Chapter 8: The Test
Lee picked up the pregnancy test for Amanda on Thursday morning. He'd never been in that particular drug store before, and that was the reason he'd gone there. No one there knew him, and hopefully, no one he knew would pick that day to go there.
He'd worn his wedding ring, which he usually kept hidden at his apartment, for the occasion. He figured that the staff at the drug store would be less likely to remember a man buying a pregnancy test for his wife than one who didn't seem to be married and could be picking one up for his girlfriend. It was probably pretty common for a married guy these days to get one of these tests to see if his wife was expecting. At least, Lee hoped it was.
Hopefully, they would attribute his slight nervousness to pre-fatherhood jitters. Partly, it was. He didn't really think Amanda was pregnant, but there was always that 'What if?' What would they do? He'd always thought that he might like a wife and kids someday. It's just that someday always seemed so far away. At times, it had seemed pretty much out of reach for someone who lived the unpredictable life of a secret agent. Even now that he had a wife and two stepsons, it didn't seem completely real because they weren't living together. That bothered him. But, if this test turned out to be positive, things were definitely going to get real. Even if it didn't . . .
Lee's thoughts were interrupted by the two men at the front of the line. He'd decided to check out at the pharmacy counter instead of at the main counter at the front of the store because it was a little more private. The line was moving slowly because the people at the front often had questions for the pharmacist. Lee could only see the two men who were now talking to the pharmacist from behind, and he hadn't been paying much attention to them because there was a mother with a baby and a fussy two-year-old in front of him. For the last five minutes, Lee had been watching the young mother and thinking about babies, but the voice of one of the men had attracted his attention. The man was speaking with an accent. A Romanian accent. Curious, Lee tried to look past the mother.
One of the men said, "So you're sure this is right?"
The pharmacist's answer was quieter, and Lee didn't catch it over the whimpering of the fussy two-year-old.
"We're going home soon, sweetie," the tired mother said.
"And it is safe?" the other man said at the front of the line.
The pharmacist said something else that Lee didn't catch, but the men must have been satisfied with their purchase. They turned to go, and Lee caught a glimpse of one of them. It was the same man from the airport! He was sure of it!
So far, they hadn't seen him. Lee dropped the pregnancy test on the nearest shelf and followed after them. He was careful to hang back. Neither one of them noticed. Since neither of them had done anything illegal that he knew of, he couldn't arrest them, but he wanted to get a look at their vehicle.
The car they climbed into in the parking lot was an old, gray, four-door Buick sedan. A LaSabre, Lee thought, from the styling along the side. Probably late 1970s. Unfortunately, he didn't get the license number before they pulled out. All he saw clearly was that it had a Virginia plate.
Returning to the pharmacy counter and his original errand, Lee decided to pump the pharmacist for some information.
Seeing the pregnancy test, the pharmacist said, "This is a good choice. This brand is very accurate, and you'll have the results in minutes. Are you and the Mrs. excited?"
He was an older man with a kindly smile.
"Oh, yeah, we're excited," Lee said. That was putting it mildly. "By the way, I think I saw a couple of friends of mine in here a minute ago. You know, the two men with the accents?"
"Oh, yes," the pharmacist said. "I wondered what kind of accents they were. Where are they from?"
"Romania," Lee said. "They just moved here."
"Really!" the pharmacist said, his eyes widening. "I didn't think Romanians could come here so easily these days."
"Well, they've actually been here for awhile. I mean, they just moved here from another state," Lee said, quickly making up the story in his head. "I just hope they're not sick. They just started at their new jobs."
"Oh, no," the pharmacist said. "They're not sick. They just wanted some sleeping pills."
"Sleeping pills?" Lee asked.
"Just an over-the-counter variety," the pharmacist said. "They were worried about side effects, but I assured them it was perfectly safe."
Sleeping pills sounded innocent enough, but Lee decided to pry further. "I didn't know they suffered from insomnia."
"Oh, no, it wasn't for them. It was for their niece."
"Their niece?"
"The poor girl is afraid of flying, and she has to go on a long flight soon. They suggested it might be easier for her if she slept the whole way. I told them the pills would be perfectly fine for any child over twelve. As long as she takes the dosage listed on the box, there won't be any problem at all."
A child over twelve? Antonia Petrescu was thirteen.
"Oh, god," Lee thought.
"My congratulations," the pharmacist was saying. "I hope you get the results you're hoping for!"
"What?"
The pharmacist smiled and pointed wordlessly to Lee's purchase.
"Oh, right. Thank you!"
Lee left the drug store, vowing that he'd never come back to that location again if he could help it. The pharmacist was a nice guy, but he talked way too much.
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"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Amanda said after Lee had arrived at her house and told her what he had seen. "Maybe they really do have a niece who's afraid of flying."
"Come on," Lee said. "After they way that guy acted at the airport?"
He'd arrived a little later than he meant to because he had stopped off at the Petrescu house to make sure that Antonia was alright. She was fine, and her mother said that it had been a quiet day. Antonia's mother had finally convinced her to get unpacked and settled in, and once again, she was reading her book about Nikola Tesla. Now that she'd placed her books on the small bookshelf that Amanda had picked out as part of the girl's bedroom set, Lee could see that most of them were about science. The ones that weren't horse stories, that is.
Lee had called Fielder, who was due to check in with the family later that evening with the security team, and told him to come early and establish a watch on the house 24/7 until further notice. When he left the Petrescu house, he told Doina that it was alright to accept little treats that the neighbors might bring by to welcome them, but under no conditions should they eat any until they were inspected carefully, just in case. Lee didn't want Amanda's neighbors thinking that the Petrescus were strange or unfriendly by turning away welcome presents, but there was no sense in taking risks.
"It does sound like a pretty weird coincidence," Amanda admitted.
"I'm pretty sure Anton is hiding something," Lee said. "You should have seen the look on his face when he saw that other man. I know that they know each other. But, Anton denies it now."
They were able to talk about the situation openly because Amanda's mother was gone, and wouldn't be back until dinner time.
"If it was someone who posed a threat to his family, wouldn't he say something?" Amanda asked.
"You'd think so," Lee said. "I don't understand him."
"From what the Agency file said about him, he doesn't have any friends in the Romanian government. He has a few relatives there, but all we know about them is that his relationship with them wasn't very good even when he lived in Romania, and leaving didn't improve it." Amanda had studied Anton's file while resting up from her illness.
"That's an understatement," Lee said. "The only reason the Romanian government might not want Anton dead would be to haul him back home and find out what he's been working on over here. That's probably what they would do if they got their hands on him."
"So, you're thinking that if those two men are working for the Romanian government, they might be planning to kidnap Antonia in order to force her father to go back to Romania?" Amanda asked.
"It could be. We've got to keep a careful eye on her."
"It must be difficult for her, moving to a new place with no friends, and she won't be able to tell her new friends here anything about what her father really does for a living."
"I know," Lee said.
Any child of theirs would be under the same pressure, not able to talk about what mom and dad really do. The only reason Amanda's boys weren't under that pressure now was because they didn't know. How long would that last?
"Are you ready to take the test?" Lee asked.
"I'm ready," Amanda said. "But I tell you, it's not going to show anything. I just had the flu. I'm already starting to feel better."
"We have to know for sure," Lee said.
The test didn't show anything. Amanda wasn't pregnant.
When she showed Lee, he sat down on her bed and gave an enormous sigh. Even he wasn't sure if it was one of relief or disappointment.
Not having a baby in their future might make things simpler for now, but when he'd been thinking about it, imagining it . . . It was worrying but oddly appealing.
The boys were great, and if he and Amanda never had a child together, he'd be satisfied with them. Still, the thought of that little girl he'd imagined . . .
Amanda was studying Lee's expression.
"I know," she said.
