Page 11 of 2nd Strike
I eye my sister and see her trying to hide a smile.
And failing.
“You told him about GenCo?” I hiss. The public website is free and allows people who don’t want to pay mainstream online sites a yearly fee for services such as building family trees and hooking them up with potential genetic matches. I often send people who can’t afford me there to look for matches.
“Sorry,” she mouths, but I can see she isn’t. She must’ve figured he’d be tempted to bypass the age restriction and upload his test results. She was right.
I like things to be linear, calculated, and planned. I go from step A to step B and so on. Meg scatterguns the world and sees what falls out.
I close my eyes and feel my world spinning farther out of control. “We have to tell your parents,” I say to Ethan. A demand, or command. If they find out before we’ve told them… “I’ll call your dad and set up a meeting to explain everything and get new samples to confirm you’re not their son.”
“But my mom—”
I say goodbye and cut him off. There’s no turning back or keeping things on the down low any more. I buzz Haley, ignoring Meg.
“Yes?” Haley says.
“Get me Jackie DelRay’s number, would you? I need to make a call.”
6
Meg
Charlie is pissed. I don’t kid myself—or her—by acting like I didn’t know this would happen. When investigating, she has a process. She ticks off all her little boxes and methodically moves forward. By slipping Ethan the GenCo information, I’ve done the equivalent of bulk-checking Charlie’s boxes and moved right to phase ten.
We pull up the long, winding drive of Carl Havers’ mansion. It’s sandy brick and glowing white arches give it a regal look befitting a man whose spent the majority of his life in front of a camera. Everything in place and perfectly groomed.
Charlie pulls in and kills the engine. “Let me do the talking. Swear to God, Meg, if you speak, I might shoot you right in front of Carl and Lily.”
I can’t help the snort that pops out. “Hey, how many times should I apologize for the GenCo thing? I thought it’d help. And, excuse me, but it appears it did. We have a bonafide lead.”
“I’ll give you that, but I’d have preferred to gather some facts before having to tell the Havers I screwed up and gave them the wrong damned child back.”
I stare at my sister’s amazing cheekbones, the soft curves of her relaxed mouth and her all-around composed face. As good as she is at masking her emotions, I know her. I know what this work means to her, the need to bring answers—correct ones—to people in pain. It’d probably hurt less if I tied her to a stake over a raging fire. Guilt slams me and I shake my head. We’re both in this for the correct reasons, but our methods are wildly different. Something Charlie is better at recognizing than I am.
“You’re right. I didn’t think of it like that. All I saw was a way to get to the finish line. I didn’t anticipate the rubble left behind.”
She reaches behind my seat and grabs her briefcase, yanking it through the opening between us. “What’s done is done. Besides, we’d have gotten to this point anyway.”
We exit the car with me doing a silent pinky swear to keep my mouth shut. I’ve already put Charlie in an awkward position and speaking out of turn will only make it worse.
Tick-a-lock. That’s me.
Before we even ascend the slate steps, the front door opens and Carl greets us. He’s wearing gray dress slacks and a periwinkle button down that enhances his chocolate eyes and black hair. Pair that with broad shoulders and this guy is a total stud. No wonder he’s made millions as a television anchor.
“Agent Schock,” he says, “hello.”
“Good morning, Carl. Thank you for seeing us. And, it’s Charlie. I’m not with the Bureau anymore.”
The two shake hands, then Charlie turns to me, rests her hand on my arm. “You remember my sister, Meg. She’s my partner at our agency.”
We exchange greetings and like the rest of him, I find it a wholly pleasant experience. His palm is warm and there’s an energy about him that puts me at ease. The man is a master. It’s almost too much. The good looks, the calm energy.
Too perfect.
Too…intimidating.
But, I suppose that’s the point.
