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I hold out my hand. “It’s so good to see you, Cee.”
Cee’s fire-burned brown eyes look at my outstretched hand. She shakes her head. “I know it was you.”
I drop my hand. My gut turns. I look over at Sandesh, who moves a step closer, as if to say he has my back.
In a flash, Cee darts forward and tucks her arms around my waist. She holds me tight, breathing into my neck. “You were the one. You didn’t give up on me.”
Oh.
A moment of warm surprise, then, with my throat growing tight, I wrap my arms around the teen’s thin body. We stand that way for a long time, holding onto each other.
From behind, Sandesh places his warm, strong hand on my shoulder. And something in my heart, a very small piece, but one I desperately missed and needed, repairs itself. I feel a spark of something that has been missing in my life for a long time: Hope.
EPILOGUE
Momma
Ihave held meetings like this one—a daughter of mine seated before me in my underground office, Leland standing by my side—for four decades, but none has ever felt this jarring.
I have done things I’m not proud of, but always, I believe, I’ve made my decisions based on the greater good. Now, I’m not so sure. The wheels of our family, of our family’s clandestine operations, our global outreach, have grown too complex over the years. I fear that I have lost control.
With my heart both hopeful and full of pain, I ask my sixth adopted daughter, a rare intellect I had the distinct honor to rescue and raise and watch blossom, “Are you sure, Zuri? There is no way the patch could kill two men?”
Her spine as erect as her honor and her courage, my beautiful gem, a scientist and a woman as creative as she is intelligent, repeats the answer that has my heart aching.
“Yes, Momma.” Her lovely Kenyan accent adds a lilt of softness to her every word. “I’m sure. The patch was designed to be effective against only one. In addition, there is no physical way to spill such a thing. The edges of the patch contain an unparalleled adhesion. The poison remains in the center and it is activated through absorption. A unique—”
I wave my hand to stop her from finishing. If I let her go on, she would launch into complex and technical details that have no bearing on this conversation. As much as the scientist in me will later want those details, for now, I need to digest what she’s told me.
Beside me, Leland, who, up until now, has remained silent, asks, “The thefts from your lab, the ones that brought you here today—what was taken exactly?”
Zuri’s eyes dart to me. We are very strict about our experimental initiatives. Even Leland does not have full access to all of our endeavors in that area.
I nod at her to answer his question. He has as much right to this information as anyone.
With a raised brow that shows her surprise, she says, “There were two experimental compounds taken. The first has only recently shown great success—a vial of chemicals that can temporarily cause memory loss. The second was our more tested and available Stasis, which produces a state close to death for anywhere between one to two hours.”
Leland draws in a sharp and pained breath.
I can feel his hurt, the deep pain of Tony’s betrayal, his ruse, and the equal loss of letting down his long-dead sister, Naomi.
“Thank you, daughter,” I say. “I know I don’t have to advise you to speak to no one—”
She rises from her seat as stately as a queen and blinks down at me for several breaths, before saying, “I would never.”
It comes out asnevahand the sound of her anger is tempered by that soft accent. All the children love to hear Zuri speak. She is the one most often requested by the littles to read at story time.
I exhale a ball of distress and grief and try to repair the indignation I see on her face. “I know you would not. You hold more family secrets than anyone in this home, including me.”
She smiles sadly at that because we both know why that is true. She says, “What are you going to do?”
“Ah, but that is one secret I will have to keep.”
She smirks. “Meaning, you have no idea.”
I nod in her direction. Smart can sometimes be annoying.
Reading the tension between Leland and I, and no doubt seeing exactly what is now needed, she says, “You know where my lab is if you need me.”
