Lean on Me (23 page)

“
They have your strength,”
Elizabeth smiled at him. “Resilience. Dahlia loved them deeply and
well. That makes all the difference.”

There was a knock at the door and two
Washington DC uniformed officers came into the room. Elizabeth
stood when they read her rights. She nodded that she understood.
They asked her if she was going to cause any trouble.

“
No,” Elizabeth said. “I’m
glad to have a chance to help sort this mess out. May
I?”

The officers nodded. She held out her arm
and Troy hugged her.

“
Gentlemen?” Elizabeth
nodded.

The officers took her into the hall. They
were in the entry when she saw Troy’s boys.

“
Grammie!”

Hector James ran forward. Elizabeth dropped
to her knees to hug him. Hermes jumped on them. The boys were
talking a mile a minute but in Elizabeth’s arms, their words were
unintelligible. One of the uniformed officers put his hand on her
shoulder.

“
These handsome young men
are taking me to talk to some people,” Elizabeth stood. “I’ll see
you when I get back?”

“
But we’ll see you soon?”
Hector James asked. He looked up at Leena then at Troy.

“
I hope so,” Elizabeth
said.

“
Bye-bye Grammie!” Hermes
waved.

“
Don’t worry, boys,”
Elizabeth said to Troy. “I’ll be back sooner than you
think.”

Like Elizabeth Taylor, she gave an elegant
wave and walked out of the house with the officers. Troy stared at
the door. Feeling a pull on his hands, he looked down to see Hector
James.

“
Grammie always called me
HJ,” Hector James said. “Can I be HJ?”

“
You can be anything you
want,” Troy said.

“
I’m going to stay Hermes
though,” Hermes said.

“
Maybe I’ll think about it
a while,” Hector James said.

“
Good idea,” Troy
said.

F

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Tuesday night

October 27 – 8:40 p.m. EDT

11
^th
Street Bridge, Washington
DC

“
I’m growing to hate this
city,” Raz said.

In the back of a cab on their way to Bolling
Air Force Base, Alex had been staring out the window at the water.
They’d spent most of the day in one long, pointless tap dance of
“How long can we avoid doing the obvious?” Smiling, she turned to
look at Raz.

“
I used to love it here,”
Raz said. “Remember that great apartment on the river?”

“
Gorgeous,” Alex said.
“Washington was your home base for a long time.”

“
But never home,” Raz
smiled. “Now that I have a home, I don’t ever want to leave. Sami
wants to travel and I’m the one who hesitates. I almost didn’t go
to the beach a couple of weeks ago.”

“
Was that a couple of weeks
ago?” Alex asked. “Seems like a lifetime.”

“
I need to ask you
something,” Raz shifted his knees so that he faced her. He took her
hands in his. “Can you do this?”

“
Find almost one hundred US
citizens, not to mention over fifty of our allies?” Alex asked.
“Did you hear that the rent-a-soldiers sent a couple teams? Do you
remember how many?”

“
Two,” Raz said.

“
I can never remember,”
Alex said.

“
That’s because you don’t
listen,” Raz said.

“
I listen,” Alex
said.

“
They start talking and you
drift off,” Raz said.

“
That obvious?”

“
You may as well have put
your fingers in your ears and gone ‘la la la la la.’”

“
They refuse to deal on
Leena’s assault,” Alex said. “I refuse to find their lost
sheep.”

She sniffed and looked away. Watching the
back of her head, he waited for her anger to subside.

“
We have all the evidence!”
Alex said. “Makes me crazy. Rent-a-soldiers are above the
law.”

“
Sadly true,” Raz
said.

“
They don’t have to submit
to normal military review,” Alex said.

“
Or police safety boards,”
Raz said. “Just gung-ho frat boys with weapons.”

Shaking her head, Alex turned back to look
at him.

“
We’ve talked about this,”
Alex said.

“
More than once,” Raz said.
“But I do like what you said to the General. ‘Get me the bastards
that raped, tortured, and held my Petty Officer in a hot box and
I’ll get your rent-a-soldiers. Until then I hold you personally
responsible.’ Did you see his response?”

Alex shook her head.

“
I thought he was going to
puke,” Raz chuckled.

Alex shrugged.

“
Between you and me,” Raz
said. “Can you do this?”

“
Truth?” Alex
asked.

He nodded.

“
I don’t know,” Alex said.
“I thought we’d find something, anything, a scrap of paper or
calendar or computer log but…”

“
There’s nothing at JFCOM,”
Raz said.

“
Nothing at the creep’s
apartment,” Alex said. “Nothing anywhere. We’ll have to find them
by hand.”

Alex fell silent and watched the city fly.
They continued down Anacostia Freeway toward Bolling Air Force Base
where the team was waiting for them.

“
I thought of this last
night,” Alex said.

“
What?” Raz
asked.

“
We have every resource,
right?” Alex asked.

“
Every resource,” Raz said.
“Anything.”

“
I think I’m going to
activate the old team,” Alex said.

“
The Fey Special Forces
Team?”

Raz’s brow furrowed. His eyes scanned her
face to see if maybe the strain and lack of sleep had gotten to
her. Shaking her head, Alex laughed at him.

“
No,” Alex said. “Joseph
and I would have a tough time by ourselves!”

“
Ma’am, we’re almost
there,” the cab driver said. “You’re sure I can leave you at the
gate?”

“
They’re expecting us,
sir,” Alex said. “Thank you.”

“
The old team?” Raz
asked.

“
There was a group of
people who extracted hostages,” Alex said. “It’s surprising, given
all the POWs in Vietnam and Laos. Some of the men worked to
retrieve people from Korea.”

“
They’re good?” Raz’s voice
spoke his doubt.

“
Let me put it to you this
way,” Alex said. “They had full military assignments. Hostage
finding was a side job. Charlie did a tour with their leader.
That’s what made him want to set up the Fey Special Forces
Team.”

“
They’re good?” Raz
repeated.

Alex nodded.

“
I feel like a broken
record,” Raz said. “And you know I’d follow you to the end of the
earth and back again, but…”

“
Can I do this?” Alex
asked. “Not alone. Not even with the team. And even then… I can
only do my best. We can only do our best. That has to be
enough.”

“
Are you scared?” Raz
asked.

“
Kinda,” Alex said. “I have
that Mount Everest feeling.”

“
Mount Everest?”

“
You know, I’m standing at
the base of some big-ass mountain. I want to get to the top but
there’s a lot of miles, a little rock climbing, some ice, some
snow, a strong steady wind, and a bunch of unknown stuff I’ve never
done before,” Alex said. “The Sherpas are here to help. I even have
the best guides in the world, meaning you and the team. In the end,
I’m setting off into the unknown. I have to trust that I’m capable
of actually climbing the mountain.”

“
You’re terrified and
exhilarated at the same time,” Raz said. “What are you going to
do?”

“
I think I’ll make some
calls,” Alex said. “Maybe on the plane. See if any of the usual
suspects have any of the teams.”

“
Usual suspects?” Raz
asked.

“
There’s a few people I
check first,” Alex said. “Somalis, a warlord in Afghanistan, some
pornographers in Prague, couple human traffickers in Thailand, a
guy in Delhi, the Russian Mob – you know people like that. They
usually stay far away from anything like this. Especially since
they know I’m working again. They aren’t stupid either.”

“
What’s that mean?” Raz
asked.

“
We’re here,” the cab
driver said.

“
They aren’t going to miss
a chance for me to owe them a favor,” Alex said.

“
You should make the
calls,” Raz said.

Alex nodded. He paid the cab.

“
Let’s hope we don’t fall
off the cliff,” Raz said.

“
Or get frozen on the way
down,” Alex slid out of the cab. “I always thought that would
suck.”

Raz laughed.

FFF

Tuesday night

October 27 – 11:04 p.m. MDT

Buckley Air Force Base, Aurora, CO

“
Sami says they were turned
away at the gate,” Raz held up the text message. “John
too.”

“
What?” Alex asked. Joseph
and Matthew came over to find out what was going on.

“
They told them it was a
security matter,” Raz said.

“
Higher than John and Max’s
clearance?” Alex asked. “Max works with Trece and White
Boy.”

“
That’s what Max said,” Raz
said. “No go. They were going to wait, but they were told to vacate
the premises. Sami tried to call you, but your phone is
disconnected.”

Raz looked up at Matthew and Joseph.

“
Everyone’s phones are
disconnected,” Raz said.

“
How did you get this?”
Alex asked.

“
This is a burner,” Raz
nodded to the disposable phone in his hand. “Joseph gave one to
each of us after the last time they shut off our phones. Don’t you
have one?”

“
Probably,” Alex shrugged.
“No one ever calls me on the phone.”

“
Because you never answer,”
Matthew said.

“
Eleazar,” Alex nodded. “He
used to call me all the time. That wasn’t very fun.”

“
Point taken,” Matthew
said.

“
John says cell phones are
for work,” Alex said.

“
Check your burners,”
Joseph informed the rest of the team. “Our families aren’t allowed
on base.”

“
Prepare to land,” the US
Army Calvary pilot’s voice came over the intercom.

“
They’re waiting for us at
home,” Raz said.

“
Party at my house!” Alex
said, and the team cheered.

They strapped into their seats and the
Hercules C-130 landed. With her duffle bag on her shoulders, Alex
was the first one waiting to deplane. As the rear of the plane
began to lower to the tarmac, she saw two figures waiting for
them.

“
We have company,” she
called.

She pulled her handgun and moved away from
the exit. The rest of the team followed suit. They waited in
anxious silence as the rear of the plane continued to lower. Trece
and White Boy barreled out of the plane. When Trece laughed, Alex
gave a sigh of relief and put her weapon away. Her assistant,
Sergeant Dusty and Chief Petty Officer Royce Tubman joined them on
the plane. Carrying their gear duffle bags, they were dressed in
their Fey uniforms.

“
What’s going on?” Alex
asked.

“
You found four teams,”
Sergeant Dusty said.

“
While I was sleeping my
way here?” Alex asked.

“
Seems that way,” Royce
said. “We were recalled to base, sir. Sergeant Dusty has the
information for you. We’ve been ordered to work on the plane while
they refuel. We have a new flight crew to take us where we need to
go.”

“
And…” Setting down his
gear, Sergeant Dusty nodded a greeting to everyone. “Captain Gordon
is on leave.”

“
Month’s leave,” Royce
raised his eyebrows to Alex. “Told his staff he was having a
medical emergency but no one could figure out what that might be.
Doesn’t he work out with Trece?”

“
White Boy trains him,”
Trece nodded to the bodybuilder standing next to him.

“
He’s fit for duty,” White
Boy said. “We just got back his blood work. His cholesterol has
dropped to normal since we started working out. Heart test clear.
Liver panel. Everything’s good; a lot better than a year ago. For
an old guy, he’s healthy.”

“
Here’s the weird thing,”
Sergeant Dusty said.

“
Weirder than that?” Raz
asked.

“
The Admiral is also on
leave,” Sergeant Dusty said. “He told his staff that my wife,
Peggy, his daughter was having complications with her
pregnancy.”

“
Didn’t she have the baby
last month?” Matthew asked.

“
As far as I know,”
Sergeant Dusty said. “She’s clueless as to what he
means.”

“
How was that plane ride,
sir?” Royce asked.

The team turned to look at Alex. Chewing on
her cheek, she was staring off into space. She was so lost in
thought, she didn’t notice their attention.