Lean on Me (52 page)

Pete waited for Troy to disappear on a
litter. He and Matthew set Bill in the pipe. Matthew helped him
into the tunnel. MJ checked to make sure he had all of his supplies
and got down from the loft. He took the cameras from her. Alex
watched from the loft until they left.

“
What are we doing here?”
Matthew asked. He helped her down from the loft.

“
Looking for whatever Larry
left me,” Alex said. “It’s not on or in his body. It has to be
here. If we leave, there’s no guarantee someone else won’t take it
and give it to Eniac. Larry lost his life and…”

Alex gritted her teeth against the avalanche
of sadness that came with her words. To avoid feeling, she rolled
up the ladder made by Larry’s team and stuffed it in the side
pocket of her pants.

“
I’ve looked everywhere,”
Alex said.

“
This is Larry right?”
Matthew asked. “So not under, right?”

“
Not under,” Alex said.
“Larry never bothered to pick up anything he dropped, let alone put
something under anything.”

“
So above?” Matthew
asked.

“
Too obvious,” Alex shook
her head. “It’s not in here.”

“
He wouldn’t have put it on
the Internet,” Matthew said. “If he had access he would have sent a
signal.”

Alex nodded.

“
It’s got to be in the
duct,” Alex said. “Remember how fascinated he was with the
underground utility folks we know. He’d spend hours talking to them
about sewers and…”

“
Drains,” Matthew
said.

“
And drains,” Alex
said.

“
Which one?” Matthew
asked.

“
What were the words?” Alex
asked.

“
What
,
who
,
why
,
war
,
warp
,
wonderful
…” Matthew said. “All
W
’s. But I don’t think
there are twenty-three drains.”

“
Five,” Alex
said.

“
Larry loved numerology,”
Matthew said.

“
Right,” Alex said. “But
the fifth from here, or from the vertical drop?”

“
We’ll check them both.”
Matthew nodded toward the intake duct. “Let’s get out of
here.”

Matthew helped her up to the edge of the
pipe.

“
Do you always rescue
hostages from underground?” Matthew asked.

“
No, but we do seem to be
underground all the time now,” Alex said. “We didn’t used to be.
But I guess with all the drones and stuff, it makes some sense.
Let’s go together.”

“
You won’t tell Erin. I
don’t think she’d care, but…”

“
No way.” Alex stretched
her arms down to stabilize him and help him into the duct. He lay
down on the litter and she lay on top of him. She put on her
night-vision and infrared goggles. “Did you know there’s an ancient
tunnel system that runs through Europe?”

Matthew shook his head.

“
At one point, we thought
there was a system of …,” Alex shook her head.
“Something.”

“
What?”

“
I don’t remember,” Alex
said. “In fact, I just remember telling someone that. Weird. Shit,
my head is starting to throb.”

“
Let’s get out of here,”
Matthew said. Alex held onto his shoulders. “Here we
go.”

“
One, two…” Over his
shoulder, Alex counted the drains she saw after they passed. “We
just passed it.”

She yanked on the rope and they slid to a
stop. She crawled off Matthew and went toward the drain.

“
Anything?” Matthew
asked.

“
I think so.” Taking out
her Leatherman Freestyle, she rotated the tools to open the
needle-nose pliers. She slipped the pliers through the grate to
grab what she saw. “Got it.”

She carefully pulled it through the space in
the drain grate and crawled back to him.

“
What is it?”

“
USB drive,” Alex said.
“But it’s too obvious.”

“
Larry hated those things,”
Matthew said.

“
Right,” Alex said. “It’s a
decoy.”

Matthew pulled on the rope to signal the top
that they were ready to go. They began speeding through the pipe
again. They made it all the way to the vertical section. Alex
crawled back into the tunnel. She crawled as fast as she possibly
could until she found the fifth duct.

And saw nothing. Disappointed, she collapsed
against the pipe. Her face against the frigid pipe, she felt the
cold permeate her body.

“
Larry,” she whispered.
“Larry.”

Out of nowhere, her mind flashed to an image
of his big, bright Howdy-Doody smile when he learned they used
common glow sticks for light in dark places. He looked every bit
the farm boy he’d been. He always had three or four of them in his
pockets. Over the course of his internship, Troy had taught him all
the “off the book things” to do with glow sticks, including nipping
the end to put something inside. Larry had grown adept at it. He
could nip the end and slip a micro SD disc inside. He’d reseal the
glow stick leaving only the tiniest mark. He sent Helene video
letters and music for her phone this way.

Alex looked in the drain again. Sure enough,
there was a glow stick tucked against the edge. They must have
dragged the men through the tunnel. She wondered what it had cost
Larry to set this here for her. She closed her eyes for a
moment.

“
Alex! We have to go.”
Colin’s voice echoed down the pipe.

Using the needle-nosed pliers of her
Freestyle, she got the glow stick. She turned it over until she saw
a micro SD disc inside. Larry had left it where she’d know to find
it. Smiling, she crawled as fast as she possibly could to the
vertical duct.

“
Did you get it?” Half way
up the vertical ladder, Matthew yelled down to her.

She nodded.

“
Alex, stop fucking
around.”

Colin’s voice came from the top. Looking up,
she saw only white. Blizzard Albert was unleashing his wrath upon
them. As quickly as she could, she climbed the ladder to the top.
She was within a foot of the exit when she saw Raz’s worried face.
Trece was holding a blanket for her. Colin looked irritated. The
three formed a cover to the duct. Trece pulled her out. He held the
blanket overhead. Raz helped her into her heavy winter coat, hat,
and gloves. Trece dropped the blanket over her shoulders.

“
I have to advise you
against flying,” her friend from SF training and leader of the
Delta team, JS, yelled over the wind. “The Medivacs are grounded
and…”

“
The Jakker is flying,”
Vince yelled. “Most of the team is aboard.”

“
If you crash, you…” JS’s
eyes spoke his personal and professional concern.

She smiled.

“
We can get you out of the
storm,” JS said. “You can fly from there.”

Alex put her hands on his shoulders and
their eyes held. She hugged him.

“
I will come to get you,”
she said in his ear. “Anywhere, any time. It’s my job to show that
to the men. Not to play it safe. Not to be safe. But to prove to
every service member that no matter what hole, bayou, jungle,
frosty plain, or sand trap they are lost in, I will come for them.
That belief has saved a lot of lives.”

He clasped her tight.

“
Plus, he acts crazy as
hell,” Alex said in his ear. “But Zack’s incredibly safe. He’d
never risk our lives.”

He stuffed something in her pocket.

“
Love note?” she
asked.

“
Barf bag,” he
laughed.

With one last squeeze, they let go.

“
By your leave, my men and
I will escort the hostages to Brooke Army Medical Center,” JS said.
“Their emergency team is waiting for us. We’re driving to the edge
of the storm and flying from there.”

“
Good thinking,” Alex
said.

He saluted her. She returned his salute.

“
Merry Christmas, Alex,” he
said. Calling his men, they retreated to the waiting
ambulances.

Raz nudged her aside. A
team of MPs from the 91
^st
Security Forces Squadron began moving into the
intake duct to do the forensic work and review. The press would
learn that the 91
^st
Security Forces Group had noticed some anomalies
in this deactivated ICBM site and gone to look. When they took a
look, they realized the LEB hadn’t been decommissioned. By the end
of the day, the LEB that had been home to Larry’s Special Forces
team would be documented, analyzed, and destroyed.

“
Ready?” Raz
asked.

They followed Vince and Trece to the wires.
The men hooked in Alex and she began her bitter journey through the
snow and ice to the helicopter. White Boy pulled her into the
helicopter and sent the wire back for Trece. Joseph pulled Raz in
and sent the wire back for Vince.

“
You’re wanted,” Sergeant
Dusty gave her a head set.

The helicopter swayed. Royce grabbed her and
set her in a seat next to him. Raz fell into the seat next to her.
They strapped in. She pulled on her headset.

“
Fey,” Alex
said.

Sergeant Dusty moved the microphone in front
of her mouth. She smiled her thanks.

“
Fey,” Alex
said.

“
I have three people
waiting to talk to you,” Zack said. “One of them is the
President.”

“
And the other two?” Alex
asked.

“
Your father,” Zack said.
“And me.”

“
Reverse order,” Alex
said.

“
Don’t come up,” Zack said.
“Our consoles are barf sensitive.”

She waited through the series of clicks as
he disconnected from the recordings.

“
Where’s Larry?” Alex asked
Raz.

“
They took him to Brooke,”
Raz said. “He needs a military autopsy for his family to get
benefits. Helene and Ben are on their way to San
Antonio.”

She closed her eyes against her own
tears.

“
They found the Greek
team,” Zack said through her headphones. “It hasn’t been announced.
I heard it from a Navy SAR Spec Ops team in the Philippines. The
Greek Team fought back and was slaughtered. The guy said they were
hacked into pieces and dumped.”

“
Where?”

“
Aurora Memorial National
Park,” Zack said. “Just off Nueva Ecija Aurora Highway.”

“
To be found on Christmas,”
Alex said.

“
They have a sign that
says: ‘Merry Christmas Fey.’”

“
Ho, ho,” Alex
said.

“
That’s three, Alex,” Zack
said. “Our families, Larry’s team, Greek team.”

“
Ho, ho, ho,” Alex
repeated. “Heath must be dead as well.”

“
I got the call because the
word was that the Fey found a dead team in North Dakota too. Fey
failed to get them in time. All hostages suffocated. I set the
record straight. You’re a real hero today Alex.”

“
Yea me,” Alex said.
“What’s the word on the home front?”

“
No Julie,” Zack said.
“Everyone else is accounted for and at your house. Even Bestat is
there with the kids. My kids are in heaven. Of course, Teddy’s
begging to go to his girlfriend’s house.”

“
He’s so like his father,”
Alex smiled.

“
He’s a much superior
person than his father, Alex, and you know it.”

Alex smiled her acknowledgement.

“
Anyway, Bestat is hanging
out with the Northern Irish. It’s going to be an interesting
afternoon.”

“
But no Julie or Paddie,”
Alex said.

“
Correct,” Zack said.
“Cliff just gave me the signal. Our lack of connection has been
noticed. I’d advise you to take the President next.”

“
Good plan.”

Alex waited for Zack to click her through.
While she waited the usual
five-minute-wait-for-the-President-even-though-he-called-you time,
she leaned over Royce to Sergeant Dusty. He leaned forward.

“
Did you call Larry’s
parents?” she asked.

“
Casualty Notification has
been notified,” Sergeant Dusty said. “They won’t go out until they
have positive ID. They are getting ready to contact every family
and plan to do it within an hour of touch down at BAMC, sir. They
asked me to remind you that you are to let them do their
jobs.”

“
Fey,” Zack said in her
ear.

Alex nodded to Sergeant Dusty and sat
up.

“
The President,” Zack
said.

Alex’s mouth ran through a report of what
happened from Cheyenne Mountain to the missile site.

But her mind was already working on a plan
for what to do in Denver. The Denver Police had made easy work of
collecting the men sent to murder the Fey wives and families. And
still there was no word on Julie and Paddie. She cursed herself for
letting her brother’s son and estranged wife be a loose end. Her
eyes flicked to Colin. She didn’t have to ask how he was doing. His
face was a mask of regret and fear.

And her heart broke for Larry and his
family. When this action was over, she would arrange to visit
Larry’s parents. When she looked at the faces around her, she saw
sorrow at the loss of their friend.