In the Grey (31 page)

“
John!” the doctor noticed
them for the first time. “Would you like a turn?”

“
I’d love that,” Mrs.
Wolfe grinned at them. “You can tag team me any day.”

Alex raised her eyebrows
and nodded to John.

“
Let’s form a line,” the
doctor gave John a toothy grin. “I
bet . . .”

“
I’m so sorry,” John said.
“Alex was just telling me she wasn’t feeling well. Something she
picked up while she was out of the country.”

He grabbed Alex’s hand and
started for the door. The couple behind them began grunting and
moaning. They were about to go into the party, when Dr. Wolfe came
out onto the balcony.

“
There you are, you little
minx,” Dr. Wolfe said to Alex. To John, he added, “Are you joining
us or . . . ?”

Alex heard a faint whistle
and turned to look. On the far side of the balcony, Sergeant Davies
was standing on the top rung of a ladder. Alex slipped off her
shoes and took John’s hand. They ran to the railing. Jason, the
other soldier, was holding the bottom of the ladder. Alex helped
John over the railing and followed him. On the ground, Sergeant
Davies led them around the back of the house and they slipped out
the gate. Sergeant Davies gave Alex her phone number before she ran
to Jason’s car. John jogged to the Audi, opened Alex’s side, and
went around to the driver’s side.

He didn’t say a word when
he started the car. They sped through the historic neighborhood. He
ran a stop sign before slowing and turning toward home.

“
You know, I’ve been
meaning to speak to you about leaving the position under Dr.
Wolfe,” John said.

“
Oh?” Alex
laughed.

“
Yes,” John said. “I’ve
been offered suitable positions at other hospitals, but it’s more
emergency work. While I adore emergency work, and I’m good at it,
it means more call and a more unpredictable schedule, which could
be a challenge if we have a child.”

“
I see your dilemma,” she
said.

“
It occurred to me tonight
that I should explore those opportunities,” he said.

He glanced at Alex and she
burst out laughing.

“
How much did you drink?”
Alex asked.

“
You took my second
glass,” John said.

“
The drinks were laced
with X,” Alex said.

“
No wonder I want
to . . . ,” John glanced at her. He raised an
eyebrow. “Right here. You wanna?”

“
You’d better pull over,”
she laughed.

“
Could be fun,” he
said.

“
Trust me?”

“
With my every breath,” he
said.

“
Pull over,” she
said.

“
Yes, sir,” he pulled the
car over next to the chain link fence around the Cherry Creek
Country Club golf course.

They switched places. Alex
sat in the driver’s seat. She pushed in the clutch and moved
through the gears.

“
I’ve never
driven . . . ,” Alex turned to look at
him.

“
I’m going to be sick,” he
said.

He jumped out of the car
and vomited through the chain link fence onto the pristine golf
course. Alex called Max and then got out of the car. She rubbed his
back while he threw up. He started to laugh.

“
Wife swapping?” He
laughed. “I took my beloved Alex to a wife-swapping
party.”

She smiled at his
laugh.

“
Oh my God,” John laughed
until he threw up again. “Did you hear that daft cow? ‘You can tag
team me any day.’ Her fanny’s hanging out for the world to see. And
his . . . How am I supposed to do surgery with the
man again? Just disgusting.”

He threw up
again.

“
Are you paying those
kids?” John asked.

“
Double what they were to
make tonight,” Alex said.

“
Triple it,” John said.
“God . . .”

He tried to throw up, but
could only dry heave. She rubbed his back.

“
Did you call
Max?”

“
He and Wyatt are on their
way,” Alex said.

John wiped his mouth with
the back of his hand and sat down on the curb. Alex sat next to
him.

“
I’m sorry,” he
said.

“
For what?”

“
When I think about it,”
he said. “It makes sense. They talk about these naff parties quite
a bit. And I . . . I just never pay any attention,
because I knew we’d never go and . . . I should have
known.”

“
Can’t know what you don’t
know,” Alex said. “Ever wonder why you don’t listen to
him?”

“
Honestly, he’s kind of a
pervert,” John said.

“
Yes, I got that,” Alex
laughed.

John looked at her. He
watched her laugh for a moment and then laughed.

“
You’re not mad?” he
asked.

Alex shook her
head.

“
Really?” he
asked.

“
I think we should agree
to check out all party invitations,” Alex said. “We should
actually
read
the
invitation and
listen
to what they’re planning.”

They laughed.

“
Oh look, it’s Max,” Alex
said.

She pointed to their
shared Lexus SUV. Wyatt waved from the driver’s seat.

“
Wife swapping?” Max’s
words were threatening, but his face showed that he’d laughed the
whole way there. “You took my sister to a wife-swapping
party?”

“
I know!” John shook his
head.

“
I’ll take the car back,”
Max said. “If you’re ready, we can just go.”

“
Home?” John asked. “I
need an aspirin and a vat of disinfectant spray.”

“
Wife swapping, it’s
so . . .” Max said.

“
Gross,” John and Alex
said together.

“
Seventies,” Max
laughed.

He patted John’s shoulder
and went to the Audi. Alex helped John up and into the SUV. Max was
on his way home by the time they were in the SUV. Wyatt drove to
the rooming house. Max was waiting on the curb when they got there.
He got into the back with Alex.

“
What’s the plan?” John
asked.

“
Raz and I were going to
stop in Paris on our way home,” Alex said. “But we got invited to
dinner at the White House. Then it turns out that we need to go to
a billion meetings while we’re in Paris. I thought we could fly to
Paris tonight after the party and spend the weekend there. We have
clothing in the apartment, so we can just go. Max and Wyatt are
coming. Raz and Sami?”

“
They left when we came to
get you,” Wyatt said.

“
We chartered a plane,”
Alex said. “You’ll be back in time for rounds on
Tuesday.”

John turned around in his
seat to look at her.

“
Unless you want to go
swapping . . .” She gave him her crooked smile. “I’m
sure Max and Wyatt would be welcome additions. You in
Maxie?”

“
No,” Max
laughed.

“
Drive on, my friend,”
John said. “Drive on.”

Wyatt started the SUV and
turned toward the airport.

F

Saturday
morning

November 13 – 5:47 a.m.
PST (6:47 a.m. MST)

Pelican Bay, Crescent
City, CA

It had only been a week,
but Trece had the schedule down. The guard on his pod reached the
first cell at 5:47 a.m. Trece would never have believed it, but the
second he heard the guard at the end of the hall, he got up and
stood next to his door. His entire being longed for human
contact.

The guard never said a
word to Trece. He just shoved the food through the slot and left
the pod.

Like Pavlov’s stupid dogs,
when Trece heard the squeaking wheels of the cart, he went to stand
at the door.

“
How’s it goin’?” A
familiar voice drifted down the hall. “Here’s breakfast, and your
lunch is in the bag. Enjoy.”

The cart squeaked to the
next cell.

“
How’s it goin’?” the new
guard asked. “Here’s breakfast, and your lunch is in the bag.
Enjoy.”

Squeak, squeak,
pause . . . squeak, squeak, pause.

“
How’s it goin’?” the new
guard asked. “Here’s breakfast, and your lunch is in the bag.
Enjoy.”

Trece grinned, and the
cart squeaked. He threaded his fingers through the holes in his
door.

“
How’s it goin’?” the new
guard asked. “Here’s breakfast, and your lunch is in the bag.
Enjoy.”

The cart squeaked to the
cell next door.

“
Whatcha doin’ man?” the
man in the cell next door asked. “You ain’t s’pposed to talk to
us.”

“
I must have missed that
in the manual. Reading’s not my strong point,” the new guard said.
Trece shook his head. Knowing what was coming next, he counted one,
two, and three, “Don’t tell anyone, okay? This isn’t a great job,
but it’s work, you know? I’ve got two little ones at
home.”

“
Sure man,” the prisoner
next door said. “I feel ya.”

“
Here’s breakfast, and
your lunch is in the bag. Enjoy.”

“
Thanks man,” the prisoner
next door said.

If the cart squeaked,
Trece didn’t notice it. The cart came into view and there
was . . . Trece staggered backward.

He’d expected to see his
bleach-white friend with the white hair and pale eyes. Instead,
there was a sort of brown man with brown hair, and brown eyes.
Trece stepped away from the door.

The guard grinned at him
and opened the slot. He put his hands through the hole.

Still suspicious, Trece
didn’t respond. The new guard’s fingers folded over at the first
knuckle, leaving only the middle finger on each hand pointing
straight at him. Trece grinned at White Boy’s distinctive one
finger salute. He reached through to hold his best friend’s hands.
Moisture appeared in his eyes and on his face. White Boy held
on.

“
How’s it goin’?” White
Boy asked. “Here’s breakfast, and your lunch is in the bag.
Enjoy.”

White Boy pointed to the
bag lunch and left the hallway. Trece smiled.

He had no idea how Alex
had pulled that off. But the fact that White Boy was at Pelican Bay
meant Trece was going to go home.

Maybe not today. But
someday. He was going
home
someday.

Trece turned over the bag
lunch and dumped out the food. He turned the bag inside out and
found a note. It was written by White Boy, but the words were pure
Alex.

“
We went to China to see
the man from Texas get a bullet in his brain and happened to find
your boss nearby. The boys and girls played with the SSG and found
a fair maiden. A weekend of leave, and this guy wanted to spend it
in prison. Takes all kinds. Miss you terribly. A”

Trece looked at the
bag.

Dip the bag in
bioweapon-laced toilet water, toss it in the trash, and out of the
prison it goes.

Trece grinned.

He’d figured it out. Now,
how would he let anyone know?

Hearing a noise, he turned
to see White Boy standing right outside his cell. His best friend
was standing underneath the security camera against a cement
portion of his cell. Trece went to the door.

White Boy shook his
head.

Trece went to sit on his
bunk. He’d have to wait until his exercise hour to tell White Boy.
Smiling to himself, he started his morning workout.

FFFFFF
Two days later

Monday night

November 15 – 9:23 p.m.
CET (12:23 p.m. PST)

Paris, France

With her arms crossed,
Alex stood at the sliding glass window of the apartment. Max had
worked with an architect to design the condominiums over Le Fée
Verte so that each condo had a balcony with an unobstructed view of
the city. He’d saved the best view for their three-bedroom,
three-bath condo at the top of the building. From their corner
window, the entire city of Paris lit up in cold-rain-perfected
glowing light.

“
It’s a beautiful view,”
Raz said.

She rotated to look at
him. He slipped his hand around her and held her close.

“
You’re cold,” he
said.

“
I’m all right,” she
smiled and moved into the room. She picked up her half-empty wine
glass and took a sip.

He held out his hand to
her. She took it.

“
I’ve noticed,” he
said.

“
Noticed what?” she
smiled.

“
You’ve withdrawn,” Raz
said.

“
I have?” She gave him a
cold smile. “How so?”

“
Really?” His eyebrows
rose. “After all this time, I get the fuck-you smile and a ‘how
so?’?”