Secrets and Shadows (14 page)

My knees shook when he landed one final, long kiss on my lips, scooped up my backpack, and settled it on my shoulder.

“Better get on the bus,” he said with a grin.

I nodded and stumbled away, pouring myself into my regular seat without a care for staying on one side or the other. Pietr wasn’t on the bus home, anyhow.

“Shoe shopping?” My father’s surprise echoed my disbelief.

“It’s a way for Jessica and me to spend some time doing girl stuff,” Wanda assured him. “We won’t buy anything outrageous.”

“Only sensible shoes, Dad.”

“What about Annabel e Lee?”

Nuts.
That’s what I’d forgotten.

Wanda and I exchanged a look. I got the feeling I was about to be thrown under a bus.

“The thing is”—Wanda’s volume dropped as she confided—“Jessica says she wants to talk. I think she needs to talk to a woman. In private.”

“Oh.”

I did not dare imagine what Dad thought we’d discuss. A preemptive blush scorched my face.

“Wel , hel , Wanda. You know I trust you.” He patted her hand, and my stomach squeezed in rebel ion.

I wished I could tel him al the reasons he shouldn’t trust her. Or even one. One might be enough.

He dug out his wal et and pul ed a few twenties free. “Take your time and treat yourselves.”

We got in the car before Dad could second-guess. Driving in silence we were two people absolutely at odds with each other. I tucked the money away; it might be useful later.

Cat greeted us at the Rusakovas’ door. She gave me a quick hug. Wanda looked like she considered hugging me, too, but decided a hug wouldn’t help her case.

Thank God.

“Come in, Jessie. And
you
.” Cat glared at Wanda.

As soon as the door closed behind us, Cat was al business. “Since we agreed to one sidearm, I’d like you to careful y produce it. Then Max wil pat you down.”

“Not him,” Wanda said, slowly drawing her gun from her ankle holster. “He’s handsy.”

Max barked out a laugh. “My reputation precedes me.”

“Pietr,” Cat instructed.

From behind Max he came. Not even sparing me a glance, he took Wanda’s gun. “Ten shots. Three for him, three for me, two for Cat. Two left. Alexi and Jess,” he presumed. “Good thinking. You might get out alive.” He ran his hands over her arms and legs, skimming down her front and back. “She’s clean.” He handed the gun back to Wanda.

He didn’t miss her look of surprise.

“You can’t take away our teeth or claws—we shouldn’t take away your weapon, either.”

“Now do Jessie,” Cat commanded.

His upper lip curling, Pietr glowered at his sister.

“You’re the one who suggested limiting her involvement. Your attitude toward her has changed. So search her.”

Pietr looked to Max for support.

“I’d search her for you, little brother, but I’d enjoy the job.” He grinned, regarding Pietr smugly. “And I’l bet I could make Jessie enjoy it, too,” he rumbled, the chal enge clear.

Pietr stayed perfectly stil a moment, eyes closed, waiting like someone praying for a stay of execution.

“Do it,” I snapped.

Pietr’s face a study in control, he bent to the task. His nostrils flared and I knew he caught the scent of Derek’s most recent kiss on my face, Derek’s body on my hands and covering my clothes. Wel , good for him. I hoped it stung his sensitive nose.

He ran his hands along my arms and slowly down my ribs, his touch so light it tickled. He brushed over my hips and my breath caught treacherously as his fingertips stroked down my legs and traced along my ankles. Then he stood, his gleaming eyes hooded, expression masked. “She’s clean.”

Peering past him to me as if to say,
See?
Cat darted a glance at Pietr’s hands, noting how they trembled.

I looked away, unsure how she could mistake loathing for something like interest. “Let’s get this over with,” I urged.

We took up positions in the sitting room, facing each other in wel -stuffed seats like some bizarre war council.

“I’l start since I’m mediating. I expect your people”—I addressed Wanda—“to let them see their mother as soon as possible.”

I turned my attention to Cat. “I expect your family’s cooperation giving Wanda the samples she needs.

Blood, hair, and tissue, right?”

“For now,” Wanda said with a nod.

“And what later?” Cat snarled. “Marrow? Sperm? Eggs? Gray matter?” She clicked her teeth together.

“I want al the terms clearly defined. Here and now.”

I just wanted to go. To no longer be the one spot in the room Pietr’s eyes never went to. But they’d asked for my help. And I knew too wel that sometimes the greatest help was the thing that hurt the most.

“Wanda. Tel the Rusakovas exactly what you expect and what they get by agreeing.”

She began to open her mouth.

“Without threats.”

Her mouth shut and she rethought her words. “Blood, skin, hair, fur, marrow. A baby tooth, if available.

You get to see your mother—alive and in good health—in a contained and safe facility under unobtrusive observation. You wil be al owed into her environment—”

“Her
environment?
” Cat’s nose wrinkled. “How is she being held?”

Wanda looked at me.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I took a breath. “We’re only talking terms, now, Catherine.”

“These are the
terms
of our mother’s imprisonment, Jessie,” she protested. “If your mother was alive—”

I winced.

“Wouldn’t you want to know her condition?”

“Wanda,” I said, “are you in charge of their mother’s captivity?”

“No,” she whispered, leaning forward, her eyes slightly wider than normal. She read the contempt in Cat’s glowing eyes, and I knew that in a moment Wanda might go for her gun.

“Then, Catherine, you cannot—can
not
—hold the terms of your mother’s captivity against Wanda. Do you understand?” I paused, praying it sank in. “No matter how she’s being held … Wanda’s
not
responsible. Tel me you understand, Cat.”

“I understand.” She bit off the words. It was something.

“Wanda.”

“She is in a twenty-by-twenty-by-ten cubicle in a secure facility. Nearby. She is provided with al the essentials and some of the comforts high-ranking political prisoners are granted.” She looked at me again. “That’s al I’m at liberty to say.”

Cat sighed. “Does she ever get to go outside? Can she see the moon or stars?”

“That’s al I’m at liberty to say,” Wanda repeated, Cat’s frustration shared.

“Can she be released?”
Pietr.
Asking the hard question.

“I do not have sufficient rank to warrant her release at this time.”

“Then why the hel are we al here?” Max snarled, baring his teeth. “She’s committed no crime, and she’s probably never seen a courtroom except on TV. She should be
here
. With her family.”

“I wish it was that easy.” Wanda stared at her fingers. “Technical y your family defected from the USSR

decades ago. You are U.S. citizens because you were born here, but she’s an il egal. If I push too hard, they could deport.”

“They’l be waiting for her in Russia,” Catherine said. Her head tilted, and she faced the room’s open door. “
Da
, Alexi?”

He stepped into the room, his dark hair disheveled, shirt buttoned wrong. I wondered how long he’d stood outside, uninvited but certainly not uninvolved. There were hol ows beneath his eyes where shadows nestled. Being labeled a traitor by his family wasn’t working wel for him. “
Da
. They’l be waiting to take any of us.” He tapped off his cigarette, letting the ash and embers fal into his open hand. He didn’t seem to notice the singeing of his flesh. “Better a jail in America than a hole in Siberia.”

“Okay.” I threw my hands into the air. “Then let’s leave it like this—visitation on Wanda’s terms.

Samples given the day of visitation, except for marrow and fur. That can be after a successful first visit.

Release can be discussed later.”

Alexi nodded. “Wonderful. Except we can’t stay.”

“What?” Wanda and I asked in unison.

“We wil shortly be out of money. The Mafia no longer supports us, and my skil s are—negligible

—anywhere but in a black-market economy.” He grinned like a ghost smiling up from a grave. “If we stay, we’l be on the street in under a month. What can your people do to keep us?”

we’l be on the street in under a month. What can your people do to keep us?”

Wanda flopped back onto the love seat and yanked on her ponytail. “Take five.” Cel phone in hand, she stepped out of the sitting room. The door to the porch opened and shut.

“Jessie,” Alexi muttered, sitting in the spot Wanda vacated. “You’re doing a good job, but why did Cat bring you into this?”

“We needed a mediator,” Cat said.

The strain in Alexi’s voice spil ed across his face. “You could have asked me,” he said.

“You would have sold us out al over again!” Max roared.

Alexi leaped up. “When did I
first
sel you out, brother? Tel me!” he demanded. “I stood beside you on the field of battle. I bled as you bled and when you face down the Devil you don’t even invite me to help?”

“I’m facing down the Devil right
now
,” Max snapped, eyes glowing, nose to nose with Alexi.

“Stop it!” Catherine shouted. “Both of you. Sit!”

Something in her tone brought them both down.

She rested her head in her hands, elbows on her knees. “This is precisely what I hoped to avoid by not inviting you, Alexi. By having Jessie take your place.”

I rose, crossing the room to stand beside Cat. Reaching over I gave her shoulder a squeeze.

“Our family is broken. Why must you boys rip it further apart?” Her head against my hip, she looked up at them, eyes damp and imploring.

Max grumbled and shoved his hands into his pockets. But Alexi stared at Cat as if seeing her for the first time.

“
Eezvehneetyeh
, Ekaterina,” he lowered his gaze. “I am so sorry … sorry for any part I played that hurt this family.”

And then he was gone.

Wanda reappeared in the doorway. “Why do I get the feeling I missed something big?”

“It was nothing,” Max growled. “
Absolutely
nothing.”

“Uh-huh.” She pocketed her cel phone. “Wel . The good news is we can see our way clear to grant you a stipend and, uhmm,
specialized
health care as government employees. The bad news is there’s no way it’l do everything the Mafia money did.”

“We’l take it,” Catherine said. “Jessie, thank you.
Spahseebuh.
I think you two had better go.” She grabbed my hand, yanking me down so we were eye to eye. “Things wil get better between you two,” she promised.

When Wanda showed up announcing a spectacular sale on purses at the mal , I knew something was up.

Dad smiled, gave me cash like money didn’t matter, and wished us luck purse hunting. Annabel e Lee stayed curled on the couch, reading
All the Pretty Horses
as if she hadn’t been overlooked again.

I felt a twinge of sympathy for her. No one wanted to be forgotten, but I had a job to do.

“What’s going on?” I asked, climbing into the car.

“We have a delivery.”

“Ohhh-kay.”

We hadn’t gotten far when Wanda pul ed the car over. “I need to know something, Jessie.”

“What?”

“Whose side are you on in al this?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Theirs.”

Wanda nodded. “That’s what I figured. I’m not going to waste your time trying to explain how we’d like to save the werewolves—”

“They have names.”

She just plowed ahead. “To find a cure for their abbreviated life spans,” she said with a wave of her hand.

“No. Wait. You want to do
what?
”

“We want to fix the werewolves, and not in the trip-to-the-vet way.”

“Huh.”

“It’s come to our attention that having a more normalized population is more beneficial to the ongoing success of both military and government operations.”

“Okay. I don’t believe you.”

“I knew that would be a risk of my being honest with you.”

“How would you benefit from undoing their time line?”

“Imagine. You’re forty—or younger, in their case, as they’re doubly ful -bloods—and you col apse in public. A good Samaritan gets you to a hospital. Doctors find you’ve got the liver and heart of a ninety-year-old. And some parts of you, internal y, are just sort of melting. Is it a new disease? Quick, get the CDC on the phone! But faster stil you’ve got NBC and ABC on the phone. And … disaster. And that’s if your werewolf hasn’t triggered and destroyed the E.R. So. Fix the life span and there’s less chance of them making the evening news as some bizarre focus spot. Less chance of an inquiry into the experiments we did during the Cold War, and before—”

experiments we did during the Cold War, and before—”

“
We
did? Our scientists did stuff like this, too?”

Wanda paused. “No. Not like
this
. We were the good guys.”

I squinted at her summary. “Seriously? It was that black and white? We were the good forces of democracy and they were the diabolical Communist Reds?”

“Ugh. Look. It doesn’t matter who did what. The fact is, we made some bad choices—did some unethical experiments. But that’s history. We just don’t want it being rehashed. So.”

“So?”

“We want to help them, but it takes time,” Wanda said.

“Yeah. Their most precious commodity.”

“Exactly. So while we’re scrambling for a cure—based on the samples you got them to agree to give

—we need to keep a better watch on them so they don’t do something stupid.”

“Have you
met
Max?”

“Precisely.”

“Why not tel them the truth? Give them some hope?”