An eerie quietude had settled over the Slocum household until its placidity was interrupted by the cries of a small child. Leaving Xi?ng, Leanne and Yudi slipped down the hall and into a room, softly closing the door behind them. A few minutes later the crying stopped.
Alicia carefully scrutinized Janet. “Is no one going to answer me?” Her gaze shifted to Alphonso who was sitting on the couch with Sid. “What happened to you?”
“I walked into her fist,” he replied sheepishly with a nod in Janet’s direction.
“By the looks of that shiner she got you good,” replied Alicia. She peered at Janet again. “I bet you’re Janet Thompson.” Janet nodded. Alicia’s demeanor softened. “Thought so. Heard a lot about you. Finally nice to meet you,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m sorry it has to be under these circumstances.”
For a moment, Janet was confused by the gesture but finally took Alicia’s hand. “Um…I’m not sure what to say. And for me that’s a rarity.”
“Let’s start with why you’re here?” asked Alicia, patting a nearby chair to invite her to sit.
“I think I’ll stand.” Janet’s reply was spiced with an element of defiance. “As for why I’m here, it’s on that table in the living room. It’s a present for my godchild, Lori. Her birthday is in a couple of days.”
Alicia glanced at Charlotte and Edward. “Were you expecting her?”
“No,” said Charlotte.
Alicia’s attention returned to Janet. She said nothing but appeared to be waiting for an answer.
Janet shrugged. “Not sure what you want me to say. Got tied up preparing for the conference in Toronto. Lost track of time.”
“What conference?” asked Alicia.
“It’s on aging,” replied Janet with a light chuckle. “In fact, that’s it’s title ‘On Aging.’ I’m one of many presentations. My topic is ‘Ways to Retain Vitality As You Age.’ Charlotte and I discussed it a few weeks back.” She glanced at Charlotte. “Remember?”
Charlotte cleared her throat and nodded.
Janet’s attention returned to Alicia. “It’s just…well…I was remiss in not telling her when I would drop by with the gift. Honestly, it’s never been a problem…Until now!” She crossed her arms across her chest. “The Slocums are like family. No. They are the only real family I’ve got.”
Yudi and Leanne came down the hall from the bedroom where their son, Kendrick, slept and quietly joined Xi?ng and the others.
Alicia stared at Janet. She appeared lost in troubling thought. “I’m afraid, Janet,” she finally said, “you’ve inadvertently stepped into one helluva of a hornet’s nest.” She bit down on her lower lip. “And it complicates things…It complicates them a lot.” Her shoulders lifted and fell with a sigh. “I’ll need to make a call.” Phone pressed against her ear she disappeared along the hall to the mudroom. Other than her initial words, whomever she had phoned now appeared to be doing most of the talking.
“What’s wrong with them,” Janet whispered to Edward and Charlotte, attempting to make her query as unobtrusive as possible. The focus of her enquiry was directed at Leanne and Yudi who were huddled together with a teary eyed Xi?ng.
“I think the phone negotiations they just completed were pretty hard on them,” replied Edward. “Lots to discuss and decide in the night ahead. But…Once Alicia saw you…”
“My presence put a kibosh on it.”
Edward shrugged. “I guess you can say that.”
“Sorry,” sighed Janet dispiritedly.
“Nothing to be sorry for.” Charlotte stepped forward and placed her arm around Janet and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “You couldn’t’ve known? Be patient. Once Alicia returns, we should have some idea of how we are moving forward.”
Charlotte and Edward invited Janet to sit with them at the kitchen table. Charlotte offered to fetch or make a beverage for everyone but there were no takers.
Silence seeped in alongside a growing restlessness.
Time dragged on like a soppy blanket pulled by a very young child across a sandy beach.
Fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes. Half hour.
Wanderlust had settled in for the others who were silently pacing. Suddenly, they stopped.
Collectively, all eyes focussed on Alicia, standing at the edge of the room.
Momentarily, Alicia’s gaze was directed at Janet before returning to Leanne, Yudi and Xi?ng. “Alphonso?!”
“Yes?”
“Are you back in the game?” she asked him.
“I am,” came his quick reply passing the ice pack to Sid.
“Is he, Sid?”
Sid gave a reassuring nod. He stood and walked past her to return the ice pack to the freezer. Then he returned to Alphonso who was already standing.
“Good! Don’t care who but one of you should be posted outside. And for heaven’s sake stay alert!’” Her attention returned to Leanne, Yudi and Xi?ng. “I know this is not easy for you, but I must have a little chinwag with Janet first. It shouldn’t take long.”
Each glanced at the other two. No words needed to pass between them. The discernible pain etched on their facial expressions gave voice to their less than subtle reluctancy to acquiesce. And yet, there was an apparent quiet acceptance and awareness that though they weathered the same storm, not all of them were in the same boat.
Leanne softly gathered the other two to sit with her on the couch. She held Yudi’s hand while her arm slid under Xi?ng’s. And she felt their distraught emotions mix with hers while they waited.
Alicia looked on and for the first time she deeply understood and felt what was meant by the words ‘simple can be harder than complex.’ And for her that meant she had to gear up her mind to make her thinking cleaner. Keep the crucial information upfront, clear, and concise, she thought.
Alicia joined Edward, Charlotte, and Janet at the kitchen table. She had barely pulled back the chair to sit when Janet leaned in to ask her a question.
“Earlier, you said I had walked into a hornet’s nest. What did you mean?”
Alicia looked at Janet cold and hard before she took in a deep breath to answer her. “Pine Meadows, the Slocum home, is what is called a ‘safe house.’
“A safe house?!” She slumped back in her chair and peered at Edward and Charlotte.
“Do I need to explain what a safe house is?” asked Charlotte.
“I know what a safe house is, I don’t live in a cave,” replied Janet tartly. Her eyebrows pinched in as she stared at Alicia. “You must know what I’m going to ask next.”
“You want to know about the Orion Group,” replied Alicia, displaying a large Chesire cat smile. “The Brants…”
“Natasha and James?”
“The same. And Leonard Palladin told me a lot about you.”
“I’m sure they did. But that still doesn’t answer the question.”
“Our clients are people who need to desperately escape their pasts. We help them get new identities, new lives and provide ongoing protection. A very select group of people know who we are and who the clients are.”
“I guess I’m the interloper…the outlier,” replied Janet.
Alicia nodded. “And that puts your life and ours in danger.” She waited for Janet to recover from this revelation before she continued. “There are people, powerful people, with lots of money, who want us to disappear…Permanently.” She continued to gauge Janet’s reaction. “I need you to do something for me.”
Janet hesitated at first but finally slid closer to Alicia. “Okay. I’m all ears.”
“Earlier today two policemen showed up here. Edward circuitously got their shield numbers. Do you think you could have them checked out for us without raising eyebrows?”
“On the hush-hush?”
“On the hush-hush.”
“Well…Brent, Brent Townsend and I are friends. He retired about five years back and still has a lot of friends in the local and provincial police forces. Yeah. I think he’ll help. How soon do you need it.?”
“Yesterday,” replied Alicia. She turned to Edward. “Give Janet the information.”
Edward slipped a folded piece of paper out of his shirt pocket and slid it across to Janet who opened it.
“There is something else,” Alicia said.
Janet peered at her suspiciously. “From your expression I’m not sure I’m going to like it.”
“It depends on you,” replied Alicia. “I want to send someone and his team along with you tomorrow. I promise. You won’t even know they’re there. But they will continue to shadow you and—Brent Townsend? —until everything is resolved.”
“W-h-y?” enquired Janet, her suspicion growing. “I’m getting the feeling you’re leaving something out?”
Alicia glanced back at the others sitting on the couch before turning her attention back to Janet. “They’ve got Xi?ng’s husband as hostage. And they want the return of the other two sitting beside her in exchange.”
“Hang on! Who are these ‘they’ you’re referring to?”
“It’s not important to you. The Orion Group will deal with them. But you do need to understand that the moment you took that information from Edward and agreed to ask your friend to investigate it, it put you and your friend in danger.” She sat back.
Janet felt the discomfort of Alicia’s gaze cutting straight through her.
“Now,” Alicia began. “Does anything I’ve said change your decision?’
Janet felt a trinkling cold feeling along her spine and she controlled herself so as not to shiver. “No, I’m tight.”
“Good. But Brent will also need to know.”
“He won’t be left in the dark.”
“And if he choses not to get involved?”
“I never thought of that.” Janet took a moment to run through several names in her head. “Not to worry. I’m pretty sure I’ve got backup.”
Janet’s heart skipped a beat with the unexpected slamming of a car door.
Attention in the room shifted to the drive side of the house where a scuffle appeared to be occurring.
Sid chambered a round in his Glock.
Unnoticed by the others, Alicia reached out to reassure Janet, while tension in the room hit levels thick enough to cut with a knife.
A heavy foot and shuffling across the deck heralded a well-built figure pushing Alphonso ahead of him toward the entrance.