Covert Christmas Twin

He clenched his jaw and looked down as if he’d said too much before he leaned back and closed his eyes.

Joe thought he managed to act nonchalant the rest of the way to Los Angeles and even through the insanity of renting a car and driving to Pasadena from LAX in rush-hour traffic. Inwardly, though, he worried that his admission to Kendra sent the wrong message. Her eyes widened as if he’d just proclaimed romantic intentions, but if he tried to correct her and explain that he just meant he would do anything for his friends, that would just add fuel to the fire. He would have sounded desperate, like a man who had said “I love you” without hearing it back. No, the right thing to do was to let it go and act cool.

Even though the drive was only supposed to be a little over twenty miles, the trip took over two hours. He blew out a forceful breath as he finally got to California Boulevard. “So, you never told me, what was it like to meet your sister for the first time? I mean besides being shocked.”

She tilted her head from side to side as if considering how much to share. “Well, I had a scheduled meet with a contact, but bullets started flying before I could get there. I was trying not to let on that I’d been shot so I might not have been thinking clearly. Mostly, I needed to understand why my partner was running with someone who looked identical to me before I acknowledged I needed help. I had no idea what was going on.”

The news almost made him pull over. “What?”

“I didn’t want to get into it with Beverly, especially since we were short on time, but I didn’t meet Audrey inside a conference like she intended. It was a mission gone wrong. I was in the middle of trying to get the answers I wanted when I passed out, hit my head and ended up in surgery. When I woke up, Audrey had taken my place on the mission. She was actually the one with my partner, Lee, who took down the communications of Masked.”

“Whoa. I’m glad they got you into surgery in time.”

Kendra smiled. “So you really didn’t know about that? It may sound weird, but it brings me a little solace that Beverly doesn’t know everything.”

He couldn’t imagine what she had to feel like knowing Beverly had kept tabs on her for all her life, but had never reached out.

“Anyway, to answer your question, I didn’t really process that I had a twin until I woke up in the hospital with nothing to do but wait for updates from Lee and Audrey. After the fact, though, I—I guess it’s almost like finding a part of myself I’d been missing.” She shook her head. “That probably sounds melodramatic. I love my adoptive family. I can’t imagine if someone else had raised me.” She held up a hand as if shaking the thought away. “We’re here.” Her voice changed to a businesslike tone.

“I have brothers. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to meet them as adults.”

She shrugged. “Audrey and I are very different people, but we’ve discovered a few areas of similar taste. Well, you’re about to see for yourself.” She glanced at him. “I know it’s dark already, but I think we should keep the hats on in case someone is watching for us. Audrey lives in faculty housing just ahead.”

“Understood.” He parked and stepped out of the vehicle. Behind them, many of the undergrad houses were decked out in Christmas lights, but as they crossed the campus they passed a hundred-foot-tall building, where strings of sixty-foot rope lights formed the shape of a Christmas tree that reached the rooftop. “Does your sister know we’re coming?”

“I texted her at the airport that I needed to speak to her in person, urgently. She should be waiting for me.”

They rounded a corner to find floating bright lights racing toward them. “What—”

Joe operated on instinct and grabbed Kendra by the shoulders, tugging her off the path into the grass, before a group of almost a hundred bikes almost ran them over.

“Sorry, Professor Clark,” someone called out.

“Come with us, Professor,” another student shouted, glancing back toward them briefly. “Christmas light ride!”

“You have to see Christmas Tree Lane,” another bicyclist shouted.

Kendra awkwardly held up a hand in a wave but didn’t answer. Two minutes later the path was empty. She grimaced. “So much for keeping a low profile. If they know Audrey is engaged, we might’ve started some rumors.”

His mind drifted to what it would be like to pretend to be a couple with Kendra, but he refocused as she’d started walking again. The thought did trigger a question, though. “Are you okay with your twin getting married to your partner?”

“Former partner,” she corrected. “Lee is getting transferred to be an FBI recruiter at UCLA soon, to be closer to her.” She smiled, and maybe he wanted to believe it, but the gesture seemed genuine. “Lee’s like one of my brothers. Like I said, Audrey and I are very different people. I don’t know how she could see him as anything more, but I’m genuinely happy for them. If there was any jealousy it’s only that I’m pretty sure they’re going to live happily-ever-after.” She sighed. “And how often does that happen?”

He wanted to ask if she ever hoped for a happily-ever-after and what type of man she’d look for, as a natural continuation of the conversation. But, given the awkwardness after the plane ride, he decided to keep his follow-up questions to himself. “I’ve met Lee before. It’s been a few years, but he seems like a great guy.”

She reached the bottom steps of the apartment building. “Is that your professional opinion as an analyst?”

“I didn’t profile him, but I’m typically 70 percent right about a person based on my first impression, yeah.”

“Isn’t that 30 percent room for error the most important part?”

“If your sister is anything like you, I’m sure she’s made a smart choice.”

That prompted another smile. “She is smart. Obviously. Or we wouldn’t be here.” They took the stairs to the second floor. Kendra hesitated at the top and spun around to face him. “Listen, the focus is on stopping the Pirate. We aren’t going to bring up Beverly again until Audrey is gone.”

“Are you sure? That’s a pretty big piece of the puzzle to leave out.” It was true he didn’t know for sure that Beverly had survived the blast, but he preferred to remain optimistic.

Her eyes narrowed, ever so slightly. “It’s not my place or even my right to explain our birth mother works for the NCS. Audrey loves to gather facts and develop hypotheses. She’d have made an excellent interrogator, and I can’t take the time to rehash every word and gesture Beverly made today. Besides, Beverly seemed to think Audrey wasn’t in danger at the moment. I think the safest route for Audrey is to keep information on a need-to-know basis.”

While Beverly had told him about her daughters under the guise of having a crisis of faith, she hadn’t talked about their careers. He found it interesting that each daughter seemed to excel at elements of Beverly’s job. One was a researcher while the other was a covert agent. “Information on a need-to-know basis,” he answered. “Got it.”

Her shoulders dropped with an exhale. She nodded, then took two more steps until she reached an apartment door covered up by a wreath dotted with Disney characters wearing lab coats and safety glasses. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What—”

Joe couldn’t help but smile at the cute display, as Kendra had probably stopped at the wrong door. She wasn’t the type of person to take part in holiday decorations, and as near as he remembered, she wasn’t a big fan of Christmas.

The door in question swung open and Joe felt his eyebrows jump. There were two Kendras in front of him, except only one of them wore an ugly Christmas sweater and a jubilant smile while bouncing on her toes.

“I thought that was you outside.” The twin wrapped her arms around Kendra’s neck while simultaneously pulling her inside the apartment. “I was so happy to get your text. Did you find her?”

“I honestly don’t know where our birth mother is, but that’s not why I’m here.” Kendra shook her head slightly and stepped out of the embrace, but her eyes were wide and dazed as she looked around the apartment.

Joe stepped inside the threshold, without asking, curious what he’d see. The smell of cinnamon and nutmeg hit him first as an oven timer beeped. Every wall in the apartment was covered with Christmas decorations. In the corner, a tree was so full of lights he almost needed sunglasses to look at it. Even the windows were outlined in lights, but the blinds were pulled open to see the outdoors. That was how Audrey had known they were coming. He crossed the room and closed the blinds. Someone else could be watching. If news got to the Pirate that Audrey had a twin, their chance to lure him into the open would disappear.

“Uh, who is this?” Audrey asked in a cheerful voice, her green eyes full of consternation that a strange man was taking such a liberty in her apartment.

Joe tipped his cap and opened his mouth to introduce himself but Kendra gestured toward him first.

“This is Joe Rose. He’s my partner for a last-minute mission, and I’m afraid we’re here to ask for your help.”

Audrey bounced over to the oven, seemingly nonplussed, as she pulled out a baking sheet of gingerbread men and turned off the timer. “You need me to pretend to be you again?” She smiled. “Because I’ve gotten pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.”

“Actually, no. I need to take your place.”

Her smile faded, and she didn’t turn from staring at the oven. “That’s a big ask. You know my research is classified.”

“So was my mission to stop the Masked Network.”

Audrey grabbed a spatula and started transferring the cookies to a cooling rack. She gave a side-glance to Joe. “Are you any good with icing?”

That took him off guard. “Um, maybe?”

“Good. Because I think my sister is going to have a lot harder time pretending to be me than the other way around.”

Kendra barked a laugh. “I’m trained to do undercover work, Audrey.”

“Hmm. We’ll see. If you wouldn’t mind taking over...” Audrey picked up an icing packet and handed it to Joe. “Outline these men, dots for eyes, a smiley face and three cinnamon buttons down the torso.” She finally turned to Kendra. “It sounds like we have a lot to talk about while your new partner works on these.”

“We can talk in front of him. He’s trustworthy.”