In the Grey (16 page)

November 7 – 1:40 a.m.
HAST (3:40 a.m. PST)

Joint Base Pearl
Harbor-Hickam, Honolulu, Hawaii

“
Yes,” a hostile woman
with a thick Texas accent answered the phone on speaker.

“
Sue Ann?” Alex had to
yell over the sound of the jet engine. She and Raz were standing on
the tarmac in the Honolulu humidity while they waited to board
their flight to Japan. Alex sat down on her rolling
suitcase.

“
Alex?” Sue Ann’s voice
transformed to friendly and happy.

“
Is everything all right?”
Alex asked. “You sounded a little . . .”

“
I am pissed off at my
boyfriend,” Sue Ann said. “That boy . . . I swear
Alex, he’s going to be the death of me.”

Alex didn’t know what to
say. Sue Ann had barely survived the death of her sons, Daniel and
David.

“
Are you still there?” Sue
Ann asked.

“
Just not sure how to
respond,” Alex said.

“
All righty then,
Lieutenant Colonel Alex,” Sue Ann said. “I admit it! I was being a
little dramatic.”

“
Just checking,” Alex
said. “Your last serious relationship didn’t end so
well.”

Sue Ann
laughed.

“
Should I speak with the
sergeant?” Alex asked.

“
That
boy . . . ,” Sue Ann said. “He told me that he
wasn’t sure he wanted to share his life with Krystal and her
family, my family. Can you believe it?”

“
What did you say to
that?” Alex asked.

“
I said tough luck,” Sue
Ann said. “‘Krystal and Alex are the reasons I’m even here on this
planet.’ That’s what I told him. Oh, and ‘he needed to get on over
it.’”

“
You broke up?” Alex
asked.

“
He’s taking time to
think,” Sue Ann laughed.

“
What are you doing at
five in the morning?” Alex asked. In an exaggerated Texas accent,
Alex added, “Shouldn’t y’all be gettin’ your beauty
sleep?”

“
Very funny. I’m on my way
to yoga,” Sue Ann said. “I thought it would clear my head of that
dog-handling young man.”

“
Good luck with that!”
Alex laughed.

“
I know,” Sue Ann said.
“I’m pathetic. Go ahead. You can say it. I was head over heels the
moment I saw that man on your big plane to Mexico.”

“
He was too,” Alex said.
“But, Sue Ann, you have to admit your situation is
unusual.”

“
So am I, Alex. So am
I.”

Alex heard Sue Ann turn
off the car.

“
Did you call because he
called you to complain?” Sue Ann asked.

“
He would never call me to
complain about you,” Alex said.

“
I guess that’s right,”
Sue Ann said. “What’s up?”

“
I’m on my way to China,
Sue Ann,” Alex said. “They caught Cee Cee.”

“
That’s very good news,”
Sue Ann said.

Alex grimaced when she
heard Sue Ann’s car door slam. Sue Ann’s ever-present high heels
clicked across the asphalt.

“
Sue Ann, honey, can you
get back in the car?” Alex asked.

“
Just tell me?” Sue Ann
asked. “What did my ex do now?”

“
He put a woman in the
hospital,” Alex said. “Life support. Her parents haven’t pulled the
plug yet, but they probably will.”

“
Poor woman,” Sue Ellen
said.

Alex heard the soft prayer
Sue Ann said when Cee Cee’s name came up.

“
Davy and Danny give me
strength,” she whispered.

A crunching sound came
through the line as Sue Ann rubbed the locket with her boys’
pictures inside.

“
There’s something else,”
Sue Ann said.

Alex heard Sue Ann open
her SUV door and throw her purse inside. She climbed in.

“
I’m in my car,” Sue Ann
slammed her door. “Go ahead with your awful news.”

“
He’s going to be executed
Tuesday morning at eight in Chongqing, China,” Alex said. “That
would be Monday night around six, your time.”

“
Oh,” Sue Ann
said.

Sue Ann fell so quiet that
Alex had to ask, “Are you all right?”

“
Mmm, all right?” Sue Ann
asked. “I’ve been sitting here staring out this window at the yoga
studio, if that’s what you mean. Remember when you came to see me
the first time?”

“
In the nursing home?”
Alex asked.

“
I was staring out that
window at the flowers,” Sue Ann said. “You told me to let life in.
I guess they’re going to let life out of Cee Cee.”

“
Yes.”

“
Will he suffer much?” Sue
Ann asked.

“
No,” Alex
said.

“
That’s too bad,” Sue Ann
said. “You think he’ll go to hell for killing our
babies?”

Sue Ann sniffed, but Alex
couldn’t tell if it was an angry sniff or if she was
crying.

“
I hope so,” Alex said.
“But your boys were so sweet. My guess is that they would not want
him to suffer.”

“
My boys were little
angels,” Sue Ann said. “But I’m not. I hope he goes to some place
worse than hell for an eternity of suffering. Is that
wrong?”

“
No, it’s not,” Alex said.
“I get an hour with him before he’s executed. Is there anything
you’d like me to tell him?”

“
Did you bring Davy and
Danny’s photo like you promised you would?”

“
I have it.”

“
I’ve seen you mad before.
You’ll do just fine,” Sue Ann said. “You know what? I think I’m
going to go home.”

“
That’s a good idea,” Alex
said.

“
Will you call me when
it’s done?” Sue Ann asked.

“
I will,” Alex
said.

“
And the rest of his
ex-wives and baby mommas?”

“
The State Department is
paying Buffy a visit in a few hours,” Alex said.

“
Would you like me to tell
everyone?” Sue Ann took a quick breath around what sounded like a
sob.

“
Sue Ann?”

“
I just miss them so much,
Alex,” Sue Ann said. “Davy would be in junior high this year, and
Danny . . . Davy would probably have a girlfriend.
She’d come over and we’d make cookies or . . . My
Danny . . . he’d have been one of those ghost
hunters for Halloween. He loved that spooky stuff so much
and . . . Oh God, Alex, how did my life come to
this? My babies dead; Cee Cee’s going to be executed in some
foreign city I’ve never heard of. I worshiped that man, loved him
every minute of every single day for more than ten years, and he
returned my love by killing my babies.”

Alex raised her hand and
pointed to Raz. As they had arranged, Raz placed a call to Sergeant
Pete Beetle. Raz gave her a nod that he had connected with
him.

“
Yoga,” Alex mouthed to
Raz. He nodded and told Pete.

Raz gave Alex a curt nod
and put his phone away. The minutes passed, and Sue Ann
cried.

“
Oh my goodness, that’s
Pete,” Sue Ann said. Alex heard her wiping her face. “Here I am
with mascara down my face and in my slouchy yoga clothes. My hair’s
a mess.”

“
Raz called him,” Alex
said.

“
You’re the most wonderful
stinker,” Sue Ann chuckled through her tears.

“
Pete loves you,” Alex
said.

“
Can I tell Krystal?” Sue
Ann asked.

“
Please do,” Alex said.
“I’m about to fly to Japan. My cell should work this entire trip,
but there’s no way to know for sure. Sometimes, they block our
direct communication when we’re in China.”

“
You’ll be safe?” Sue Ann
asked.

There was a tap on Sue
Ann’s window, and Pete said her name.

“
Go,” Alex said. “Let him
love you.”

“
Yes, ma’am,” Sue Ann
said.

Before Sue Ann hung up,
Alex heard Pete say, “Oh honey.” Alex smiled.

“
How’d it go?” Raz
asked.

“
Like we expected,” Alex
said. “She’s pretty broken up.”

Raz nodded.

“
What’s next?” Alex
asked.

“
The team wants to catch
up with you,” Raz said. “But the pilot assures me his Wi-Fi is
working. We can talk on board.”

“
Why don’t you go ahead?”
Alex nodded.

“
No,” Raz said. “Don’t ask
me to leave your side, because I won’t. I’m your guard and you’re
mine. Plus, since when did you need privacy?”

“
I wanted to talk to Ben,”
Alex said.

“
About me?”

“
No,” Alex
said.

“
About . . . ?” Raz raised his hands in a
shrug.

“
I think I know why
they’re splitting up the team,” Alex said. “I need him to look for
something. If you’re there, you’re going to want to look for it
instead of resting and getting ready for China.”

“
You’re right.”

“
I have this feeling that
China’s going to suck,” Alex said.

“
Why?”

“
Don’t know,” Alex said.
“Just a feeling.”

“
Hmm,” Raz
said.

“
Promise me this,” Alex
said. “If you hear what I’m going to tell him, you won’t try to do
anything. You’ll rest on the plane and be ready for
China.”

“
Your wish is my command,
my dear,” Raz smiled.

Alex grinned back at
him.

“
I will stand guard while
you speak with Ben,” Raz said.

Shaking her head, Alex
punched in the number and hit send.

“
Go,” Ben said.

“
He’s splitting up the
team because he thinks we can only operate as a single unit,” Alex
said.

“
On it,” Ben said and hung
up.

Raz’s eyebrows furrowed
and Alex shrugged.

“
Shall we?” Alex pointed
to the open end of the Hercules C-130. He nodded and picked up
their bags. They were in their seats before Raz spoke.

“
Where did that come
from?” Raz asked.

“
What?”

“
Splitting up the team,”
Raz said. “It’s something you’ve talked about with Joseph and
Matthew. ‘We should be ready to roll any time and any
configuration.’”

“
I’ve said that like a
billion times,” Alex said.

“
I never thought to ask
why,” Raz said. He leaned over and took out his laptop.

“
Everything changed when
the Boy Scout joined our team,” Alex said as she opened her laptop.
“We’d had other subs, but he really . . . and we
couldn’t function as well. I felt like if I was going to make a
team, everyone should be able to do everything in case some of
us . . . don’t make it.”

“
In case
you
don’t make it,” Raz
said.

“
There’s that,” Alex
nodded. “Charlie’s team, we never did a thing unless we were
together. And when one person changed, everything changed. I don’t
believe our team has the luxury of functioning like
that.”

“
So if he’s trying to
split up the team?”

“
He’s planning a big
kidnapping,” Alex said. She checked to see if her laptop had come
up.

“
Big?”

Alex nodded.

“
I . . .
I’m not sure what the correct question
is . . . ,” Raz turned in his seat to look at
her. “Um . . . kidnappings? Or a single big
kidnapping?”

“
Oh, I see what you mean,”
Alex said. “Let’s see. A big kidnapping is usually someone who is
big – a queen or king, a head of state, sometimes their children.
Big kidnappings are hard to pull off because they require so much
coordination and so many people. Someone usually hears something
before it happens. Then it’s just a matter of interfering with the
schedule by delaying a flight, stopping a taxi cab, or whatever.
Big, important people are easier to move around. Just make sure
they aren’t where the kidnappers expect them to be, and that’s
that.

“
The reason Charlie set up
the team this way was so that every country had an investment in
reducing kidnappings,” Alex said. “Each intelligence community in
every country knows to pass the information along.”

“
If they don’t?” Raz
asked. He pointed to the Wi-Fi monitor on Alex’s laptop. She
clicked the key and selected the plane’s Wi-Fi network.

“
We’ll eventually find
out. Suddenly, their prime minister or whoever is much more
vulnerable. No country would risk that.”

“
Has that happened?” Raz
asked.

“
Sure.”

“
The best offense is a
good defense?” Raz asked.

“
More like the best
offense is a change of plans,” Alex said. “All Ben has to do is put
feelers out around the world. I’d do it if I weren’t on this plane.
He’ll hear something fairly soon, and we can figure out if there is
a big kidnapping going down or if I’m wrong.”