“Do we...?” Lorna walked closer to her brother and shrugged. “Should we...do something? Some sort of memorial?”
“I’d say a party is appropriate, but we should wait a bit before getting shit-faced. There are a few irons in the fire.”
“There are always irons in the fire,” Lorna replied.
“Do you think if you see her, you’ll have difficulty sleeping?” Laurel asked. “You said that the sleeping pills have been helping. I don’t want to see you regress.”
Lorna turned my way, a blush of pink filling her healing cheeks as she undoubtedly had the same thoughts as me. Our recent routine assuring her tiredness before closing her eyes involved more than the sleeping pills. Sex wasn’t unusual for us. It never had been. However, since her rescue, the physical reaffirmation of our love eased her mind, allowing her to slumber.
And being an accommodating husband, I have been willing to oblige.
Truthfully, I’d be remiss to not admit that it also helped me. The more dead ends we hit regarding her and Araneae’s abductors and the more winding trails that led nowhere, the darker the world felt. Lorna was my lifeline keeping me from fully submerging into the black-hole abyss.
Lorna replied to Laurel. “I believe if I don’t see her, it would be more detrimental to my sleep.” Her head tilted. “You have confirmed her identity? This is Nancy Pierce.”
I reached for her hand. “We have determined that the woman on 1 has statistically significant genetic markers to both you and Mason. We wouldn’t have told you about her if we had doubts.”
Mason’s gaze caught mine.
I shook my head. “One thing at a time.”
“What?” Lorna asked, her arms crossing over her chest. “I’m sick of lies.”
“It’s not lies,” Mason said.
“It’s omission and that’s not a gift.”
My nostrils flared as I exhaled. “Genetically, she’s Nancy Pierce. We have no reason to doubt that. The thing is that any footprint of Nancy Pierce basically disappeared from the world not long after you graduated high school.”
“Lorna,” Mason said, “we assumed she was dead because everything pointed that direction.”
“I never looked for her,” Lorna said.
“Neither did I,” Mason admitted. “I didn’t give a fuck. When I joined the army, I listed you as my only family.” He looked at Reid. “Which means that organization wouldn’t have known about her.”
“Then why?” We would think about that another day. “I looked for her,” I admitted.
“What?” my wife questioned. “You never said a word.”
“What was I supposed to say, ‘Hey, sweetheart, still no sign that your mother is alive’? I looked for her after Mason’s accident and before we married. I thought if she were alive she’d want...”
“She never wanted anything except to not have three kids,” Mason said.
That faraway look glazed over Lorna’s expression. “Maybe she wanted us.”
“What?” Mason asked.
“Having kids made her checks bigger.”
Mason exhaled.
Shaking away whatever she was thinking, Lorna’s expression was resolute. “I want to see her. I think that knowing she’s here and not seeing her would keep me awake with more questions. I want to put an end to questions.” She looked up at me and then to Mason and Laurel. “Would you come with me?”
Mason’s head tilted left and he stood taller. “If that’s what you want.”
“You don’t want to?”
“You’re right.”
Lorna turned to me. “What about you?”
There was a list a mile long of work I needed to do on 2. I had programs running on recent crimes with Jettison’s DNA. We had searches going for any information on Nancy Pierce. Where had she been? Was the answer the same as where Araneae’s adoptive parents had gone for years?
One dead end after another.
There were other loose ends waiting for us to investigate. And now with what Laurel said, we needed to get in contact with Walters. Securing the institute was another thing. Of course it was safe. Araneae wouldn’t be able to work there if it weren’t, but like Mason’s ranch, with time comes complacency.
Nevertheless, I answered Lorna with my heart instead of my mind. “Sweetheart, if you want me beside you, I wouldn’t even consider being anywhere else.”
As the four of us left our apartment, I wrapped Lorna’s hand in mine. It was as we entered the common area that Mason acquiesced. “We’ll go down with you, too.”
No one uttered a word as the four of us entered the elevator, the doors closed, and we were carted downward. I’d been the one to hit the button. Neither of the ladies had the access ability to make the elevator stop on 1.
When the doors opened, we all stepped out. Mason moved forward and turned back toward us. The area behind him appeared much like an office complex. In many ways it was. “Stay here with them,” he said to me. “I’ll do a sweep of the floor.”
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I accessed an app and evaluated our security screens of this floor. With thermal imaging, I was able to see the entire floor and identify where people were located. Being later at night, the floor wouldn’t be as busy as it was during the day.
This was where other members of the Sparrow outfit met for various reasons.
A floor plan became visible on my screen. “It looks like there are meetings happening in conference rooms 3 and 7.” I looked up. “Patrick is in 3. Do you know who’s in 7?”
“Yeah, Garrett is getting the weekly reports from the street.”
“Oh shit. I’ve lost track of days.”
Garrett met with different leaders on the street throughout and after each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Especially in the summertime, weekends were when the most street violence occurred. Sparrow was determined to clamp down on the general sense of unrest. Calling out as well as listening to the players involved was key to getting a hold on the disruptions. As the responsibilities the four of us have assumed have increased over the years, we were relying more and more on Garrett. He was getting the reputation as one of the highest members of the Sparrow trusted team.
“I’m still doing a physical sweep. Just a minute,” Mason said as he walked toward the hallway where the conference rooms were located. There were more than conference rooms. This floor was a living, breathing business space for the Sparrow outfit.
Much as everything in our world, security was tight. Not anyone could make it up to this floor from the street. Not everyone on the street or even inhabitants of this building knew what happened up here. That said, we kept our wives away from this floor for a reason.
It often contained men and women who weren’t well known for their charity work. In other words, we dealt with the dregs of the underground because they dealt with us. There was no reason for any of them to know that we lived with our loved ones only two stories away.
Lorna and Laurel talked quietly as we waited, and I continued watching the thermal imaging, even watching Mason’s image move throughout the floor. A text message came across my screen from Patrick.
I clicked.