Undercover Twin

Lee exhaled. “She’s been shot.”

No. Her throat burned. She couldn’t find out she had a twin sister only to lose her a second later.

* * *

One for the books. The thought kept running through Lee’s brain as he maneuvered full-speed to the closest hospital with Kendra and her possible twin behind him in the back of the gutted van. There was no entry in the field manual for finding out your partner had a twin, something the Bureau should’ve already known.

Meanwhile, Audrey chattered a mile a minute. She rattled off questions faster than his brain could compute, but he ignored them for the moment out of necessity. There would be time to figure things out after they got Kendra into the hands of medical professionals. “Just keep pressure on the wound.”

“Which one?”

It hadn’t taken them long to find a bullet had impaled the back of Kendra’s shoulder and remained in there somewhere. The back of her black shirt had been drenched in blood, but the impact her head took when hitting the sidewalk’s edge couldn’t be dismissed. He imagined Kendra knew she’d been shot before demanding to know if Audrey had taken a bullet. It figured Kendra wouldn’t admit she needed help. She always acted as if she didn’t even have a partner, determined to be a one-woman, superundercover FBI agent.

Lee pulled off his jacket with one hand while on a straight stretch of street and threw it behind him. “Put pressure on both, if you can. Use this for the head wound. I think that’s probably more important.”

Lee pulled up to the Emergency entrance and glanced in the rearview mirror. Audrey’s reflection startled him. Identical features, yes, but the expression in her eyes, flashing emotion, proved she was different than Kendra. “Audrey, I need you to run in and tell them your sister has been shot. No more, no less. I need to find her identification.”

Mercifully, Audrey didn’t ask any questions as she pulled the door handle open and darted out the side door. He turned off the van and removed the keys. He found the hidden latch underneath the console and opened it to reveal a lock. In the space of ten seconds, he removed and chose the most unused credentials for Kendra. Until he knew what they were dealing with, remaining in deep cover seemed the safest course of action, for all parties involved.

He climbed into the back of the van and stored her gun in the storage compartment underneath the passenger seat. “Sorry, Kendra. If you can hear me, I’m just getting your phone. Help is on the way.” He slipped her phone from her pocket as the automatic sliding doors to the hospital slid open once more.

Two women and one man, all in gray medical scrubs, darted past Audrey’s pointing finger to the van. Two others pushed a gurney behind them. At the last second, Lee removed the conference badge—the one with Audrey’s name displayed—from Kendra’s neck, stuffed it into his pocket and stepped out of the van.

Lee rattled off the two wound locations before the staff could ask. The attendants nodded as they counted and moved her in unison onto the bed. And then Lee looked at Kendra, really looked, for the first time since she’d initially hit the ground. He’d never seen his partner look so peaceful, yet so broken.

They wheeled her away and he was left underneath the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights mounted on the overhang, staring at Kendra’s twin, the air still, with only the sound of beeping trucks and traffic speeding nearby.

“Are...are you okay?” Audrey said as her face lost its color.

Lee tilted his head and studied her. Kendra only paled when she was deathly afraid. “I think I should be asking you that question.”

She blinked rapidly, turning slightly away from him. “When I woke up this morning I was ready for the beginning of an amazing life change. I said goodbye to my alma mater and headed to a conference at Stanford as a post-doctorate from Duke. Next week I’m supposed to enjoy my very first vacation in seven years, and then lead my very own lab at Caltech in the fall. Do you have any idea how many Nobel laureates are on staff? It’s beyond what I ever imagined.” She sniffed and shook her head. “And then I meet her, and none of that seems very important anymore.”

If Kendra had ever spouted such disjointed information, he’d have physically carried her into a counselor’s office. He had no way of knowing if it was normal discourse for Audrey, though. Since he had no idea how to respond, he remained silent.

She gestured toward the closed door and let out a shaky sigh. “I’ve got a sister, and I might never even get to know her.”

“Hey.” Lee put an arm around her shoulder to give an encouraging squeeze, but Audrey spun into his chest, her hands against her eyes. Lee wasn’t sure what to do. He put a hand on her back, tense enough to be obvious she was trying to pull herself together. Kendra would’ve never let herself be so vulnerable. In all the years they’d worked together, she’d never shared so much as a feeling about the weather. “On second thought, are you sure you’re twins?” He forced a small laugh.

“Sorry. I’m not usually like this. You have no idea how exhausted I am, and then a man died—” She reared back, a touch of mascara underneath both eyes. “She probably never cries. Am I right? Great. I’m the weaker twin. I’ve heard that’s what can happen when—”

“That’s not what I meant.”

The doors opened again and an attendant stood on the indoor motion sensor pad, waving them forward. Audrey pulled her shoulders back, nodded and followed the woman with the laptop on a pushcart until they reached a small sitting room. If they hadn’t been interrupted, Lee would’ve told Audrey that vulnerability was a unique strength, but perhaps it was best to shift back into work mode. Lee answered the hospital registration questions as fast as he could, using the cover for Kendra he’d selected.

The attendant tapped her diamond-encrusted pink nails over the keyboard. “And you are the patient’s sister and...” She lifted her head and looked at Lee.

“Husband.”

Audrey’s eyes widened, and her mouth fell open. She looked down at his hand and zeroed in on the silver silicone wedding ring on his left hand. “You’re married?” She all but shouted the words.

Two men waiting in the chairs outside the open room looked up, curious. Lee offered a tense smile and soft laugh. If she blew their covers over such a small detail, keeping Audrey Clark safe wasn’t going to be an easy task.

TWO (#u9dc933ba-dec5-5ebb-ba17-9a4d5b4e9703)

“It’s...it’s new. Eloped. We were waiting to tell you after dinner.” Lee looked between her and the attendant, who didn’t seem surprised.

Of course they would be married. Audrey didn’t know why it bothered her so much. The tingling in the back of her neck called her bluff. She was jealous, even though she had no right to be. Her new sister not only was her better in every way but had also married a superhero. They probably saved the world by night and enjoyed intellectual pursuits during the day. For fun.

She blew out a breath and focused on the geometric pattern of the gray carpet to silence her internal rant. She needed to get her hands on research journals about twins. Many studies had been done or were in progress. Could this surge of ridiculous feelings be catch-up on thirty-three years of sibling rivalry? Maybe it was to be expected.

Lee touched the back of her arm and she realized she’d missed the rest of the registration process. He pointed toward a hallway. “She said we should head down to the surgery waiting room.”

Her knees wobbled as she straightened. “Sur-surgery?” She thought she’d get a chance to see Kendra again—conscious—before anything drastic.

“They need to remove the bullet.” Lee gently cradled her arm and led her down the hallway. “Let’s take a little detour,” he whispered. He looked over his shoulder and pulled her into a dimly lit room with chairs set in rows.

The cross at the far end caught her attention. “This isn’t the waiting room.” Maybe he wanted them to pray for Kendra together. Audrey wasn’t averse to it, but she’d admit to being a little out of practice.

He gestured for them to sit in the back row. “I know, but it’s empty and private.” He exhaled and slumped forward. “Listen, you can’t do stuff like that.”

“What?”

“Have a huge reaction when I’m referencing our covers.”

“Our?” She pointed at herself.

“No. Yes. I mean, your sister and I work as a married couple. We’re not actually married. The cover makes it convenient to work as partners in certain undercover missions.”

“So you’re not my brother-in-law?”

The left side of his lips curled up. “No. Sorry.”

The knots in her stomach unfurled and while she felt genuine relief, it was followed by a slam-dunk of guilt. Sure, she found Lee attractive. Who wouldn’t with those kind eyes, thick hair and a strong physique capable of carrying her away from danger? Not to mention the way he listened and comforted her.

The emotional roller coaster made no logical sense. Kendra should have someone in her life, even though Audrey didn’t. She didn’t consider herself to be an envious person so the feelings caught her off guard. Maybe she just wasn’t mentally ready to gain a brother, as well as a sister. Her shoulders dropped. She was going to fail at being a good sister. She could already tell.

Lee turned his body perpendicular to hers to face her. “I know this is a lot for you to take in, but I need to get answers before I can determine the current threat. I need to know if that man said anything to you before shots were fired.”

“The man you said was Adam?” The man who had bled to death on her. The thought worked like a magnet, pulling her gaze back down to her bloodied blouse.

“Yes.”

“It...” Her mouth went dry as if she’d just chewed on cotton balls. “It happened so fast. I thought for sure he had the wrong person, which it turned out he did.”

“I know it’s hard to remember but please try. Any detail might help.”

She faced forward and studied the light fixtures, willing her mind to return her to that dark sidewalk. “He said not to trust anyone.” Her eyes widened. He’d shoved his fist into the front of her bag and had told her to take it. Was there something in her bag? “He said something about not the first one.”