Lean on Me (56 page)

“
At least I know I’m a
priority,” he said.

“
My only real priority,”
she said.

He kissed her. She shifted on top of him.
Their lips caught and for a moment, the outside world gave way to
their inner life. He pulled back.

“
I’m always caught,” he
said. “I long to talk to you – to hear about where you are, what
you’re thinking. I long to tell you every detail of the last hours.
And yet…”

He flipped them over so that she was under
him. She laughed. He smiled.

“
I love it when you laugh,”
he said.

His eyes scanned her face.

“
I can see them weighing on
your mind,” he said. “How many more men are missing?”

“
Twenty-four,” Alex said.
“A team of contractors and a Marine team.”

“
Heath Walker’s
team.”

Alex nodded.

“
You’ll leave tomorrow?” he
asked. “We have this time. Right now.”

“
It’s not
enough.”

“
But it’s what we have,” he
said. “Frankly, it is a pretty good feeling to love someone so much
that no matter how much time you have with them, it’s never
enough.”

She gave him a sad smile.

“
Don’t be sad,” he said.
“For me. Don’t be sad. Let’s just enjoy what we have. You’ll be
done with this soon enough.”

“
I don’t know,” she said.
“We may be getting close to the crux of everything that’s happened
– the assault, the room, last spring’s events, and…”

He kissed her quiet. She gave him a puzzled
look.

“
Come on,” he said. “You’ve
been doing this work long enough to know there’s always another bad
guy. It’s human nature. When we lived in Santa Monica, you used to
tell me that as long as you were alive, you would be out there
fighting the greedy, selfish, and power hungry.”

She gave him a slight nod.

“
Has that changed?” he
asked.

“
No,” she said. “I’m more
tired now. Disheartened.”

“
Let’s celebrate,” John
said. “Let’s have some champagne, eat some stolen hors d’oeuvres,
and take a long bath. By the time the sun comes up, we’ll be ready
to do it all again. Deal?”

“
Deal,” she
said.

He gave her a sly smile and slipped out of
bed to pour the champagne. He looked one way, then the other.

“
Glasses?”

“
I must have forgotten
them,” she said. “I can go…”

“
There’s no way I’m risking
you wandering off.” He popped the cork and took a long swig from
the bottle. “This will do.”

He hopped back into bed.

“
There is nowhere I’d
rather be. You?”

“
Not a chance,” she said.
“Not a chance.”

FFF

The next morning

Saturday morning

December 26 – 7:47 a.m. MST

Denver, CO

Alex wandered through the first floor of
their home. Their guests were staying until the Denver Police
assured them they were safe in their homes. Truth be told, everyone
was having such a great time, no one wanted to go home. The women
had taken over the kitchen this morning and were cooking up a
storm. Their Irish guests were out touring Denver with Cian. Her
family was getting ready to give out their gifts to each other. And
the house was filled to the brim with children. The older children
had launched a “take-no-prisoners” video game tournament in the
shared living area. The younger children were playing in groups all
over the house.

“
They’re like an
infestation,” Maria whispered as Alex walked past.

Alex laughed.

“
Auntie Alex!” Hermes
yelled from the front door of her side of the rooming
house.

“
Auntie Alex! Auntie Alex!
Auntie Alex! Auntie Alex!” the kids he was playing with mimicked
his cry.

“
Excuse me,” Alex said to
Maria.

Maria gave her a wave and went into the
kitchen.

“
Yes, Hermes,” Alex looked
into the boy’s bright face. He was playing jacks with a few of the
other children his age on the tiles in the entryway of the house.
Over the last months, Hermes had gained healthy weight and grown
taller. He’d also learned to be a killer jacks player.

“
There’s a man at the front
door,” Hermes said. “He’s wearing a brown shirt and brown pants.
Daddy said not to open the door but to call you.”

Alex looked up to Troy’s perch on the
stairs.

“
UPS,” Troy
said.

“
He wants
you
,” Hermes
said.

“
Okay, okay,” Alex said.
She set her coffee cup down on the entryway table. With a hand on
her Glock 9mm, she opened the door. “Yes?”

“
Alexandra Hargreaves?” the
man asked.

“
Yes,” Alex
said.

“
Package for you.” The man
had a package under one arm and an electronic signature pad in the
other. There was a UPS truck idling on the street.

“
You’re early.” Not
removing her hand from the Glock, Alex held her other hand out for
the signature pad.

“
Didn’t get everything
delivered on Thursday. This time of year, we hire contractors but
you know how it goes,” he shrugged. “Your box was due on Christmas.
This is the least I can do. Hopefully, we didn’t ruin your
Christmas.”

“
Not at all,” she
said.

Alex gave him back the signature pad. She
let go of her weapon to take a medium-sized square box from
him.

“
Merry Christmas!” He said
as he ran back to his truck.

Alex closed the door. Turning in place, she
carried the box through the house, around all the people, and onto
the milk porch. She set the box on the bench and slipped on her
winter boots.

“
Whatcha doing?” Raz
asked.

She glanced up to see Troy and Raz standing
at the kitchen door.

“
What’s that?” Troy
asked.

“
What exactly,” Alex
said.

“
Who’s it from?” Raz
asked.

“
Someone in Mexico,” Alex
said. “Juarez.”

Raz picked up the package.

“
Do you know anyone in
Juarez?” Troy asked.

“
Not someone who’d send me
a Christmas gift,” Alex said.

Alex pulled on her jacket while Raz
inspected the package.

“
Where are we going?”
Matthew asked.

“
I need to check out this
box,” Alex said.

“
Parking lot behind the
house next door is probably the safest place,” Raz said. “Erin and
Grace are here so their home is empty and the house next door is
empty. I know Sami wants to take up the concrete. If it’s a
bomb...”

“
Good thinking,” Alex
said.

“
We’ll call the cops when
we know what it is,” Raz said.

Alex, Troy and Matthew nodded.

“
Troy and Mattie, I think
you should stay here,” Alex said. “I don’t want…”

Alex turned to point at the row of young
children peeking through their legs at her.

“
Why does he get to go?”
Troy asked.

“
After the anthrax scare…”
Raz said. “And Kandinsky, I know a lot about packages.”

“
Let us handle this,” Alex
said. Seeing resistance on their faces, she added, “Please. I’d
really like it if you didn’t blow up on Christmas in front of your
children.”

“
Come on Troy,” Matthew
said. “Let’s find a good place to watch before they’re all
gone.”

“
Good thinking,” Troy
said.

Alex smiled.

“
What’s this?” Wyatt asked.
“Anything exciting?”

“
Package of unknown
origin,” Troy said as he passed.

“
Going to look inside?”
Wyatt asked.

“
That was our general
plan,” Raz said.

“
I was on a bomb team for a
couple of years,” Wyatt said. “Mind if I tag along? See if I can
help?”

Alex and Raz looked at each other. Alex
shrugged. Wyatt grabbed his tattered heavy winter jacket. Raz
buttoned a fleece-lined, butter-soft leather jacket. He took a gray
cashmere scarf from the hook and wrapped it around his neck.

“
How is it that you have
the nicest clothing,” Wyatt said. “I feel… out classed for this
adventure.”

“
Samantha,” Raz said. “We
both put money into a fund and Sami buys our clothes. I’m sure
she’d do it for you too.”

“
She loves to shop,” Alex
said. “This gives her an outlet.”

“
The last woman who bought
me clothing was my mother,” Wyatt said.

“
And?” Raz
asked.

“
Where do you think I got
this jacket?” Wyatt asked.

Alex laughed.

“
You’ve met Frederec?” Raz
asked.

“
You mean,” Wyatt squealed
to imitate Amelia’s delight at seeing him. “Frederec! Oh my God!
Frederec!”

“
She was loud,” Alex
laughed. Wyatt opened the door. Alex and Raz followed him into the
garden.

“
Yes, I’ve met him,” Wyatt
said. “Why?”

“
He’s a designer,” Raz
said. “He’s wants good-looking regular guys to wear his clothes. I
bet he’d hook you up.”

They went through the garden gate to the
yard of the building next door.

“
Between Sami and Frederec,
you’ll be set,” Alex said.

She moved to the back of the lot, away from
the houses but not too close to the houses across the alley, and
set the box down. Wyatt dropped to his knees to look at the box.
Raz squatted down.

“
It’s not ticking,” Wyatt
said.

“
Always a good sign,” Raz
said. “No obvious wires.”

Wyatt flipped open the Spyderco folding
knife he kept on his waist band. He flicked the knife through the
packing tape on one end and then the other. Held together by a
strip of tape along the long edge of the top, the top of the box
came up an inch.

“
Could explode when the lid
opens,” Raz said.

“
It’s not a bomb,” Jesse
said. He appeared next to Alex.

“
How do you know?” Wyatt
looked up to see who was speaking. “Wait, who said
that?”

“
What?” Raz looked up to
where Wyatt was looking. Unwilling to have the conversation, Alex
shrugged. Raz leaned down to look under the flaps.
“Whoa.”

His face was marked with disgust and he
waved his hand in front of his face

“
That’s not a bomb. That’s
death,” Raz said.

Wyatt put his face into the crack in the
box.

“
Smells like death,” Wyatt
said.

Alex looked up to see Matthew, Troy and a
sea of children watching her from their milk porch windows.
Catching Matthew’s eyes, Alex slowly shook her head. He nodded.
They waited until the children had gone into the house to open the
box.

Wyatt cut the tape on the top and Raz opened
the box. Inside, they saw the top of a man’s head.

“
It’s Heath,” Alex
said.

“
You’re sure,” Raz
said.

“
Got to be.”

“
We need to call the Denver
Police,” Wyatt said.

Alex made the call. They waited in the cold
with the box for a few minutes before a police cruiser arrived. The
police cruiser led to a forensics team. Family gift time came and
went while they waited by the disembodied head of her mother’s best
friend’s son. The forensics team cut open the box to reveal what
Alex knew.

Someone had cut off US Marine Captain Heath
Wheeler’s head and sent it to her. Alex nodded to confirm the
identity. She, Raz, and Wyatt went back into the house.

For the first time since they returned from
North Dakota, the downstairs was quiet.

“
Where is everyone?” Alex
asked.

“
The children are
downstairs watching movies,” John said. “Tom and Rita are reading
books to the little ones.”

“
Even the older kids?” Alex
asked. “Amelia? Frederec?”

“
Moved their video game to
one of the rooms,” John nodded. “Everyone is tucked away in a room.
You can use your super secret office or do the laundry.”

“
Whatever me lady wishes,”
Cian said.

He bowed. Alex smirked at him and he
laughed.

“
What did you do with your
brothers?” Alex asked.

“
Watching football in Max’s
sitting room,” Cian said.

“
How…?”

“
Broke out the Red Breast,”
Cian said. “Jimmy brought another case as a gift from his
employers. Hope you don’t mind.”

Alex shook her head.

“
Everyone knows the score,
Alex,” John said. “It’s time for you to work.”

“
Hector James said, ‘My
mommy won’t come home for Christmas – this year or ever. You have
to make sure other little boys’ mommies and daddies get to come
home for Christmas,’” Troy said.

“
He’s a very sweet boy,”
Alex gave Troy a quick hug. “What did you do with the women? I
thought they were cooking all day.”

“
Next door,” Cian said.
“Better, bigger kitchen. Plus, they want to participate in
remodeling Samantha’s new house. Your mum and Erin even roused your
contractor. Turns out, he’s Katy’s father. You know our Paddie’s
Katy?”