Lean on Me (15 page)

“
That’s an order,” she
said.

“
I’ll meet you at the
finish line,” Troy said. “Need my gear.”

Knowing the cost of giving up this run, Alex
touched his shoulder. He smiled at her.

“
The boys are at the finish
line,” Troy said.

“
They’re waiting for you,
sir,” Sergeant Dusty said. “Captain Blanco, Sergeant Scully and
Sergeant Peaches are with them as well as Erin Hargreaves, the
General and Mrs. Hargreaves.”

“
Sounds like a party,” Alex
said. “Everyone ready?”

“
What does ‘going down by
wire’ mean?” Hawkins Mac Alister asked.

“
It’s pretty straight
forward, Hawkins,” Captain Tyler said. “If you go first, you just
clip in to the wire and get lowered. Remember to wear gloves – the
wire’s a killer.”

“
I’m going down with the
Lieutenant Colonel,” Trece said. “Captain Tyler can go down with
you or…”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Hawkins Mac
Alister nodded. He got up and changed his clothing.

“
You don’t have to do
this,” Troy said.

“
It sounds like fun,”
Hawkins Mac Alister said. “I think you can understand this, Captain
Olivas. I’ve never had a chance to do this kind of thing. I’ve
always wondered what it would be like.”

“
I wanted to do the action
and not just plan it,” Troy said.

“
Exactly,” Hawkins Mac
Alister said. “My kids will be thrilled.”

“
We tape from the
helicopter,” Alex said. “I’ll send you a copy.”

“
And it’s all right if we
seem like we’re on the team?” Captain Tyler asked. “It feels kinda
arrogant to pretend.”

“
No one knows who’s on the
Fey team,” Trece said. “It’s part of our gig.”

“
Sir,” Sergeant Dusty said.
“Sergeant Beetle and Master Sergeant Bailey are waiting for you at
mile twenty-four.”

“
How will I know them?”
Alex asked. “Switching to satellite phone.”

She took off her headphones. She waited a
moment for Sergeant Dusty to call. Once on the line, she waited
through a series of clicks until she was connected to Zack’s
feed.

“
You won’t miss them,”
Sergeant Dusty said.

“
Who?” Alex
asked.

“
Sergeant Beetle and Master
Sergeant Bailey,” Sergeant Dusty said.

“
We’re there,” Zack
said.

“
Glasses!” Alex
said.

Trece tossed a pair of dark Ray-Ban Wayfarer
glasses to Hawkins and Captain Tyler. He opened the helicopter door
and let out the wire line. He took care to hook Hawkins in while
Troy hooked Captain Tyler on the other line. Hawkins Mac Alister
looked terrified but never said a word. While the helicopter
hovered, the men were lowered to the middle of South Rotary Road.
Troy helped Alex hook onto the line. Trece took the other line.

“
Ready?” Troy asked. Trece
went down the line.

“
You sure you can make it?”
Troy asked. “The new hip has never been right.”

“
It’s not the ball of the
hip, it’s the entire joint socket,” Alex said. “The joint is
inflamed.”

“
Still,” Troy said. “I can
go down with you.”

“
Nah,” Alex said. “I got
this. See you at the finish.”

With Trece holding the bottom of the wire,
Alex slid down.

“
Do you see them?” Alex
asked as she took off her gloves.

“
Behind you,” Troy said
over the feed.

Alex turned to look and waved to John, Max,
Matthew and Raz.

“
Why is there a dog on the
course?” Alex asked. “Man, if I’d known we could bring dogs, I’d
have brought Maggie. I hate that she has to stay home.”

“
That’s Master Sergeant
Bailey,” Sergeant Dusty said.

“
What is?” Alex
asked.

“
Our new intern is a real
dog,” Trece laughed.

“
Our new intern is a dog,”
Alex said. “They want me to train a dog?”

“
Technically, he’s a
Belgian Shepherd, sir,” Sergeant Dusty said. “Master Sergeant Bill
Bailey is a decorated veteran. Sergeant Beetle is his
handler.”

“
We’ll straighten this out,
right?” Alex asked. “What does Gordon say?”

“
He was unaware of the
assignment,” Sergeant Dusty said. “Something happened – I’m not
sure what, but I’m tracking it down – and Sergeant Beetle was
assigned to our team.”

“
The dog is coming over,”
Alex said. “The Sergeant is saluting the civilian lawyer
Hawkins.”

Trece laughed. John, Raz, and Matthew came
up behind them.

“
That was quite an
entrance,” John said as he ran up.

“
Create a memory,” Alex
said. “That’s me.”

“
Yes, my love,” John said.
“Shall we?”

Alex began running beside him. Max ran on
his other side. The rest of the men fell in around them.

“
Who’s the dog?” Matthew
asked.

“
Our new intern,” Alex
said.

“
No fucking way,” Matthew
said.

“
Way,” Trece said. “Better
go talk to the boy. He’s saluting the lawyers.”

Matthew jogged to Sergeant Beetle and Master
Sergeant Bailey. The Sergeant saluted Matthew. Matthew pointed to
the group, and the new interns fell in. The entire group ran as a
unit toward the finish. John, Max and Matthew picked up speed in
the last half mile and finished fast. Amid wild cheers from men and
women who recognized them, Alex and the motley crew followed them
through the finish.

Trece and White Boy shuttled Alex and Max
through the crowd. Alex took the wire up to the helicopter,
followed by Trece and White Boy. Within minutes of crossing the
finish line, they were settled into the passenger compartment.

“
Where to, my Fey?” Zack
asked.

“
Sheridan Circle,” Alex
said. “We have a party to get started!”

F

CHAPTER NINE

Monday early morning

October 26 – 3:10 a.m. EDT

Sheridan Circle Mansion, Washington DC

Alex stood with her forehead against John’s
chest in the open marble and wood-panel-lined entryway of the
mansion. Her left arm was around him while he held her right hand
next to his heart. With every breath, she knew she was one breath
closer to saying good-bye.

“
This time, don’t die,” he
whispered in her ear.

She jerked back to look at his face. Their
eyes sought each other, and for a moment his cobalt-blue eyes held
her brown eyes. She gave a nod in response. His surgeon-trained
hand put her hand back on his chest.

“
Sir, Miss Emily has asked
me to tell you that she, Mr. Cian, Mr. Eoin, and Mistress Amelia
are waiting for you in the car,” the Butler said.

They stepped back together. Without ever
breaking eye contact with John, Alex said, “Thank you.”

Still holding her hand, he picked up his
backpack and walked to the open door. On the stoop, Colin was
saying good-bye to his beloved Julie. John flipped around to Alex.
Letting go of her hand, he held up his left ring-finger hand. She
pressed her left hand into his. While their eyes held, they
repeated their vows.

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

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

He kissed her hard and ran down the stairs
after Julie. Colin, Alex, and Vince waved as the limousine took
their families back to their busy lives.

“
Nice of Julie to come,”
Vince said.

“
She saw us get out of the
helicopter at the marathon and decided to find out what the hell
was going on,” Colin said.

“
And?” Alex
asked.

“
I told her,” Colin
said.

“
Everything?” Vince
asked.

“
Everything,” Colin said.
“Sobriety, new job, bakery, Special Forces, hostage, trust fund –
everything I could think of.”

“
Wow,” Vince said. “Feel
any better?”

Colin shrugged.

“
And?” Alex
repeated.

“
She said she had to think
about it,” Colin said.

“
It didn’t seem like you
were doing a lot of thinking last night,” Alex smirked. “You
retreated to your room and never came out. Didn’t even answer when
we knocked to check on you. Raz said he thought you
were…”

Alex wiggled her eyebrows to finish the
sentence. Blushing to the edge of his white blonde hair, Colin
cleared his throat and nodded toward the inside of the mansion.
They trudged up the steps.

“
She had a lot to tell me,”
Colin said. “She was pregnant last spring and lost the baby. We had
a tough time having Paddie, so I’m not surprised. And, you’re right
Alex; she’s pregnant again.”

“
Aren’t you guys divorced?”
Matthew asked from the bottom of the stairwell.

“
I asked her about that,”
Colin said. “Turns out we’re just divorced by man’s law, not by
God’s law or that of the Catholic Church. Just because I’m an
asshole doesn’t mean she’s going to take on a mortal
sin.”

“
Catholics,” Matthew shook
his head. “Crazy cult.”

“
You’ll get used to it,”
Vince patted Matthew’s shoulder and went up the
stairwell.

“
What are you doing awake?”
Alex asked Matthew.

“
Grace woke up when you
guys did,” Matthew said. “I thought I’d skip all the romantic movie
good-byes and come down to figure out the schedule.”

Colin touched Alex’s arm and started up the
stairwell.

“
Zack will be here at 0500
with the whiskey,” Alex said. “Joseph should be here any
moment.”

“
Leena and Cliff report at
0500,” Matthew said.

“
Where’s Joseph been?”
Colin asked.

“
Denver,” Alex said. “His
little Alex had a big Halloween dance at his school. Joseph didn’t
want him to have to go alone. He and Nancy were
chaperones.”

“
Little Alex took
his
girlfriend
?”
Matthew asked.

“
He did,” she said. “Very
big deal.”

“
And?” Matthew
asked.

“
A good time was had by
all,” Alex said. “He’ll be here in a bit with photos and
details.”

“
I’ll tell you, it was
great to have Joseph in Denver,” Mathew said. “He was able to
coordinate with Leena on nursing homes.”

“
Leena will need our help
moving her mother this week,” Alex said. “You’ll have to track
that.”

“
She’s on my list,” Matthew
said. “Fey wives?”

“
Since Nancy couldn’t make
it, Maria, Jennifer, and their kids are here this week to help
Troy,” Alex said. “I think Jen and her kids are going back
tomorrow. Jen will help Troy get settled in Denver. She’s already
talking to schools and therapists. Maria works for Dad. She and
their kids are here until we leave. Did you see Jesse Jr. and Luis
with Hermes and Hector James?”

“
They are very cute,”
Matthew said. “His boys are so… Troy.”

“
Little charmers,” Alex
said. “I think they’ll adjust. But we’ll have to take it
slow.”

“
And Troy?”

“
Light duty,” Alex said.
“We won’t know about custody issues until this evening at the
earliest. It depends on how fast the criminal investigation is
wrapped up.”

“
When’s your pick up?”
Matthew asked.

“
They are sending a car for
Zack at 0600,” Alex said. “He’s due at JFCOM for a 0830 meeting.
It’s about a two-hour drive. You guys can catch a few more hours of
sleep. I need to put a few balls in play before I get
dressed.”

“
Team breakfast and
briefing at 0515,” Matthew said.

“
Good thinking,” Alex said.
“Now off to bed. We have a lot of plans in motion, but we have no
idea what we’re walking into.”

“
You’re going to…?” Matthew
asked.

“
Work,” Alex said. “Raz is
with me this morning until we leave. I have a lot of phone calls to
make. I’ll need help getting dressed.”

“
And Troy’s stuff?” Matthew
asked.

“
I need to review the
reports,” Alex said. “Eoin and Cian think they found something. Raz
and Vince aren’t as sure, and Raz is concerned that Troy will be
blamed nonetheless.”

“
Why?” Matthew
asked.

“
Not sure,” Alex said. “See
you in a few hours. Can you do reveille?”

“
0500?” Matthew
asked.

Alex nodded.

“
Got it,” he started up the
stairwell. “See you in a few.”

Alex smiled and went to her work area. Raz
was supposed to meet her but she hadn’t seen him that morning. She
pushed open the door and stopped short. Like walking into a wall,
the wafting odor of fresh ground coffee hit her. She could only
revel in the smell. Raz laughed. Opening her eyes, she saw him
walking toward her with a cup of coffee.