In the Grey (22 page)

“
It’s so quiet with
everyone gone,” Neev said as she came into the kitchen. “It’s like
a mass evacuation.”

Samantha
smiled.

“
Is it always so quiet
when Alex’s team leaves?” Neev asked.

“
It can be quiet when
they’re here,” Samantha said. “It’s like a wave. Sometimes people
are here; sometimes they aren’t. Most of us work a lot, so when the
team’s gone it’s kind of a welcome relief to focus on work. John
takes a lot of call because he’s still learning, and it’s good
money.”

“
Do they need money?” Neev
asked.

“
Look around,” Samantha
smiled. “This place is a money pit.”

“
Looks that way to me,”
Neev nodded. “Are you relieved when they’re gone?”

“
Sometimes,” Samantha
said. “Usually, I have a trial or a brief or something due. But my
schedule is clear for the holidays. Of course, every time I think
my schedule is clear, Alex or one of her friends gets in trouble,
especially in the fall.”

“
Keeps you busy,” Neev
nodded.

“
I like being busy,”
Samantha said. “It’s kind of the way my family operates. We’re
busy, ‘doing’ kind of people.”

Neev nodded.

“
Would you like a glass of
wine?” Samantha asked. “It’s Cian’s finest plunk.”

“
Plunk?” Neev looked
puzzled. “Might you mean plonk?”

“
Plunk? Plonk?” Samantha
shrugged. “It’s cheap and pretty good.”

“
Plonk it is!” Neev
beamed.

“
If you say so,” Samantha
said and poured her a glass of wine.

“
Oh indeed,” Neev said.
“This is delicious plonk.”

“
I was thinking about
going to my sister Erin’s house,” Samantha said. “Would you like to
come with me? We’re talking about getting dinner.”

“
Erin’s not home,” Neev
said. “She went to a wives thing.”

“
Fey wives?” Looking away,
Samantha tried to remember if she’d received an email about a
get-together.

“
I don’t know exactly what
it was,” Neev smiled. “It sounded like chocolate, wine, and babies.
She invited me to go, but I’m still adjusting to the
altitude.”

“
It’s not easy,” Samantha
said. “Well, I should head back.”

“
What are you up to?” Neev
asked.

“
No idea,” Samantha
shrugged. “You?”

“
None,” Neev
smiled.

“
Would you like to come
over?” Samantha asked. “I can make us dinner. I’m no gourmet,
but . . .”

“
Yes, let’s make dinner,”
Neev said. “That sounds fun.”

“
I’ve got this,” Samantha
smiled and picked up the wine.

“
Should I grab another
bottle of plonk?” Neev asked.

“
Please,” Samantha said.
“They’re in the cabinet.”

Neev took another bottle
from the cabinet and followed Samantha out the door.

About fifteen minutes
later, Erin came in the back door. She looked for Samantha in the
kitchen and then went into the living area. She found Fionn, John
and Cian’s nephew, studying at the dining room table.

“
Have you seen my sister?”
Erin asked.

“
Just got here,” Fionn
said in his thick Scottish accent. “I’ll tell you, I was relieved
to have the space and quiet. So don’t you get all loud.”

“
As you wish,” Erin
grinned.

Fionn laughed.

“
Anything going on?” Fionn
asked.

“
We’d talked about getting
something to eat,” Erin said. “I called her, but didn’t get her. So
I went by her place, but she didn’t answer.”

“
The bell’s out,” Fionn
said. “Back and front. Happened yesterday; before you fret, it’s on
my list of things to fix. But . . .”

Fionn gestured to his
books.

“
Oh well,” Erin shrugged.
“If you see her, will you tell her I came by?”

Fionn nodded. Erin stood
over him for another moment before shrugging again and going
home.

FFFFFF
Tuesday afternoon

November 9 – 11:43 p.m.
China Standard Time
(November 9 – 8:43 a.m. MST)

Near the border between
China and North Korea

“
What are you doing
today?” Alex asked John.

While they waited for a
call from Joseph in Pakistan and the arrival of the Fey Team, Alex,
Raz, and Max called home one last time. Max was talking to Wyatt
over the satellite phone, and Raz video chatted to Samantha using
Ji’s laptop. They were standing near the North Korean border on
what looked like an old water project.

“
I don’t know,” John
yawned. “Sleep. Run. Miss you. The usual.”

Alex smiled.

“
How was the pestilence?”
Knowing the line was not secure, John avoided using Cee Cee
Joiner’s name.

“
Confusing,” Alex
said.

“
Same old,” John smiled.
“It’s really nice to see your face. Are you going in?”

“
I should be done in a few
hours,” Alex nodded. “That’s the plan.”

“
You think you’ll be back
for this party?” John asked.

“
Your office party?” Alex
asked. “I don’t see why not, but I haven’t been able to get a
gift.”

“
I’m sure we have
something here,” John said. “I’ll ask Cian.”

She looked up when a
military transport truck pulled into a turnoff across the road from
where she was standing. She waved to Matthew.

“
I need to go,” Alex
said.

“
I wanted to tell you,”
John said.

“
Yes?”

“
I think I’d like to find
a surrogate,” John said. “It’s crazy, I know, but I’ve always
wanted our own baby.”

“
Why don’t you research it
a bit?” Alex asked. “Let me know what’s involved.”

“
I’m not in any hurry,”
John said. “I just wanted to let you know I’d thought about
it.”

“
I’m glad you did,” Alex
nodded.

“
You start.”

“
I love you, John Kelly
Drayson, today and every other day for the rest of this life and
every other I’m blessed with,” Alex grinned.

“
Hey! Those are
my
vows!” John smiled.
She laughed.

“
You’d better go ahead
before all chaos descends,” Alex said.

“
I love you, Alexandra
Hargreaves Drayson, today and every other day for the rest of this
life and any other I’m blessed with.”

Alex laughed, and he
grinned at saying her vows. He kissed the palm of his hand and put
it up to the webcam. She did the same. With a nod, he was
gone.

Alex looked across the
road to where the Fey Team was unloading. Wearing their black pants
and warm winter jackets, they helped each other out of the truck
and then looked for her. She waved.

Colin ran to her with her
thick black winter jacket with “FEY” stenciled on the back in
white. Under “FEY” was the Vivaldi “F” that served as the Fey Team
mark. Under the Vivaldi “F”, Alex had insisted on placing
translations for the word “fairy.” She noted the Chinese soldiers
pointing to the
“
魎
,” fairy in
traditional Chinese.
Their last names and
service were printed in white on the left front with another “FEY”
on the right front.

Royce grabbed a heavy
backpack from the truck and threw it on his back before crossing
the road. Troy brought Raz his winter jacket, and Matthew had a
jacket for Max.

“
What do you know?” Alex
asked Matthew.

Raz ended his call with
Samantha and stood just behind her.

“
A Special Forces team was
waiting for us when we landed in South Korea at Osan Air Base,”
Matthew said.

“
Who?” Alex
asked.

“
1
^st
SF,” Matthew said. “We left
Cliff there to pick up a bird and a co-pilot.”

“
Delta?” Alex
asked.

“
Those boys want in on the
party,” Matthew said.

“
Always,” Alex shook her
head and smiled. “Do you think Cliff can handle this?”

Colin and Max stood next
to Alex to listen in.

“
The Jakker does. He
should know,” Matthew shrugged. He waited for Troy and Royce to
join them. “What’s the news?”

“
The priest’s being held
at a work camp near the Northern Palace,” Alex said.

They were using the code
name “priest” for Steve Pershing.

“
They are having a
national celebration at the palace this weekend,” Raz said. “We
believe that’s why they are moving on the mine tonight.”

“
Too close for comfort,”
Troy said. “Makes sense that they’d want to get him out of the
country before that happens.”

“
As long as you don’t know
about the other action,” Matthew said.

“
Right,” Alex nodded. “The
hope is that we’ll have rescued the priest before the rest of the
team gets to work in Pakistan. We have to prepare for the actions
to happen simultaneously.”

Matthew raised his
eyebrows and nodded.

“
Sir, I’ve been monitoring
the Korean People’s Army communications,” Royce said.

“
And?” Alex’s eyebrows
pinched together with worry.

“
It’s like you said,”
Royce said. “They want this done, and done fast. They’re not
concerned about collateral damage.”

“
There’s something there
they don’t want us to see,” Alex said.

“
That’s my opinion,” Royce
said.

“
And the Chinese?” Matthew
asked.

“
The Furious Tigers,
Shenyang’s Special Operations team, is here to cover Ji’s team,”
Alex said. “The Russian’s sent a team from Vympel. Yury was here a
minute ago. He left to meet up with his team.”

“
Russian Special Forces
are here, too?” Troy asked.

“
We’re performing a
military action less than two hundred miles from their border,”
Alex said.

“
Yury has the hots for
Alex,” Troy said. “Did he bring you some of his homemade
sbiten?”

Alex nodded to the travel
mug in her hand. Troy took the mug and took a sip of the warm
honey-herb drink. He closed his eyes in delight.

“
Blackberry?” Tory asked
and took another drink. “Did he grow the blackberries
too?”

Nodding, she snatched the
mug from his hands.

“
I think, we all want to
get a look at what the North Koreans want so desperately to hide,”
Alex said. “Max?”

“
Once we breach the mine
shed,” Max pointed to a schematic on his laptop. “We expect you to
find information here and here.”

Max pointed to areas in
the building.

“
Done,” Matthew
said.

A blast of frozen wind
buffeted the team.

“
Storm’s coming in,” Colin
said.

“
We’re joining Ji’s
Sh
ā
sh
ǒ
uji
à
n
team,” Alex said.

“
Assassin’s mace?” Troy
asked. “I thought they were a . . . fairy
tale.”

“
They look real to me,”
Alex nodded to where Ji’s team was getting ready.

“
You’re a fairy,” Troy
said.

Ignoring Troy, Alex
continued.

“
We’re hoping to creep in
and snag the priest while you guys grab intel,” Alex continued.
“The special operations teams should be the focus of the captors’
attention.”

“
Do we know exactly where
he’s being held?” Matthew asked.

“
General area,” Alex shook
her head. “That’s all.”

“
We’re going in blind,”
Troy jumped up and down to keep warm. “I love that.”

“
How’d the priest get
picked up?” Colin asked.

“
He was meeting Ji’s
mother on Bongmyeondo Island,” Max said. “I guess they meet up
there every month or so.”

The satellite phone rang,
and Max answered it. Max held out the satellite phone to her and
took the mug of sbiten.

“
It’s the Admiral,” Max
said.

Alex took the phone from
him and walked away from the team. She updated the Admiral in
charge of Special Operations, on their operations in North Korean
and Pakistan. She’d just finished updating her boss’s boss when her
commanding officer, Colonel Gordon, was waiting on the line for her
report. By the time she’d finished updating her chain of command,
the team looked ready. She looked for her mug of sbiten, but it was
nowhere to be found.

“
Colin, did you check
everyone?” Alex asked.

“
Yes, sir,” Colin said.
“The Fey Team is fit for duty.”