Covert Christmas Twin

FOUR

Kendra hit the floor. Her knuckles made first contact. She cried out from the impact as her fingers were still wrapped around the gun. She rolled and popped up to a sitting position. Smoke billowed into the open side of the house from the massive crater next door. Half of Beverly’s house was gone.

The gunmen were lying prone on the grass below. Two of them wore jackets with FBI on the back. Were they legit or agents on the take? Another wore a nondescript blazer and yet another had on a blue jacket with US Marshals in yellow letters on the back. Everything added up to confirm what Beverly and Joe had been telling her. Kendra really wouldn’t be able to trust anyone until she took down the rest of Masked. One of the men started to move to his knees but fell down again. Injured but not dead, he’d likely survive.

Joe held one hand over his left ear. The jagged remains of the floor that was left beneath them creaked. He gestured to the stairs. “We need to go before this collapses, too.”

Her eyes, nose and throat burned as she let her gaze travel over the burning pile of rubble. There was too much smoke to tell just how deep the explosion went. Did it take out the basement apartment, too? “But—”

“She’s not dead, Kendra. We have to go. This is our chance to escape.”

She searched his soot-covered face for reassurance that he wasn’t bluffing. “How do you know she’s not? What if she’s still in the basement, trapped? You don’t know for sure, do you?”

He holstered his weapon and stood, pulling her upright with him. “No one becomes an NCS agent without always having a backup plan. She’s the best of the best. The bomb was probably for our benefit so we could leave without anyone following us. Come on.” Joe held her hand and guided her over the mess of broken wood and glass by the stairs, also covered in debris. The third step no longer existed.

They made it downstairs. The ringing in her ears diminished enough she could recognize the oncoming sirens—so many sirens in one day. Usually the sound spiked her adrenaline and put her on alert, but today her insides felt hollow and numb. Weeks of tracking down her birth mother only to lose her. It was hard to believe Joe’s theory that she’d escaped, but he knew Beverly better than she did, so she let him lead.

For now.

They reached the same back door they’d entered. Joe unclipped his holstered gun once more and led her down an alley between old houses with detached garages. He looked over his shoulder every few steps. The gravel crunched underneath her feet. She lost track of how many turns they made before Joe came to a stop. He checked over his shoulder once more before he accessed a garage keypad. “How are you holding up? Have you noticed any injuries?”

She focused on her breathing, and the fog that she’d operated in for the past fifteen minutes began to fade. Her bones and muscles ached from the sheer force of the explosion, but other than that, she felt fine. “No. What about you?”

He glanced down at his thumb as the garage door started to go up. “I think I got a nasty splinter but other than that—”

She snorted. She couldn’t help it. “Do yourself a favor and don’t lead with that injury at the next academy reunion.”

He flashed the good-natured smirk that made him seem five years younger, and she found it contagious. She needed to choose to trust that Joe knew what he was talking about and keep moving forward.

The garage opened to reveal an old-fashioned cruiser bicycle with white-rimmed wheels and a basket. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ll tell you right now I’m not sitting on the handles while you steer.”

He waved her toward the interior door. “This is my place, a rental. The bike came with the house. I thought we could wash up, and I’ll ride this to pick up my car and come back to pick get you. If you don’t mind, I’d like to grab a bag before we travel to Caltech.”

The statement brought back the sense of urgency. “You have a go bag ready, right?”

He nodded. “Some habits die hard.”

She suspected it was more that he wasn’t really ready to leave the FBI, but she didn’t want to start that discussion again. “Between the shooting on campus and the house exploding, I would imagine all the ways out of town will be guarded checkpoints in no time flat. While I think we could pass inspection, I’d rather not increase Masked’s chances in discovering I was the Fed who contacted Beverly.”

“I’m not worried about the checkpoints. I know of a farm with an access road that leads clear out to a highway. I’ll be shocked if anyone thinks to monitor that.”

She reached up and brushed the soot off his cheek without thinking. He stiffened but looked down, a kindness in his eyes that made her heart beat faster. She pulled her hand back as if burned. “Sorry. I’m sure you can take care of that yourself.” What was wrong with her?

“I’ll take all the help I can get.” He shrugged. “I don’t pay much attention to my appearance.”

As if. His clothes always looked brand-new, crisp and fresh. She gestured toward his button-down shirt that amazingly, despite the soot covering it, didn’t look wrinkled.

“I find ironing to be relaxing, and I like starch.” He opened the door inside his house. “Restroom is to your left. I’ll grab my car first and we can either leave town or get your rental, though I think the campus will be on lockdown.”

“I parked on a side street.”

“Smart. Should’ve known you would’ve.” He strode in the house and up the stairs while she stepped in the spotless washroom. Her apartment was barely lived in and wasn’t this clean. She didn’t think the adage “cleanliness is next to godliness” was actually in the Bible, but it probably didn’t hurt as a quality trait on his résumé if he really was making a transition to being a pastor. Kendra made sure all evidence of ash and grime was removed from herself and the sink. Once she got her bag from her car she would have to change clothes at the airport to ensure no one smelled smoke on her before boarding.

She stepped out and Joe stood waiting, holding a bag in one hand and offering her a water bottle in the other. It was as if they’d both switched on autopilot. Within fifteen minutes, they’d returned his car to the garage and managed to escape town in her rental, even though they’d passed plenty of parked police cruisers and black SUVs, likely assigned to federal agents. They both kept their hats and sunglasses on despite the overcast skies, until Joe found the dirt access road on barren farmland that had already been harvested.

Another sixty minutes later, they returned the rental at the airport and bought separate tickets on Southwest with direct service to Los Angeles. Since there was no assigned seating on the airline, they could sit together without fear of someone looking at the manifest and connecting the dots. By the time the attendant announced boarding, they’d gone three hours without speaking, which was fine with her.

“You know what I remember most at the academy?” Joe asked, as if he’d heard her thoughts and wanted to correct her. He leaned back in his seat, ignoring the flight attendant’s safety speech. “Boxing.”

She cringed. “I have a lot of memories of Quantico, but that’s one of many I definitely choose to forget most of the time.” The boxing test was a necessary, but painful, part of training. All trainees had been paired up in a boxing ring, men against women, and told to beat on each other in order to prove they could defend themselves. “I’ll never forget that poor accountant. Cynthia, was it?”

He groaned. “Brandon popped her right in the nose, and that was it. She quit.” He shook his head and sneaked a glance at her. “I wouldn’t have lasted, either, if I hadn’t been paired with you.”

“Maybe.”

“No, I’m sure. I’ll never forget tapping you on the shoulder while the instructor yelled to hit you harder. If you hadn’t made it clear you knew how to defend yourself with that fake-out jump punch to my jaw, I wouldn’t have passed.” He shook his head. “I still don’t agree with that part of our training. If I’d actually made any contact with you or caused any bruises like some of the others...”

“You can thank my three older brothers and my Tang Soo Do instructors. I had to be an expert in wrestling and blocking maneuvers.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what you told me back then, too.”

She found herself smiling, not at the memory of having to fight each other, but from remembering what happened afterward. “I never thought I would be consoling a guy who tried to hit me—even though I totally know you took it easy on me—with burgers and fries.”

He laughed. “I felt horrible. Never thought I would ever try to hit a girl, even if it was for training.” His smile morphed into a frown. “I think that was when I first questioned whether I’d taken the right path.”

There he went again, implying he was serious about leaving the FBI. She refused to believe it. “I’m sorry I got you wrapped up in this. Obviously, it’s not normal FBI work, so you can’t really judge—”

“You heard Beverly. She had this in mind for me ever since I met her, just shortly after I arrived as the interim associate pastor. I was just too trusting to see it.”

Kendra chose her words carefully because she knew—despite the loud aircraft noise—that someone might overhear bits and pieces of their conversation. “But if you hadn’t needed to help me this morning, she might not have been able to manipulate you into coming with me. For that, I’m sorry.”

He leaned slightly toward her so only she could hear. “There’s no need to apologize. While I stood in line, I realized that it wouldn’t have mattered.” His voice was soft and caring. “All Beverly would’ve needed to do was mention your name, and I’d have come running. I think she knew that.”

Kendra felt her eyes widen but didn’t reply. What did he mean? Because they could never, ever, be more than friends no matter how strong the attraction. Agents together as a couple never worked.

He clenched his jaw and looked down as if he’d said too much before he leaned back and closed his eyes.

Joe thought he managed to act nonchalant the rest of the way to Los Angeles and even through the insanity of renting a car and driving to Pasadena from LAX in rush-hour traffic. Inwardly, though, he worried that his admission to Kendra sent the wrong message. Her eyes widened as if he’d just proclaimed romantic intentions, but if he tried to correct her and explain that he just meant he would do anything for his friends, that would just add fuel to the fire. He would have sounded desperate, like a man who had said “I love you” without hearing it back. No, the right thing to do was to let it go and act cool.

Even though the drive was only supposed to be a little over twenty miles, the trip took over two hours. He blew out a forceful breath as he finally got to California Boulevard. “So, you never told me, what was it like to meet your sister for the first time? I mean besides being shocked.”

She tilted her head from side to side as if considering how much to share. “Well, I had a scheduled meet with a contact, but bullets started flying before I could get there. I was trying not to let on that I’d been shot so I might not have been thinking clearly. Mostly, I needed to understand why my partner was running with someone who looked identical to me before I acknowledged I needed help. I had no idea what was going on.”

The news almost made him pull over. “What?”

“I didn’t want to get into it with Beverly, especially since we were short on time, but I didn’t meet Audrey inside a conference like she intended. It was a mission gone wrong. I was in the middle of trying to get the answers I wanted when I passed out, hit my head and ended up in surgery. When I woke up, Audrey had taken my place on the mission. She was actually the one with my partner, Lee, who took down the communications of Masked.”

“Whoa. I’m glad they got you into surgery in time.”

Kendra smiled. “So you really didn’t know about that? It may sound weird, but it brings me a little solace that Beverly doesn’t know everything.”

He couldn’t imagine what she had to feel like knowing Beverly had kept tabs on her for all her life, but had never reached out.

“Anyway, to answer your question, I didn’t really process that I had a twin until I woke up in the hospital with nothing to do but wait for updates from Lee and Audrey. After the fact, though, I—I guess it’s almost like finding a part of myself I’d been missing.” She shook her head. “That probably sounds melodramatic. I love my adoptive family. I can’t imagine if someone else had raised me.” She held up a hand as if shaking the thought away. “We’re here.” Her voice changed to a businesslike tone.

“I have brothers. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to meet them as adults.”

She shrugged. “Audrey and I are very different people, but we’ve discovered a few areas of similar taste. Well, you’re about to see for yourself.” She glanced at him. “I know it’s dark already, but I think we should keep the hats on in case someone is watching for us. Audrey lives in faculty housing just ahead.”

“Understood.” He parked and stepped out of the vehicle. Behind them, many of the undergrad houses were decked out in Christmas lights, but as they crossed the campus they passed a hundred-foot-tall building, where strings of sixty-foot rope lights formed the shape of a Christmas tree that reached the rooftop. “Does your sister know we’re coming?”

“I texted her at the airport that I needed to speak to her in person, urgently. She should be waiting for me.”

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.