Alex would not grow up fatherless. Morgan had called Plante in the morning and told him he was out for good. That was almost eight years ago.
Morgan looked down at the picture in his hand and wondered whether Conley would be alive at that moment if they had still been partners. As he brooded on their friendship and what could have been, Morgan heard the sound of Jenny’s car pulling into the driveway.
CHAPTER 4
“What do you mean, you have to go to DC?” demanded Jenny. After helping unload the groceries from the car and put them away, Morgan had pulled her into the bedroom, away from Alex, and told her that he had to go. The soft gentleness of her face became uneasy, and she pushed her short brown hair nervously behind her ears. She knew, of course, what was in DC.
“Plante is outside, waiting,” he said, not knowing where to begin.
“Plante? You mean your old supervisor?” she asked, bewildered. She walked over to the window and looked out.
“My old handler, yes.” He tried to project reassurance in his voice. Its effect was limited, at best.
“Dan, what’s going on? What does he want?”
“It’s Peter. Peter Conley was killed on a mission.”
“Oh, Dan, I’m so sorry,” she said, as her natural kindness asserted itself, and she took his hand in hers and held it tightly. “How are you?”
He looked at her stoically, but he knew he couldn’t hide his grief.
“Oh, Dan . . .” she said, embracing him. She pulled away and then asked, “Is there going to be a funeral?”
“No,” he said bitterly. “Apparently it was more convenient to have him buried over there.”
“Wait, I’m confused,” she said suspiciously. “I assumed. . . Why do you have to go to DC, then?”
“Something to do with his last mission. They say they need my help.”
She pulled away from him, opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it on a second thought. Then she finally said, “Help how?” Her sympathetic dark brown eyes took on a familiar steely glint that was the only thing that still had the power to intimidate him.
“It’s strictly paperwork, I promise. They want me to take a look at something. Some kind of coded message.”
“They’re the CIA,” she said sharply. “Don’t they have people who can take care of that there?”
Morgan wondered how he had ever managed to keep his life hidden away from her for so long. “It’s a special case, Jen. It’s got to be me.”
“Dan . . .” she said, half pleading, half admonishing.
“I have to do this, Jenny.”
“Do you remember what you told me back when Alex was a child?” she asked. “Do you remember what you promised?”
“Yeah,” he replied, with a pinch of contrition. “I said that I was done. Out. And I meant it.” He moved in closer and put his arms around her. “I’m coming in only as a special consultant. This could be important, and I might be the only one who can help them. Believe me, I would not be going if that weren’t the case.”
She backed up slightly and raised an eyebrow. “No running around in a war zone?”
“No,” he said firmly.
“No gunfights? No flying halfway around the world to put your life at risk?”
“No and no. They show me a printout, I tell them what it means, and I’m out of there. That’s all.”
She sighed and looked away. “I know you’re upset about Peter. I am, too. But that won’t make me forget your promise.”
“I know,” he said. “I didn’t expect it to.”
“Did you ask Alex to the game already?” she asked. He nodded.
“Have you told her?” she asked.
“Not yet,” he said.
“She’ll play it cool, but she really craves your company, you know. She will be disappointed.”
“I know,” he said, and he kissed his wife tenderly. “Look, Jenny, I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t perfectly safe. And if everything goes smoothly, I’m out of there in less than twenty-four hours.” Even if Plante were done with him by evening, Morgan had his own questions. “I’ll be back in time for the game with Alex. No harm, no foul.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
He didn’t have a chance to answer before they heard light footsteps approaching from the hall. The door, which had been ajar, opened, and Alex walked in breezily.
“Oh, hey, Mom,” she said, pointedly avoiding eye contact with Morgan. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m off to meet my friends in a few minutes.” And then, reading their body language, she asked, “What’s going on?”