She didn't believe her eyes when she saw that her hunch paid off. She didn't know whether to be angry at being deceived, or happy that he wasn't dead after all.
It had been two years since Julia found out this information, and she still didn't know how she felt about it. Part of her was, frankly, pissed off because he told her something different than what he had planned for his new life.
Still another part was happy that he was still alive. Julia did the math and figured that Jack would be seventy-one years old now. Then she wondered if he'd remember her.
Julia was in her home office while the children were doing homework down stairs. Tracking people down was part of her job she'd taken through the government, and two years before, on a hunch, she plugged in a familiar name from her past.
What she got back astounded her! She had found Jack's obituary from when he was "killed" in the car accident when she was pregnant with Miri; but she also found information about a man named John Christofferson who statistically was the same as Jack: six-one, former Army captain, born December 30th...but a different year. This man's birth year was six years after Jack Coltrane's.
And John Christofferson lived in Wyoming, where as Jack's last known residence was on the Great Lakes Prison grounds.
Two years later, Julia thought it might be worth checking out. She could rule out this Christofferson guy as being Jack's new identity.
But she so wanted to believe it was him.
Julia had been thinking about Jack a lot in the three years since Ryan died. If he were still alive somewhere. When she found herself daydreaming, Julia made herself stop. She felt it was being disloyal to Ryan's memory; as if she hadn't been disloyal enough by her relationship with Jack and the birth of their daughter. Ryan loved Miri as much, if not more, than his own children. Because he wanted her to know that it didn't matter who fathered her, he was her dad.
"Mom! Zach's teasing the cat again!" yelled Jaime from downstairs.
"Tattle tale!" Zach yelled at his sister.
Julia sighed. Time to go be Mom and straighten this mess out.
Nik really and truly hated his job. He hated to be the "go-to" guy on every freakin' thing that went wrong at his firm.
The computer stops in the middle of a presentation... Call Nik.
The phones aren't working... Call Nik.
Whatever it was, it was "Call Nik."
When do I get to do the job I spent four years in college and ten years in the military doing, Nik thought. I'm beginning to wish I'd never left that safe Army cocoon.
Nik San Marco was a logistics expert, but to the people he worked with he was Mr. Fix-it.
He had thought about leaving and starting his own business doing what the Army trained him to do, but something always came up whenever he decided he'd reached the end of his rope.
This time, it was the surgery that put a steel rod in Peter's back after he was hit by a car earlier in the year. Not much fun for a fifteen year old, and terrifying for his parents. The driver who hit Peter on his bike was never caught. That's the only time since Nik left the Army that he felt like employing his weapons skills and hunting the bastard down.
But, he was almost thirty-seven years old, and felt he was too old to be playing a ghost. He felt bad enough that Sandrina was delaying her entrance into college because of this, because she wanted to help take care of her brother.
"Nik, I hate to ask you this," the secretary from the front desk said as she stood in the doorway of Nik's office; "but..."
"What did you guys break this time?" asked Nik.
"The wiring in the mainframe is messed up," she said.
"I'll go take a look, but Michelle, there are some things that even I can't fix without help," Nik said. "If it's computer related, I can probably fix it, but the mainframe...that needs an expert, and that's expertise I just don't have."
"I'll call the company and see if they can't get someone out here this afternoon," Michelle said.
"Thanks!" Nik called over his shoulder as he went to the room where the mainframe was located.
Nik thought that working from home, like what Jeremiah and Julia did, didn't sound half bad.
The group of miliary officers met in a secret room in the White House, discussing their latest dilemma; how to eliminate those who had served with the New Army who were still stirring up trouble more than fifteen years after the Occupation ended.
"Prisons won't hold these clowns, because they just escape; Police are useless because these New Army holdouts are better armed than your average beat cop; We must do something before they get any crazy ideas about another Occupation!" said the General in Charge of all Military Operations.
"We definitely need some firepower against the holdouts," a Navy Commander said; "but who in our ranks has that kind of firepower?"
"No one in our ranks do," the General said. "The only people who might have a chance at stopping them are civilians, and one of them is former military. But all have the skills, the weapons, the knowledge of how the New Army did things."
"And did them badly, I might add," an Air Force Captain said.
"You're not thinking of recalling Nikolai San Marco to active duty, are you, General?" asked the Commander.
"I am," the General said; "but when he gave up his commission, he made it clear that he would not entertain a return to active duty."
"If we perhaps had someone at CIA who could contact him, explain our dilemma, do you think he'd consider it?" asked the Commander.
"I've been thinking of going that route," the General said; "but fighting the New Army is something he did as a teen and young adult. Once the Occupation was over, he finished college, joined the Army for a decade, raised a family. How he'd react is anyone's guess. I'm just afraid he'd turn us down."
"What if," the Commander said, "we sweeten the deal and contact Julia Summers and Jeremiah Donovan?"
"Not unless we have no choice," the General said; "Donovan is a highly respected journalist and wouldn't want to take time away from that to go chasing troublemakers around; Summers lost her husband three years ago and is working for the Government in another capacity. Both of them have families to think of. And Summers is a single parent now."
"Let's bounce this off CIA and see if they think it's a good idea," the Air Force Captain said; "No use in asking three former Resistance assassins to strap on their guns again if the CIA doesn't think it's a viable plan."
Everyone in the room agreed and shortly thereafter, the meeting adjourned.
"Daddy, can I go to Rachel's to play?" Aaliyah asked her father.
Jeremiah looked at his youngest child, now eight years old, and she looked back up at him with her mother's eyes. "Please, Daddy?"
"You know we'll have to ask Aunt Julia if it's okay," Jeremiah said. "If she says it's okay, then I'll take you over there."
Jeremiah pushed a button on his computer and dialed Julia's number.
"Julia Summers."
"Jules, it's Jere," said Jeremiah; "Aaliyah asked me if she could come over and play with Rachel. Would it be okay?"
"Sure, Jere," Julia said. "You know that your whole family is welcome here anytime; We're not doing much of anything, and Kimber is on her way over from Northwestern."
"I can't believe your sisters are grown!" Jeremiah exclaimed. "I still remember when they called me 'Jer'miah'! She and Niki still not talking?"
Jeremiah could hear Julia sigh; "No, they're not, and I think they're being really stupid about the whole thing. I've told Kimber as much," Julia said. "They used to be closer than two peas in a pod. Then they get into this argument about why Kimber wanted to go to school here and not in Austin with Niki. It's going on three years now!"
"What do your mom and David say about it?" asked Jeremiah.
"That they're adults now and should work it out for themselves," Julia said. "And I agree. Kimber won't go to Austin to see Niki, and Niki won't come up here to see Kimber. One of these days, one of them is going to break. If they don't, I'll break them myself."
Jeremiah knew that was a sore spot with Julia, and wished he hadn't brought it up. Instead, he said,
"I'll go round Aaliyah up and bring her over, since she seems to have disappeared from my office."
"We look forward to seeing her bright smiling face, Jere," Julia said. "I'll go tell Rachel she's coming, because I'm sure they've talked about it."
"Of that, I have no doubt, Julia," Jeremiah said. "Darn girls and their computers!" he said, laughing.
He disconnected the call and went to find his daughter. He found her in the living room, putting on her shoes.
"Aunt Julia said it's okay to come over," Jeremiah said; "You ready to go, Aaliyah?"
Aaliyah popped up off the couch and said, "Yes, sir!"
"Adriana, I'm taking Aaliyah to your Aunt Julia's," Jeremiah called out to his oldest daughter.
"Okay, Dad," she called back. "Arielle, Adam and I are doing stuff in the great room. Have fun Aaliyah!"
"I will!" Aaliyah said, and skipped out to the car for the ten minute ride to Aunt Julia's. Jeremiah jogged to keep up with his energetic daughter. Soon they were off to Julia's.
II
Jasmine came home from her classes at Loyola Medical School and grabbed the mail on the way in. She went through it and saw a letter addressed to Jeremiah from the CIA.
"I wonder what the CIA wants with Jere," she said aloud, and stuck under the stack as she went through the rest of the mail. Bills, more bills, a birthday card for Arielle from Uncle Joe and Aunt Tracy, letter for Jeremiah from the CIA...
She went into the house and sorted the mail into the baskets for each family member. Jeremiah usually got most of the mail.
"Mail!" Jasmine called. Hearing nothing she asked, "Anyone here?"
Just then, Adriana came upstairs from the great room and greeted her mother.
"Where is everyone?" Jasmine asked.
"Dad took Aaliyah to Aunt Julia's to play with Rachel, and the rest of us are downstairs doing stuff," Adriana said.
"Arielle got a card from Maine," said Jasmine; "You got something from the University of Oklahoma. The rest is for Dad."
"It must be the letter they said they'd send about my application," Adriana said, grabbing the envelope from her basket. She opened it, read it, a smile slowly spreading across her face.
"I got in, Mom!" Adriana said, dancing around. "I'm a freakin' Sooner, Mom!"
"Congratulations, honey!" Jasmine said. "Off to study biology? Or did you change your mind again?"
"It's still biology," Adriana said. "I can't wait to tell Dad!" She then left to head back downstairs to tell her siblings about her acceptance letter.
Later, Jeremiah came home, and Adriana excitedly told him about being accepted at Oklahoma. "Good job!" Jeremiah said, hugging her. "Set the world on fire!"
"Dad..." Adriana said; "It's early acceptance. I don't actually start for another year. I wanted to get another year in at the Academy before I fly off to Sooner-land."
"That's a good idea," Jeremiah said; "Not that you need it, but it's still a good idea."
"Thanks, Dad," Adriana said. "When's Aaliyah going to be home?"
"After dinner," Jeremiah said; "Julia always feeds her while she's there playing with Rachel. And Kimber is spending a week or so with them, and she's going to bring Aaliyah home."
Jasmine had started preparing stuff for dinner that evening, because she had to go into the hospital and do evening rounds with the other third year med students.
"How is Kimber doing, Jere?" she asked.
"She's doing great," said Jeremiah. "She just got an internship with the Times Tribune, and she's really excited about it."
"What about Niki? How is she doing down in Austin?"
"According to Julia, Niki is excelling in school, too," Jeremiah said. "She and Kimber are still not on speaking terms because of some stupid argument they had three years ago."
"They were so close," Jasmine said; "It's a shame that petty differences have come between them."
"It's stupid," Jeremiah said. "But they have to work it out on their own. They are adults now, after all."
"It will all work out," Jasmine said; "One of them will break down and admit she was wrong, or that her sister was right. My sisters and I never fought like that."
"I hope our girls never fight like that," Jeremiah said. "But none of them are twins, either. Maybe it's a twin thing."
"You could be right about that," Jasmine said; She then got the letter Jeremiah received from the CIA and handed it to him.
"What does the CIA want with me?" asked Jeremiah as he opened the letter. He read it, and couldn't believe what it said.
"You've got to be kidding me!" he said as he folded the letter back up and stuffed it back in the envelope.
"What is it?" asked Jasmine.
"I've been asked to go to Washington next week and speak with the director of the CIA on a matter of 'national security'," Jeremiah said.
"Maybe they contacted you because you're a reporter," Jasmine said.
Jeremiah said nothing. If this is what I think it's about, I'm going to tell them no. I was done with that when I was twenty-two, and I'm not going back, he thought.
"Hey Jules," Kimber said as she walked in the door to Julia's house; "What's going on?"
"Same old stuff, Kimber," Julia said. "Me, the kids and the cat; work; school; fun stuff like that. You?"
"I got an intership with the Times-Tribune," Kimber said; "or did I already tell you that?"
"You have, but it's always nice to hear again," Julia said. "It means that you're that much closer to being a working journalist."
"I start in July, work for the summer," Kimber said; "then if they like me, they'll extend my internship for the entire school year!"
"Awesome!" Julia said. "You tell Mom and Dad yet?"
"Yeah," said Kimber; "they're thrilled! I'm sure Mom's told half of Texas, and the other half will soon know."
"You tell Niki?"
"No," Kimber said; "Mom can do that."
"Kimber," Julia sighed; "this is ridiculous. Why don't you be the adult you are and just call her?"
"So I can listen to her brag about her life?" asked Kimber sarcastically. "I'm not interested."
"How do you know she'll do that, Kimber," Julia said. "She'd be happy for you. Yeah, I know you felt like you were in her shadow, blah-blah-blah, but you're nineteen years old, and you're both acting like five year olds. You didn't act like this when you really were five, so why are you acting like it now?"
"Julia, please, don't bust my ass over this again," Kimber said; "Niki just assumed that I'd follow placidly behind her to UT Austin and not put up a fuss. Well, I put up a fuss and she didn't like it. Too fucking bad."
"Kimberlin, what have I told you about the language you use in my house?"
"Sorry, Julia," Kimber apologized; "But aren't I allowed to have a life apart from my perfect, sainted twin sister?"
Julia rolled her eyes. What was Kimber's problem? she asked herself. Aloud she said, "She's a little fish in a big pond at UT and you know that. No one there cares that she was Homecoming queen or the head cheerleader. And certainly no one there cares who her father is. She's just another student just like everyone else."
"Right, Julia," Kimber said, Julia hearing David's sarcasm in her voice; "and the world will stop turning on its axis tomorrow if that's true."
Rachel and Aaliyah came into the kitchen at that point looking for snacks.
"Can we have some carrot sticks, Mom?" Rachel asked.
"I'm getting ready to fix dinner here shortly," Julia said; "So the answer is no. You two get washed up to set the table, okay?"
"Yes, Mom," said Rachel.
"Okay, Aunt Jules," said Aaliyah. Then both girls ran out of the kitchen and to the bathroom upstairs to wash their hands.
Kimber just looked as they ran off. "Wonder where you got that from, Jules?"
"Mom, of course," Julia said. She looked at her chore chart and started calling out to her children to come get things ready for dinner.
"Zach, you have trash duty this week, so go wash your hands and after dinner you can take out the trash; Jaime, once Rachel and Aaliyah get the table set, pour milk for everyone except Aaliyah," Julia said; to Aaliyah she asked,
"I have apple juice or tomato juice. Which would you like?"
"Tomato, please," said Aaliyah.
"Jaime, pour tomato juice for Aaliyah, okay?"
"Okay, Mom," Jaime replied.
Miri wandered into the kitchen with her cell phone at her ear, deep in conversation with a friend. Julia said,
"Miri, it's thirty minutes before dinner. Phone restriction goes into effect now."
Miri ended her call and her mother had her make the salad for dinner.
Kimber saw that Julia had chores and other things that her kids had to do around the house down to a fine art. Everyone had a job, and rarely did the Summers kids complain. I know she didn't get that from Mom and Dad, she thought.
Kimber thought about all the stuff she and Julia talked about. Maybe she was being "ridiculous" about the standoff with Niki. She literally hadn't spoken to her sister in three years, and Kimber missed her. She only hoped Niki missed her as much, but somehow, Kimber doubted it.
And she couldn't have been more wrong. Kimber didn't know that Niki's life was going to take a drastic turn, and that Kimber would be the only one who could get Niki on the right path again.
III
Niki was laying in a hospital bed, curled up in the fetal position. The cramps were getting worse, and Niki feared that she was going to lose her baby.
She had doubled over in pain and her boyfriend, Drake, called 911 and got her to the hospital. After examining her, the doctor did not have good news for the young couple.
"It appears that you're going to miscarry, Niki," the doctor said. "We're going to keep you here overnight and make sure you're comfortable. Is there anyone you want us to call?"
"No," Niki said, trying not to cry out at the intense pain she was feeling. "I'll call my parents when this is all over." Then she cried out in pain.
"I'm here, Niki," Drake said. "It isn't your fault if you lose the baby, those things happen. We'll try again."
All Niki could do is cry. She wanted this baby so much. Drake was a lot like her father; kind and gentle to those he cared about, but a bit intimidating to those who didn't know him. Her father liked him, and her mother thought he was sweet. Not at all like the jerk she dated in high school.
Niki was just about four months pregnant when she started cramping up while visiting San Antonio. She and Drake were visiting friends when she complained about abdominal pain, then collapsed on the floor.
She was thrilled to learn she was expecting, and the pregnancy was going smoothly. That she could lose the baby now scared her and concerned her. She hadn't told her parents about it yet. She had just started to show, and she was amazed that there was a new life growing inside her.
Now, this.
"Drake, I'm so sorry, baby," she said, tears streaming down her face.
Drake took Niki's hand; "It's going to be okay, Niki. I love you no matter what."
Two hours later, it was over. Niki had to be sedated, she was so upset. Drake never left her side.
The following morning, after the doctor came in to examine her to see if the miscarriage was complete, she was given pain killers and send home. She slept all the way back to Austin to the little house she shared with Drake. Niki had an appointment with her own doctor two days after her return.
After her own doctor had read the report of the doctor who attended Niki while she had her miscarriage, then examined her, she told Niki and Drake,
"I'm concerned about the unusually high cell count. That could be indicative of an infection, which could have ended the pregnancy. I want to run a few more tests, just to rule out other causes."
"Like what?" asked Niki.
"Appendicitis, ulcers, blood infections, things of that nature," the doctor said; "The pregnancy seemed to be progressing normally until the miscarriage occured. Pregnancies can end themselves, but there are other causes too. I just want to rule those out."
Niki submitted to a complete blood workup, and was told that she'd get the results in about two weeks.
It would be those results that would turn Niki Draiman's world upside down.
"Hey, Dad? Wanna play some chess?" Peter asked as Nik came in from working in the yard. The boy was sitting up on the couch in his back brace, still recovering from the surgery three month before.
"Real chess or online chess?" Nik asked.
"Real chess," Peter said. "Dad, I'm bored. Sandrina doesn't play as well as I do."
"She beat you last time you played though, so she must play pretty well," said Nik.
"Yeah," Peter said. "I hate that she's not going to school because of me."
"You're her brother, Pete," Nik said; "She'd do it for Matt and Daniel, too."
"I wish she'd just stop being like Mom and just go to college," Peter said.
"You tell her that?"
"No," Peter said. "Should I?"
Nik scratched his head. He still had a headful of white blonde hair. He thought it probably should have gone grey ages ago, especially with all the stuff that's happened to his family this year.
"I think you should," said Nik. "She hasn't withdrawn from Georgetown yet, so you might still have a chance to convince her to get her ass to Aunt Natasha's and go to school."
"Think I can do it, Dad?" asked Peter.
"I know you can, Pete," Nik said. "Maybe you should be playing chess with her instead of with me. I'll go find her and suggest that she play a game or two or three."
"Thanks, Dad," said Peter. "You're awesome!"
"I try, Pete," Nik said. "I try."
Nik went to his office at the back of the house, where KateLynn put all the mail that was addressed to him. The first thing he saw was the letter from the CIA, and he almost knew what it was going to say before he even opened it.
"Not just no, but hell no!" he said aloud. Then he tore open the envelope.
Reading the letter, Nik was still planning to say no. "A matter of 'National Security'? Isn't that what Homeland Security supposed to do," he said to himself. "They certainly don't need me."
"Don't need you for what, Nik?" KateLynn asked behind him.
Nik turned around to face her, saying, "The CIA wants to have a meeting with me in Washington next week."
"They're not going to ask you to come back to the Army, are they?" she asked.
"If this letter had come from Defense, then I'd say yes," Nik said. "But since it came from CIA, it must be something else. What that something else is, I have no freakin' clue."
"Just go and find out what it is, then we can discuss it if you decide to act on it," KateLynn said. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
"I know, Katie," Nik said. "But I made it perfectly clear that once I left the Army, I was done. Moving again does not excite me in the least."
"Nor me," KateLynn said. "Especially not now with Pete in a back brace."
"Exactly," Nik said. "So, whatever it is, I'll insist that I'll need time to think about whatever it is they're proposing."
KateLynn sighed. Can't we have a moment's peace? she asked herself.
Kimber brought Aaliyah home after dinner, just as Julia told Jeremiah she would. Jeremiah invited her to stay for a glass of iced tea, and Kimber accepted. As soon as they sat down at the breakfast bar with their drinks, Kimber had a feeling where the conversation was going to go, and she really didn't want to go there with Jeremiah. Going there with Julia was enough for one day.
Jeremiah got straight to the point. Uh oh, thought Kimber.
"About this silly feud you're having with your sister..."
"Julia told you," Kimber said.
"She told both me and Nik right after it happened," Jeremiah said. "Don't you think you both ought to grow up and make amends? I know that you want to be your own person and not the younger half of a set of twins, especially with your last name, but to not speak to each other over something so stupid as where you went to school..."
"Jere, I'm tired of being in Niki's shadow, like she has to protect me from everything," Kimber said. "I never asked her to protect me from anything or anyone. I just wanted to do my thing. For that I got called a nerd, a word geek, a wannabe Niki."
"Sounds like a little jealousy going on there, Kimber," Jeremiah said.
"Jealous of Niki?" Kimber asked; "You must be joking, Jeremiah. I just wanted people to see what I could do instead of comparing me to Niki. The only people who gave me a chance are my parents. Everyone else thought I just wanted as much attention as Niki. I didn't want attention because of her, I wanted attention because of me."
"I've seen some of the stuff you wrote for your school paper and for the American-Statesman, Kimber," Jeremiah said. "You're a good journalist, and if people couldn't see that, just wait til you're holding that Pulitzer. You'll have all kinds of people saying, 'I knew Kimber Draiman when...'"
"Kimberlin Terranova...that's the name I write under at Northwestern, and I'll write with that name at the Times-Tribune, too," she said. "The last thing I want is for people to think I got where I am because of who my father is."
"Good thinking," Jeremiah said. "My byline is Jere Donovan, so I didn't have to change much. Some readers thought I was female until I put my picture with all my stories. But, enough shop talk, Kimber. Back to your stupid fight with your sister..."
"Do we have to, Jere?" Kimber said, whining playfully. "I get the point. I should just swallow my stupid ass pride and call Niki, shouldn't I?"
"Both of you are stubborn like your father," Jeremiah said. "So Niki is probably feeling the same way."
"Except I'm sure it's Mom and Dad crabbing at her about calling me, and not all of you guys," Kimber said. "I know because I get emails from Dad lecturing me on 'turning the other cheek' or something profound from the Talmud or something."
"Getting more religious in his old age, isn't he?" Jeremiah said, laughing.
"I think he's more scared of not being able to be buried in Israel when he dies than whether he follows the tenets of his faith," Kimber said; "All of a sudden, being buried in Israel with his ancestors is important to him. Before he didn't care."
"He's got plenty of time," Jeremiah said. "His parents are like, what, eighty-something?"
"Around there, yeah," Kimber said.
Soon, Kimber took her leave and went back to Julia's; all the way home, she thought about what both Julia and Jeremiah had told her about making amends with her sister.
Why should I have to make the first move? she asked herself. Bet Niki isn't even thinking about me right now.
IV
Back at the doctor's office after getting the call that her blood workup results were in, Niki was a nervous wreck. If they were normal, she thought, they wouldn't have asked me to come in. Unfortunately, because Drake was working as a teaching assistant for a summer class at UT, he wasn't able to join her. "Call me if you need me, Niki. Promise," he had said.
"I promise," Niki had replied.
She tried to take her mind off of what terrible thing they were going to tell her by thinking about what her sister was doing.
Dad and Mom are right, she thought, we are being stupid and childish over this whole thing. I should call her and tell her I was wrong to assume that she'd follow me to UT. She's my twin, but she is entitled to live her own life and not stick by my side because I'm insecure.
That's exactly what it was, she realized. It was Niki who was unsure of where her life was going. Kimber always knew what she wanted to do. Niki had changed majors three times, finally settling on photography, which she found that she loved. Her indecision also set her graduation date back two years.
I'm not so special and perfect after all, Niki thought sadly; and that may have cost me my sister. I'm nobody here. Only Drake sees me for the imperfect creature I am, and still loves me anyway. I can't even get pregnancy right.
As she sat in the doctor's office, she had no idea that she was about to be blindsided with news so shocking that it would make her ill.
And later, it would be Kimber who would be the only one who could save her.
Julia, Jeremiah and Nik got together at Nik and KateLynn's to discuss the letters they had received from the CIA. All three were thinking the same thing: that they would be asked to work for the Agency as snipers.
Julia had kept up her training and exercise regimine even after the Occupation was over, and taught all of her children (except for Rachel because she was too young) to use firearms safely. She'd teach Rachel when she was ten. It turned out that Miri had a natural gift for it, just like Julia had. That scared Julia on one too many levels.
Because I learned so young, and Jack was trained to use them, maybe that's why Miri is so good with them, Julia thought. That kind of thinking got Julia to wondering if she should go to Wyoming and see this John Christofferson and find out if he and Jack Coltrane were the same person.
If I do it, it'd have to be while Kimber is here to watch the kids, Julia thought to herself. And before whatever the hell CIA wants us for.
"What do you guys think the CIA wants to talk to us about national security?" asked Julia to her brothers. "Why should we interrupt our lives to be at their beck and call?"
"Whatever it is," Nik said, "I'm planning to tell them no. I'm not in my twenties anymore. Besides, I've got bigger things to worry about now."
"We all do, Nik," Jeremiah said. "Maybe we shouldn't have been so fucking good at what we did during the Occupation."
"We'd still be under the Committee's thumb if we weren't," Julia said. "We ended the fucking war, the three of us, along with Vixen, did."
"Natasha, you mean," Nik said. "I don't think she wants to remember being Vixen. That's what she calls her daughter now."
"Old habits die hard," Julia said. "How old are those kids anyway, twelve?"
"Just turned twelve, yes," Nik said. "And those kids are smart! I think they're doing high school level work now. They go to some special school for the gifted in DC. Tasha's done a great job with them by herself. She doesn't need a man to come along and fuck it up."
"I'm trying to be like her," Julia said. "She and I talk sometimes. I got the idea for the chore chart from her before Ryan died. The last time I saw her was at Ryan's funeral. She looks great with her natural hair color, and her kids got that."
"I remember how confused both your sister Niki and my nephew Nikky got whenever we said their names," Nik said. "Though 'girl Niki' and 'boy Nikky' got old and stupid after a while!"
"Doesn't Natasha's son go by Nik now?" Jeremiah asked.
"He does," Nik said. "Good thing we have different last names!"
"Or the CIA might be trying to recruit him, too," Julia said.
"About that," Jeremiah said; "Since we're all going to the same meeting, let's just all go together. Nik, you think Natasha could put us up?"
"I'd have to ask," Nik said. "She has a big enough house there in Georgetown, so I'm sure she has the room. Sandrina is going to be living there when she goes to school."
"She's decided to go after all?" Julia asked. "She was so determined to help you and KateLynn with Peter. What changed her mind?"
"Pete did, actually," Nik said. "He basically told her to get her ass to Georgetown because if he were able, he'd kick her there himself! 'I'm not a fucking invalid, Sandrina,' he told her. 'I may walk like Frankenstein now, but I'm far from crippled!' The mouth that boy has! Wonder where he gets it from?"
"You, me, Julia, other guys his age, David..." Jeremiah said.
Nik laughed; "Yeah, you're probably right. And Sandrina skunked Pete at chess while they were having this talk. He hates to lose, especially to his sister!"
Christofferson went into Riverton to pick up his mail on Wednesdays as he usually did. After that, he went over to The Depot for lunch, where he read his mail.
Nothing in the week's worth of mail stuck Christofferson as unusual. Just bills, junk mail, and the occasional catalogue. He often wondered with the advances of the internet to meet just about every need, that there still needed to be actual postal mail. He thought that the United States Postal Service should have just stayed defunct after the Occupation was over. But here it was, nearly fifteen years since the end of the Occupation, and the mail service was still achingly slow.
Christofferson still hoped, even after all these years, that one week, something from Julia would be in his mail bundle. A card, a letter, a note, a picture of the now teenaged girl he fathered with her...anything. But week after week, there was nothing from Julia.
And week after week, Christofferson chided himself for his foolish fantasy.
Just then, a Native American man named WhiteHorse sat down at his table.
WhiteHorse was the man's first name. His last name, no one seemed to know. He was at least Christofferson's age or a little older.
"John, my friend, how are you this fine Wednesday afternoon?" asked WhiteHorse.
"Can't complain, Chief," Christofferson said. "Just having lunch and reading the mail. Same old shit I do every Wednesday."
"Calloway get the use of your bull to his liking?" WhiteHorse asked.
"He's going to get a fine calf from that bull, I'll tell you," Christofferson said. "Never seen a man so happy. Sarge seemed to be happy, too. If a bull could be happy, Sarge definitely was."
"Say, John," WhiteHorse said; "there's been some guy from the government poking around looking for information about you. Have any idea why?"
"Can't say that I do," Christofferson said, though the idea that the government was poking around town about him concerned him; "He'll just find out how boring a guy like me really is. I mean, how exciting is a man my age living alone and raising cattle and crops? I'm sure it's nothing."
"Okay," WhiteHorse said; "Just looking out for the folks in town. I don't pry into people's affairs, you know that."
"I do, and I appreciate it," Christofferson said.
"I'll let you get back to your mail readin' then," WhiteHorse said. "See you next week, John."
"Likewise, Chief," replied Christofferson.
Wonder who in the government is looking for me, he thought. I just don't want my true identity found out and have my ass hauled into court.
Christofferson had nothing to worry about. He was about to have a fond wish come true. It just wouldn't come in the weekly mail bundle he received every Wednesday.
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