Page 41 of The Hijack

There was something else that she was saying that I couldn’t quite decode. I didn’t think that her granting me permission to make my own choices had anything to do with Theo. It was obvious that our relationship was balanced. What other relationship then could she be talking about that had to do with gender politics and my place at the bottom of the heap?

I turned the puzzle around in my head for a long time, until the silence grew uncomfortable. I glanced at the walls and spotted a picture of a younger Gretchen with her arm around a very attractive man.

“Is that your husband?” I asked, pointing.

“Yes. His name was Mark. He taught 11th grade English at a high school in Oklahoma.”

“And he had no idea that you were a spy?” I questioned. The possibility seemed remote as far as I was concerned. To live with someone who was off on international trips with no explanation seemed ludicrous.

“He had no idea,” Gretchen confirmed. “Although at times, I thought he might have suspected. It’s possible to have a life outside of the job. Always remember that.”

“When Theo and I retire, I’m not ever going back,” I said.

“It will happen,” Gretchen promised. “And when it does, I hope you’ll remember what you just said.”

I pondered that morsel of wisdom as well. Though I trusted Theo’s grandmother, it seemed like there was something she was keeping from me. Of course, she had a lot of practice being in a loving, yet secretive relationship. I only hoped that her hidden agenda wasn’t quite as big as the one she’d managed to hide from her husband.

We went back into the storage side of the basement, and I watched as Gretchen closed the secret room. When she replaced the box over the doorknob, there was no trace of the command center. Only a trained eye would realize that there was space unaccounted for. I considered myself lucky to have been read into the situation and decided not to violate her trust by mentioning it to Theo. If Gretchen wanted to tell her grandson, she would.

Walking back upstairs, we found Theo on the phone with someone, his composure chaotic. I nearly interrupted to ask him what was wrong, but he held up an impatient finger. Glancing over at Gretchen, I found the older woman looking nearly as upset as her grandson was.

Chapter 20

Clark

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“CALM DOWN!” THEO SHOUTED into the phone. “No, but I think I can. All right, send them.”

On the other end of the line, I thought I could hear a familiar voice ranting. As the volume increased, I realized I was listening to Lukas, and that he was concerned about a bombing. Since we were out of the loop and didn’t have anyone to update us, I had no idea who had been targeted or where. It looked like Theo was getting some of that information delivered to him on his phone.

He hung up, showing me his screen. There was a quick text from Lukas containing cryptic information. Also attached was an all press bulletin describing a bombing in Eastern Europe. That must have been what Lukas was so upset about.

“He says that a Dark Sparrow cell was taken out,” Theo explained.

“Follow me,” Gretchen responded, turning right back around and heading downstairs.

Theo frowned, glancing at me for information. I simply nodded, knowing where his nana was leading us. We walked back to the communications center, after waiting for Gretchen to move the box aside and pull the wall open.

Theo hid a smile behind his hand, appreciating all the trouble his nana took to keep her sources confidential. He didn’t have anything to say beyond relaying the information Lukas gave him.

Gretchen went straight for a piece of equipment I didn’t recognize. After typing into the keyboard, it produced a culled list of communications on the topic. Looking over her shoulder, I saw that the communications were tagged with various countries and groups, clearly some kind of AI software that was scanning multiple channels at once.

“Here,” Gretchen said, pointing to one of the transcripts on screen.

I leaned close to read the CIA report about what had transpired. Unknown agents were involved in the bombing. No one had taken responsibility. The victims appeared to belong to a terrorist group known as Dark Sparrow. There were no survivors.

I stood up, glancing at Theo.

“Lukas is worried that he and Jasmine are next,” Theo said.

“Does this have anything to do with Regg?” I asked, trying to fit the two halves of our problem together to form a whole.

“I don’t know,” Theo replied.

“What about New Dawn?” I offered, seizing on another possible connection to the tragedy in Poland.

“What’s that?” Gretchen asked, turning around to face me.