Italian Deception. Michelle Reid
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her lips. It stirred her almost as much as the African bush. She had seen a lot of Africa traveling with her mother and nothing could compare to the wildlife and wilderness of the bush, but Cape Town was by far the most beautiful city on the continent.
Inside the house, retro modern furniture and thick mahogany tables were paired with an oriental theme. A windowless basement ran the length of the house and held a lab with enough explosives and weapons to keep an anarchist happy for a couple of years.
She felt her hair stinging her cheeks as the wind lashed it against her face. Uncertainty tugged at her. She’d been here a whole day and no courier had arrived. The team should be here in a couple of hours. No one complained about the change in plans. Flexibility was essential in their line of work. Tommy was flying Cao and Betsy over in the Cessna he used for his security business. She had taken a chartered flight in from Jijiga.
A knock on the door brought her out of her seat. She stepped through the open patio doors and paused near the security monitor.
The heart-shaped face and short brunette hair she spotted made her smile. She pressed the intercom and screamed, “Oh my God!” Her jaw fell open. “Val!”
“Hey, girlfriend, open the door. I’m growing warts here.”
Lucy grabbed the knob and flung open the door. She almost leaped into Val’s arms, but the cupcake and burning candle her friend held made her pause.
Val broke out into a smile. “Thought I’d forget? Happy birthday, McGill.”
Lucy grinned at the sound of her old nickname. McGill stood for McGillicuddy. Louise Benson, Lucy’s archrival at the Athena Academy, had dubbed Lucy with the name because of her red hair resembling Lucille Ball’s. The name had stuck. Lucy hadn’t liked the pet name at first and she had paid Louise back by putting Elmer’s Glue in her hair conditioner. Louise had walked around for a week with chopsticks for hair.
Louise hadn’t known it at the time, but she’d done Lucy a big favor. The nickname had made Lucy buckle down, rein in her restlessness, strive harder in her classes so she wouldn’t live up to her I Love Lucy namesake. She had graduated with honors, and if she were brutally honest with herself, it was partially owing to Louise’s spite.
“Oh, no! I forgot yours,” Lucy said. They shared the same birthday and had always tried to celebrate it together. She wondered if her mother had planned a surprise party for both of them. Knowing her mother, she probably had. She’d have to make it up to her.
“Okay, so I win the better friend medal today.” Val strode inside, sporting an Ann Taylor white pant suit, matching shoes and purse. Sleek white sunglasses to match. When Val made an entrance, heads turned.
Lucy stared at her own jade-green shift, Nikes, and white tourist sweatshirt with Cape Town, South Africa silk-screened on it. She felt a little dowdy around Val, who always looked like she’d just stepped out of a Neiman Marcus window.
Lucy closed the door and Val held out the cupcake. “Make a wish for both of us.”
Lucy filled her cheeks, closed her eyes and blew.
“Still got enough hot air for both of us, I see.” Val thrust the cupcake at Lucy, pushed her sunglasses up on her head, and glanced around at the luxury surrounding them. “Can you find a knife in this dump?”
Lucy laughed until her eyes glistened with tears. God, she had missed Val. “Share some dinner with me, then we’ll eat the cupcake.”
“Lead the way. I’m starving.”
Val followed her into the galley-style kitchen. “So what are you doing here? How did you find me?”
Val wiggled her fingers like an evil conjurer, her bright green eyes glistening. “We Khaosians have ways of finding out things.”
Lucy thought of the Khaos mentor group Val and she had belonged to at the Athena Academy. The group had been named after Khaos, the primeval Greek goddess of air. Her name actually meant “gap,” the space separating heaven and earth. They went hot air ballooning and sky diving, and on special occasions put on fireworks displays. The group activities had been a blast, but Lucy had taken the most pleasure in setting up the fireworks.
“Come on, spill the beans,” Lucy said.
Val pulled a manila envelope from her backpack and handed it to Lucy. It looked like any business envelope, innocuous enough. She must have breezed through customs.
“You’re the courier?” Lucy asked, staring at the envelope in disbelief.
“Delphi must have known we were friends and asked me to drop it off.”
“I just found out about this Delphi person. I was skeptical at first.”
“Delphi is one of the good guys. You shouldn’t have any reservations about accepting an assignment from that quarter.” Val hesitated for a moment, then said, “Delphi thought you might have some questions and said I should brief you on the Oracle network.”
“What is Oracle?”
“All I know is that it’s a secret network that monitors intel from U.S. intelligence-gathering agencies, and Delphi oversees it.”
“So you work for Oracle, too?”
“I do assignments when I can.”
“We’re both Athena grads. Does that mean Oracle gets its recruits from the Athena Academy?”
“I don’t know if all the operatives who work for Oracle are AA grads. I have my suspicions that a lot of them could be. And I know they often use resources from AA.gov.”
“Do you know who Delphi is? That altered voice creeped me out.”
“You, too?” Val grinned. “You get used to it.”
Lucy had a feeling Val was avoiding the question so she said, “Okay, so who is it?”
Val shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I believe it’s someone connected to the Athena Academy. I don’t even know who any of the other Oracle agents are. I only knew about you because Delphi gave me your name as my contact. We’re not even supposed to be discussing it. Pretty hush-hush stuff.”
“Oh, okay.” Lucy let it drop, but she was still curious about Delphi’s identity.
Val pointed to the envelope. “By the way, you’re not to open that until I’m gone.”
“So you’re not here for long?” The excitement dropped from Lucy’s voice. She set the package on the counter and pulled out a plate and fork and knife for Val.
“Sorry.” Val checked her Rolex. “We got two hours, then I’m on a flight for the States.”
“CIA biz?”
Val nodded as she picked up the take-out container and shoveled the rest of the rice onto a plate. “What did you wish for?” she asked.
“Can’t say. Bad luck and you know it.”
“Remember that silly vow we made our sophomore year?”
“I’d almost forgotten about it.”
Val shrugged and shook her head. “Falling madly in love by our thirtieth birthday and turning down at least five marriage proposals. Hard to forget.”
They both smiled at each other, their expressions turning somber, pensive.
A strange sadness tugged at Lucy. Maybe it was the lost closeness they had shared at the academy, a youth that had slipped by all too quickly. Or it could be the vow that still nagged at the back of her mind, a whispered uncertainty that she might not ever fall in love. She certainly hadn’t turned down any proposals. Thoughts of Jack Kane surfaced, but she hadn’t really loved Jack in that breathless, love-ever-after way. They’d only gone out on one date before he died. But if they’d had more time… Jack might have been the one. She forced memories of Jack back into that dark place she refused