Page 72 of Sheltering You

He grabbed his duffel and closed the door on his way out.

After checking on Rabie, who was working a puzzle on the floor in the other room, Derrick returned to the kitchen and called his brother back.

“She okay?”

“You said this was about her,” Derrick said in lieu of hello. “Not about them, the twins, but about her. Explain.”

“Talk to Jasmine.”

“Does it have to do with the baby?”

“What do you think? The kid has a father.”

“Who is it? Did he…? I don’t understand how it happened. What about Jasmine’s father and her uncle. How could they let it happen?”

“You need to talk to Jasmine,” Michael said. “I’ve got some information about Basma’s cousin. Do you want it or not?”

What Derrick wanted was to grill his brother about Jasmine and the baby and the man who’d fathered it. “Fine. What?”

“Basma said her mother has a cousin in the US. She actually has two who relocated here, but one was about twenty years older and moved away when Basma’s mother was a little girl. We assume it’s the other cousin Basma reached out to.”

“How did you already figure all this out?”

“I’ve got a couple of connections.” Michael’s voice was deadpan, and maybe it had been a stupid question. He was in the CIA, after all. “We got a whole team on this. Everybody wants to catch Dariush Ghazi.”

“What’s so special about him?”

“Classified. We’re still working on finding out where the cousin lives. She changed her name.”

“She’s in hiding too?”

“Probably not. I’m guessing she just got married. Her last known address was in the Chicago area. You’re going to need to leave Gavin’s house today.”

“Why? We’re safe here. Can’t we stay until⁠—?”

“Gavin lands in DC tomorrow.”

“Is he coming here? He usually stays in the city.”

“He does? How do you know that?”

“I’ve flown him in and out of DC a bunch of times. How do you think I have the code to this place? He almost never uses it.”

“Oh. Well, I have no idea what his plans are, but⁠—”

“I’ll call him and⁠—”

“No.” Michael’s voice carried a don’t-fight-me-on-this ring to it. “I’d rather Gavin not know you’re there. You can tell him later, but not now. All right?”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know.” There was a sigh. “It’s not that I don’t trust him. I just don’t know.”

“He’s our uncle.”

“The contractor he works for⁠—”

“Worked for,” Derrick said. “He’s retired.”