Chapter 7

Vancouver, Canada

Alex moved the toy train off her desk chair and sat down with a sigh.

"This is not adding up," she mumbled aloud, frustrated.

She prided herself on being good with numbers. Basic mathematics and accounting were much like science. Logical and linear. If you knew what you were doing, the numbers rewarded you by adding up.

Except this time they didn't.

After deducting rent, utilities, phone, internet bills and the minimum payment on her credit card, the amount she was left with was exactly two hundred and three dollars. And seventy-two cents.

"How the hell do people live on these wages?" She bit on a finger nail, searching for something else to deduct. "I can barely feed the three of us on that for two weeks, never mind anything else we might need, like gas for the car..."

"Alejandra? Vas a comer?"

Alex saw Maria's face in the doorway. "In a sec..."

"Before it gets cold, por favor!"

"Okay, Mum."

Alex smirked as she imagined the face the old woman was making. Alex was certain she didn't hate being called that as much she pretended. Suddenly seeing Maria's face made her realize something else. "Damn...I haven't paid Maria yet." Most struggling, single mothers probably didn't have live-in nannies.

Before this month, it had all come out of her bank account. On the first of every month. Like clockwork.

That was before the funds ran out.

Maria once told her that she sent the bulk of her income to her son in Spain. That he could use it more than her since he'd lost his job. It was one of the very few snippets of her personal life she'd shared with Alex.

The thought made Alex feel guilty. She should have taken action before this. Should have gotten a job months ago. Not waited until there was nothing left.

Except that a few months ago she was still struggling to put one foot in front of the other, to make it through a day without breaking into tears, and to have a simple conversation with another human being without wanting to crawl out of her own skin.

It was ironic, she thought, the fact that her savings had lasted exactly as long as she'd needed them to last.

Alex leaned back in her chair. Grateful, as she was for the job at the clinic, she had to find a way to supplement her income.

"I've got to get access to one of the university labs here..."

She checked her e-mail hoping to find another one from Levy Rosenberg. His last couple of e-mails had been about his latest research project. It surprised Alex that he shared as much of it with her as he did, but she wasn't complaining. The project was a fascinating one that involved the use of safe stem cell tissue for the treatment of spinal cord injuries. Alex had read over his earlier findings, spotted a couple of tiny oversights and pointed them out to him, hoping his ego could handle it.

The fact that he kept e-mailing her with additional theories told her he was handling it alright. Or at least that his ego was ultimately smaller than his love of research.

How about a job for me, Levy?

Alex smiled at the thought. It was a ludicrous thought. Alexandra Devane might have had weightier credentials than Rosenberg; Alexia Merrick on the other hand was a nobody whose only claim to fame was publishing two articles in a journal that barely anyone read.

Even if Levy were crazy enough to take an unproven scientist under his wing, it wasn't as though she was ready for that kind of exposure. There were far too many people in that world that might recognize her, especially at the level Rosenberg was working at.

Telling your family that you're alive is exposure too, she reminded herself.

Alex bit her lip. A few days ago she'd been determined to make contact with Dimitri and Andrei, to hell with the consequences. In fact she wanted it so badly, it was hard not to hop on the next flight to London. Now she wasn't sure anymore.

How do I return to the land of the living and keep Liam safe from Faison at the same time?

Was it even possible?

But what was the alternative? Trying to eke out a life of anonymity by working a series of low wage jobs? Until now she'd been able to live comfortably while on the run because she had the finances to do it. That wasn't the case anymore.

And that thought terrified her. What if Faison did find her here?

She no longer had the means to go back on the run.

The realization made her heart beat faster.

'If only I could get licensed to practice here...' she thought. If she could somehow forge enough documentation so that Alex Devane's credentials became Alexia Merrick's. 'Then I could go to some northern settlement and practice in the middle of nowhere.' Judging from some ads she'd seen, the Canadian government was always looking for physicians to set up practice in some of the country's most remote settlements. In exchange they were given a whole host of financial incentives.

'Sean Donely could help me when it comes to the forged documents...' In fact, he'd helped her get away from Moscow initially, along with Anna. Had inadvertently told her enough about creating a false identity to help get her this far on her own. But he'd never help her now without telling Anna where she was, even if he did feel like he owed her one. Sean and Anna were far too close for that.

'Anna...'

The thought of her sister brought another smile to her face.

She missed her crazy, fearless, impulsive sister. No one could make her laugh like Anna and she had loved every minute that she'd been able to spend with her since getting to know her.

They were so different, the two of them. Yet so alike at the same time. Sometimes Alex felt as though they really could read other's thoughts.

"I miss you, Anna. I miss you so much. You and Robin both. And I'm dying to see Leah again. I know I've hurt you by staying away from you, and I'm not sure if you'll ever forgive me..."

"Alejandra!"

Maria's voice nearly made her jump out of her chair. Alex didn't think the old woman had it in her to yell so loud.

"Coming!"

Alex turned off the computer. It was all so damn complicated. But she'd figure it out.

After dinner.

King Faisal Hospital, Kigali, Rwanda

Robert Scorpio didn't think he heard right.

"What did you say?"

Sandrine sat down on a chair in the empty waiting room. "I told Robin. About you."

"You what...?"

"She thinks I'm crazy, and lying and trying to play mind games. Naturally. Who can blame her? You need to go in there and clear things up."

Robert's heart started racing. It was too soon. He didn't prepare himself for this. He wasn't ready to do this right now. He needed to think about what he was going to say. You didn't just waltz into your daughter's hospital room after she thought you'd been dead for over ten years.

"Sandi, I'm not ready..."

Sandrine put a hand on her belly. "You are never going to be ready, mon amour. There is never going to be a perfect moment that you get to choose. You are going to go in there now and see her, if you are ready or not. If you can't think of anything to say, then you are just going to hold her and tell her how much you love her, okay?"

Robert nodded, unable to speak.

Sandrine was right. There was never going to be a perfect moment.

Now was as perfect a moment as any.

He felt her squeeze his hand.

"You are going to find the right words, you will see," she said softly. "Let your love for her guide you."

"Okay..." Robert wondered if he looked alright. He couldn't remember if his hair was combed or whether his blue, khaki shirt was wrinkled.

"You look fine," Sandrine reassured him.

"Did I say anything?"

She smiled. "You didn't have to."

"I'm going..."

"Yes. Go. Before I push you through the door." She leaned back in the chair. "Oh...and Robert. There is something else. After I called the MSF office that Robin asked me to call, I also called Anna."

Robert stopped dead in his tracks. "You what?"

"She's her mother. She has a right to know that her daughter is in the hospital."

"Did you tell...?" Robert felt his knees give in. This was too much all at once.

"No. I will leave that up to Robin. Or you."

Pine Valley, USA

Leah tugged at her arm. "Come play piano with me."

Anna shook her head. "Not now."

"Please?" She said it with the dramatic desperation of a three-year old. As if the instrument might self-combust instantaneously if her mother didn't comply right now.

David snuck up behind Leah, scooping his daughter up in his arms while kissing the top of her pony-tailed head. "I'll come play with you, but I want you to start the song before me."

"Come now," she insisted. "You and Mom."

"We'll both come but only if you start first, okay?"

She gave him one of Anna's sceptical looks. "Promise?"

"Promise."

He set Leah back down and gave her a nudge before she ran off into the study. He could hear her eager fingers pushing down the keys only moments later.

David sat down next to her. "What did Sandrine say?"

Anna stared into space. Nothing that Sandrine Mutanga said made sense. The mere fact that she called her didn't make sense.

"I spent two years trying to get a hold of that woman," Anna said softly. "Her and her partner, Roger Saunders, disappeared into thin air after Moscow." She turned to look at David. "And now she calls from Rwanda to tell me she ran into Robin at a market in Kigali, where she fainted and that Sandrine then took her to a hospital? Am I supposed to believe a word of it?"

"Did you tell her that?"

"I don't even remember what I told her," Anna realized. "All I could think about was Robin, in a hospital in Africa..."

"What else did Sandrine say?"

Anna thought back to conversation and now that she gave it a moment's thought, it seemed more than just surreal. "She said...that she knows it's a shock to hear from her. That there are other things she needs to tell me. And that I should come to Rwanda because Robin is going to need me."

"Are you serious?" David looked at her with concern now. "Did she say what was wrong with Robin?"

"She said..." Anna felt warm tears running down her cheeks now, against her will. "That it's to do with the HIV. That she wasn't able to take her meds properly and it made her ill."

"We can't believe her unless we speak to Robin," David warned her. "All of it sounds suspicious."

Anna wiped the tears from her face, not wanting David's comfort right now. Not wanting to give him the chance to offer it. "I know..."

"Did she tell you what hospital Robin checked into? Then I can contact the chief of staff there," he suggested.

Anna bit her lip. David was right. She had to start thinking straight. Like the trained agent she once was. Not like a panicked mother picturing worst case scenarios.

"King...something." The name sounded like Faison and it made her shudder.

David squeezed her hand. "I'll find it. Kigali's not very big. There can't be that many hospitals there." David squeezed her hand and then got back up when he heard Leah calling him. "Don't do anything drastic until we know more."

Anna nodded. What time was it in Rwanda anyway? She'd forgotten how many hours ahead it was. Why not call right now and ask to speak to Robin? "I'll look it up online if you can keep Leah occupied."

"Tell me what you find. And if Robin really is there I still want to speak to her attending physician."

Why would Sandrine lie about something like that?

'Why does Sandrine do anything she does?' Anna realized as she watched David leave. She barely knew the woman. The WSB agent had joined forces with her, Sean, Dimitri and Dan O'Toole two years ago in Paris on their search for Alex, after her kidnapping. Sandrine hadn't joined them on Alex's behalf. She had her own agenda. She was searching for her partner, who'd been tracking Faison on a blood diamond trail.

Sean Donely distrusted Sandrine Mutanga right from the get-go, but they did a thorough background check on her and everything matched the story she'd told them.

Throughout the investigation it seemed like she was on their side, until they got a solid lead on Faison in Moscow and Sandrine promptly went missing. But not before telling them via a phone call that her partner had escaped Faison's lair and delivered an injured Alex to a Moscow hospital.

That was the last Anna had heard from Sandrine Mutanga.

Both her and Sean had called the Central African division of the WSB countless times after that, in an attempt to speak to her and her mysterious partner. But the two of them might as well have fallen off the face of the earth.

Until now.

'Until now when you call to tell me that Robin is ill and needs me...'

Anna massaged her temples, not sure what to believe.

'I am sure about two things,' she thought. 'I know I won't do anything you tell me until I speak to Robin. And I know that you are most definitely hiding something, Sandrine...'

King Faisal Hospital, Kigali, Rwanda

Robin Scorpio wasn't sure whether to laugh or to worry.

Really worry.

Sandrine Mutanga, who wasn't even supposed to be in Rwanda, runs into her just as she faints at a downtown market. Then she brings her to a hospital only to tell her, her father was alive?

None of it made any sense.

It was so crazy Robin wanted to laugh. That and pinch herself to wake up from it all.

Although she'd already tried that and it didn't work.

She was still here in this room, trying to make sense of what just happened. She felt warm and vaguely uncomfortable. She knew she was running a fever, but she also knew it wasn't enough to make her completely delusional.

'Think,' she scolded herself. 'Pretend you're Mom. Think like an investigator.'

How would Sandrine even know about her father?

'Sandrine was or still is with the WSB, even if she does look like she's going to give birth in a few weeks,' Robin reminded herself. 'And Dad was quite the WSB legend in his time. Sandrine did ask about him when she came to my apartment in Paris and saw his photo...that wasn't a lie.'

"I asked because I wanted to see your reaction."

'If Mom and Faison survived the tanker explosion why would it be so crazy to think that Dad did too?' Robin asked herself. It wasn't the first time she asked herself that question. But it was the first time she genuinely toyed with the idea of believing it.

'Except Mom had an extremely rare case of retrograde amnesia. She didn't know who she was. That's why she stayed away from her family all these years. The chances of Dad surviving the explosion with the exact same, rare condition are close to nil...which means if he survived, he purposely stayed away from his family. Which makes even less sense...unless...'

'Unless he's not the man you thought he was,' Robin answered her own question. There was so much that happened before and after that tanker explosion that Robin didn't know about. So much of her parents' history with Faison that she didn't know about.

Her only link to it all was her mother and there were parts of it her mother didn't remember. And parts she no doubt didn't want to remember and share with her daughter.

"Would you want to share all the dumb mistakes you made in your youth with your future kids?" she wondered aloud. Robin managed a smile. "Probably not."

Was there a chance that her father was alive and that her mother knew?

That thought made her frown. She might be able to accept that her mother had her share of secrets, but that wasn't one she'd forgive her for keeping. 'If that's the case neither Mom or Dad are who I thought they were...'

She couldn't think of a single logical thread to tie it all too.

'You'd make a lousy investigator,' she thought with a sigh.

Her mind was still racing when she saw the doorknob turning from the corner of her eye.

Robin was floored by what she saw next.

By the man who stepped through the door and brought back a flood of memories.

He was older than in her memories. His hair more white than anything else now and his back stooped ever so slightly. But he was still handsome, maybe even more so than she remembered. He looked strong and unflappable. Calm and healthy. Just as she remembered.

His impossibly blue eyes were warm and alert, and focused on only one thing.

Her.

"Hello, luv."

***Many thanks to my two awesome editors, Annie and Kel. :)