Lean on Me (18 page)

“
Better get two,” Zack
said.

“
You are so frisky,” Alex
said.

Zack started at his girlfriend Bestat’s
usual joke about him. Alex gave a drunken giggle. Laughing, he
dropped his pants. While he was fumbling around with his underwear,
Alex took the handheld computer from her bag and turned it on.

“
We need some music for the
mood!” Alex said.

Zack gave her a lecherous grin and took the
iPod out of his pocket. Working under the cover of his body, she
plugged the computer cord in the handheld computer and held it out
to him.

“
The cult of personality,”
Alex sang off key.

“
Neon light…” Zack joined
in.

He dropped his tidy whities and stepped
closer to her. Alex leaned back to use her hands to prop herself
up. Zack fell forward as if they had connected. His hands went past
hers to set the handheld computer next to the phone. She moaned to
cover the sound of Jesse connecting the handheld computer to the
phone line.

“
Only you can set me
freeeeee,” Alex and Zack sang together.

Even though the handheld computer’s sound
was turned off, it made a series of clicks. Zack grunted and Alex
added some “Oh Gods.” They continued their
Adult-Video-News-award-winning performance until Zack gave an
exaggerated “Yippee Kai Yea” and collapsed against her. She had to
press her mouth against his shoulder to keep from laughing out
loud.

Zack glanced at his watch. It had been ten
minutes since they had hooked up the handheld computer. Alex lifted
a shoulder in a shrug.

“
Good thing you brought
more condoms!” Zack said.

Alex put her head back and laughed. Her pink
curls shook glitter all over the room.

“
Here you go, honey.” Alex
gave him another condom. “You are a fun date.”

“
I want to have
fun…”

“
WE ARE ANNONYMOUS,” a
computerized voice came over the loud speaker. The voice echoed
through the hallway. “DO NOT PANIC. WE HAVE TAKEN CONTROL OF THIS
FACILITY.”

“
It’s about fucking time,”
Zack said. “I already used my best material.”

“
STAY AT YOUR STATIONS AND
YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO LEAVE THE BUILDING.
DO NOT TRY. STAY AT YOUR STATIONS.”

They heard general panic outside the door.
The lock on their door clicked open.

“
Love the outfit, Fey,” the
computerized voice said from the phone’s speaker.

“
Thanks X,” Alex
said.

“
You can put on your
clothes Jakker,” the X voice said.

Wearing only a white T-shirt, Zack yanked up
his underwear. He picked up his pants from near the door and his
jacket from a corner, and started to dress.

“
He has such a nice butt,”
a higher-pitched computerized voice said. “Hey Alex, how big is
he?”

“
A high-class girl never
talks size,” Alex laughed. The higher-pitched computerized voice
laughed.

“
Funny,” Zack said. “You’re
very funny. Have you seen my tie?”

“
Heya Y,” Alex said. “I
should have known you were there.”

“
Wouldn’t miss it,” the Y
voice said. “Can I have your outfit when you’re done? X wants the
wig.”

“
Jakker, your tie is in the
bin,” the X voice said.

Zack went to the trashcan to find his tie.
He noticed a rip in his dress shirt and dropped it in the
trashcan.

“
You can have my outfit,”
Alex said. “It’s the least I can do. You guys know where Ben
is?”

“
He’s being held down the
hall from you,” the X voice said. “It hasn’t occurred to them that
you caused any of this. Should we let them know?”

“
Let’s get Ben first,” Alex
said. “Anyone else here we should know about?”

“
Not that we’ve found,” the
X voice said. “We’re just finishing the system. You were right, by
the way. It’s not quite a virus but more than a monitoring program.
That’s why it took so long. We’ll let you know the details when you
confirm control of the computer facility.”

“
Fey?” the Y voice asked.
“Ben is three doors to your left as you exit the room and across
the hall. He has one guard with him.”

“
Is he saying anything?”
Alex asked.

“
He’s saying something in
some other language,” the Y voice said. “I don’t recognize it and
our software won’t translate it. I’ll patch you in.”

“
While these final scans
run, I’m going to announce this to CNN,” the X voice said. “I’ll be
back in a couple of minutes. But Fey, you acted just in time. This
thing was ready to do… I’m not quite sure what, on the entire
international intelligence network.”

“
Here’s Ben,” the Y voice
said.

Ben’s voice came over the phone’s speaker.
At first Alex thought he was injured until she realized he wasn’t
actually saying anything. In his garbled non-language, he was
saying he was there and he believed in her. She smiled at his
confidence. Then, she realized what he was actually saying.

F

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“
What?” Zack asked. “What
is he saying?”

“
Nothing,” Alex said. “He’s
not saying anything.”

“
Why the grimace?” Zack
asked.

“
He wouldn’t say that if he
didn’t think we… I… took on too much. He doesn’t think I can do
it,” Alex said. “He’d never go so far as to say I can’t do it, but…
he thinks it.”

“
We’re taking over JFCOM,
sir,” Sergeant Dusty’s voice came on the speaker phone.

“
Hey Dusty,” Zack
said.

“
I have to agree with Y,
sir. You
do
have a
nice butt,” Sergeant Dusty laughed. “I shared a photo with the
team.”

“
Gee thanks,” Zack said.
“I’m missing a sock. Can you see it?”

“
It’s under the table,
Jakker,” the Y voice said.

“
I’m going to have to
remember ‘Yippee Kai Yea,’” Sergeant Dusty said.

“
Hey!” Zack laughed. “Don’t
go stealing my best material!”

They laughed.

“
How do you see us?” Zack
asked.

“
Webcam, Jakker,” the Y
voice said. “Every computer in the room has one. We turned the
computers on when we took over.”

“
Did Mauer get a
bird?”

“
He’s waiting to land on
the roof, sir,” Sergeant Dusty said. “He had to use ‘some kid’ –
his words – as a co-pilot.”

Zack laughed. He and Alex had called Cliff
“that kid” for more than a year before they bothered to learn his
name. Zack sat down to put his shoes on.

“
You better go,” Sergeant
Dusty said. “They just remembered you’re there.”

“
How long?” Alex
asked.

“
You have about three
minutes before security gets to you,” Sergeant Dusty said. “Maybe
five.”

“
I’ll set off the fire
alarm in the other areas of the building,” the Y voice said. “That
closes the barriers between divisions. You have the run of the
computer division.”

“
What about the team?” Alex
asked.

“
They have access to you
from the front,” the X voice said. “You will be alone until they
reset the fire alarms. Gives you at least thirty
minutes.”

They heard the fire alarm blaring in the
other areas of the building. Alex took her weapon out of her
handbag and nodded to Zack. She opened the door and peeked out.

“
Ma’am, you’d do well to
return to your room,” an Army Captain running by said.

“
I have to pee,” Alex
whined. “Can you point me to the potty? I promise to return the
moment I’m done. Unless you’d like to party.”

The Captain pointed toward the bathroom and
ran down the hallway. Alex nodded to Zack. Grabbing Zack’s jacket
to cover her handgun, she walked toward the room where Ben was
being held. Zack followed close behind.

When she reached the door, she looked up at
the security camera. Y unlocked the door. She glanced at Zack. He
took his handgun from his pocket. He nodded to her and they entered
the room. Her mentor, biological father, and ex-boss was sitting in
a leather office chair with his hands handcuffed in his lap. A US
Army Private looked up with surprise when they entered.

“
There you are,” Ben said
in Parisian French. “Try not to kill this young man. He’s
young.”

Ben’s guard fumbled for his handgun and Alex
raised hers. With wide terrified eyes, the young man raised his
arms.

“
Hey Zack,” Ben said in
English. “How the hell are you?”

Alex went to the young man and took his
weapon.

“
Good, sir,” Zack said. “I
understand we moved our christening because yours was on the same
day.”

“
Nice of you,” Ben said. “I
was otherwise detained when that was resolved.”

She searched Ben’s young guard with quick
efficient moves. She found his ear bud communicator. She held out
her hand and he gave her the ear bud. She dropped it on the floor
to crush then realized she’d left her cool hooker shoes in the
room.

“
Zack?” Alex pointed to the
ear bud. He stomped on it.

“
Didn’t you guys have a
baby early in the year?” Zack asked.

“
Gerald? End of last
summer,” Ben said. “Who knew that my goal of making love to my wife
every day would result in another baby?”

“
Wonder how that happened?”
Zack laughed.

“
I can either put you out
or you can lay on your stomach on the floor,” Alex said to Ben’s
guard. “Your choice.”

The young man dropped to the floor. With his
face against the carpet, Alex used a plastic band she’d stowed in
the elastic of her cheap thong underwear to bind his wrists behind
him.

“
We’ve practiced birth
control by extensive travel schedule,” Ben said. “After Becky, we
had to come up with something more… sincere.”

Ben and Zack laughed. Alex found the
handcuff key in the guard’s back pocket and tossed it to Zack. Zack
unlocked Ben’s handcuffs.

“
Claire loves babies and
children and little people, even teenagers. It’s like a disease,”
Ben laughed. “She’s in heaven.”

“
She’s happy to be done,”
Alex said.

“
Oh, she’s delighted to be
done, but so am I,” Ben said. “Do think you and the gorgeous Bestat
will have more, Zack?”

“
If Bestat wants another
child, I’m happy to oblige,” Zack shrugged.

“
Fey, the filth are on
their way to you,” the X voice said from the speaker of an office
phone. “Should I turn on the overhead water jets?”

“
That’s all right,” Alex
said. “Where’s the team?”

“
At the entrance,” the X
voice said. “The Pentagon is freaking out about our announcement of
taking over JFCOM.”

“
Did you announce
why
you had to take
over?” Alex asked.

“
Dire threats to US
security, which will cascade into international security,” the X
voice said.

“
A request for assistance
from a friend in the ‘tippy top’ of US intelligence,” the Y voice
said. “I love the ‘tippy top.’”

“
Points to me without
saying it’s me,” Alex said. “Nice.”

“
And what did you find?”
Ben asked.

“
We’re not exactly sure,
sir,” the X voice said. “We have three of our best people working
on it.”

“
How long?” Alex
asked.

“
Half an hour,” the X voice
said.

“
If you’re lucky,” the Y
voice said.

“
Thanks,” Ben
said.

“
Sergeant?” Alex looked up
as if his voice was coming from overhead.

“
Yes sir?” Sergeant Dusty
asked from the speaker of the phone.

“
Can you ask Colonel Gordon
to talk to the Pentagon?” Alex asked. “He’s briefed on the entire
plan.”

“
That objective has been
achieved,” Sergeant Dusty said. “It’s my understanding that this is
a publicity move. They are anxiously waiting on your report. The
entire alphabet soup is on alert and ready to act.”

“
Can you inform them it
will be a while?” Alex said.

“
Yes sir,” Sergeant Dusty
said.

With Alex’s help, Ben stood and stretched.
Smiling, he hugged and kissed her cheek.

“
Did you bring…?” Ben
asked.

Alex went to her handbag and threw him a box
of North Carolina cigarettes. He held the box to his nose.

“
Lighter?” Ben
asked.

“
They took them from us,”
Zack said. “Matches too. Alex had little candles for the mood. They
weren’t amused.”

“
Is Jesse with you?” Ben
asked.

Alex gave a brusque nod.

“
Jesse?” Ben held the
cigarette away from him. “Help an old friend out.”

Jesse threw an energy ball at the cigarette.
There was a tiny spark. Ben puffed, looked at the end of the
cigarette and started to puff vigorously. The tobacco caught.