Page 6 of The Phoenix (Spy Girl 6)
“When the world goes kaboom?” Ares says, his mind seeming to calculate all the possibilities.
“Which doesn’t make sense,” Ari adds while Blake and our grandfather nod in agreement. “Poisoning grain and explosions don’t seem to go together.”
“I didn’t understand that either. He also said that my passive father would have fully disapproved and that the rest of them would never forgive him for the mess. He told me it was really too bad I’d gotten caught up in it. That I was destined to marry Lorenzo and become the queen of Arcadia while my brother would have taken his rightful place at their table. Right before he pulled the trigger, he said he had no choice and muttered, ‘To Arcadia.’”
“That’s what they say at the end of every meeting as they raise a glass filled with the rarest of scotches and toast.”
“Did that start after you made your presentation? Like in the video game?”
“What video game?” Ari asks.
“I can fill you in later,” our grandfather tells him.
“On that note,” I say, getting up from the table, rinsing my dish, and putting it in the dishwasher, “this has been fun, but I need some sleep. I don’t think we should all be here together for too long anyway.”
“I’ll come with you,” Ari agrees and then turns to Ares. “So, what’s our next mission?”
Ares raises an eyebrow at me, so I reply to my brother, “We figure out who is in The Echelon. The group in Montrovia is working to track some of our suspects, seeing if we can tie their movements together. I have an interview on national TV with Daniel to discuss our engagement and upcoming wedding, and then I have to fly to Montrovia to tour the Olympic facilities. Including your Sphere, Ares.”
“And we’ll keep working on things from our end to see if we can come up with anything solid regarding the poisoned grain.”
“Start by looking hard at Harrison McClellan. He was on my mother’s list and he owns a biotech company. You’d think, if anyone could poison our world’s food supply, it would be him.”
Ari doesn’t say anything during our trip home, but once we get to the house and make our way up to the bedrooms, he leans against the wall near my door. “What’s your gut say? Do you think they were lying to us?”
“No, I don’t.”
“What I don’t understand is why he didn’t tell us as soon as he found out we were his kids.”
“Honestly, I think he wanted to protect us—mostly, protect me—from knowing that my mother was a liar.”
“How do you know he’s not spinning a tale? Something to play on our emotions?”
“The letter, for one. The code on his letter couldn’t have been made by anyone but her.”
“Unless he planted it in the box.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think so. I know that I said I wanted revenge, but I never really understood why I had been sent to Blackwood. Why they’d practically brainwashed me into believing that I shouldn’t have emotional attachments. Why teach me to survive on my own, only to bring my twin brother back into my life on my first mission? It’s easy to answer now. Because Ares didn’t know. And that’s why I believe him.”
Ari nods. “Makes sense. Either way, we’re not blindly following orders anymore. I’m going rogue with you. Night, sis.”
I go into my room and am considering taking a long, hot bath to wind down when he pops his head in my door.
“It’s up to us to save the world, huh?”
“Yeah, Ari, I think it is.”
“At least we finally know who’s behind Black X and that their intentions are good.”
MISSION:DAY TWO
I wake up at a little past noon to the sound of my phone ringing.
“Heard you were back in DC,” Daniel says.
“Are you keeping track of me?”
“I probably should be. You do seem to be a magnet for trouble,” he teases.
“And part of that trouble includes being engaged to you.”
He lets out a laugh. “Oh, sweetheart, from that standpoint, I haven’t even started the trouble yet.”
“Have you talked to her?”
“No. I can’t. She needs to think it’s real.”
“Lorenzo said she was very upset.”
“Not upset enough to call me,” he counters.
“I think there is a fine line between making someone jealous and hurting them so much that they will never love you again.”
“We haven’t even begun to push that line.”
“I know, but it sounds like you want to.”
“And we will start with that today. We’re going to wander around Georgetown, hand in hand. Eat at outdoor restaurants. I’m sure someone will take a photo of us.”
“That means your publicist knows your plans.”
“Maybe,” he says coyly.
“I have some stuff that I have to do this afternoon, but I can meet you tonight.”
“Meet me? Oh, Huntley, you must be jet-lagged. I’m picking you up at your house. I might have just gotten a new car.”
“You could have just driven one of the Ferraris.”
“Yeah, well, none of them are as patriotic as mine. See you at seven.”
I consider going back to sleep but decide against it. I have something I need to do today. But first, I pick up the phone and call the number that connects me with Black X. This time, Ares himself answers.
“Did you sleep well?” I ask.
“Yes. Did you?”
“We have a lot more to discuss.”
“I agree. We’ve left the loft though. Since you went there, it burned it as a safe house for us. We can’t take unnecessary risks right now.”
“Plus, you listed it in your trust. One that Royston Bessemer read.”
“Speaker of the House Bessemer?”
“Yeah, he looked over it for me in London so that I would understand the voting rights for the company. Was it always written that way? Or did you change it for the event?”
“It was always written that way. I don’t know Ari very well.”
“You don’t know me very well either.”
“I know you quite well; you just didn’t know me. I was very involved in your education. I read your essay on Bernini. I watched live videos of your trainings. I knew that you wouldn’t be intimidated by a bunch of powerful old men. Your brother, on the other hand, was brought up in a military family. He’s more rigid and more apt to take orders.”
“I must be a bad influence on him then,” I say with a laugh, “because he said we’re not blindly following orders anymore.”
“That is excellent news. I have a secret entrance to my lab. Could you meet me there shortly?”
“I have something I need to do first, and then I can.”
“May I ask what’s more important?”
“You can ask. That doesn’t mean I’ll tell you.”
“We can track your phone.”
“I know. But you can’t track me. It’s not a secret though. In the trust, you listed the house where my mom and I lived. Where she was killed. When I first saw it listed, I wondered why in the world you had bought it. That I would never in a million years want to go back. But, for some reason, I need to. Does it look the same, or did the CIA clear it all out?”
“Your mother rented the home from me through a property leasing company. She wanted you to have the stability of being able to stay there should something happen to her.”
“I think I understand why she didn’t tell you.”
“You do? Because, even after reading both of her letters, I don’t. I loved her, but I really hate what she did to us.”
“She mourned the loss of Ari. In her head, I think she convinced herself that he’d died to help relieve the guilt. If she had told you about me, she would have had to tell you that I was a twin. You would have seen the birth certificates. It would have made it all real. She also must have loved her job to consider putting me in danger. I know my upbringing certainly wasn’t traditional, but she w
as a good mother who managed to both shower me with love and teach me to be extremely independent.”
“I do go out in my Sam disguise. Would you allow me to take you, or would you prefer to be alone?”
I think about it. My first instinct is to say alone, but maybe I don’t always have to choose that option anymore.
“Have you been, you know, since then?” I ask.
“I have not. I couldn’t even go to her grave.”
