The dog looked up at Kevin’s tone but then seemed to decide everything was fine and stuck his face out the window again.
She turned to Daniel first, looking up at him from under the ball cap that was supposed to be keeping her mangled face in shadow. “How did you think your brother found you?”
“He tracked me? But… where was it?”
“Sore spot on your inner right thigh. Keep the incision clean, try not to let it get infected.”
“Do you know what a pain it was to get that in place?” Kevin grumbled.
“If you can track it, so can someone else. I didn’t want to take chances with our position.”
Daniel turned around in the passenger seat to stare at his brother. “How did you… How could I not know about this?”
“Do you remember, about two years after the tramp left you, a hot leggy blonde at that bar you go to when you’re depressed, what’s it called…”
“Lou’s. How do you even know about that? I never told you… wait, did you have me followed?”
“I was worried about you after the tramp—”
“Her name is Lainey.”
“Whatever. I never liked her for you.”
“When did you ever like a girl for me? As far as I can recall, you only ever liked girls who wanted you. You took it as an insult if someone preferred me.”
“The point is, you weren’t yourself. But having you followed was unrelated to the—”
“Who followed me?”
“It was just for a few months.”
“Who?”
“Some buddies of mine—not in the Agency. A few cops I had a relationship with, a PI for a little while.”
“What were they looking for?”
“Just making sure you were okay, that you weren’t going to jump off a bridge or anything.”
“I can’t believe you. Of all the—wait a minute. The blonde? You mean that girl, what was her name, Kate? The one who bought me a drink and… she was a spy?”
She saw Kevin grinning in the rearview mirror.
“No, she was actually a hooker. Kate isn’t her real name.”
“Apparently no one on the entire planet besides me uses his or her real name. I am living in a world of lies. I don’t even know Alex’s given name.”
“Juliana,” she said at the same time Kevin did. They cast irritated looks at each other.
“He knew?” Daniel asked her, offended.
“It came up while you were unconscious. It’s the name I was given at birth, but it’s really not me anymore. It doesn’t mean much to me. I’m Alex for now.”
Daniel frowned, not entirely mollified.
“Anyway,” Kevin went on in the tone of someone who was telling a joke he really enjoyed, “the blonde was supposed to get you back to your place, but you told her that your divorce wasn’t finalized yet and it didn’t feel right.” Kevin laughed raucously. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard. But it was so you. I don’t even know why I was surprised.”
“Hilarious. But I don’t see how that little exchange got a tracking device into my leg.”
“It didn’t. I just really like that story. Anyway, that’s what was such a pain. The hooker was easy to set up. And if you’d taken her home, having the tracker placed would have been enjoyable for you, at least. Getting you into your GP’s office was a lot more work. But eventually I got a temp in the front office to call you in for checkup. When you got there, you saw one of the new partners. A guy you’d never seen before.”
Daniel’s mouth popped open in disbelief. “He told me I had a tumor!”
“A benign tumor. Which he took out right there in the office with a local anesthetic and immediately assured you was nothing. He didn’t even charge you. Don’t make it into a bigger thing than it was.”
“Are you serious? How could you—” Daniel was shouting at full volume now. “How do you justify these things to yourself? All these years you’ve been manipulating me! Treating me like some laboratory animal who exists for your own amusement!”
“Hardly, Danny. I’ve been putting myself out trying to keep you safe. The Agency wanted me to play dead from the very start, but I couldn’t do that to you, not after Mom and Dad. So I made a lot of promises and spent all my free weekends flying to Milwaukee to be a criminal.”
Daniel’s voice was calmer when he answered. “I drove. And was all that really necessary?”
“Ask the poison girl. These kinds of jobs aren’t for family people.”
Daniel looked at her. “Is that true?”
“Yes. They like to recruit orphans—preferably only children. Like your brother told you before, relationships give the bad guys leverage.”
His tone mellowed further. “Are you an orphan?”
“I’m not sure. Never met my father. He could still be alive somewhere.”
“But your mother…”
“Uterine cancer. I was nineteen.”
“I’m sorry.”
She nodded.
There was a brief, very pleasurable moment of silence. Alex held her breath and prayed for it to last.
“When I did finally let you think I was dead…” Kevin began.