The Fey (37 page)

“
Nothing. Get what you
need. Don’t forget silencers.”

“
Raz called to tell you
that the Air Force has delayed the fly over,” Matthew said.
“They’re waiting to hear from you.”

“
Thanks. I’ll take care of
it,” Alex stood with another handgun, two loaded clips and a
different holster.

Moving past her, Matthew bent to pick out a
handgun and ammunition while Alex dialed her Sergeant. With her
back turned to the men, she closed her eyes and held her breath.
Twenty-five military intelligence officers were reviewing the
documents trying to affirm her scenario. What if she was wrong? Her
stomach turned over. She almost laughed out loud when her Sergeant
verified that she was correct. They were released for duty. She
asked him to release the Air Force confirming that Zack’s death
would be properly announced.

With the phone pressed into her ear, she
stepped into a Black Hawk helicopter. Troy pulled the door
closed.

Ready or not, her little band of soldiers
were on their way.

F

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Twenty-five minutes later

October 8 – 12:25 P.M.
Near Fort Logan National Cemetery, Colorado

“
Can we get Secret Service
feed?” Alex asked the pilot.

“
Ma’am,” the co-pilot
said. “We’d prefer for you to stay in the passenger
compartment.”

“
Oh sorry, Captain Jakkman
usually talks to me while he flies.”

“
Ma’am, Captain Jakkman is
dead.”

Alex stared at the co-pilot. Her mouth
dropped open and her eyes went wide. Even though she knew that Zack
was all right, she simply could not believe this young Sergeant’s
lack of sensitivity. She had known Zack since she moved to Denver
when she was ten years old. They went all the way through Catholic
school together. And this little snot-nosed Sergeant was going to
blithely tell her that her friend was dead?

“
What’s your
name?”

“
Ma’am, we’d prefer for
you to return to your friends,” the co-pilot said.

“
Your name,
Sergeant.”

Furious, she blinked her eyes and smiled
slightly. Matthew came up behind her. He looked at the co-pilot
then at Alex.

“
Sir, can you remove her
from the cockpit?” the co-pilot asked Matthew.

“
You’re asking me to
remove Major Drayson from the cockpit?” Matthew asked. “I’ve been
held hostage… twice. This face,” he pointed to Alex’s face, “is the
face you want to see. Sooner rather than later. Pilots get picked
up all the time. You better make up because the Fey never forgets.
Come on, Major.”

Alex raised her eyebrows and returned to the
back of the helicopter where Troy had laid out their
parachutes.

“
Body armor?” Alex
asked.

Troy gave her a flak jacket. She was
tightening the sides of the jacket when the helicopter engineer
came to the compartment.

“
Major?”

“
Yes, Sergeant,” Alex
said. Looking at Troy, she said, “Is there a smaller one? This one
is too big. I usually wear a medium but sometimes a small. I’m tall
but I’m not very big around.”

“
That’s a medium,” Troy
said opening a compartment.

“
Then a small. I think
these Air Force jackets are made for fatter people.”

Handing her a small flak jacket, Troy took
the medium from her.

“
Sir?”

“
What
Sergeant?”

“
Permission to speak,
sir.”

“
What do you want,
Sergeant?” Alex asked. “This is perfect Troy. Thanks.”

“
I wanted to apologize for
the co-pilot. We didn’t know who you were. We thought you were, um,
that guy’s girlfriend.” He pointed to Troy.

Troy looked up and said, “I wish.”

“
Let’s get our chutes on,”
she said.

“
Major?”

“
It is unbecoming for any
soldier to be that insensitive… to anyone but particularly a fellow
soldier.” Alex’s face flushed. She looked down at the flak jacket
to keep from venting her frustration and rage at the engineer. “He
has no right to speak to anyone like that. You can
guaran-fucking-tee that I will speak with his superior and…
“

She was going to add “the Jakker” knowing
that Zack would make certain that the co-pilot’s life was hell.
Matthew caught her eyes and shook his head. She let a breath
out.

“
Let’s just say that the
Fey doesn’t forget.”

“
Yes, sir,” the engineer
said. “Your Sergeant left this backpack for you and the pilot would
like to speak with you.”

The engineer gave her a backpack.

“
Thank you, Sergeant. Now
go away.”

Alex opened the pack and smiled. Ah, my
Secret Service feed. She slipped an ear bud into her ear and
listened to the Secret Service agents speak to each other about
some woman’s amazing behind. Digging in the back pack, she found
communication devices for the three of them. She passed ear buds
and microphones to Troy and Matthew then checked to see if they
could connect Larry. Listening, she heard Eoin and Cian argue with
Larry about a united Ireland. She found three Snickers candy bars,
a present from Colonel Gordon, in the pack. Troy laughed when she
threw him a Snicker’s bar. Matthew looked up from putting on his
parachute when Troy laughed. Alex gave him a Snicker’s bar.

“
Get ready and I’ll see
what these jerks want,” Alex said. She walked to the cockpit again.
“What do you want?”

“
Sir, we would like to
apologize again,” the pilot said.

“
I understand that,” Alex
replied. “We need a connection to command. While I realize Captain
Jakkman is dead,” she glowered at the co-pilot, “he usually serves
as our connection. It is my understanding that this is standard for
most pilots. Will you be able to assist us or shall I find another
way to connect with command?”

“
Sir, I have your command
on the radio. They’re waiting to speak with you.”

“
Thank you, Sergeant. Can
you put them on speaker?”

“
Yes Major,” the pilot
said. “We are three minutes out.”

The co-pilot flipped a switch connecting
Alex with her Sergeant.

“
Major?”

“
Yes Sergeant?”

“
I sent our latest intel
to the pocket computer in the backpack.”

“
I didn’t see a pocket
computer,” Alex said.

“
It’s in the front pocket.
Also, Colonel Gordon has spoken with the Air Force commander
regarding the interchange between you and the co-pilot. The Air
Force commander said to tell you that he wears an ‘F’ and will deal
with it as soon as they return to base.”

Alex looked at the co-pilot. “Forgot to turn
your mic off?”

“
Sir, I am very
sorry.”

“
It’s not my problem now,”
Alex said. She rubbed her eyes, then added, “Listen, we all make
mistakes. Get us through this alive and I’ll speak with your
command.”

The co-pilot nodded, “Thanks.”

“
Major?”

“
Yes Sergeant?”

“
We’ve got you on
satellite. And sir?

“
Yes?”

“
There’s a wind out of the
west.”

“
Thank you Sergeant.”
Turning to the pilot, she said, ”I need you to patch in on our
frequency. We aren’t sure what we are walking into. We need access
command.”

“
Yes sir,” the pilot
said.

She moved to the back of the helicopter and
put on a parachute. Digging the pocket computer from the pack, she
reviewed the information then slipped the computer into her back
pocket. She went from Troy to Matthew checking their body armor,
communication units and parachutes.

“
We’ve got a westerly
wind,” Alex said. “Let’s try not to die.”

“
Good plan,” Troy
said.

“
We’re there,” pilot said.
“We will meet you at the entrance.”

“
Go,” Alex said and Troy
jumped.

“
Go,” Alex said and
Matthew jumped.

Alex stood at the door of the helicopter for
a moment watching the world below. This was her first real mission
without her team. God, she missed them. She blew out a breath then
jumped from the helicopter.

They fell fast in a straight military free
fall dive with Troy laughing the entire way down. Pointing at the
target, he pulled his chute and landed. He rolled out of the way
and Matthew landed. He rolled and Alex landed. They ran toward the
cover of the trees.

“
Let’s go,” Alex
said.

Dropping their chutes, they ran two miles
toward the Memorial. They stopped a half mile from the
ceremony.

“
Any word?” Matthew
asked.

“
Nothing,” Alex said.
“Secret Service missed the drop. Troy, what do you see?”

Troy scanned the cemetery with binoculars.
“Politicians talking.”

“
Let’s spread out and see
if we can find the shooter,” Alex said.

“
And if we don’t?” Matthew
asked.

“
We notify Larry and get
the hell out of there,” Alex said.

“
And hope their body armor
holds,” Matthew added.

“
Well that too,” Alex
said. “You have your DOD badges?”

Troy and Matthew nodded.

“
Major?” the pilot called
from the helicopter.

“
Yes?”

“
There’s a unit at the
entrance,” he said. “Your command requested Police and SWAT back
up.”

“
Can you still land?” Alex
asked.

“
I’ll need clearance,” the
pilot said.

Letting out a breath, Alex never missed Zack
more. ‘Fuck the police,’ he would have said. ‘Let the brass work
out the paperwork.’ Then he would have landed. Alex was the brass
who ended up filling out all that paperwork. She sighed. She would
give anything for that stack of paperwork right now.

“
Can you patch me to my
command?”

“
Your Sergeant is on the
line,” the pilot said.

“
Sergeant?”

“
I’m on it. Go
ahead.”

“
All right, we’re going to
find our shooter.”

They split up around the ceremony. The
fastest runner, Matthew took off to the corner farthest away from
where they were standing. Troy set off to the west. Alex took the
side closest to where they stood.

“
I’ve got one,” Matthew
said. “Longrange rifle… looks like maybe a M-21… in the trees
here.”

“
I’ve got another in the
trees,” Troy said. “AK-47 about 300 meters from the
ceremony.”

“
G.I. Joe Team? This is
your commander and I’m in place,” Larry said.

They laughed.

“
There’s nothing but
people here. And, damn, there are a lot of people. I’m set to
disrupt the ceremony.”

“
Go ahead Larry. We need
the cover,” Alex said.

“
Yes, Major.”

“
Ok, I’ve got a third
shooter. Another longrange rifle, M-21,” Alex said. “He’s standing
behind a tree. Just a second.”

She crept noiselessly behind the armed man.
Reaching around his neck with her arm, she held him in a choke hold
while pressing her other hand to his mouth. He punched her with his
elbow and she brought her knee into his kidney. She held steady
until the shooter went limp then she dropped him to the ground.

“
Got him,” Alex said.
“Let’s see what we have here. Uh, Male, Arabic, mid-twenties… We’ve
got a sleeping non-national…”

The man moved and Alex punched his temple.
He dropped unconscious again.

“
Syria looks like. Let’s
see…what’s in his bag? We’ve some C-4 and lunch. Nice. Anyone
hungry?”

Troy and Matthew laughed. “What do you want
us to do?”

“
Hang on for a second.
Sergeant?”

“
Sir, your Sergeant is off
line,” the pilot said.

“
Can you check with my
command and see if we have any Federals or law enforcement in the
trees here?” Alex asked.

“
Got it,” the pilot
replied.

“
Sergeant? The emphasis is
on ANY Federals or law enforcement.”

“
Yes Major.”

“
Matthew?” Alex called.
“Did you bring a silencer?”

“
Yes,” he said.

“
Put it on,” Alex said.
“Troy? Do you have a handgun?”

“
Yes, but I wanted to use
the Henry,” Troy said.

“
Your command says no
Federals, no law enforcement in the trees,” the pilot said. “I
repeat, no Federals, no law enforcement.”

“
Take ‘em down,” Alex
said.

There was a burst of machine gun fire
followed by the distinctive sound of the Henry. Across the
cemetery, Alex heard shots fired in succession in the area of the
ceremony. Three shots? Four? Then a shot answering in response.

As people’s screams echoed through the
monuments and white grave markers, Alex dropped to her knees
gasping in pain. She clutched her chest. Max was letting her know
that he had been shot.

“
Alex, are you hit?”
Matthew asked.