Chapter 6

King Faisal Hospital, Kigali, Rwanda

Robin's vision came into focus slowly as the dark, blurry figure in front of her became the familiar face of Sandrine Mutanga.

She felt as though she was waking up from a three-day nap. Refreshed. But groggy and vaguely uncomfortable.

Sandrine's face broke into a beautiful smile. "Hi, Robin. Welcome back."

"Thanks..." Robin muttered, testing her voice. It sounded sleepy but fine to her. "So, I wasn't dreaming. I did see you at the market."

"You did. The world is very small sometimes, isn't it?"

Robin gave her a lop-sided smile. "Seriously."

"I'm glad you saw me when you did," Sandrine said softly.

"What happened..." Robin paused, embarrassed now. "Did I faint?"

"You did. Then your...my...my husband and I, we brought you to this hospital. We talked to your doctor. He says he is worried about your virus levels. That you need to take some time to lower them. Maybe change your medication. But..." Sandrine gave her another smile. "Compared to a lot of the patients he sees with HIV he says you are doing very, very well."

Robin eyed Sandrine's belly. "You weren't married when I saw you in Paris. And..." She smiled. "You're expecting too."

Sandrine nodded. "My life has changed a lot."

Robin's curiosity was piqued now. "When you were in Paris you were searching for your partner. My Mom tried to get a hold of him after Alex disappeared. There are things that she wanted to ask him about how he helped her escape from Faison. But she couldn't, something about him working under deep cover. I think she tried to contact you too."

"I left Kinshasa not long afterwards."

"With your partner?"

Sandrine offered her what looked like a meagre attempt at a smile. "You are asking a lot of questions. You were unconscious. You just woke up. Slow down, Robin, because I have some questions for you too."

Robin eyed her. "I'm sorry...you're right. I see you for the first time after two years and drop like a sack of potatoes in front of you. I bet you want to ask me some things too."

"Are you here alone, Robin? Is there someone we should be contacting?"

Robin suddenly thought back to the young Belgian who should have met her tonight at the hotel. Was it even still tonight? How long had she been unconscious? "Yes, and no. My family's not here. But I'm here with MSF. You're right, one of my colleagues might be worried." Another thought suddenly occurred to her too. What if her doctor friend had been worried enough to call her family back in the States? The thought made her cringe. "Sandrine...can you help me call my colleague? To tell him that I'm okay?"

"You're not really okay, Robin."

"I mean, let him know I haven't been kidnapped or something."

"Yes...of course. But..." Sandrine paused. "We should also call your mother. Tell her that you're here."

That is the last thing I want to do, Robin thought. "Yeah, I will. But first I need to call Jean-Luc." Before it occurs to him to call Mom and completely freak her out by telling her that I'm sick and missing. "Will you look up the number for the MSF office in Kigali for me? You'll be able to get a hold of him there." Robin wished she had his personal number to expedite the process.

Sandrine nodded. "Sure, but first there's something I need to tell..."

"Can you do this first?" Robin pleaded, cutting her off. "Please, I don't want him to worry."

"Alright, I will find the number," she told her. "I will find the number and I will call him. If you promise me you will rest and take it easy while I do that?"

Robin promised her she would. I'll feel a lot better knowing that he's not alarming my family needlessly.

Sandrine got up slowly and gingerly, making Robin realize she must be quite far along in her pregnancy. The realization piqued her curiosity. "Sandrine...can I ask you, your baby's father? Is it your partner? The one you were looking for, who saved Alex?"

Sandrine held Robin's gaze for a long, quiet moment, before answering.

"Yes," she finally replied.

Vancouver, Canada

It had been a long time since Alex worked this hard.

She'd started at eleven at night and now she spied the sun rising outside. She didn't think there was a moment, aside from this one, where she had two seconds to reflect on her new surroundings.

The steady stream of patients that had filed through the clinic since she started her shift had kept her so busy that when she picked up a plastic bottle of water to have a sip, she realized it was her first one of the night. Even so, she did it while holding a toddler in her other arm. A young, Native girl with ash black hair and huge, plump cheeks that Alex wanted to kiss. "Your Mom is going to be just fine," she whispered into her hair.

The mother was a teenager whose forms Alex had helped her fill out an hour earlier. Although the young woman wouldn't admit it, Alex suspected that she was borderline illiterate and couldn't read the questions, so she'd read them aloud to her and written the answers in herself.

The girl in her arms was quiet and there was a disturbing resignation about her as she leaned her head against Alex's shoulder. She was so different from her curious, energetic son who couldn't get enough of experimenting with his newfound vocabulary. She could barely get a peep out of this girl.

"We don't have time to be babysitters," Oliver reminded her. "I think Ahmad's going to have her mother admitted, which means we have to call someone to pick this girl up. The patient gave you a contact number didn't she? "

"Yeah," Alex mumbled in reply. She couldn't blame Oliver, the only nurse on duty at the moment for wanting her to help him free up the next examination room. He was even more taxed than the rest of them. But she didn't have the heart to set the little girl down. Not after one of her arms were now lazily draped over her shoulders and she was on the verge of falling asleep. Nor was she surprised to hear that her mother was being shipped off to the nearest hospital.

Given some of the teenager's responses to her questions, Alex had guessed a diagnosis herself.

And, for the first time in a long time, it had made her want to walk into the exam room with her. To make a real diagnosis, based on examination and testing, rather than guessing.

It made her realize how much she missed being a physician.

She missed both the challenge and the thrill that were at the root of her profession - that of identifying the problem, followed by the more daunting one of finding a solution. It was that last step she loved the most.

But now that she was holding a sleeping toddler in her arms, she realized she missed the human side of it too. The joy and the heartbreak of trying to change someone's fate.

Instead, after more than a decade of studies, followed by more years honing her skills, she was now stuck registering patients that might once have been her own.

'This is about paying the rent while doing something I'm actually capable of doing,' she reminded herself. This wasn't about returning to medicine. Besides, even if she did have a license to practice here, which she didn't, it was a lot harder to lay low as a practising physician than an administrator in a street clinic.

Turning around she saw Ahmad exit the exam room with the girl's mother. From the handful of times she'd seen him interact with patients tonight, she'd been impressed. The dignity and patience with which he treated everyone, whether it was a strung out crack addict, an irritable street worker or a punk with a head wound from a broken bottle, was inspiring. She marvelled at how he never lost his calm, never rushed a patient, even when it meant filling the waiting room to near capacity.

"I'm sending Amanda to St. Paul's," he told Alex. "Can you do me a favour and take Kayla to her grandmother? She lives in North Van and can't come down to pick her up. Take a taxi and come back after."

"Uh...sure." She didn't think it was part of the job description but that went for much of what she'd done so far.

Alex handed the sleeping girl to her young mother so she could tell her goodbye, while Ahmad took her aside.

"You did good tonight, Alex," he told her. "I apologize we had so little time to show you around, but you caught on quick. You're asking exactly the right questions. That makes it easier for me by the time I see the patient." His eyes met hers. "I'm starting to think I made the right decision."

Alex wondered whether he was referring to the fact that he'd taken a leap of faith and hired her in spite of the fact that her references didn't check out. "Thanks."

He handed her two twenty dollar bills from his pocket. "Take this for the taxi and make sure she gets home safe."

Oliver had heard his instructions and started to protest.

"Have you seen how many people are waiting here? And you're sending Alex off to babysit a little girl?"

"Ming is coming in to help out in half an hour. We'll manage until then." He said it quietly but there was no mistaking the fact that it was the end of the conversation.

By the time Alex had dropped the girl off, got back to her desk and finished her shift she was thoroughly exhausted. More so than if she'd added a few miles to her morning run after Liam had kept her awake all night.

But it was a satisfying exhaustion. The kind she used to feel after fourteen hours in a lab finally got her the results she'd been searching for.

It made her think that maybe she was ready to re-join the land of the living after all.

Pine Valley, Pennsylvania

Anna paced and did something she hadn't done in a while. She bit her nails between stealing countless glances at the wall clock above her.

The anger she was barely holding in combined with her anxiousness to have David return home was giving her a headache.

That's what you get for faking one. Karma and all.

She stopped pacing when she heard the door opening downstairs and the sound of excited voices filled the cabin.

Melissa giggled. "You swear you won't tell my Mom I had the strawberry pancakes with whipped cream? Mom thinks whipped cream should be illegal."

"Scouts honour," she heard David reply.

"What's a scout?" Leah asked.

Anna didn't catch his answer as she made her way down the stairs. But whatever he said, it made her daughter laugh.

David raised his head when he saw her coming downstairs. "Hey, baby. You feeling better?"

Anna ignored the question turning to Melissa instead. "Do you mind taking Leah out to the swings for a few minutes? I need to talk to David alone."

Melissa eyed her with her customary perception. Trying to read her face but not succeeding when Anna smiled at her in return.

"Sure, Anna."

"Thanks."

David however knew her well enough to know something wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" he asked as soon as the girls were out of earshot.

Anna looked at him with accusation. "Have you found my sister?"

His eyes widened. The question had come out of the blue and he didn't know what to say.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"What...are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your e-mails regarding an Alexia Merrick."

His face was a mix of shock and defensive indignation. "So you tell me you're sick, so you can hack into my computer when I'm away? Nice."

"I'd feel bad if what I saw didn't justify it."

David sighed.

"Don't make me the villain in this," Anna said softly. "And for the last goddamn time, I'm asking you to tell me the truth. The plain, simple truth."

David sat down and he suddenly looked tired and weary.

"Before she went to Africa, Robin came to me with a research paper she found in a medical journal, written by someone by the name of A. Merrick," David told her without hesitation. "She asked me to compare it an article that Alex wrote before she disappeared."

"And?"

"You have to understand, stem cell research pertaining to prion diseases is not my field. Sure the research topics and presentation style were similar to something Alex wrote, but a lot of things didn't connect. The article was published in a third rate journal, the research results had no significance of any sort...it didn't make sense for a researcher of Alex's calibre to publish something like that."

"Unless of course she deliberately wanted to lay low..."

"Merrick is a common English name, Anna," David added. "I figured there was no point in getting your hopes up with something that would likely turn out to be nothing more than a coincidence."

"I see," Anna whispered, her anger not the least bit assuaged. The opposite in fact. She felt it threatening to erupt again. "Heaven forbid I should have the chance to make that decision myself."

David narrowed his brows, angry too now. "Did you already forget that your obsession to find your sister nearly ended up with you being run over by a car in Toronto? Forgive me if my first thought when I found this wasn't to send you down that same path again."

"And now?" she pressed, indifferent to his anger. "Should I be getting my hopes up at this point? Or should I keep waiting until I get the okay from you? Until this Alexia Merrick disappears again?"

"I asked an old colleague of mine, a stem cell researcher, to make contact with Alexia Merrick. In order to pick her brain while giving me time to try and track her down."

Anna seethed. "Did you ever consider that Sean and I might have the resources to help you track her down?"

David's expression was equally furious. "Can you take a step back for a moment and consider that maybe this woman isn't Alex? That she's just another scientist whose name happens to resemble your sister's?"

"What do you think?"

"I think if it is Alex, it doesn't make any sense."

"What do you mean?"

"If Alex is alive and well and writing research papers in Canada, why in god's name hasn't she let any of us know? Explain that to me?"

Anna leaned against the wall of the hallway. Her head was pounding now. "Just because she's writing a research paper doesn't mean she's well. What I'm asking is, from the contact you and your colleague have had with her so far...is it possible that it is Alex?"

David took a moment to consider her question. "It's...yeah, I guess it's possible. From the correspondence Levy's had with her so far, it's become apparent that she's a very skilled researcher. But then so are a lot of scientists..."

"You've tracked her to Vancouver?"

"According to the head of IT at Seaview, yeah, the ISP she's using to communicate with Levy originates from Vancouver, yes. Not that that necessarily means she's in Vancouver."

"Do you have an exact address?"

"I have an address that matches the ISP address, yes."

Anna bit her lip. Anger aside, she had to hand it to him. He'd done an admirable job of following through with the information Robin gave him. Initiating communication through the research article, verifying the facts as they trickled through, taking painstaking care not to spook his subject...she could envision herself and Sean following a very similar procedure. "I'd like to have it," was all she said.

David's irritation was written all over his face. "What are you going to do with it? Take the next flight to Vancouver?"

"I'm going to find out what I can about the occupant of the address in question."

David got up to stand next to her. "Look, Anna...I know you're upset. But surely you can understand why I didn't want to share this with you until..."

Anna didn't let him continue. "What I understand is that you don't think I can handle much of anything."

"That's not true..."

"What if something else comes up? What if Robin gets sick? Or you lose your job? Would you keep that from me too? Just in case I can't bear it?"

"You're not being fair," he said softly. "All I ever wanted was to keep you safe..."

"Oh no...you're not going to play that card again," Anna looked at him in disbelief. "And you're certainly not going to use it to justify this."

"It's the truth..."

"No...that's not the truth. The truth is that you're trying to control my life. You think it's up to you to decide what's best for me and to determine what I can and can't handle! That somehow you know what's good for me better than I do. I've been on my own since I was a teenager, David! I've always accepted the risks that come with the life that I chose to lead. Sure, I've made some really bad decisions in my time and some of them hurt me...and you know what? I'm probably going to make a few more bad decisions along the way...and I'll probably get hurt again. But I'll take that chance over losing the right to make them. If you can't handle that...then we really have a problem."

"Yeah..." David face couldn't hide the sting left by her words. "I guess we do."

He didn't bother with any more apologies. Instead he turned his back on her and walked away. Leaving her standing alone in the hallway.

Kigali, Rwanda

Robin's eyes were half closed when Sandrine went back to her room.

"Did you call Jean-Luc?" she asked.

Sandrine smiled. "Yes. I did. He said is going to come see you tomorrow."

"Thanks." Robin opened her eyes, still looking sleepy. "Tomorrow? I'm going to stay here another night?"

"The doctor says you still have a fever. He wants to make sure it is gone before he sends you home. I'm going to go home now and let you sleep but I will be back tomorrow too."

Robin pushed herself up, to sit against her pillows. "Sandrine...there's something I wanted to ask you before you leave."

Sandrine swallowed. "Sure."

"You said your husband is man you were looking for when we met in Paris. Your partner in the WSB."

"Yes..." Sandrine suddenly felt uncomfortable. Like she'd almost made it to the finish line but if she stayed here for another moment it would soon be impossible.

"If he's the man who helped Alex escape from Faison...he's someone that my Mom's been looking for. I remember her telling me that she hadn't been able to get a hold of Roger Saunders, that the WSB in Africa kept giving her the run-around. That he was under deep cover or something. Is that true?"

"Yes," Sandrine lied. "He didn't know Anna was looking for him."

Robin's intelligent eyes were looking at her with the sudden realization that things weren't adding up. "But you must have known that my Mom would want to speak with him. In fact, Alex made her promise to get a hold of him! She said you just took off from Moscow without even saying good-bye to anyone."

Sandrine closed her eyes. The moment of truth was here and maybe now was as good a moment as any. Maybe it was better that Robin found out this way, rather than seeing her father walk through the door of her room without any explanation.

"Sandrine...?"

"Before you fainted at the market, did you notice something else Robin?"

Robin was wide-awake now. "What do you mean?"

"Did you see or hear anything else?"

Sandrine could see Robin's mind trying to remember, to put the pieces together.

Robin smiled, shyly almost. "I did. But what I saw...it has nothing to do with this."

"Maybe it does. Tell me what it was," Sandrine prompted.

"It's silly, Sandrine..."

"Tell me," Sandrine pressed.

"I saw...look I thought I was dying and I heard my Dad. I heard his voice." Her smile widened. "He sounded so real. Like he was there with me at the market. It's incredible, isn't it? What the mind can conjure up in moments like that. It's almost enough to make you believe in ghosts."

"Maybe what you saw and heard was real."

Robin looked at her as though she was crazy. She also sensed a trace of anger on the young woman's face.

"What are you saying, Sandrine?

Be gentle, Sandrine reminded herself. This was going to be one of the biggest shocks of her life. "Robin...what I'm going to tell you is going to sound unbelievable, but it's true."

Robin was wide awake now.

"Roger Saunders and Robert Scorpio are the same person. My partner is your father."

Robin chuckled, but her eyes were dead serious. "This is not funny, Sandrine. I don't want to play games with you."

"Remember when I came to your place in Paris, and saw the photo of you and your parents, and I asked you about your Dad? It wasn't because of the WSB connection. It was because I wanted to see your reaction..."

Robin bit her lip and said nothing.

"When I disappeared in Moscow, it was because Robert wouldn't let your mother and Sean see him."

"I don't believe..."

Sandrine made sure her voice was calm. Gentle. But at the same time she wanted to bombard her with the facts. Given her no chance to consider that she wasn't telling her the truth. "It's why Anna couldn't get a hold of Roger Saunders afterwards. Because Robert Scorpio made sure she couldn't. It's why Alex probably insisted your mother get in touch with him...because she knew who he really was."

Robin shook her head. Completely unconvinced. "Alex wouldn't not tell..."

"Robert had just saved her life. She owed him."

Robin laughed out of sheer disbelief. "You are so full of it...I don't believe a word you're saying. I don't know why you'd tell me something like this or what's in it for you."

"I'm not lying to you, Robin."

Anna's daughter looked more furious than Sandrine thought she was capable.

"Look, if my Dad's alive, prove it. Bring him in here. Otherwise get out of my room and don't come back."

"Are you ready to see him?"

"I can't believe this..." Robin narrowed her eyes. "As if..."

Sandrine got up. It only hit her now how very tired she was.

She'd done the first step. The rest was up to Robert.

She turned to Robin before leaving the room. "I'm going to get him. Then you can decide for yourself whether I'm lying or not."

Sandrine half expected Robin to come after her. Instead she stayed put, stunned.

She didn't see Robert until she started walking down the corridor.

"Hey, sweetheart...how'd it go?"

Sandrine looked him in the eye, not envying the encounter he had to face next. "She knows," she told him in a whisper. "I told her. It's your turn now. You need to go see her."

Pine Valley, PA

"You okay, Anna?" Melissa asked. Her perceptive eyes noticed absolutely everything. It almost made Anna dread the time when Leah would be her age.

"I'm fine, sweetie," she reassured her. "David and I just had a little disagreement, that's all."

Anna saw the apprehension on the girl's face and she almost felt bad for telling her as much. This house was Melissa's escape from her own lack of domestic bliss, and Anna could tell that she dreaded the thought of losing it. Then again, she'd had enough lies for one day today.

Melissa reached up to give her a hug. "Thanks for having me. It was really nice."

Anna smiled, hugging her tightly. "Having you was really nice." She'd barely finished her sentence they heard a knock on the door.

Leah ran up to give the girl a final hug too. "Next time stay more longer."

Anna managed a forced smiled for the Senator's wife. "How lovely to see you..."

"Is Melissa ready? I'm afraid I don't have much time. There's a recital we need to attend this evening. Very last minute. Melissa, you'll need to change into something that will make you look like the young woman that you are."

"Mom, do I have..."

"Oh, yes you do..."

Anna watched the exchange in silence. She heard Melissa groan but by that time she was already halfway out the door.

She raised her hand and waved a mock good-bye. "Nice to see you too...anytime you want to leave her here for good, you let us know..."

"Anna..."

David suddenly stood behind her, his face sombre, holding their cordless phone in his hand. The fact that he made no move to touch her made Anna realize he was still fuming.

Anna didn't care. It wasn't as though she was ready for reconciliations yet.

"There's a call for you. It's important..."

"Who is it?"

"It's Sandrine Mutanga."

"Sandrine?" Anna looked at him puzzled. "I haven't heard from her since she disappeared off the face of the Earth in Moscow. Why in the world...?"

"Apparently she's in Kigali. At a hospital. With Robin."