Chapter 62

I

Once outside the meeting room, Julia said, “Can I please go see my family now?”

Nik and Jeremiah looked at each other, then at Julia. She didn’t like that.

“What? Is there someone else I need to talk to to tell them I don’t remember anything?” she asked.

“No, Jules, there isn’t,” Nik said; “It’s just your...um, attitude that makes me a little leery.”

“What attitude, Nik?” she asked. “I spent three weeks on the run, with no memory of it, then two weeks in a prison like hospital ward. I’m not very happy about any of it. I just want to see my children, my parents, and get my life back to something resembling normal. Is that okay with you, Nikolai?”

It was Jeremiah’s turn to suppress a laugh. She’s got Nik there, he thought.

“Jules, it’s not that,” Nik said.

“Then what the hell is it? You’ve never questioned my behavior before,” Julia said angrily. “You better come up with something that makes sense, or I’m going to hitch a cab to every fucking hotel in this area looking for the one my family is in.”

Nik sighed. He knew that questioning Julia about her motives would piss her off. He didn’t like to have to do that unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Julia,” he said now, “I’m sorry. I really am. I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t believe you when you say you don’t remember what happened. We’re all concerned for your welfare. We just...”

Jeremiah saw the look in Julia’s eyes that said Nik pushed her a little too far.

“You know, I really and truly hate being treated like a fragile China doll,” Julia said. “I’ve been taking care of my own life since I was 17 years old. Yeah, I’ve made mistakes, errors in judgement, and I’ve owned up to every single one of them. I might only be five-three and weigh just over a buck twenty-five, but fragile I am not! You know better than that, Nik! Honestly!”

Julia then crossed her arms over her breasts and stared her brother down until he could stand it no more.

“All right, Jules,” he said; “Yeah, we fucked up. We treated you like a little girl who couldn’t defend herself. We do know better. We were worried sick when Miri called us and told us you’d taken of in Jack’s old truck to God know where. We had to find someone to hunt you down before you did something stupid. You weren’t in your usual frame of mind.”

“Does any of this have to do with what happened to Jack?” Julia asked, afraid of the answer Nik would give her.

“Only you can answer that, Julia,” Nik said; “And you don’t remember leaving, do you?”

“The last thing I remember is going to Miri’s room, after that I woke up at Walter Reed.”

Jeremiah, who up to this point had said nothing, now said, “Why don’t we get Julia back to the hotel her family is in. I have to go upstairs here and get my girls, because Jordan and David have invited them and Kendria and Tracy, to go on the big shopping trip with you. Apparently it was Rachel’s idea.”

Julia smiled. “Rachel and Aaliyah are joined at the hip, as I’ve always said.”

“We were supposed to go home today because Jasmine needs to get back to work, but she’s leaving alone and told us to have a good time,” Jeremiah said; “So I guess we’re staying an extra day or two.”

Nik took Julia out to his rental car, while Jeremiah got his daughters, niece and sister-in-law, and got inside.

“Nik, I’m sorry I blew up at you,” Julia said; “But you do know you pissed  me right the hell off, right?”

“That wasn’t my intent, Jules. Honest,” he said.

“I know,” Julia said, smiling; “I know that you and Jere are trying to protect me, but I really can take care of myself. If you knuckleheads haven’t figured it out by now, then there’s no hope for either of you.”

“Just call us overprotective big brothers,” Nik said as he turned the car toward the hotel where Julia’s kids were. “I know you’d do the same for me and Jere.”

“Got that right, big brother!”

===

Back at the hotel where Julia’s family was, there was a very antsy almost-9 year old waiting rather impatiently for her mother to arrive.

“What’s taking her so long, Nonna?” Rachel asked Jordan.

“Maybe they had stuff to talk about, Rachel,” Jordan said; “They just don’t let people out of the hospital without telling them how to take care of themselves at home.”

“Miri, did they talk to you when you broke your ankle?” Rachel asked her oldest sister.

“They told me to keep my ankle elevated, and to be careful when using my crutches before I left,” Miri said, adjusting the walking boot she had been graduated to in her mothers absense.

“Oh,” said Rachel.

That’s it, Miri, Jordan thought, keep talking to Rachel and keep her mind off when Julia will be here.

“Mom missed all the ‘fun’ stuff with the crutches while she’s been gone,” Miri was telling Rachel. “Remember when I fell down the stairs because one of the crutches got caught on the carpet? Man, I thought Granpa David was going to freak out! Turns out the only thing I injured was my pride. The ankle was fine.”

“It wasn’t funny at the time, Miri,” Rachel said; “We thought you hurt it more.”

“Then how come she landed with her feet in the air at the bottom of the steps?” asked Zach as he walked by. “Rachel, Miri’s not dumb, you know.”

“Zach, that’s enough,” Jordan said. “What would your mother say if she walked in here and saw you fighting?”

“Yes, Nonna,” Zach said apologetically. Then he went to join his grandfather, Drake, and the younger San Marco boys in the other suite.

“Zach is a booger,” Rachel said, sticking her tongue out in the direction of where he went.

“Rachel!” Jaime said. “That’s not nice.”

“You say it all the time, Jaime!”

“Not where other people can hear it, Rachel!”

“Will you two just stop with that?” Miri asked; “You sound like a couple of girls fighting over a doll. And James, I’ve heard you say much worse, so can it.”

“I think it’s time for a couple of girls to go to time out. What do you think, Uncle Nik?” Julia said as she walked into the room with Nik following her.

Rachel’s eyes just about popped out of her head. Jaime’s mouth hung open in disbelief. Miri smiled.

“Maybe after your big shopping trip, Jules,” Nik said.

“Mommy!” Rachel practically screamed and ran over to where her mother stood. Then she saw her mother’s lack of hair. “What happened to your hair?”

“It’s a long story, and not one I want to tell right now,” Julia said as she hugged her girls. Then Zach came back into the room and gave his mother a hug as well. “I missed you, Mom,” he said quietly.

“I missed all of you guys, too,” Julia said, trying to keep from crying. What have I done to my kids? she thought, feeling guilty.

“Welcome home, Julia,” Jordan said as she took her turn to hug her. “It doesn’t matter now what happened, just that you’re home safe.”

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Julia said; “I didn’t mean for everyone to worry. And I certainly didn’t mean for you and David to come all the way from Austin to take up the slack.”

“It doesn’t matter now, Julia,” said Jordan. “All that matters is that you’re okay and you’re home safe.”

“Jules..” Niki said as she came into the room from the room she and Drake were staying in; “It’s so good to see you!” She gave Julia a hug.

Nik watched all this from the doorway, and he felt bad that he had pissed Julia off earlier. This is all she wanted, he thought. To be with her family. We all missed her, but her kids did most of all. One day, Julia will be able to tell us what really happened, but for now, Nik thought, it’s good that’s she is okay and able to come back to her family.

===

II

They snuck down the corridors, looking for their target.

They weren’t doing anything to disguise the fact that they were there to assassinate someone onboard.

Most of the passengers were away from their staterooms enjoying the many activities that the cruise line offered.

Including their targets.

Once they found the stateroom they were looking for, they jimmied the lock and went inside to wait for the occupants to return.

Then, the Director of the CIA and his new bride would be history.

Or so they thought.

“It’s getting late, Tash,” Darren was saying as they walked down the corridor toward their stateroom. “We should really think about getting dressed for dinner.”

“Good thing that I packed a couple of really nice, really conservative dresses to wear, then, isn’t it?” asked Natasha.

“I know that’s not your style, but you would look good in a gunny sack tied with a rope,” Darren said as he was about to put the key into the lock.

“Darren,” Natasha said suddenly; “Don’t put the key in the lock. We’ll be walking into an ambush if you do.”

“What?!”

“It’s my sixth sense, Darren,” Natasha whispered as she led Darren back up the corridor; “Someone on this ship means us harm.”

“There haven’t been any threats, Tash,” Darren protested.

“You’re the fucking CIA Director!” Natasha said hotly; “The threat is implied. Are you really that naive?”

“It’s our honeymoon, Natasha!”

“Which is the best time to get someone off guard; when they’re not expecting it,” Natasha said; “I used to do it all the time when I was working for the Disturbed Ones.”

“We’ll call security, then,” Darren said.

“No, Darren,” Natasha said; “We call the concierge desk. They’re supposed to know everything about this ship. They will get the proper people to take care of this.”

“Well, fuck... we can’t even take a honeymoon without watching our backs,” Darren said.

“It’s because of my skills, darling,” Natasha said. “Someone on this ship knows my history not only with the Disturbed Ones, but with CIA as well.”

They came across a phone on the wall that connected directly with the Concierge. Natasha picked it up and waited for someone to answer.

“Concierge, Crystal speaking,” said a bright, chipper young voice. “How may I help you?”

“Yes, Crystal, I’m Natasha Dixon, and I believe that someone has gained access to mine and my husband’s stateroom without authorization. Can you direct me to security?”

“Mrs. Dixon, I’ll have someone there in 60 seconds.”

“Very good,” Natasha said. She then hung up.

“It sounds odd for you to be using my name, after all the times you said you wouldn’t change it,” Darren said.

“We really don’t have time for me to explain all that to the girl on the phone, do we?” asked Natasha. “They all know who we are.”

As promised, a team of security officers met the Dixons at their stateroom.

“We’ll take care of this for you, sir,” the leader of the team said to Darren. Natasha noticed that he couldn’t be more than 25 years old.

“What should my wife and I do in the meantime?”

“Go about your business on the ship,” the Security Team Leader said; “You’ll be informed when it is safe to return to your stateroom.”

Darren and Natasha looked at each other, nodded and went back to the commons area of the deck they had just left.

As they turned the corner, Natasha stopped suddenly. She put her finger up to her lips to keep Darren silent, then listened as the Security Team Leader radioed for a response.

“DeepCon 4 to Base.”

“Come in, DeepCon 4,” said a female voice.

“Security breach at Central Intel. Instructions?”

The female voice responded, “Team being deployed now, DeepCon 4. Return to your positions.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Natasha grabbed Darren’s hand and literally pulled him up the corridor and into an elevator. Before she pushed a button to go back to the main deck, she did a visual inspection for video or audio devices. Seeing none, she said to Darren,

“DeepCon. I was told that department no longer existed.”

“That’s what we wanted people to believe,” Darren said; “But it does. I had no idea they’d be here though.”

“Darren, what else are you not telling me?”

“There is stuff I can’t even tell you, Natasha,” Darren said; “But I honestly didn’t know that DeepCon would be on this ship. This was NOT my idea.”

“The thing that concerns me is the voice of the female on the radio, Darren,” Natasha said; “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that was Kylee Sears from my BlackOps days.”

“She died of cancer or something, right?” asked Darren.

“Yes, a couple of years ago. I learned about her death through Jacob Ross.”

“Because he was Morbus, right?”

“Yes,” Natasha said. “Maybe it’s a similar sounding voice. That’s always possible. Maybe I heard it wrong.”

“I’m calling my office later to ask if DeepCon is on this ship, and what was their reasoning behind having them here,” Darren said.

“No, don’t do that,” Natasha said; “They’d just deny it. Let’s just have a good time and have fun. If DeepCon is onboard, at least we know our asses are protected.”

Natasha pushed the button for the main deck and tried to forget the voice she heard.

That was Kylee, she thought; I’m almost positive of it.

===

III

Within twenty minutes, the intruders in the Dixon’s stateroom were no more. When they were done disposing of the bodies of the would be assassins, the team cleaned the room from top to bottom, removing any traces of blood and brain matter. The stateroom looked better than it did when the Dixons left it that afternoon to have lunch.


What the team didn’t know was that Mrs. Dixon had a gift. The gift of a sixth sense from years of training. They didn’t know that she had been the BlackOps assassin formerly known as Vixen Vincent. To the members of the team, “Vixen Vincent” was the name of Mrs. Dixon’s teenage daughter.

The DeepCon team knew nearly everything about Darren Dixon and Natasha Vincent. Their history together; the various positions they’d held at CIA and elsewhere; they even knew the name of the man whose sperm was used to inseminate Natasha Vincent so she could have her children.

But they didn’t know about her sixth sense. There was nothing in their intel on Natasha Vincent that indicated that she had such a gift. They would never know how she knew there were people in hers and her husband’s stateroom. There was no obvious damage to the lock on the door, nor was the door open when they arrived.  There were, however, fingerprints. How Natasha Vincent could have seen those, they would never know.

They knew their job was to protect the CIA Director and his wife at all costs, including their lives if it came to that.

They weren’t the only team watching out for the CIA chief. Another team was in place in Georgetown, watching over Natasha Vincent’s children and nieces. For now, the 13 year old twins nor their 18 year old cousins knew that DeepCon was watching over them.

They’d find out when the Dixons came home from their honeymoon.

===

The beginning of a decade of planning and scheming began on a hot July day in the wilds of Vermont.

Montpelier Academy made the mistake of giving a 13 year old girl a tablet computer as part of her introduction to the Academy’s education plan. A tablet, no larger than the hardback books it replaced, would be the first of many ways that the girl would get her revenge on the father she knew in her heart was still alive, and not buried in the cemetery on her mother’s family’s estate approximately 50 kilometers outside Rome.

He was here in the United States, Audrina thought. He’s close. I know he is.

Audrina Aida Alexander, the name she went by in her father’s home country, was not your average 13 year old girl. She had a talent with computers that no adult could match.

Her parents and her brother had no idea how good she was with them.

Audrina had gotten her first computer at age five. She could barely read the instructional material that came with it, but within a year, had figured out how it worked and how she could manipulate it to do what she wanted it to do.

At 13, she could use any computer she was given, write code for programs that her instructors couldn’t comprehend, and find out any information she wanted to know whether it was legal or not.

She spoke several languages fluently, and used all of them to encode programs that nosy adults wanted find out more about.

All of the adults at Montpelier Academy were nosy, curious, and downright demanding when it came to Audrina and her computer skills.

All they knew about her was that she was educated in boarding schools throughout Europe and had impeccable grades. They knew they wouldn’t have her very long, maybe three years at the most.

One girl against a whole faculty of instructors. It wasn’t a fair fight.

It was, however, one that Audrina would win. She knew it would take a long time to put her final plan into motion. It would be escalated because of the disappearance of a friend.

She would eventually bring down the Vice President of the United States.

She would help save her friend from the sick desires of a madman.

She would be called a hero.

But it was still ten years out, and all Audrina Alexander wanted to do was take a nap. She hated jetlag with a white hot passion.

However, she hated her father more.