do with the president’s wardrobe—and quickly changed into them. She had nothing else to prepare or take; what she now wore was all she owned.