"I should be home by Sat.u.r.day, Ca.s.s. I actually had a good day."

"I'm not sure what that means, but if it means you get home sooner rather than later; I am all for it."

Alex took a deep breath. "I'll try to call you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay?" Ca.s.sidy asked.

"If you don't hear from me....for a day or two; I don't want you to worry," Alex explained.

"You know I can't promise you that."

"I know," the agent laughed. "I had to say to say it, though. You gonna be okay there with Rose?"

"Yeah, just get home, Alex."

"Tell Dylan I miss him, okay?"

"I will."

"Ca.s.s?"

"Yeah?"

"I," Alex stopped and caught her breath. She had no idea what awaited her in France. She knew it involved Christopher O'Brien and Claire Brackett and Alex knew that spelled trouble. "I love you, Ca.s.s."

"I love you too, Alex."

"Take some time with your mom, okay?" Alex suggested.

"I will. Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise me you..."

"I'll call you in the morning," Alex promised.

"I can't lose you, Alex."

The fear in Ca.s.sidy's voice was unmistakable. "I'll be home soon. I promise," Alex answered. "Get some sleep."

"You too."

"And Ca.s.s?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember, you promised tacos."

Ca.s.sidy giggled. "I did."

"Love you."

"I love you too, Alfred."

Thursday, April 24th he sound of breaking gla.s.s filled the small apartment. The tall, fair haired man closed his eyes tightly and fell to his knees next to the bed. His hands reached across the large form still tucked away under a sheet. Grasping the sheet forcefully, Ian Mitch.e.l.l's anger turned to sobs. "No...No....No...." He kept repeating the words as if willing the man in the bed to listen. The blood stained wall was still not enough to convince his mind that the scene before him was a reality. "G.o.d dammit, Elliot. Who did this? Who could do this?"

Mitch.e.l.l lifted his hands to his face, rubbing with such force that it left long finger trails down the length of his cheeks. Slowly he regained his footing and began to pace the small room, searching with his eyes. His hands scoured each surface for evidence of who might be responsible for the death of the man in the bed. A small crumpled paper lying near the door caught his attention. Carefully, he unrolled it and brought it toward his face. His eyes narrowed to slits as an angry sigh escaped his lips. "So...you were the one that was going to meet O'Brien, Elliot." He turned back to the man lying cold in the bed. "I told you to be careful of her. Foolish." A maniacal chuckle escaped his lips. "Well, won't they be surprised this evening."

"Brady, you didn't have to come."

Steven Brady stretched his legs out and lifted them onto the small table at the center of the hotel room. "Really, Toles? And let you have all the fun? I don't think so."

"Is that what this is?" Alex questioned. "Fun?"

Brady shrugged. "Could be if we catch the smug son of a b.i.t.c.h up to something." Alex nodded and gave her friend a halfhearted smile as she laced up her boot. "What?" Brady asked, seeing her expression. "You said it yourself, O'Brien is being set up."

"Yeah. He is."

"So, I should think you would be glad to catch him...even if it is a set up. Christ knows he put himself in the middle of all this." Alex kept her eyes on the laces of her boot. "Toles, what? What are you worried about? Telling Ca.s.sidy about O'Brien?"

Alex shook her head and let out the hint of a chuckle. "No. Not at all."

"Then I really don't understand," Brady said as he sat back up and leaned forward. "What is it?"

"Brackett."

"You mean the admiral?" he asked.

"No." Alex finished tying her boot and sighed. "I mean Claire."

"What; did Fallon find something at her apartment?"

"Only what I already told you. She's definitely into it with the congressman and she definitely headed here to France."

"Her father probably sent her," Brady surmised.

Alex stood and stretched her back. All the travel had made her stiff and while she would never admit it to her compatriot, she was feeling anxious about following O'Brien into whatever he had gotten himself involved in. "I don't think the admiral sent her ahead."

"I don't understand Alex."

"Brady, I think our friend Agent Brackett is trying to play both ends against the middle."

"Why?"

"s.h.i.t," Alex said shaking her head. "Why wouldn't she? Think about it. What if Claire is the one who arranged O'Brien's accident?"

"So?"

Alex looked at Brady and bit her lip, considering how to continue. "You think she'd want him to know that? Just think how deep she is in this, whatever this is. She was sleeping with Fisher at some point, sleeping with the president right before he was a.s.sa.s.sinated, and now she is sleeping with O'Brien. Where do you suppose Fisher got his FBI credentials?"

"I a.s.sume Agent Brackett."

"Yeah, but Claire couldn't get those on her own. Even as a DCIS agent she wouldn't have that kind of authority," Alex offered.

"You have got to be kidding me. You think her father got those credentials for Fisher? Why would he help a liability?" Brady asked.

"To take out insurance on a bigger liability," Alex raised her brow.

"Jesus, Alex."

"Look, Brady...in those files I got at Holloman...William Brackett is mentioned over and over again. It's going to take me some time to discern it all. It's heavily redacted, but trust me, SPHINX runs deep. Admiral Brackett runs deeper. Claire is as loose a cannon as Fisher was and that spells trouble."

"Yeah, but what does SPHINX have to do with this?" he asked.

"Directly? Maybe nothing. Indirectly, I suspect everything. It's the key to unlock the door, Brady. That's what SPHINX is; the key to unlocking a secret door. But, if we manage to unlock it; I suspect we will find a whole bunch of other doors with Admiral William Brackett greeting us at every one."

"SPHINX was years ago," he said. Alex's posture stiffened slightly and she shook her head. "Well?" he asked urgently. "What? Why would Brackett set up his own daughter? I get that she is a wild card, Toles. But if you think he's worried about covering up SPHINX...I mean Claire was just a kid. What could she possibly know?"

"About the project? Probably nothing specific," Alex said grabbing her jacket off a chair. "But now, with everything she is doing...Well, she could lead us somewhere he does not want us to go. I'm more worried about what he is trying to keep us from than what he seems to want to lead us to. Brady, SPHINX; do you know what it stands for?"

"No. Only that it was the codename for the project. Even Taylor wasn't certain what the call letters stood for."

"Yeah. That's the thing about being a soldier, Brady. You don't always ask the right questions. SPHINX stands for Special Project Helix Installation Nigeria Axis."

"And?"

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're the one who found this in the first place. You've been dealing with the arms trade for how many years now? Think about it. Helix is a spiral. Installation; putting something in place. Nigeria; what is Nigeria known for, Brady?"

"Money laundering," he answered.

"Mm... and Axis?" He looked at her inquisitively. "It's an imaginary line that a body rotates around. Imaginary boundaries, spiraling around Nigeria." Brady shrugged. "Brady, there is a veiled meaning in every project code you know that. These people always think they are smarter than the rest of us. Think about it. What is a SPHINX?"

"My ancient mythology is a bit rusty Toles, but if memory serves it was a mythological monster that presented riddles," he answered, not following the importance.

"Yeah, and SPHINX is the riddle. What happens when you can't solve the riddle of the sphinx? What does the sphinx do if you fail, Brady?" Brady rolled his eyes slightly. "Brush off that rust."

"I believe it kills you and then eats you."

Alex nodded. "This is a game to these people, Steven. It is more than the code name of a project. The project, if I had to guess, is a lot more far reaching than we know. Claire Brackett has put a lot at risk with her recklessness. She has her hand on the door. If we unlock it...."

"Okay, okay...but if the admiral is using Claire..."

"The question isn't what the admiral might want Claire to do. It's what Claire is going to do. Claire Brackett is not one to be rejected, denied or outdone. If she wasn't Admiral Brackett's daughter she'd be the feature in an episode of Nancy Grace for sure, and not as a victim." Brady smiled as Alex began to b.u.t.ton her jacket. "What?" she asked.

"I swear, Toles...I don't know how you do that."

"Do what?"

"Figure out all of this s.h.i.t."

"It's what I do," Alex said plainly.

"Yeah," Brady laughed. "Where are you going? You want to leave already?"

"No, just going to step outside for a minute. Be ready when I get back."

Steven Brady leaned back in his chair and shook his head. Alex Toles never ceased to amaze him. She saw things in color where others only saw black and white. He ran his hand over his head and sighed. It was evident to the NSA agent that Alex was concerned. Secretly, he hoped she was wrong about the potential risks in this a.s.signment, but there was no denying that was seldom the case. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "What the h.e.l.l are we into?" he muttered.

"Are you ready?" Claire Brackett asked.

"What on earth do I need this for?" the congressman balked.

Claire Brackett ran her hands along the b.u.t.tons of Christopher O'Brien's shirt. "Trust me. You want that."

"Claire, I am not a..."

"Do you need a lesson in how to use it?" she asked with a sly smile.

"I know how to fire a gun, Claire."

"Do you?"

"Yeah, pull the trigger."

"Oh, you are brilliant, aren't you, Congressman?" she hissed at him.

"I can handle myself," he said nervously.

"Oh, yes...I can see that," she smirked, b.u.t.toning his jacket slowly. "I'll be close by."

"I thought you said that this would be a rouse?"

"I said I took care of the primary party," she answered as she turned to retrieve her own sidearm.

"Then why the..."

"There are always back up players, Christopher." He looked at her, his eyes glistening with apprehension. "You don't seriously think," she began, "that we are the only ones who know you are here?"

"What does that mean?"

"It means," she explained as she slid her arms through her leather coat, "that someone is always watching. Who that someone is will determine whether you need to use that," she gestured toward the pistol in his hand, "or not. Now let's go."

Jonathan Krause held the phone to his ear and listened to the message as it played. The voice was thick with rage and the CIA agent immediately knew there was danger ahead. "Krause. Mitch.e.l.l. You were right. Sparrow seems to have left the nest. I am on my way. More than your congressman will fall."

Krause swallowed hard. "What the h.e.l.l did you do Claire?" He grabbed his gun and hurriedly made his way to the door. "Ian, be careful. s.h.i.t...John, I wish you were here."

"Ca.s.sie?"