Previous Chapters

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

October 13 � 8 A.M.
Olde Town Arvada, Colorado

�You need to move, Alex.�

Alex opened her eyes. She wasn�t sure who had told her to move around but just straightening her leg brought waves of pain. With force, she pushed herself to standing. She had to be ready for them when they came. She glanced at the basement vents. The light turned from halogen orange to yellow.

Was that daylight? Had she been here one day or two?

Not three days.

Surely, not three days. The silent pitch-black night continued in this room.

Feeling for the wall, she began stepping around the edge of the room. When her body loosened, she walked faster then ran with her hand along the wall. As her body warmed the tightness and pain began to ease. Slipping off her jacket, she went through a Sun Salutation yoga routine to stretch her whole body. She dropped to the ground to stretch.

She thought she knew pain. The sharp pain in her forearm was familiar, almost comforting. But the swollen, bruised sensation between her skin and her muscles was a whole other beast. She felt as if the space between her muscles and skin was filled with aching, swollen lumps.

She walked the room ten more times. Ten was probably enough. She promised herself that she would repeat the routine tonight.

Dropping back to her sitting position, she ate another bite of the cherished Snickers bar. She never noticed all the textures and flavors in this candy. Captain Gordon loved these bars and sent them with people on missions. Troy used them when he trained for marathons. Snickers bar. She pushed the rest of the bar into its wrapper.

Only Troy would bring her a candy bar. He didn�t think of bringing water or a weapon. Troy knew that she didn�t really need those things. He brought her something she needed, something for her heart.

Her hand wrapped around the Mini-tool in her jacket pocket. Less than three inches when it was folded closed, the Mini-tool opened to seven inches of stainless steel with a needle nosed pliers in the center. Alex folded the steel arms open in her hand and ran her finger across the well used bottle opener. Touching the blade of the knife, she noticed the blade was very sharp. Troy had this tool when she met him in basic training. She had never seen him without his Mini-tool. Just holding it made her feel less alone. She folded the arms back in and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans.

She was loved.

She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

FFFFFF

October 13 � 10 A.M.
Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado

Patrick rubbed his eyes then looked from face to face in the small conference room. Matthew, Troy and Raz sat along one side of a table while Ben and the British Intelligence Agent�what was his name?�sat on the other side. He hadn�t led a meeting like this in over twenty years. He almost forgot how much he enjoyed leading competent, talented people. And Alex certainly surrounded herself with smart, talented people. He looked up as her Sergeant gave him a piece of paper. He nodded then set the sheet down.

�Let�s begin,� Patrick said then waited for the men�s attention.

�Sorry, I�m late,� Colonel Gordon came into the room. �Patrick, how are you?�

The Colonel held his hand out which Patrick shook.

�Thank you for being here,� Colonel Gordon said. He sat next to the British Intelligence officer. �We are lucky to have someone of your experience to help us out. You won�t mind working on a few other cases while you�re here, would you?�

Patrick laughed.

Matthew and Troy looked at each other then at Patrick. They attended this meeting out of respect for Alex. They knew her father had been a General and was a hell of a poker player, but they knew next to nothing about his service record.

�First, what is your name?� Patrick asked the British Intelligence Officer.

�Sean Hudson, her Majesty�s Secret Service, MI-5, sir. It�s an honor to meet you, General Hargreaves.�

�Sean? Every British person I meet is either a Sean, John, Tom��

�Alex said the same thing when I met her,� Sean said.

Patrick nodded. Alex knew it was a fake name too.

�Thank you for coming,� Patrick said. �Anyone know where Trece and the White Boy are?�

�Sir,� Matthew said. �They are attending to a security issue in Los Angeles. They left right after the ceremony and we��

�They don�t know this is going on,� Patrick said. �That was wise. Troy?�

�Sir?�

�I apologize for keeping you inactive for so long. I�m wondering if there is anything you�d like to tell us.�

Troy flushed bright red. Matthew shot him a look.

�Matthew, you are an excellent leader. You�ll make a great General, if you�re interested. However, when you keep people like Troy inactive for too long, they end up acting on their own.�

�Troy?� Matthew turned in his chair to look at Troy.

�Um��

�I have an Arvada police report about a mugging in old town Arvada. It says that Captain Olivas was� er� doing his civic duty.� Raz looked up from the piece of paper in his hand. �Your civic duty?�

�What did you expect me to do? Just sit on my hands while Alex sits in that awful room all by herself. Fuck,� Troy said. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. �I�m not cut out for this work.�

�Alexandra thought you were,� Patrick said. �And I second that. What did you do?�

�I went by the building. I followed Jesse to these basement vents. They are just at sidewalk level� maybe two inches high and eight inches long. They had razor wire on the outside and on the inside. One is covered by a new gutter drain. It�s probably not to code�� Troy looked up at Patrick who nodded and smiled encouragingly.

�And the other vent?�

�I cut the razor wire. I couldn�t talk to her because she said she was being monitored. She touched my fingers then told me to go.�

�Did you give her anything?� Raz asked.

�A Snickers bar and� my Leatherman Mini-tool. Oh, and a leather glove.�

�Outstanding Troy,� Patrick said. �Candy to give her hope and something for her to use. Well done. Now, don�t go back.�

�Yes sir. I was jumped by those guys by the way.�

�Also good to know,�

�Is she injured?� Raz asked.

�I could only see a flash of her blonde hair. The room is very dark. But she grunted like she does when she�s in pain. So yeah, I think she�s injured.�

Matthew made a small noise, which he covered by coughing. Raz looked away from the table.

�We must stay focused on the issues at hand. I�m sorry but our emotions won�t help her now.� Patrick looked from Raz to Matthew. �It�s hard for me as well.�

The men nodded.

�Sean, what have you come to tell us?� Patrick asked.

�We have an operative deep within this group. He�s been with Eleazar for almost two years. They are from the same neighborhood in Jerusalem. This man was in Abu Graib.�

�What does he report?� Patrick said.

�They are following a standard protocol. They beat her up then will leave her alone for a few days. The room is set up for sensory deprivation with some extra goodies.�

�Goodies?� Raz asked.

�The gutter drain Troy spoke of? They left her with only a gallon of water laced with LSD and laxatives. If she drinks the water, she will hallucinate and have diarrhea. She will know this but��

�She can hear the water in the drain,� Raz said. �That�s ��

�Torture, yes,� Sean said. �There is a high-end chef�s table directly above where Alex is being held. The room is not used very much but there is a large dinner scheduled tonight.�

�We�ve tried to get a seat at that dinner but so far, we�ve been unable to,� Ben said.

�Our operative believes they will come for her tomorrow. They are instructed to follow a fairly standard torture plan.�

�Does he have any idea what they want?� Raz asked.

�No. That�s the strange thing. Eleazar is very vague about what they are after. He believes that he can break Alex. He�s confident he�ll be able to achieve his goals because she did what he asked her to do. We believe he needs her to do something but we have no intel on what that might be.�

Sean looked at Ben who shrugged.

�How did he get Alex to do what he asked her to do?� Matthew asked.

�It�s an assumption to believe that he did,� Patrick said. �Let�s get back to that in a moment.�

�Is Eleazar here?� Raz asked.

�Not yet. He is expected tomorrow,� Sean said.

�They may start working on her before he arrives?� Patrick asked.

�Yes sir. Their orders are clear. Keep to the schedule. He will be there when he can.�

�It�s my opinion that he does not want information. He wants a compliant, controllable Alex,� Ben said.

�I agree,� Patrick said. �This is what I recommend. I�d like Troy, Trece and the White Boy to collect Captain Jakkman and bring him back to Denver. I spoke with him about an hour ago. He is on his way to Rome. Sergeant? Can you make arrangements for Troy to collect Trece and the White Boy then meet Captain Jakkman in Rome? I�d like them back here by tomorrow evening at the latest.�

�Yes sir,� Alex�s Sergeant left the room.

�Zack Jakkman is alive?� Sean Hudson asked.

�No,� Patrick said. �Raz, tell me exactly what you saw when Alex left the hotel.�

�I wasn�t there when she got the call. I noticed she left her coffee and asked John about it. He said she answered her phone. She told him that she had to go and that �he always says friends.�� I ran to the front of the hotel and saw her leaving by cab. Her eyes were saucers�dark and round. She held her right hand up to the window. I was forced back into the hotel by the CIA operative. There was a major threat against the hotel.�

�And was there?�

�Yes,� Ben said. �There was a credible bomb threat. As a safety measure, cell phone, electronic signal, Internet access and telephone lines wereautomatically shut down. There was no way for Agent Rasmussen to contact the police or anyone to stop the cab.�

�They knew where she was staying. Do they know about John? Max?�

�No,� Sean said. �According to our operative, Eleazar believes he has murdered Zack Jakkman, Max Hargreaves, John Kelly and Joseph Walter.�

�Captain Olivas?� Alex�s Sergeant poked his head inside the conference room door. �I have your travel arrangements. You will leave in ten minutes. Does that work?�

�Oh thank God.� Troy hopped to his feet and exited the room.

�General, do you believe that Alex is under Eleazar�s control?� Colonel Gordon asked.

�Yes and no,� Patrick said. �She clearly did what he asked. She should have only said what he told her to say. Which was,� Patrick shifted through a few sheets of paper, ��Sorry, I have to go� according to the cell phone transcript. The video record from the restaurant shows that she kissed John and told him that she loved him. She also would not have put her hand on the glass to Raz if she was completely under his control.�

�Are you certain, sir?� Matthew asked. �I mean no disrespect but I think we all want to believe that Alex didn�t succumb to him. Yet she�s in his control now.�

�Matthew, General Hargreaves is one of the world�s experts in psychological programming,� Ben said.

Matthew looked at Alex�s father with surprise. Patrick shrugged.

�It�s a long story,� Patrick said. �It�s my opinion that she let it happen. I cannot imagine what it would be like to watch your entire team killed before you. Then she lost her home, her friends were almost killed, her twin shot, her husband� It goes on and on. She knew Eleazar wanted her. I think she didn�t want anyone else to be hurt or killed. She probably just wanted to get it over with.�

�She knew he�d torture her? Rape her? And just went along with it?� Matthew asked.

Patrick nodded. �When I look at the video, I see her saying good-bye to John. She had already arranged for him to go to Scotland where she knew he�d be taken care of. Yes, she knew what would happen. Now, Matthew, can you hear Jesse?�

�Not well,� he said. �I�m too skeptical.�

�I can,� Ben said.

Patrick raised his eyebrows at Ben and laughed, �Really?�

�I heard him in the tunnels. He told us where to go.�

�We need to remind Alex that they will blind her with the lights. I doubt we can get close again, like Troy did. She also needs to know that Eleazar is not here. If she can hold them off until he gets here, we will get somewhere. I wondered if we might send her that message.�

�Sir, you are talking about speaking with a dead person,� Raz said. �Isn�t that a little��

�Alex believes she sees and talks to him. Why shouldn�t we? Now how do we get his attention?�

�I�ll work on that, sir,� Matthew said. �I think I know a way.�

�Great. I�ll work with Ben, Raz and Sean to see if we can come up with what Eleazar wants.�

Patrick watched Matthew leave the room then turned to Ben.

�What do you have?�

FFF

�Are you all right?� Max asked.

He was walking down the hall carrying Alex�s address book when he ran into Matthew. Matthew was standing in the hallway with his head against the wall. He looked up when Max spoke and shook his head.

�Come on, man. Let�s get some coffee,� Max said.

They walked down the hall to Alex�s office. Max tilted his head sideways, then opened a cabinet and pulled out the coffee maker. He passed the pot to Matthew who filled it at the water cooler. With a flick of his hand, Max turned the coffee pot on.

�How did you know that was there? You even found her secret stash of French coffee.�

�I just looked where I would put it,� Max said. �It�s not true for all twins, but Alex and I have always been very close.�

�Is that why you can stay so calm?� Matthew asked.

�I guess. I look inside, to the place that Alex lives inside me, and I know that she�s all right� asleep, I think.�

Matthew nodded.

�What�s wrong?� Max asked.

�What�s not?�

�Have some coffee. Alex can�t have coffee right now, so we should double up for her.�

Max poured Matthew a cup of coffee then went to Alex�s desk. Kicking a corner of the desk, the bottom drawer opened.

�Whiskey?� Max held up a bottle of Red Breast Irish Whiskey.

Matthew laughed and nodded.

�Don�t tell her I showed you her private stash.� Max poured himself a cup of coffee and added some whiskey.

�Your Dad� He just sat there talking about his daughter getting tortured� I��

Max nodded. �It�s just a reality for him. I think he�s prepared himself for the possibility since she begged him to help her become a Green Beret. He was� crazy� when you guys were in S.E.R.E.� Absolutely crazy.�

�I�m supposed to talk to Jesse,� Matthew said. �I don�t even know if I believe Jesse exists.�

�He�s right there.� Max pointed to the door. �Did you call for him?�

�Just before you came down the hall. Then I just felt stupid and hopeless.�

�Why did you need him?� Max asked.

�I�m supposed to tell him to tell Alex that they will try to blind her with the lights and that Eleazar isn�t here yet. She�s supposed to hold them off until he gets here but �� I mean, how can I ask Alex��

�Jesse, remind her about the slit glasses,� Max said.

Jesse nodded then disappeared.

�Well that�s taken care of. Is there a shooting range here?� Max asked.

�Two floors below us, why?�

�The spies will be sorting out what their real names are and what not for a couple hours. Why don�t we go shoot for a while? Blow off steam.�

Matthew nodded.

�Do you really shoot a forty-five?�

�Yeah, why?�

�Oh nothing.�

F

The Fey is the first in a thriller series written by Claudia Hall Christian.
The novel has been serialized for your enjoyment at AlextheFey.com
Entire chapters are be published at On-a-limb.com and
StoriesbyClaudia.com every Friday.

Previous Chapters

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

October 12 – 3 P.M.
Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado

“Sir, I have a signal,” Alex’s Sergeant said.

He pointed to the computer screen. Alex’s friend worked in her small office under Buckley Air Force Base.

Raz looked over his shoulder, “Thank God.”

“What does that mean?” Matthew asked.

“It means that Alex is alive and able to turn on the tracking signal in her hip. It means that we can determine her location and what to do next.”

“If she’s alive, we have hope,” Colonel Gordon said.

“Let’s go get her,” Troy said. He was ready get into action. The sitting around worrying and wondering was almost more than he could handle.

“I’m sorry,” Raz said. “We can’t do that.”

“Why? We know where she is being held. We’ll just go and kick some ass.”

“They will kill her before we even get close,” Colonel Gordon said. “Alex knows that. I’m sorry, Captain. We need to work our plan and trust Alex to endure what is to come.”

Matthew made a noise then sniffed his nose to hold back his emotion.

Troy looked over at Matthew, “Hey man, remember S.E.R.E.?”

Matthew stiffened. His mind flashed to the memory of laying on the cold tile, sobbing, while Alex sang children’s songs to him. He could almost hear her sing “intsy wintsy spider.” Matthew’s brown eyes shifted to look at Troy, “Yeah.”

“I mean you were with her, but I heard that the staff was completely freaked out by our Alex.”

Matthew nodded his head. “She didn’t bat an eye. She told me once that they have asked her to annotate her S.E.R.E. tapes to explain how she managed to never show fear. She refused. She said living through it once was enough.”

“If she wasn’t affected by S.E.R.E. then why would someone try to break her down by holding her captive now?”

Raz looked up from the computer screen to Troy.

“I’d be surprised if any record of Alex’s S.E.R.E. exists. Her fathers probably destroyed the file,” Raz said. “I’ve looked for it and I can’t find it.”

Troy laughed. For the first time since he learned that Eleazar had Alex, he felt like everything was going to be all right. He caught Matthew’s eyes and Matthew started to laugh.

“Why?” Raz asked.

“They’ll be lucky if they make it out alive,” Matthew said.

Raz looked from Matthew to Troy. Shaking his head, he returned to Alex’s computer hoping to find something that would help him to decide what to do next.

FFFFFF

October 12 – 7 P.M.
Olde Town Arvada, Colorado

Alex opened her eyes in the pitch black. She had no idea how long she had been in this room. The dark silence was disorienting. She might have been there a few hours or a few days. If she wasn’t in so much pain, she’d think she was dead. She closed then opened her eyes. Either way, she saw the same darkness. Grunting with pain, she moved her hand in front of her face. She saw the movement, a streak of light in the black, more than her hand.

Sighing, she heard the sound that awakened her. Rain was dropping onto the street. Accustomed to the silence, her ears could almost hear individual drops of rain dance on the street above her. She thought she heard the sound of water moving through the gutter drains.

As her ears reached toward the symphony of sound, her tongue expanded in her mouth. Her throat constricted with thirst. She licked her dry lips.

“Jesse,” Alex said as more of an out breath than a word.

“Don’t speak to me, Alexandra. They can hear what you say,” Jesse said in Spanish.

She looked toward the sound of his voice and saw a spark of light beside her. She sighed. She wanted to talk to Jesse. The idea that she couldn’t speak to Jesse was bone crushing disappointing.

“Tommy taught you sign language,” Jesse said.

Alex signed: “You don’t speak sign language.”

“I only have to understand it,” he said laughing. “They can’t hear me talk.”

“I need water. I’m very thirsty. The water they left is drugged.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Jesse said.

“It feels like days,” Alex signed. “How long has it been?”

“I’ve never been good at that,” Jesse said,” and I’m worse now. Less than a day, I think.”

“They will most likely leave me alone for three days,” Alex signed. “It’s probably the rain, but I’m incredibly thirsty.”

“You’re injured,” he said. “That can make you thirsty.”

“Can you get me some water, Jesse?”

“I have no idea,” he said.

“I can hear water in the gutter drain. There’s a basement vent right there and the gutter drain is just on the other side. I’m certain it’s intentional to get me to drink the drugged water.”

“It rains almost every day this time of year,” he said.

Jesse went to the wall and looked through the two inch high and eight inch wide space that served as a vent for the basement. Someone had placed razor wire over the inside and outside of the vent. Reaching through the vent and the razor wire, he could touch the drain. Alex was right that this was intentional.

“I’ll be right back.”

Alex rested her head against the brick again. As time went on, she was getting more swollen and more sore.

Rubber hose. The gift that kept on giving.

She smiled and wondered what her mother would say about the bruising. Maybe Claire could add sleeves to her wedding dress. Remembering the beautiful silk dress, she drifted into memories of John.

FF

After a day of ignoring him, she was dancing with her arms around Max’s roommate’s neck at a beach party. How did she get there?

John asked her to dance when Max left to dance with some girl. She was dancing a couple feet from him, but this man was like a planet. Drawn by his gravitational pull, she drifted closer and closer to him until he put a hand on her waist. She was a bundle of sensations: the cool sand between her toes, the sound of the pounding surf, the music’s rhythms compelling her hips to sway, and a rising heat in her belly.

Her mind focused on the list of reasons why she was not interested in this man. First, he was not American. Second, he was her twin’s best friend. Third, he was a bed surfing slut. Fourth, he was just off limits. That’s all. O-F-F limits. Her mind was convinced but her body burned under his hands.

“Will you marry me?” John asked.

He said something. What did he say? She slipped back a foot or two to look up at him, “What?”

“Marry me Alex. Marry me tonight.”

She shook her head, “What are you saying?”

“I have this overwhelming feeling that I cannot live another moment without you in the center, the very center of my life.”

“You’re drunk.”

“I am that. Marry me.”

Stepping forward to him, she felt a yearning for him that she had never known. Her heart ached just looking at him. His beautiful blue eyes were framed by his black curly hair. Her fingers touched his full lips.

He looked away, embarrassed by her close scrutiny.

She opened her mouth to speak. She’d tell him exactly how they should not, absolutely should not get married. He was O-F-F limits after all. But, no words came out. She closed her mouth.

Trying again, she opened her mouth. Just opened her mouth. And the words rose from the very center of her being.

“Yes.”

“What?” he asked. He shook his head as if he hadn’t heard her.

“I’ll marry you.”

“Tonight?”

“Why not?”

FF

“Alex wake up,” Jesse said.

Alex opened her eyes.

“I think I can do it. Did you use the bucket?”

“No,” she signed. “I don’t care if they have a mess to clean up. Plus I might need it.”

“Good girl,” he said. “Get your bucket.”

Alex felt around the walls until she reached the door. Bending down, she picked up the gallon bucket and felt her way back to the spark of Jesse.

“Hold the bucket above your head. Right there,” Jesse said.

Holding the bucket above her head, just under the basement vent, Jesse moved the razor wire tearing a hole in the thin aluminum gutter drain. Jesse moved his hand, creating an electric wall, which forced the water through the basement vent and into Alex’s bucket. She stood with the bucket over her head until the rain stopped and the gutters had completely drained. There wasn’t a lot of water, four inches, maybe more, but it was enough to keep her alive. Being careful not to spill the precious water, she took one small drink.

“Jesse?”

“Yes?”

“Will you stay with me for a while? I’ve never really been alone.”

“I’m always with you, Alex.”

FFFFFF

October 12 – 8 P.M.
Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado

“Sir,” Alex’s Sergeant said.

“Yes Sergeant,” Raz said looking up from Alex’s computer.

“Senator Hargreaves is here and wishes to speak with you. Also, we received a message from British Intelligence. One of their agents is traveling with Ben. They should arrive in a few hours.”

“Thank you Sergeant.”

“And sir?”

“Yes, Sergeant?”

“Captain Mac Clenaghan and Captain Olivas went home. I will stay until Ben arrives then I’m going home for a few hours. Sir, no offense meant, but Major Drayson would insist that you to go home.”

Raz’s face flushed with emotion. Raz nodded then returned to look at the computer.

There was no way for the Sergeant to know or understand what he had said. Raz never had a home before he met Alex. He lived in a tiny apartment in Queens with his mother until her death. He stayed in the apartment through the Police Academy. When it was time to get married, he bought a house. Even though he signed the documents and made the mortgage payments, he was always a guest in his wife’s home.

Alex made a home for him. Alex was home.

He had to fix this. He had to sort it out.

He had no idea where to even start. Alex left a plan but it didn’t make any sense now that she sacrificed herself to Eleazar.

That’s what got him the most. Eleazar was supposed to come for him next. He should be beaten, tortured and locked in some cold dark cellar. He was ready. It was his turn. But Alex stepped forward instead.

Raz rubbed his hand over his head ruffling his short hair.

“Sir, Senator Hargreaves?” Alex’s Sergeant escorted Patrick into the office.

Raz stood, “General. I’m very sorry, sir. I don’t have any news for you.”

“I didn’t come here for news, Josh,” Patrick said. “Do you mind if I call you Josh when we are alone?”

“No sir,” Raz said. For some reason, he felt comforted hearing this great man say his name. “Why are you here?”

“I came to help,” Patrick said.

“Sir?”

“My guess is that you know where she is but you don’t really know what to do next. Go to get her by force? They will kill her. Leave her and risk her being tortured. Yet you still have no idea what they want. Is that accurate?”

“Yes sir,” Raz said. “But…”

“She left a plan but it doesn’t make any sense?”

“Yes sir. But…”

“I’m a little softer and a lot older than I was when I was a Sergeant in the field, but I’m still that guy, Josh. I even still have the security clearance. Let me help. Do you know what to do?”

“No sir.”

“Then let’s start at the beginning. Where are Alex’s journals?”

“Alex doesn’t keep a journal. Not since her team was killed.”

“Alex always keeps a journal. Why don’t you see if you can find it? I bet it was either on her computer or… is there a super secure place where Alex kept things?”

“Yes sir but I don’t have her passwords.”

“Lucky she has a twin. He’s outside. Shall I get him?”

“Sir?”

“Max flew to Denver when he knew Alex was in trouble. He’s talking to her Sergeant.”

“Max is a civilian.”

“Only sort of. He’s a twin first. He’ll know the passwords. Can you get me the tapes of these phone calls? And do you have her database?”

“Database, sir?”

“It should look like a spreadsheet or maybe an address book. She might have kept it on the computer, but I doubt it. She liked to work with a yellow pencil. She would have worked with the transcripts of the calls, cross checking every word, in an effort to determine what he was after. I can recreate her work from the tapes but Alex has a real talent for understanding what motivates people, especially terrorists. That’s one of the reasons she was so good at extraction.”

Raz raised his eyebrows and rubbed his hand over his head.

“You have no idea what I’m talking about,” Patrick said shaking his head.

“No sir,” Raz said.

“You’re her partner. Right? You never saw her database? Alexandra…” Patrick shook his head and let out a breath. “She’s not really over the loss of her team. Is she?”

“No sir,” Raz said.

“We have work to do then,” Patrick said.

“Sir, she had an address book at home. She said it held all the phone numbers of everyone she’d extracted.”

Patrick nodded. “In Navajo code?”

“I believe so,” Raz said.

“Good. We’ll be able to keep those details private while working with her database. Unless you speak Navajo?”

“No sir,” Raz said.

“Where is this address book?”

“She asked Maria to keep it for her when the house came down.”

“Great. I’ll take care of the address book,” Patrick said.

Raz stood next to the computer not moving. He wasn’t sure what to do.

“Josh?” Patrick asked.

Patrick put his hand on Raz’s arm. Breathing out, Raz broke down. With his hands against his face, Raz let a few tears fall while blowing his overwhelm out in breath. Standing beside him, Patrick waited for the storm to pass. With a slight smile, Patrick gave Raz a handkerchief then patted his back.

“Don’t worry, Josh. I’ve done this before.”

FFFFFF

October 13 – 3 A.M.
Olde Town Arvada, Colorado

“Alex?” Troy whispered through a basement vent. Cutting the razor wire off the outside, he lay down across the wet sidewalk to pressed his face into the hole. “Alex?”

He would do what the spies said–don’t go get her. That’s fine. But leave her there? By herself?

She’d never slept alone. Not even one night. She went from sharing a room with Max to military life to being married. Even when she traveled with Raz, Alex always had someone close in the dark.

Troy teased her about her lack of independence. He told her that she was a child. She would laugh. She would tell him that he was terrified of commitment. And really wasn’t that childish? They would laugh. He could only imagine what how awful she must feel to be alone now.

After staring at his bedroom ceiling for hours, he decided that the least he could do was go by the building. She was only fifteen miles East of his house. Practically on the way to… some grocery store somewhere. Once there, he followed Jesse Abreu to the basement vents. A little razor wire was nothing for the needle nose pliers in his Leatherman Mini-tool.

“Alex?”

“They are monitoring me–don’t talk ok?” Alex asked.

From this position, he could only see the flash of light from her blonde hair. He closed his eyes when she grunted in pain. Reaching his hand through the vent, he clipped the inside wire. He slipped a Snickers bar through the basement vent. She chuckled, taking the candy from him, then stretched her fingers into the space. For a few minutes, he lay on the wet concrete feeling the soft tips of her fingers rub against his fingertips.

“Go,” she said.

He slipped a leather glove through the space to help protect her hand from the razor wire. Together, they put the wire back. He sat back on his heels, then, almost by instinct, he pulled his Mini-tool from his pocket and slipped it under the razor wire. He heard her chuckle again. Her hand waved ‘good-bye’ to him and he backed away from the vent.

Looking up and down the deserted wet streets of Olde Town Arvada, he turned to walk back to his car. He was two feet from the building when he was jumped. Laughing, Troy fought with two scrawny Arabs. When the last man dropped unconscious to the ground, Troy pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911. He waited for the police to arrive then told them that he was jumped. Of course, his newly minted Military Intelligence Department of Defense identification kept the Arvada police from asking too many questions. Anyway, Homeland Security wanted the men on charges of terrorism. Troy was doing his civic duty, that’s all.

Troy whistled as he walked to his car. At least those two weren’t going to hurt Alex anytime soon. Honking his horn as he drove past the building, he thought he saw Jesse wave good-bye.

Maybe now he could get some sleep.

F

The Fey is the first in a thriller series written by Claudia Hall Christian.
The novel has been serialized for your enjoyment at AlextheFey.com
Entire chapters are be published at On-a-limb.com and
StoriesbyClaudia.com every Friday.

Previous Chapters

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

A half hour later
October 12 – 10 A.M.
North Denver, Colorado

When Alex came to herself, she was sitting in a chair with four men standing around her. Wrapped in rope, her hands were tied to her sides and she was tied to a chair. She wasn’t sure what released her from the semi-trance state. She was just here. Closing her eyes, she remembered waking up, the feel of John’s hands across her skin, the warm burst of water from the shower and the rich coffee at breakfast. God damn it, she left her coffee.

Opening her eyes, she looked from face to glowering face and smiled.

“Hello.”

“How dare you speak to us? Filth!” A medium sized man stepped forward and hit her across the face with his open hand. He began screaming Islamic slogans at her in Arabic. His head was wrapped in a white turban and his beard was peppered with black and white. His eyes glowed with insanity.

“Do I know you?” Alex asked. Her eyes blinked at the sting of his slap. She looked at each face. They looked familiar but she had not met them before. “Oh right, you guys are on the Homeland terrorist list.”

“You insolent little bitch,” turban man said.

The man with the turban hit her across the face with the back of his hand. He spat at her face.

Alex closed her eyes against the burst of pain, then rubbed her bleeding lip against her shoulder. The man’s discharge dropped from her cheek to her shoulder. Alex shifted her shoulder and the spittle dropped to the ground.

She had no idea what they would do to her. Eleazar was a sophisticated psychological terrorist. But these guys? These men were thugs, sadists so damaged by their delusions that they were willing to do anything to get what they believed they deserved.

She knew these men and men like them. She trained, from the time she was ten years old, for the eventuality of meeting them in a room like this. She negotiated with them for the release of thousands of hostages. She knew what they were capable of. She opened her eyes to look from face to face again. Yes, she knew them.

But they did not know her.

With a slight nod of her head, she began singing songs in her head. She smiled slightly when the first song that came to mind was “Somewhere over the rainbow.”

“What can I do for you?” she asked in Arabic.

“You can get our property,” a second man came forward. He spoke English with a clipped British accent. British born Islamic extremist. He couldn’t have been more than twenty years old. Looking into his eyes, she saw his terror match his resolve.

“I am not sure what property you are referring to,” Alex said.

The Brit hit her face with his fist. Alex saw stars as her brain smashed against the back of her skull. She nodded her head slightly.

She heard her father’s voice echoing through the years.

“Stage One, is the ‘terrify you’ stage. They don’t want information. They want to set the stage, destroy your hope, and make you more compliant to what would come next. They’re going to beat you up, give you something to think about, then leave you alone to think. The real torture and raping will come much later after you’ve had time to think.”

A third man came forward holding a knife with a gleaming ten-inch blade. He held the blade in front of her eyes then pressed the razor sharp blade against her throat. In one swift movement, he sliced into her left arm.

Alex ground her teeth together to keep from gasping and returned her focus to her songs, now “Hello Dolly.” She wondered idly why these old musicals always came up first.

Squeezing the muscle and sinew, he used the knife to dig out the standard issue tracking device from her forearm. He held the device in front of her eyes on the end of his bloody knife. Dropping the tracking device on the floor, he crushed the tracking device with the heel of his shoe.

“No one will find you now,” he said.

He ripped a filthy piece of cloth into a long strip then wrapped the strips around her wound.

“We want to keep you alive for a while.”

The men laughed in unison, reminding Alex of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at  Disneyland. One more to go before the leader calls it off… for now.

“Hello Fey,” the fourth man came forward. “You probably remember me.”

Alex squinted her eyes thinking then nodded. British Intelligence. Collected by mistake in a raid, he had been tortured at Abu Graib. She and the team rescued him then helped him return to his family. British Secret Service believed that he still worked for them. Looking at the rubber pipe he held in his hands, they were wrong.

Letting out a breath, Alex turned the sole focus of her mind to “When you wish upon a star” playing in her head, the love in her heart, and a silent message to her twin. She felt the first blow, as the fourth man began beating her with the rubber pipe, then felt nothing else.

Her mind slipped into dreams and memories.

FF

“Why Alex? Why do you have to be a Green Beret?” John, her husband of five days, asked.

He had just learned the origins of the scars on her back, her wrists and ankles. He was furious. Unable to even look at her, he stood at the hotel window staring out at Santa Monica beach.

“It’s who I am. I’ve always wanted to be a Green Beret,” Alex said moving to him. She kissed his neck and slipped her arms around his waist. “I made my Dad pinkie swear, when I was five years old, that he would help me become a Green Beret.”

“Your father is behind this? My God,” he said. He turned away from the surf to stare at her.

“I don’t think he had much choice. I would have done it with or without his help. I think he just wanted to give me the edge.”

FF

“Pumpkin, you have to remember that they want you to be afraid. The only way to get an edge is to never show your fear. How will you do that?”

They were standing in the kitchen of their Sixth Avenue Parkway home in Denver. Patrick set the dirty dinner dishes in the dishwasher while Alex cleared the dining room table after dinner.

“Songs in my head,” said a fifteen-year-old Alex. “I do that now when I’m at finishing school.”

Patrick laughed. “I wondered how you were getting through that. What else?”

“Put the fear in a box?”

“That works. What else?”

“Don’t get ahead of myself. Deal with each situation as it comes.”

“Rest when you can,” Patrick added. He poured dishwashing detergent into the machine.

“I have to believe that I can endure everything that comes my way.”

“And then some.” Patrick closed and started the dishwasher. “Ice cream?”

“Of course,” Alex laughed.

FF

Four hours later
October 12 – 2:00 P.M.
Olde Town Arvada, Colorado

Alex awoke with the taste of ice cream in her mouth. She was lying face down on a concrete floor. Before moving, her mind ran down her bones to see what was broken, what hurt, what damage was done. She felt the sharp pain of the knife wound. Nothing seemed broken. Rolling over, she groaned in pain at the knots, lumps and bruises which covered almost every inch of her body. Gritting her teeth, she moved to sit up. Her hands ran down her body. At least nothing was broken.

She felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck. Someone was watching her. Sniffing, she couldn’t smell anyone close. There must be a video monitoring in this room.

With a grunt, she pushed herself to standing to check her surroundings. Three brick walls and one cement wall in a twenty by twenty foot storage room. While three florescent bulbs hung from the ceiling, only one bulb was lit. The light was dim in the bare, dusty  room. She could see daylight from two thin basement vents. One door. Pressing her head against the brick, she heard nothing. One wall at a time, she listened. She heard a mechanical hum behind the concrete wall possibly from a heater or water system.

Maybe the door was unlocked. Pressing on the door, she saw that there was no inner handle only a key opening for a deadbolt. She pressed her shoulder against the door but the wood held. She wasn’t getting out that way anytime soon.

Someone had placed a relatively clean empty bucket by the door and a sealed gallon of water. Clearly they planned on leaving her here for a while. She picked up the water, she looked around the top and edges for a puncture. What her eyes did not see, her fingers felt. The water was drugged.

Alex turned the bucket over and stepped up to touch the wood ceiling. Pulling on a loose plank, she peeked into the space between the wood planking and the floor above. There was eighteen inches of insulation before the underside of wood flooring. No one would hear anything that happened in this room but she would be able to hear people coming and going. Just enough noise to make her feel completely alone yet no one would hear her scream, call or beg. Eleazar was good.

The light shut off.

Feeling with her hands, Alex went from hanging bulb to hanging bulb pulling on the chains. Nothing came on. Someone set up the lights to give her hope only to snatch hope away when she couldn’t turn the fixtures on. Yes, Eleazar was very good.

They had taken her shoes, her handgun, her new engagement ring, but left her fully clothed in a pair of blue jeans, a T-shirt and a sweater. She smiled when she noticed that they left John’s simple gold band on her right hand. The ring wasn’t worth much to them, but to Alex the ring was a precious connection to John. Slipping her hand under her T-shirt, she touched the diamond in her belly button and smiled. She was glad to have something from Raz.

When the lights were on, she had seen her leather jacket crumpled near the door. Feeling her way toward the door, she picked up the jacket then dropped it. The jacket was wet with urine. Her only possibility of warmth was fouled. Knowing that she wouldn’t smell much different in a few hours, and not willing to risk getting too cold while she was injured, she put the jacket on. Feeling along the wall in the pitch-black room, she sat down in the corner farthest away from the door.

Alex stuck her hands in the pockets of her jeans. Her fingers felt along the stitching of her right pocket until they found the loose string. Making certain that her movements were hidden from any night vision video camera, she tugged on the loose string opening the cotton pocket to inside of her blue jeans. Her fingers worked along the jean fabric until they found what felt like an extra stitching. Unraveling the stitching, she felt a thin piece of plastic.

Relief coursed through her. She broke the piece of plastic in half to turn on the GPS locater imbedded in the ball of her hip.

Letting out a breath, she forced herself into the sleep that her body needed to heal.

FFFFFF

Northern Scotland

Once again, John Kelly Drayson was on his way to the farm Scotland to avoid being killed. Within fifteen minutes of learning that Alex had been taken, he was sitting in the back of an armored vehicle on his way to Buckley Air Force Base. A jet to Iceland then a commercial plane to Edinburgh under the name John Rasmussen. He was escorted by British secret service to the train station in Northern Scotland where Tom Drayson waited for him.

Stepping off the train, John felt exactly as he had when he was fifteen years old–terrified and very alone. Tom Drayson touched his arm then caught him as John collapsed, weeping like a child. His sister Rita prepared his old room for him and her boys tiptoed around him. No one knew quite what to say.

John tended sheep, mended fences and cleared out stalls during the day. The hard physical labor helped sooth his anxious mind. The days passed without memory but the nights were awful.

Unable to sleep, he worked on his research paper because it was the only thing that reminded him of who he was, who he had been. He dreamed of Alex every night. His eyes bounced open every morning, his heart racing with the hope that she was laying right there under his arm.

The last time he was in Scotland, he had so many big plans. He would study hard, move to America, become a doctor, make lots of money, and find her, the woman from his dream. He dreamed of her the night his father died. Then, after acknowledging his roommate’s sister’s first visit in more than two years with something intelligent like: ‘That’s cool, Max,’ he fell into bed. Closing his eyes, he watched the same dream over and over again until he awoke exhausted for class. He stumbled, barely awake, through his morning then barged in on her in the bathroom. She had just stepped out of the shower. One look into her laughing eyes and his life changed forever.

He had achieved every dream the moment he met Alex and lost it the moment he failed to keep her from leaving the hotel. He knew it was irrational, but he blamed himself. He could have stopped her. He could have said something to break the trance. He could have… but he didn’t. And, in that one moment of inaction, he lost every single thing that he had worked a lifetime to achieve.

And the only thing that mattered–Alex.

Staring at the familiar ceiling of the room he lived in more than a decade ago, he had come full circle. Starting with nothing, he returned with nothing.

Nothing but a fool’s hope that he might see those laughing eyes again.

F

The Fey is the first in a thriller series written by Claudia Hall Christian.
The novel has been serialized for your enjoyment at AlextheFey.com
Entire chapters are be published at On-a-limb.com and
StoriesbyClaudia.com every Friday.

Previous Chapters

CHAPTER THIRTY

Five hours later
October 8 – 6:30 P.M.
Near downtown Denver, Colorado

“Would you like some more?” John asked. He held a bottle of Cristal champagne.

Alex rolled onto her stomach and held her glass out. They were laying, naked, wrapped around each other in a tiny CIA owned boutique hotel room near downtown Denver. After being checked and bandaged in the emergency room, John and Max were whisked through a series of tunnels into Homeland Security vehicles. Ben arrived to escort Max, and his broken rib, to a family home outside of Montreal, Canada.

But John refused to leave Alex so they compromised with this hotel. John planned to write up his research project for the Journal of the American Medical Association. Alex and Raz had bets that he wouldn’t make it a week. Alex had already arranged for his escort to Scotland.

“First,” John said.

He grunted. The bullet caught the edge of his body armor bruising his shoulder. He was bruised and sore. Yet for a man who was pronounced dead only a few hours ago, he was remarkably fit.

She crawled across the bed to kiss him. He pressed her onto her back as their passion caught. They had been laying in the bed celebrating the two year survival anniversary with champagne and love for the last three hours.

“I think the news is on,” Alex said.

“Oh by all means, I’d love to see your show,” John said rolling to his back. Plucking the remote from a side table, he flicked on the television. Alex rested her head against his chest while he flipped through the channels.

“Here we go,” he said. He kissed her head.

“Three dead as a day of remembrance turns deadly,” the FOX news reporter said.

“I think that’s a little dramatic,” Alex said.

“Lots of dead in that. How about this one?” John asked.

“A family’s tragedy deepens as Senator Patrick Hargreaves loses another son on the anniversary of his son Alexander’s death.”

“That’s a good picture of my Dad,” Alex said. “Oh look, I missed this.”

Patrick, supporting a weeping Rebecca, moved into a limousine while surrounded by Secret Service officers.

“She looks very sad,” John said.

“She’s good,” Alex said. “Look there I am.”

The camera showed a picture of blonde haired, blue eyed Alyssa collapsing in the hospital waiting room. Alyssa sobbed into Erin’s arms while Matthew pushed the cameras away. The announcer said in a solemn voice, “They were to be married in less than two weeks.”

“How did I do?? Very convincing?” Alex beamed.

“You were brilliant,” John replied kissing her. “Where is Zack?”

“Zack’s dead, John, you know that,” Alex replied in the same tone he used when he “reminded” her that Jesse was dead.

John squinted his eyes at her sarcasm and she laughed. Rolling over, she moved on top of him so that her mouth was next to his ear.

“He’s with his girlfriend.”

“Bestat the dragon?”

“Mmm… She sent me a text when they arrived in Cairo. They’ll stay at her family’s home near the Valley of the Kings until this is over.”

“And when do we think this will be over?”

“This week,” Alex said rolling onto her side. He rolled onto his side so he could look at her. “He’s had success so he will keep moving forward. We are in place to move at any time.”

“Hmm,” John said. “Dare I ask? What’s next?”

“We aren’t sure,” Alex said. She rolled onto her back to cover her lie.

“Hey.” John touched her shoulder. He misinterpreted her lie for sadness.

She looked over at him.

“At least it will be over at some point,” he said.

She nodded wishing that she had his confidence.

“I have something for you,” she said.

“A diamond?”

“Something better,” she said. Standing Alex went to her suitcase and pulled out the box she found in the cabinet in the vault.

“We got this for you,” Alex said. “It was a team present. Everyone was involved. Dwayne found it at one of those shops with junk stacked from the floor to ceiling in Abidjan, you know the Ivory Coast. He took Tommy and Jesse to see it but the shop wasn’t open. I think Paul finally purchased it like a month later. Charlie had it cleaned. Mike made sure it was authentic. Anyway, everyone had something to do with this including me.” She smiled. “Close your eyes and hold out your hand.”

She set a heavy cylindrical object in his hand. “You can open your eyes.”

John opened his eyes to an antique fountain pen with an intricate snail detail in gold overlay the black enamel body of the pen. The gold cap continued in the snail detail. Opening the pen, he made a small noise reading the inscription on the gold nib–ALCO.

“Oh my God.”

“Mike said that the pen was made 1884 or 1885 but the nib is newer,” Alex said. She pointed to the date–1915. “I thought it was cool to think about someone using this pen for thirty years then replacing the nib. The eyedropper to fill it is in the case.”

She passed him a pen case marked Aiken Lambert.

“I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“We were going to give it to you when you finished your General Surgery certificate, but we were stuck somewhere,” Alex said. “We were going to give it to you for Christmas but…” She shrugged. “We wanted to get you something special and we knew your love for fountain pens.”

“I use my green fountain pen every day,” John said.

“The one I gave you for our one month anniversary?” Alex said.

“I write my notes with it every day. I even wrote my first prescription with that pen,” John said. “Alex, this is the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received. Your team… they were truly great men. I will treasure this.”

“Everyone felt involved in you becoming a doctor then a surgeon. We were proud of you. I am very proud of you.”

“Thank you,” He smiled at her and touched her face.

“You’re welcome,” she said. “Dinner?”

“I had something else in mind first,” he said.

She giggled when he pushed her onto her back for another round.

FFF

One day passed, then another.

They began to believe they were on vacation. The hotel had secure connections to every major computer system with video conferencing. Alex wandered down the hall to work on the maps of Afghanistan then wandered back for lunch. Her Sergeant and his wife came for dinner one night. Raz moved into a room down the hall. For the first time in over two years, Alex and Patrick played pool with Raz for an entire afternoon while John worked on his paper. She played poker with Max via video conference between his morning fly fishing on the lake and his afternoon fly fishing on the river.

The constant pressure of pretending to be Alyssa, covering who she was, and looking over her shoulder, slipped away in this twenty room CIA created oasis. Two days passed into three days.

They were deliciously happy.

FFF

October 12 – 9:30 A.M.
Downtown Denver, Colorado

“Ah shit,” Alex said as her cell phone rang. “Do you mind?”

She and John were eating a late breakfast in a courtyard tucked into the middle of the hotel. The waiter had just set their meal on the table when her phone rang.

“Go ahead,” John said opening the Denver Post. “I have this important newspaper to keep me company.”

Alex smiled. Surrounded by CIA operatives, government employees, and various spies from a variety of countries, she didn’t worry about being overheard. Plus, she was fairly confident they were taping her calls anyway. She hoped they enjoyed their hotel room videos. Smiling slightly, she thought, better than porn.

“Yes?”

“Your friends wish to see you now,” a voice said on the phone. “We’re waiting for you in the front of the hotel. Tell him: ‘Sorry, I have to go’.”

Alex clicked off the phone. Standing, she slipped on her leather jacket.

“Sorry, I have to go.”

Smiling, John looked up from the newspaper. She kissed his lips then shook her head slightly.

“You know, he always says ‘friends’.”

John’s eyes caught hers. She seemed a million miles away. Better to just let her do her work. She’ll be back soon, he thought.

She smiled slightly and touched his chin, “I love you.”

He smiled in response. Without another word, she walked out of the courtyard and through the front of the hotel.

Raz pulled out a chair from the table.

“Where’s Alex?” he asked.

“She got a call and had to leave,” John said behind his newspaper.

“Then she won’t mind if I eat her… She left her coffee?”

John looked up and nodded.

“It was quite strange, really. She said that she had to go, then said that ‘he always says friends.’”

Raz jumped from the table and ran through the hotel. Alex was sitting in the back of a cab that was pulling away from the hotel. She turned to look at him then pressed her hand against the window of the cab. Her brown eyes were round and hollow, as if he could see straight to her soul. He moved forward to catch a cab but a hand held him in place.

“Sir, we need to ask you to return to the hotel,” the CIA doorman said. “There’s been a confirmed major threat against this facility.”

“But…” Raz said. He watched the cab move into traffic.

The doorman all but pushed Raz back into the hotel. The doors shut, then outer doors, designed to protect against car bombs, clanged shut. Looking down at his cell phone, he saw what he expected. ‘No Service.’ He threw the phone into the brick wall.

In that moment, Raz understood what Alex had told John. Furious with himself, he missed the fact that in every call, Eleazar said the word ‘friend.’ His mind clicked through a series of commands and sounds from the calls. Eleazar planted the word for the moment he would use it to control her. Walking back to the table, Raz felt his entire world crumble around him.

“John,” Raz said.

“Hmm,” John said from behind the paper.

“Eleazar has Alex,” Raz said.

F

The Fey is the first in a thriller series written by Claudia Hall Christian.
The novel has been serialized for your enjoyment at AlextheFey.com
Entire chapters are be published at On-a-limb.com and
StoriesbyClaudia.com every Friday.

Previous Chapters

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 and she 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. “Long range 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 long range 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 asked.

“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 echoes 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.

“No. Max. Broken rib. Troy?”

“Sorry about that,” Troy said. “He saw me and pulled off a few rounds.”

“How many?” Alex asked.

“Three,” Troy said.

“Did he fire into the memorial?” Alex asked.

“No he fired at me,” Troy said. “I’m coming back.”

“I’ll meet you at the bird,” Matthew said.

Troy ran to Alex and they set off toward the entrance. Larry was waiting for them near the edge of the ceremony. They ran toward the entrance. The helicopter was running when they got there. Alex opened the door for Larry and Troy to jump in. Alex turned to look for Matthew when he ran up behind her. He stepped in and she followed closing the door.

“Get us out of here,” Alex said to the pilot.

Alex turned to Larry. “Sergeant? Your report.”

“Joseph was shot by a Secret Service agent. Then, I’m sorry, sir, the agent shot your brother and your husband,” he said. “Agent Rasmussen fired on the agent. I left after that.”

“Cian and Eoin?”

“They are with your brother and husband.”

Alex opened her cell phone and called Raz. No answer. While Troy and Matthew told an enraptured Larry about the shooters, Alex sat down by herself.

Staring into space, she worked up the courage to do what needed to be done. Once she set this train in motion, there was no going back. Swallowing hard, she dialed Ben.

“Max Hargreaves and John Drayson were killed at the ceremony today as was Captain Joseph Walter.”

“Got it,” he said. “Jakker?”

“The same.”

“Will do.” He clicked off.

“Major?” The pilot called from the cockpit. “Your commander is requesting your report.”

The co-pilot moved out of his seat. Leaning over her, the co-pilot plugged in a headset. Alex took the headset and put it on her head.

“This is Major Drayson,” Alex said.

“Colonel Gordon here.” His voice was tense and formal.

“Yes sir,” Alex said.

“I need a report, Major Drayson.”

“This channel is not secure, sir,” Alex said.

“Don’t tell me what I already know,” he said.

“We found three shooters, two in the trees and one on the ground. I knocked out the first shooter. The shooter was a non-national carrying C-4 in a backpack. We checked with command and were told that there were no Federals or law enforcement in the trees. My associates took out the other two shooters. We returned to our meeting location and are now in the air.”

“Confirm AK-47 fire,” the Colonel said.

“Roughly three rounds were fired at my associate from a shooter about 300 meters west of the memorial. The shooter was eliminated.”

“Were shots fired toward the ceremony?” The Colonel asked.

“No sir,” Alex said. “There was no fire from our direction into the memorial area. We cannot confirm information outside of our direct experience.”

“Major, I expect a detailed written report,” Colonel Gordon said and clicked off.

Alex stood, moving toward the back of the helicopter when her cell phone vibrated. She opened the phone.

“Howard, what is going on?” She asked.

“A Secret Service officer shot Captain Walter, Max Hargreaves and John Drayson before being neutralized by Agent Rasmussen,” Colonel Gordon said. “Our guys picked up the shooters after you took off. The Secret Service is saying that they were responding to shots fired by Captain Walter. They say that Max and John got in the way. You’ll be interested to know that Captain Walter is not armed.”

“What are their conditions?” Alex asked closing her eyes.

“We have report from Homeland Security that all three are confirmed fatalities.”

“That’s correct.”

“Captain Walter is in route to the hospital but he’s fine. We’re dropping him in route where his wife is waiting for him. Max and John are on their way to St. Joseph’s Hospital. Both received minor injuries. They will be pronounced DOA at the hospital.”

“And Captain Walter?”

“Pronounced at the scene,” Howard said. “You’re sure about this.”

“Yes sir. This is a major offensive. Eleazar must believe that he is succeeding.”

“He will be left with only one option.”

“Yes sir. He has only one option now.”

“And Captain Jakkman?” Colonel Howard Gordon asked.

“Sir?” Alex asked.

“How….”

“Sir?”

“Never mind. I need full details on my desk tomorrow. And Alex? Dot every single ‘i’.”

“Yes sir. And sir? Agent Rasmussen?”

“He’s Homeland Security,” Howard said. “He didn’t kill that little weasel. They’ll release Agent Rasmussen.”

“And the President?” Alex asked.

“He’s bruised up from the Secret Service, but he’ll live.”

“Thanks,” Alex said.

“I’m proud of you guys. Tell your associates that they’ll get a Presidential commendation.”

“Thank you, sir,” Alex said then closed her phone.

She looked into Troy’s face, then Matthew’s face.

“As far as we’re concerned they are dead. Joseph died at the scene. Max and John will be DOA at the hospital.”

“What about your parents? Erin?” Matthew asked.

“Would you mind calling Colin? Tell him everything. I need to take care of a few things. Then become the grieving widow.”

When Matthew’s attention turned to his telephone call, Troy asked, “Alex, what is Eleazar’s only option?”

“He’s coming for me.”

F

The Fey is the first in a thriller series written by Claudia Hall Christian.
The novel has been serialized for your enjoyment at AlextheFey.com
Entire chapters are be published at On-a-limb.com and
StoriesbyClaudia.com every Friday.

Previous Chapters

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Digging around in Maria’s desk, she pulled a yellow pencil from the drawer and began flipping through the stack of papers. Making notes on the edges of the documents, she made a face.

“Sir, I’d be happy to input the data into the intelligence server.” Larry  said.

Alex was humming Seether’s “Gasoline” when Larry touched her arm. She looked up at him.

“Sir, the intelligence server?”

“Intelligence server? Yeah, people use the server.” Turning back to the pages, she added, “I don’t. Silence?”

Matthew and Troy stood at the end of the desk watching Alex work. She seemed to shuffle the pages back and forth. Transfixed, they watched her rifle the pages, tap her pencil on the table and hum. After a few minutes, she circled a word on one page, then underlined a sentence on another.

They had each worked with a variety of intelligence officers. But they had never seen anything like what Alex was doing. After more than a decade of saying, ‘Yeah, I’m  a good friend of the Fey,’ they saw, for the first time, what made the Fey so special.

“Troy? Can you get my Sergeant on the phone? I need to speak with him. Thanks.”

She worked on the computer for a minute only looking up when Troy gave her the telephone.

“I’ve sent you some documents. Yes, that’s correct. Yes, can you transfer me to his line? Thanks,” Alex said. “Howard? Can you confirm…. No paper. Right.”

Alex closed her phone.

“Mattie, I’m sorry, would you mind calling Raz back? Tell him that… uh… “ Alex flipped through the stack of papers then read her note. “All right, tell him that you bought the tickets for Valencia and we are leaving in a half hour. But, he has to wear his… crap, what’s a men’s swimming suit?”

“Speedo?” Matthew asked. “Swim trunks?”

“No something larger…”

“What does he usually wear?” Troy asked.

“We skinny dip,” Alex replied. She looked up to their wide surprised eyes. She shook her head. “Spy stuff. What do you wear Troy?”

“TYR board shorts,” Troy replied.

“Ok, I bought the tickets to Valencia and we are leaving in a half hour,” Matthew started.

“But he has to wear his TYR board shorts. He should say,” Alex scratched her head. “’I can’t wait to make sand castles.’ Go.”

“Do you really skinny dip?” Cian asked.

“Not in Ireland,” Alex said under her breath. She continued working with the documents.

“Alex, Raz said ‘Your sand castles will not win the competition this year. My sand castles will win this year.’”

“That makes me so sad,” Alex replied.

Alex let out a breath and looked from face to face. How could this possibly work? For a moment, she yearned for the familiar comfort of Charlie and her team. She bit her tongue against the rising bile from her nervous stomach. There was no time for panic.

“Eleazar is making the first moves in what looks to me like a major offensive.”

“Against you?” Eoin asked.

“Against all of us. He has killed Zack.” Alex shook her head. “He thinks he killed Zack. He won’t know for at least three days. That’s the soonest the Air Force can get there. Sadly, there will be a lot of delays.”

“Then your friend’s body will have been eaten by wolves,” Cian said.

“Something like that,” Alex said.

“This is like a movie!” Eoin said. Alex rolled her eyes but smiled.

“I’m sorry. We must act as if Zack is dead. Any fuck up on our part and we lose. Zack is dead.”

She closed her eyes.

“Next on his list is Joseph,” Alex said.

“WHAT?” Matthew and Troy asked together.

“Please, hear me out. After Joseph is Max and John,” Alex said.

“Motherfucker,” Cian said.

Alex held up her hand for silence.

“We have no time for emotion. There’s a hit planned on the President. Some brain trust at the Secret Service decided that Joseph is going to kill the President.”

“Max and John?”

“They will get in the way.”

“Alex, that’s a long way around to kill Joseph, Max and John,” Troy said. He was unable to keep the doubt from his voice.

“Yes, it is,” Alex said. She was tempted to have a major temper tantrum. Blowing her frustration out in a breath, she said, “But the Secret Service will do the shooting. Plus, they will kill the President today. No one will give two shits about Joseph, John or Max after the President is killed.

“Keep your initiative moving AND make it seem like the government is behind it. That’s real psychological warfare,” Cian said. “I wish I had thought of something like that.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Alex said. “Anyway, Raz said that he can cover Joseph, Max, and John. We,” she pointed to Matthew and Troy, “need to save the President.”

“I want to save the President,” Larry piped up.

“I need you to do something else,” Alex said. “These guys can’t drive.”

“I can drive,” Cian said at the same time Larry said: “Who are these guys?”

Alex looked from one to the next.

“Sergeant Flagg, you are delivering the news that Captain Jakkman’s plane has crashed in Afghanistan. He is presumed to be dead.”

She flipped through the stack of pages and gave Larry the official notification of Zack’s demise.

“Where did you get this?” Matthew asked.

“My Sergeant was thinking ahead.”

“Sergeant Flagg, you’ll drive us to Fort Logan then drop the three of us near the event. Use your identification to get into the event and go to the front with your paper. The President will announce Zack’s death at the Ceremony. Cian and Eoin will sneak out of the vehicle and be on hand to help – only help. We don’t want you to get deported. When it’s over, blend in with the crowd then find my brother Colin.”

Cian and Eoin nodded.

“We need a faster ride,” Matthew said.

“No Zack. No chopper. And my Sergeant is confirming some details for me. I don’t have time to….”

“Let me make some calls. You authorize…”

“Of course,” she said. “If we can get a Black Hawk, we can parachute in before these guys get there.”

“I’ll see what I can do, sir.” Matthew began making calls.

“Let’s see if we can find the weapons locker here,” Alex said. “My Dad showed me the locker when I returned to Denver but I was pretty out of it.”

Alex’s eyes went wide when she remembered that Colin was just here. Six weeks pregnant, Julie told him to get rid of his guns. Colin immediately removed the weapons and placed them in his father’s gun locker. Such a good boy. Chuckling, she dialed his number.

“I’m so fucking bored,” Colin said. “Why is it that you always miss these crappy political ceremonies?”

“I’m not the Golden Child?” Alex asked. “Plus, I’m either dead or never born.”

“Very funny. What do you want?”

“Where’s Dad’s gun locker?”

“Why?”

“Col….”

“If you believe for one minute that you are doing something fun and I’m not involved….” Colin spoke in a terse whisper into his cell phone.

“You’re a civilian.”

“Fine, then I won’t tell you.” He hung up his cell phone.

Alex tried to call him back but he refused to answer. She let out a stream of curses. Then looked up when Troy’s cell phone rang.

“Your little brother says that you are a big fat pig.”

“That’s very mature of him,” Alex said. “Gun locker?”

She looked over while Troy spoke with Colin. She knew a lot of Majors who would be insulted at Troy’s laughing conversation with Colin. She simply could not afford the time or the energy for anything more than a dark look. Glowering at Troy, he nodded to her.

“It’s in the floor of your father’s office behind the desk. The code is your nickname.”

“Fey?”

“Pumpkin,” Troy said.

“Great.”

Alex stomped into the office and found the space where her father left his weapons. Kneeling down behind his desk, alone for the first time since all of this began, she closed her eyes and felt a wave of exhaustion and hopelessness. She rested her head against her knees and sank into complete defeat.

She never felt this way in the field. Never. Everything that happened was another opportunity, another chance to do something fun. Charlie would look at her and say, ‘What’s next missy?’  But Charlie was dead. And there was no one to believe in her now.

With a sigh, she pulled up the flooring and pressed the code into the key pad. Turning the handle, she pulled open the vault to find a piece of paper.

Pumpkin,

Some things you just know.

PUMPKIN,

SOME THINGS YOU JUST KNOW.

I love youLOVE YOU,

Daddy

DADDY

That’s what he said when they finally sat down to talk about her parentage. Standing in the nursery, waiting for ‘Rebecca’s bastards’, he planned his return into the field and away from the mess of his life. But the moment the nurse placed Alex in his arms, every thought of escape evaporated.

He had expected a boy.

Yet the nurse set a tiny baby girl in his arms. Before he could ask about the obvious error, the nurse whispered, “The whole nursery is in tizzy, sir. You have a boy and a girl, General. Identical twins.”

At that moment, Alex opened her eyes to him. Looking in her eyes, he just knew that she was his girl. By the time the nurse returned with Max, his plan had changed, his whole life rearranged around being their parent. He felt as if he was put on the planet solely to be Alex and Max’s father.

Some things you just know.

“What’s that?” Troy asked peering over her shoulder.

“A note from my Dad,” she said.

“What does it mean?” Troy asked.

“It means that he thought we might be here today. It also means that I need to stop feeling sorry for myself.”

Troy nodded his head. Looking in the vault, he sucked in a breath, “May I? Your Dad let me take the Henry target shooting a few times. It’s quite a weapon.”

“Here’s the ammo,” Alex said. She gave him the Henry rifle and a box of shells. “You also need a handgun. Mattie? Do you still use a Smith and Wesson?”

“Forty-five,” Matthew said coming behind the desk.

Alex smirked at him.

“What?”

“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

The Fey is the first in a thriller series written by Claudia Hall Christian.
The novel has been serialized for your enjoyment at AlextheFey.com
Entire chapters are be published at On-a-limb.com and
StoriesbyClaudia.com every Friday.

Previous Chapters

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“Where?”

“Afghanistan. His U-2 crashed in the mountains.”

“When?”

“Nine minutes ago,” her Sergeant said. “Sir, it’s a total loss. The Air Force says that it will be days before they can even get to the wreck. They had feed from him just prior to an explosion on board.”

“And what exactly did Captain Jakkman say? Word for word, Sergeant.”

“’Oh crap, that sucks’ then the plane exploded and plowed into the mountain. The Air Force confirms that Captain Jakkman is dead by terrorist sabotage.”

“Zack,” Alex said as an out breath. She closed her eyes.

“There’s more, sir. I received a priority email regarding the event. I tried to trace the email but I am unable to.”

“How is it signed?”

“With a Vivaldi script ‘F’.”

“What color?”

“Sir?”

“What is the color of F?”

“Black,” her Sergeant said.

“Fuck. Can you move it to my secure area?” Realizing that she no longer had a secure office to view the document in, she added, ”Scratch that. We have to come there.”

“Sir, I do not advise that you return to base,” her Sergeant said.

“Why?”

“I cannot explain.”

“All right. Can I call you back?”

“Yes sir. Sir?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry about Captain Jakkman.”

“Yes, Sergeant. Me too.”

Alex’s head bowed to her cell phone. Her fingers flew across the keys. She texted this message: ‘z-m?’  then stood staring at the phone. Within seconds, she received a four letter text message: ‘hvhm’.

Alex dropped to her knees and wept with relief. Matthew moved forward to comfort Alex but she blew out a breath and wiped her face. This was not the time for emotions. Eleazar’s plan was in motion. Killing Zack was his first move.

“As far as you are concerned, Zack Jakkman is dead.” Alex pointed to Troy then Matthew. “Got that?”

Troy and Matthew nodded their heads. They had heard stories about the Fey but never seen their sweet laughing friend, now boss, Alex turn into the Fey. Like a flick of the switch, she was the completely cold intelligence officer.

“We have work to do,” Alex said. “We need to break into my Dad’s office. Can you guys pick locks?”

Troy and Matthew, both a little intimidated by her, shook their heads.

“Eoin can,” Alex said. “They are supposed to meet us here. Come on.”

She walked out of the suite and down the hall. Troy and Matthew followed behind her. Alex stood with her head down thinking as they waited at the elevator.

“Shit,” Alex said.

“What?” Matthew asked.

“We don’t have a car,” Alex said. “Eleazar has made every single thing so fucking hard. God damn it.”

“I have Erin’s bug,” Matthew held up the key to Erin’s lime green 1964 VW convertible.

Alex looked at the men and shook her head. “Weapons?”

“There’s a baseball bat in the trunk,” Matthew said.

“Come on Fey,” Troy said. “We’ll do it low tech style.”

She shook her head. When the elevator bell rang, Cian and Eoin stepped off the elevator to meet up for an afternoon at the Irish Snug. Cian took one look at Alex then stepped back on the elevator. They took the elevator to the ground and poured into Erin’s tiny car.

Pressed against the back window, Alex tried to remember what security was installed at the hundred and fifty year old building which housed her father’s office. She shook her head. Guess I’ll find out. She made a quick call for her Sergeant to run interference with the Security company. Stepping out of the car, she saw the latest security addition – a US Army soldier? Standing next to the door of the office, carrying an M-16 machine gun, was Sergeant Lawrence Flagg.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Alex asked. She pointed Eoin to the door of the office.

“I was assigned here, sir,” the young man said. “I wanted to help and there was a concern about…  What are you doing?”

Eoin had dropped to his knees to begin working on the door. Cian reviewed the security. Cian pointed to a video camera and Troy knocked it down with the bat.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but I cannot let you do that,” Sergeant Flagg said. He nudged Eoin with the machine gun.

Alex nodded her head toward the young Sergeant and Troy raised the bat to him.

“Ok, I changed my mind. It’s your father’s office after all.”

“Thank you Sergeant,” Alex said. “Who assigned you here?”

“I was assigned at the last minute by Colonel Gordon, sir. I just got here. I was on site at Fort Logan when I was reassigned.”

Alex smiled. “You don’t happen to have a vehicle do you?”

“Done.” Eoin opened the door.

“Yes sir, an armored Expedition.”

“Weapons?”

“Just this M-16.”

“What are we doing?” Troy asked.

“I need a secure computer,” Alex said. “I set Maria up with a secure node about a year ago. I had a feeling I might need it some day.”

The men followed her through the office to a small office near the back. Flicking the light on, she moved around the desk and turned the computer on. Alex opened a closet door.

“Cian, would you mind sweeping the office for listening devices?” She gave him the device.

“How does it work?”

“Just turn it on,” Alex said. “It makes a loud noise when you find a device. Thanks.”

“What do we do when we find them?”

“Use Troy’s bat.”

Cian and Eoin began in Maria’s office then worked their way through the suite. The device screamed every two or three minutes as they found a listening device. Each siren was followed by the sound of the baseball bat smashing the devices to pieces.

“Jesse? Do you know her logins?” Alex asked. She tapped away at Maria’s keyboard.

“Of course,” Jesse said. He stood near the corner of the room.

“Who’s Jesse?” Sergeant Flagg asked.

“He’s right there,” Troy said pointing to the corner. “Hey Jesse.”

“How is that fair?” Matthew asked. “You can see Jesse?? Fuck. I loved Jesse and I can’t see him. Jesse hated you.”

“I made some mistakes when we were in training,” Troy said. “But Jesse knows that I’m very sorry.”

Alex looked up from the computer. “You can’t hear him. Can you?”

“No,” Troy said. “What did he say?”

“You’re still a motherfucker,” Alex said. “Can you hear him Mattie?”

Matthew wagged his head side to side.

“Ok, I am in. Troy, can you call my Sergeant and give him this series of numbers – 01 486 99, no sorry, 909 43, um, 64.”

“Shouldn’t you write that down?” Sergeant Flagg asked.

“01 486 909 43 64,” Troy said. “What is your name again, G.I. Joe?”

“Larry, just call me Larry.”

“Use this phone.” Alex threw her cell phone to Troy.

Alex looked up at Troy and he nodded. Clicking through to the Internet, Alex logged onto the Homeland Security site. Clicking and typing as fast as she could, her fingers flying over the keys, she pulled up the email signed with a black script “F”.

In the last month, she beat every bush, looked under every rock, trying to answer the question – was Joseph still a target? The answer was an overwhelming, “No.” But Alex thought the data was too uniform. Everyone seemed to say the same words. Raz thought she was understandably paranoid.

“Don’t make mountains out of molehills, honey. We’ve got enough on our plate,” Raz said.

Before going to bed last night, she sent one last email. This email was his response. Alex fell back in the chair and swore. Joseph would be killed at the ceremony today.

“Mattie? I need you to do something  for me.”

Matthew nodded. Cian and Eoin returned to the office from their destructive mission.

“Would you mind calling, Raz? I need you to repeat to him what I say word for word.”

“Sure Alex. Word for word.”

“Tell Raz, ‘Chocolate crepes are better outside of Notre Dame but only after two in the morning.’  Ask him to repeat it. Then tell him: ‘Majorca is wonderful in the spring.’  He should reply by saying, ‘The summer is more romantic.’  If he does not say those exact words hang up the phone. If he says those exact words ask him why.”

Matthew nodded. Spies. Codes. He would make a joke or roll his eyes but the whole thing was so damned cool. Under lowered eyebrows, he glanced over to see what Cian and Eoin thought. They watched the interactions with rapt attention.

“It’s like a movie,” Eoin said. Cian nodded with wide eyes.

Matthew laughed and called Raz.

“Oh Mattie, can you also tell him that: Sergeant Jakkman is a confirmed casualty. Thanks,” Alex said without looking up from the computer.

“The Jakker is dead?” Larry asked.

“Yes,” Alex replied.

Her complete focus on the computer in front of her kept her from slipping into panic. She began opening files on the Homeland Security server.

“Isn’t that your friend Zack?” Cian asked.

“Yes, my friend Zack,” Alex said. “Troy? Can you ask my Sergeant for F0810FL1230 and all of its linked documents. It looks like there are four, maybe five documents.”

“He has already sent them to the port. I just turned on the printer and they are printing,” Troy said.

“That’s perfect. No one will know we looked at them. Thanks Troy. Mattie?”

“Raz said… wait,” Matthew looked at the piece of paper in his hand and read: “The best part about summer in Majorca is getting to see you in a bikini.”

“Really? Were those his exact words?” She smiled. Raz apologized for doubting her.

“Yes, I told him about Zack,” Matthew said. “He did this weird thing. He kind of laughed then said, um,” Matthew read again, ”I like to see the diamond in your belly button flash against your black bikini.”

“He said, ‘your’?”

“Yes, he said ‘your’ twice,” Matthew replied.

Alex clicked through the computer to her secure area at Homeland Security and opened a sub-folder in the area where Raz left her documents for her. She clicked open a document to find a note from Raz. In case he was wrong, and Joseph was still at risk, he outlined four possible scenarios. She smiled.

“Troy would you mind….”

Troy handed her a stack of warm papers from the LaserJet next to the door.

“Thanks. I need three minutes of silence, then we’ll meet.”

F

The Fey is the first in a thriller series written by Claudia Hall Christian.
The novel has been serialized for your enjoyment at AlextheFey.com
Entire chapters are be published at On-a-limb.com and
StoriesbyClaudia.com every Friday.

Previous Chapters

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Three hours later
October 8 – 9:00 A.M.
Downtown Denver, Colorado

Alex stood near the edge of the crowded room. The families of the Fey Special Forces Team planned a very small, family only, ceremony for the two year anniversary. They would meet at ten o’clock at Alex and John’s home, then make their way to Fort Logan together. Alex had even arranged for a Denver Police escort.

What a difference two months makes.

Alex and John’s house was gone.

Their private ceremony became a large public event where every politician and all of the military brass would be in attendance. The Secret Service expected at least four hundred people and every media outlet. The families were cajoled, begged, and manipulated into attending with their children.

But the desire to be together, on this day of all days, was greater than the President or something as insignificant as a home explosion. Max found the largest and nicest meeting room in the Cash Register building where his international law firm rented three floors. Rebecca arranged for caterers and decorators. Everything was beautiful.

“Major Alex?” Dwight’s grandmother asked coming over to Alex.

“Yes, Mrs. Harris,” Alex said. She took the elderly woman’s hands in her own. A small woman, with deep creases in her skin, Mrs. Harris looked up at Alex through the mesh of her black hat.

“I wanted to thank you for my necklace.” Mrs. Harris put her gloved hand to the diamond encrusted platinum cross around her neck. “Dwight told me you each received a diamond. It never occurred to me that he would have made something for me.”

Alex smiled. She spent the last week with the team’s families. She wanted to tell them in person what happened and give them the diamond jewelry she retrieved from the vault. Each team member received their choice of diamonds after they rescued the board of directors of a large diamond corporation. No one knew what to pick, so Alex called Raz. The ex-New York City cop helped them choose diamonds. He also arranged for a jeweler in Paris. Raz picked a large diamond for Alex then convinced her to wear it in her belly button.

“Dwight was very clear. He wanted you to have something you would wear,” Alex said with a smile.

“I have another question for you.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“My Dwight was shot in the head. I wasn’t able to have the casket open at the funeral. The other men weren’t … disfigured in this way.”

Alex’s eyes glistened with tears as she searched Dwight’s grandmother’s face.

“Did they mutilate my baby because he was negro?”

“Dwight was shot in the chest, the abdomen and the legs.”

“Yes, ma’am. Seventeen bullets. The doctor said ‘enough bullets to down an elephant.’”

“We kept our weapons in an area of the vault. One person stood guard…”

“Jesse Abreu was on guard,” Mrs. Harris said. “You said there was no way for him to see what was coming. Professional killers.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Alex nodded her head. “It was our habit to drop our weapons in a particular area then go about our business. After Dwight was shot…”. Alex paused and searched the elderly woman’s face again.

“You can tell me anything, Major Alex. Nothing in this whole world is worse than my baby’s dying before me.”

“The shooter shot from left to right, then back right to left. Somehow, Dwight was still alive. He pulled himself along the floor with his arms toward the weapons. I fired at the shooter…”

“With that handgun you always carry.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They were silent for a moment as the information and inference lingered in the air.

“You’re saying that my boy was a hero.”

Tears sprung from Alex’s eyes, “Yes ma’am. Your boy was a hero.”

Mrs. Harris pulled Alex into a hug. The woman stood together for a moment. Stepping back, Mrs. Harris passed Alex a tissue she had tucked up her sleeve then used one herself.

“I said to my boy, ‘There’ll be no end of trouble if you have a woman on your team.’  He said, ‘Momma, you of all people should not be prejudice.’  Over the years, you would pull them out of one crazy situation after another and Dwight would say, ‘See Momma. You were wrong.’  Alexandra, I’m sorry I misjudged you.”

Alex smiled. “I miss him too.”

“For the rest of our lives,” Mrs. Harris said looking at the families. “We will miss them for the rest of our lives.”

There was a lot of excited talking near the door, and Alex turned to see who had arrived. Mrs. Harris put her hand on Alex’s arm.

“You’re going to find the people who did this,” she said. “I know it.”

Alex nodded and Mrs. Harris hugged her again. John came over to the women.

“I’m sorry to interrupt but Paul’s girlfriend, Greta, is here. She brought her baby. She wants to speak to you.”

“Go on dear,” Mrs. Harris said.

Maria touched Alex’s arm as she moved to speak with Mrs. Harris. John led Alex to Greta. The young woman was standing with her back to Alex talking to Max and Rebecca held a child in her arms. When the baby turned to look at her, Alex gasped. The little girl smiled, her dark eyes sparkling with laughter, and she reached toward Alex. She was the spitting image of Paul.

“She likes you Alex,” Rebecca said.

Alex touched the child’s hand. She wrapped her fingers around Alex’s index finger.

“Mrs. Hargreaves, would you mind watching Mindy?” Greta asked. She gave her diaper bag to Max.

“I’d love to! She is absolutely precious,” Rebecca said. “How old is she?”

“She’ll be fifteen months tomorrow.”

“Greta!” Joseph’s wife Nancy hugged the young woman. “I’m so glad you made it. Is this yours? Oh my God, Greta, she looks just like Paul.”

Greta blushed, pushing a piece of light brown hair behind her ear, and nodded.

“Rebecca, you cannot hog her to yourself,” Nancy said. She reach out to take Mindy from Rebecca.

“Come on.” Alex led Greta away from the women. “You’ll be lucky if you get her back from those two.”

Alex found a quiet corner of the room where they sat down in two high backed chairs.

“She is beautiful.”

Greta blushed again. “Like Paul. She’s beautiful like Paul was.”

They sat together in silence for a moment taking in the conversation and movement of the room.

“I’m sorry I wouldn’t talk to you this week,” Greta said. “I… It’s been very difficult for me.”

Alex nodded.

“Can you tell me about this?” Greta said.

She held her left hand where a three carat radiant cut diamond on a simple yellow gold band fit perfectly on her ring finger. Standing on Greta’s mother’s doorstep, Alex had pressed the ring box into Greta’s hand saying, ‘When you want to talk to me about this, I’m here for you.’

“We did a job for some diamond people and they gave us diamonds as a ‘thank you.’”

“That’s not what I meant,” Greta said. “They found him in his boxer shorts. He was….”

“Dancing,” Alex said. “We were all together in the vault in Paris. Did he tell you about the vault?”

“He said that you had a storage place in Paris but that’s all.”

“That’s where the assault took place. Not in Afghanistan.”

“I knew that he didn’t die in Afghanistan. I knew it. I thought…. Is this a secret?”

“For now.”

Greta nodded.

“Paul took dancing lessons so that he could dance with you on your wedding night. He planned to ask you when the divorce was final then drag you off to Las Vegas. He wanted everything to be perfect. He was changing when Dean asked him about his dance moves. Paul was demonstrating. You remember how Dean and Nathan egged Paul on.”

Greta’s lips were pressed together in a tight line.

“He wasn’t with a woman? I thought….”

“Never,” Alex said. “He had been separated for six or seven years. He saw women in that time but once he met you…. I could tell you about your first date, your second date, when you moved in together, everything.” Alex chuckled. “I even know what you look like when you first open your eyes in the morning. Paul talked about you non-stop.”

Greta began to weep. Alex put her hand on the girl’s arm.

“His mother….”

“She’s the only person on the planet who is fond of his Paul’s ex-wife. You know that he didn’t file for the divorce only because that woman is so unpleasant. Paul just didn’t want to deal with the conflict. Greta you have to know that.”

Greta nodded, wiping her eyes.

“We were together before you left. He… I met him in Colorado Springs. He left base for two hours and met me at the La Quinta. He wanted a baby so bad that he didn’t want to miss a chance.” Greta blushed. “You must think I’m a complete slut. They weren’t even officially divorced.”

“Trust me. If we could have snuck away for even a half hour, we would have,” Alex said. “I gave Paul the pass. He took Jesse’s Jeep.”

“Then he died and… I was pregnant. His family won’t have anything to do with Mindy or me. I’ve been living with my mother.”

Alex nodded. “They are here. Paul’s parents. I bet my mother will work this out. It’s the kind of thing she’s good at. She’ll probably tell them they are being petty and childish.” Alex smiled to herself.

“Did Paul…” Greta’s eyes searched Alex’s face. “Did Paul love me?”

“Yes Greta, Paul loved you.”

“Thanks,” Greta said.

“I know the others will want to see you and meet Mindy. Do you feel up to it?”

Greta nodded. “If Paul loved me, I can do anything.”

“He did.” Alex stood to hug Greta.

“Greta! I didn’t know you were here!” Dean’s wife Jennifer exclaimed. “Alex, have you been hiding Greta?”

“Greta has been hiding something.” Alex nodded her head toward the door.

Jennifer gasped when she saw baby Mindy. “It’s Paul. Oh Greta, you poor thing.”

Alex moved away from the women as they hugged. Moving across the room, she walked right into a big redheaded US Army Sergeant.

“Sir,” Mike’s oldest son saluted her.

“Hi Michael. Oh, uh, at ease soldier,” she said. She hugged the boy. “Thanks for bringing your brother and sister. It’s great to see them.”

Mike’s bright redheaded children were mixing with the other families.

“Yes sir,” he said. “Sir…”

“What’s up?” Alex asked.

“I am currently in Special Forces training.”

“Good for you. Isn’t it fun?”

“Fun?” Michael asked. Was the Major making fun of him? He looked into Alex’s smiling face trying to determine how he should respond. Taking a breath for courage, he continued, “I’m applying to a specialty and I wondered if you might give me a recommendation. I’ve heard that soldiers who have parents who were not held in high regard have a harder time moving forward.”

“Speak freely, Michael. What are you saying?”

“My understanding is that my father will be an impediment to my career.”

Alex burst out laughing. “Are you serious?”

“Sir.”

“Your father was a decorated soldier, one of the best in his class. They asked him, more than once, to teach at Fort Bragg. He liked being with us, our team, in the field. Don’t you have his medals?”

“No sir. I am not aware of my father ever receiving medals.”

“I’ll see if I can find a list,” Alex said. “Do you know who that guy is?”

“Your father, sir. General Patrick Hargreaves.”

“Go tell him that you are Mike’s son and listen to what he has to say about Mike. You should be very proud of your father. He was a wonderful person, a dear friend and a great soldier.”

Michael’s eyes glistened. He looked away from Alex in an effort to control his emotions.

“Sir, the recommendation?”

“Of course,” Alex said. “Anyone would be lucky to have you on their team.”

Alex took him by the arm and led him over to her father.

“Dad, this is Mike’s son Michael.”

“You’re Mike’s son? I could have guessed that.” Patrick eyes brightened. “What a guy. He went through training just before we left Fort Bragg. I could tell you stories….”

Alex put her hand on her father’s arm.

“Michael’s been told that his father will be an impediment to his career.”

Patrick laughed and put his arm around the young man’s shoulders.

“Let me tell you about your father….”

Alex smiled leaving them to talk. Moving toward the center of the room, she found herself watching people talk and laugh. Last year, the loss was too fresh and the pain too extreme. This year, they were ready to connect, to remember. She saw the diamond earrings sparkle in Nathan’s son’s ears as he lifted his baby in the air, the dancing light along Maria’s chin from the pear shaped diamond pendant that hung around her neck and the flash from Jennifer’s tennis bracelet as she reached around Andi to hug her.

This year they could reflect the light.

FFF
One hour later
October 8 – 11:00 A.M.
Downtown Denver, Colorado

Alex looked up to see a short small man jamming his index finger into Trece’s chest. As she approached, she could hear the man screaming. Short man in a cheap suit. He must be a part of the President’s event planning team. For all his good natured charm, and experience dealing with the public, the huge Trece was about to pounce on the man when Alex said, “Can I help you?”

“Where are the children?” The man turned to glower at Alex.

“What children?” Alex asked.

Under the nose’s of the President’s event team, they slipped the team’s children to Patrick and Rebecca’s home. Alex would be damned before pictures of her friend’s weeping children were splashed all over the media. That was not going to happen.

“The families were specifically instructed to bring their children to the event. The President has a few special words to say to the children of the Fey Special Forces Team. Who the fuck are you anyway?”

Trece moved his shoulder an inch, knocking the man onto his behind.

“That is assault. I will not hesitate to report you to your superiors, “ the little man screamed jumping to his feet.

“That would be me. Report duly noted,” Alex said. “I’m Major Drayson.”

“This Neanderthal assaulted me,” the little man screamed. “Where the fuck are the children?”

Trece moved forward, but Alex put a hand on his chest.

“Captain Ramirez? Will you collect your team? The families are ready.”

“Yes sir,” Trece said. He loomed over the little man and he stepped back. Trece stalked off.

“You do not seem to understand what I am saying to you,” the little man started in on Alex. “Do you even know what the Fey was? What this team accomplished in their ten years together?”

“I have some idea, sir.”

“Then you understand the importance of celebrating their accomplishments.”

“Yes sir,” Alex said.

“If you were half the soldier that this Special Forces team was….” The man scanned Alex. Seeing that he gained some purchase, he continued, “You would handle this ceremony with greater delicacy and much less incompetence.”

“You’re absolutely right. If you will excuse me, I need to attend to the security detail.”

Alex turned her back on the little man and began to walk off. Unable to leave it alone, the man put his hand on her shoulder to turn her back to him. The next thing he knew, he was laying on his back, his breath knocked out of him and Alex’s foot on his chest. She kept her foot on his chest while the parents, wives and families, dressed in body armor and sporting armored hats that read “In Memoriam of the Fey Special Forces Team”, left with the security team. Every time he tried to get up, she pushed him back down with her foot.

“Who is that?” Colonel Gordon asked.

“Event team, sir. I detained him to keep him from harm’s way.”

“Harm’s way?”

“I was going to kill him, sir,” Alex said.

“Ah. Let him up and I’ll take care of him,” Colonel Gordon said. “You’re needed upstairs.”

“Thank you sir,” she said.

She removed her foot from the little man’s chest. Leaving the room, she heard the man start in on his diatribe with Colonel Gordon. In the elevator, Alex took long slow breaths to calm down.

Max held a side entrance to his international law office suite open for her. The twins pressed they foreheads together in silent greeting.

“Nice throw. Trece said that guy was from the President’s event team,” Matthew said. He and Troy were standing in the hall waiting for Alex.

“I was simply keeping him from harm’s way.”

“We need to compete again,” Matthew said.

Alex nodded. She raised a hand to say ‘hello’ to Troy and walked back to the small conference room next to Max’s office.

“Hi.” She closed the door. “I understand you wanted to see me.”

John turned from the plate glass window he had been looking out. In a step, he lifted her off the ground. She giggled.

“I love you so much I can barely hold all the feelings in my body.”

She kissed his lips.

“I do not want to be away from you today, not any day, but especially not today. I can’t lose….”

Alex kissed him quiet.

“Today marks the worst day, the very worst day of my life.” His lip moved against her lips.

“Me too.” She rested her head on his shoulder.

“What is your plan?” John asked.

“We are going to the Irish Snug for some lunch and whiskey. We reserved a snug and are going to play poker. If he’s back in time, Zack’s going to meet us there.”

“I’ll be back in a couple hours and we’ll do something fun.” His hands pulled at her behind. “You have no idea how fun I can be.”

She giggled feeling his desire press against her and kissed him.

“I’m wondering what kind of fun you had in mind, Mr. Kelly.”

“Drayson,” he laughed.

She laughed and kissed him. He moved to kiss her deeper when there was a tap at the door.

“John?” Max stuck his head in the room, “our escort is here.”

John stepped back from Alex. While holding her eyes, he kissed her hand, then followed Max into the entry way of Max’s law office. Max hugged Alex then followed the soldiers out the door. Standing at the door for a moment, Alex watched John, Max and two soldiers walk to the elevators. With a sigh, she closed the door and raised her eyebrows.

“Gentlemen,” she said. “Let the drinking begin.”

Troy held up a deck of cards. Matthew jingled his keys.

“We can go to my house,” Matthew said.

“Yeah, Erin would flip the fuck out,” Alex said. “She can’t stand cigar smoke.”

Alex pulled her handgun out to check to see if it was loaded. She was digging around in the pockets of her jacket when her cell phone went off.

“It’s probably my buddy Eleazar,” Alex said. She began rifling through her purse.

“You’re not going to answer it?” Troy asked. “It could be something important.”

“You can,” Alex said. She threw the phone at him. “Tell him I said, ‘Hi’. I have to fix my eyes. I’ll be right back.”

“Captain Troy Olivas,” Troy said answering Alex’s cell phone. “What?”

Alex was humming in the small half bathroom off Max’s office. As a partner in the law firm, Max has a plush set up. She changed from her dress into comfortable jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt. She was leaning against the sink putting her contacts in when Matthew came to stand at the open bathroom door.

“Your Sergeant’s on the phone,” Matthew said.

Alex moved to press past him and he grabbed her arm. Standing face to face, he said, “It’s bad.”

Alex nodded. Walking out of Max’s office, she stopped. Troy was bent over with his hands on his knees. He looked up when he heard her come out of Max’s office. Their eyes held for a moment. He shook his head and gave her the phone.

“Fey,” Alex said.

“Sir.”

“Yes, Sergeant,” she said.

“There’s been a plane crash. Captain Jakkman is a confirmed hit.”

“What?”

“Captain Zack Jakkman is dead.”

F

The Fey is the first in a thriller series written by Claudia Hall Christian.
The novel has been serialized for your enjoyment at AlextheFey.com
Entire chapters are be published at On-a-limb.com and
StoriesbyClaudia.com every Friday.

Previous Chapters

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The next night
September 29
Downtown Denver, Colorado

After spending a gut wrenching day documenting everything that happened in Paris, Alex excused herself from an afternoon meeting and a working dinner. She wanted to take a long bath.

When Raz came to check on her, she was sound asleep in the tub. He helped her out of the tub and got her into bed before he left for their working dinner. Concerned about leaving her alone, and exhausted himself, he promised to return early. He peeked in around nine o’clock and she was curled up in a ball sound asleep. With a sigh of relief, he was asleep in ten minutes.

Max and John arrived from Paris around midnight. Peeking into the rooms, they found Alex and Raz sound asleep with their doors open to the suite. John pulled Raz’s door closed then, raising a hand in good-bye to Max, he went into Alex’s room. Max returned to the room he had been using.

Pulling off his clothing, John slipped under the covers. He lay watching Alex sleep for a few moments. Drawn, as if by a magnet, his lips brushed her cheek then her ear. When she moved her hand, as if to bat at a fly, he put her fingers into his mouth. She sighed, rolling onto her back, and he slipped on top of her. She smiled slightly in her sleep then opened and shut her eyes. Her arms went around him.

His lips caught hers, pulling at her tongue, while his hands drew the t-shirt over her head. His mouth moved along her neck then took her nipple, flicking his tongue across its rising focus. She opened her eyes, looking down at him, as his mouth moved across her belly. His teeth pulled at the diamond in her belly button then his tongue explored the contours behind the gem. His fingers grasped her behind, slipping off her panties while his mouth worked along her fleshy contours and sensitive soft folds. She gasped in pleasure, wide awake, holding his head in place.

He chuckled, “Welcome home?”

She shifted her hips, rocking to his attention, until she moaned in rising intensity. She pulled him up toward her and he plowed into her moist depth. As she shuttered against him, he pressed forward. She wrapped her legs around his hips, giving him access to her deepest zones. He worked his hips against her while his mouth tortured her neck and nipples, then returned to plundering her mouth. She clutched at him lost in sensation. They began releasing in together in waves of intense pleasure, rising and falling, until he let go deep within her.

Resting with his head on her shoulder, he said, “I have some news.”

“Uh huh,” she said. Her fingers played with the curls in his hair.

“I’m not a father,” John said.

Alex lifted her head to look at him. He nodded.

“Ben gave me the DNA results before we left Paris.”

“Who is?”

“Néall. He’s also my brother.”

Alex smiled, “Bastard.”

“Yes, one more thing we have in common,” he said.

“Hmm.” Alex shifted slightly and John moved to the bed. He stroked her warm body.

“I’ve only been married one time.”

“To Eimilie?” She kissed his lips.

“To you. I am your lawfully wedded husband.”

“I was having so much fun as the other woman.”

“Our international lawyer spent the day in London. He was able to confirm that the records were not filed and that the notation by the priest in London does not constitute a legal marriage. The priest, who is no longer living, cannot verify the written account. You know that Father Seamus has confirmed with Rome that our marriage is valid.”

“That is good news,” she said. “How shall we celebrate?”

“I have an idea,” John said.

Alex giggled when he pulled her on top of him.

FFFFFF

One week later
October 8 – 4:30 A.M.
Fort Logan National Cemetery, Colorado

“That’s the best we could do.” Trece turned around in the front seat of an armored black Expedition. “The area is clear by satellite and heat. You have a half hour to yourselves.”

Joseph and Alex were sitting in the middle seat of the car with Matthew and Troy in the back. Joseph nodded to Trece. They were parked by the Memorial to the Fey Special Forces team at Fort Logan National Cemetery.

“We’ll talk about the Circus when you’re done,” the White Boy said from the driver’s seat.

“We can’t leave you here alone,” Matthew said. He put a hand on Alex’s shoulder and the other on Joseph’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Alex turned to look at him, “Thanks for doing this.”

“I’m on watch,” Troy said.

Glancing at the rifle and scope in Troy’s hand, Joseph nodded.

“You’re burning time,” Trece said.

Alex opened the door to the Expedition. Stepping into the cold the October pre-dawn, she held her hand out to Joseph. They walked around the Expedition to the memorial and Troy stood in the doorway of the truck. Alex turned one last time, catching the watchful eyes of her friends, then walked to the Memorial. As they approached, they saw that the families had decorated the graves for the anniversary.

Starting at Alexander’s grave, adorned with a large bouquet of sunflowers, Joseph set a votive candle and a stick of incense. Together, they clicked their lighters touching the flame to the candle first, then the incense. They moved in silence to Nathan’s grave.

A picture of Nathan and his teenage son hugging was stuck in the grass next to the grave. Making a space for the candle, Alex pointed to a picture of a baby, Nathan’s first grandchild. Joseph kneeled to pick up the pictures. Ripping a plastic picture holder from his wallet, Joseph slipped the pictures into the holder and placed them near the top of the grave. Nathan talked about his son all the time. Alex touched the baby’s picture with her index finger. She could almost hear him brag about the baby. Sniffing back their tears, they lit the candle and incense.

Paul’s grave had a bright red bouquet of Gerbera daisies on top. Alex saw a drop of water on the flowers and looked to the sky to see if it was raining. Unable to see the clear sky through her clouded eyes, she realized that she was crying. As they touched flame to the votive candle and incense, she saw tears dropping from Joseph’s eyes as well.

Alex fingered Jax’s tattered Badwater Ultramarathon t-shirt, his lucky shirt from his first Badwater. Joseph pointed to the stethoscope near the top of Jax’s grave.

“He would have been such a great doctor,” Joseph whispered.

Alex nodded. Bending together, they lit the candle and incense at Jax’s grave.

Dean’s grave was covered with crayon drawings. Alex touched a plastic wrapped crayon picture of Dean. Joseph held up a crayon picture of a red girl and purple boy with their green mother. In block blue letters, the child had written: “WHERE ARE YOU DADDY?”. Alex covered her mouth to stifle a sob. Joseph moved the pictures away from the flames and they lit the candle and incense.

Scott’s grave was clean and polished. Andi, his flower child wife, had painstakingly clipped the grass around the granite stone. A tidy and precise person, this is exactly how Scott would have wanted his grave. Joseph and Alex placed the candle and incense away from the stone as to not disrupt the precision.

“Andi misses him horribly,” Alex said.

“Me too,” Joseph nodded.

Alex looked up to see Jesse standing next to Tommy’s grave.

“Get down,” Jesse said. “M21, Long range rifle.”

Alex tackled Joseph just before two shots rang out across the Memorial. Jumping from the Expedition, Trece and the White Boy ran to Alex and Joseph while Matthew took off running across the grass.

“Are you all right?” Trece pulled Alex to standing.

“We’re fine.” Joseph took the White Boy’s offered hand.

“Finish up,” Trece said. “We’ll take care of this.”

Tommy’s stone was covered with sayings written in white wax pencil. Tommy loved language, words and communication. A variety of hands had written his favorite sayings on the black granite with his favorite saying, “Only the mediocre are always at their best”, under his name. Alex smiled touching the “I love you” written in a teenage girl’s hearts and curls. They lit the candle and incense for Tommy the communicator.

Alex touched the Pyrex cooking dish sitting on Dwight’s grave. Raised by his grandmother after his mother over-dosed on heroin, Dwight’s grandmother brought his favorite meal to his grave every Sunday. The groundskeepers asked her to stop. She told them that she made her baby Sunday dinner every week for almost forty years. She was not going to stop because of some groundskeeper. Joseph made a face when he opened the lid. They placed the candle and lit the incense against the smell as much as to remember their friend.

Overcome with sadness, Alex fell to her knees in front of Jesse’s grave. Even with the apparition of her friend floating nearby, she felt Jesse’s loss like a hole in her heart and her life. Reaching in her pocket, she intended to leave the St. Christopher medallion among the bright pink and blue blossoms which she and Maria painstakingly lay on top of his granite marker.

“What’s that?” Joseph asked.

“I found Jesse’s St. Christopher in the vault. It was the only gift he ever received from his mother. I was going to leave it here.”

“I think Jesse would want you to keep it,” Joseph said.

“I keep telling you that,” Jesse said.

Alex nodded and placed the medallion back in her pocket. Joseph dropped to his knees to hug her. With an arm around each other, they lit the candle and incense.

Alex wiped her face with her hands then still on her knees, she placed a piece of incense at Mike’s grave. She flicked a leaf off the top of the grave, then wiped the dust with the arm of her jacket. Joseph gave her his handkerchief and she cleaned the granite.

“She’s with a woman now,” Joseph said of Mike’s wife.

Alex nodded. Married on paper only, Mike and his wife stayed together for their three children. Alex’s heart broke to see that powerful, funny, quick to temper, loveable Mike received as little from his wife in death as he had in life. She promised herself to look after his grave. Lighting the incense and candle at Mike’s grave from her kneeling position, she looked around for Joseph.

Joseph was standing, sobbing into his hands, at the end of Charlie’s grave. Alex stood to hug Joseph. He pushed her away then dropped his head to her shoulder and wept. He had no words to express his loss, a sadness that never seemed to lessen.

They stood crying in each other’s arms at the end of Charlie’s grave until, hearing cars driving into the Memorial, they knew their time was up. They bent to light the candle and incense for Charlie together. Joseph collapsed against her in grief. Alex held him up with an arm around his waist.

Trece and the White Boy, armed with M-16 machine guns, came forward again to escort them to the Expedition. Once in the car, Troy pressed Joseph and Alex’s heads into their lap. The Expedition slowed to pick up Matthew then drove out of the cemetery.

“Can we get up yet?” Alex asked.

“You’re so beautiful like that,” Trece said. “I thought we’d just leave you there.”

Alex laughed and sat up.

“Snooze?” She asked. They had planned on meeting Max, John and Erin for breakfast at their favorite breakfast restaurant.

“I going to have the pineapple upside down pancakes,” Trece said.

“You’re off carbs, Trece,” the White Boy said.

“That’s right, I’m not eating carbs right now. My percent fat is up a half point.”

“It’s a celebration of life,” Joseph said. “Pineapple upside down pancakes sound perfect.”

“Oh sure, you want me to get fat. Just because I’m at four and a half percent fat and you are not, doesn’t mean I should get fatter. Jeez. Alex, you didn’t tell me that your Captain was a food enabler.”

“A what?” Alex asked. “WAIT, I don’t want….”

“Someone who encourages people to eat food that’s not good for them. Honestly Alex, I thought you knew that. I mean….”

“Andy!”

“Oh right, I’m supposed to be quiet so you can reflect. You have to admit. I’ve been doing a good job keeping quiet.”

“I think you’ve been doing a great job, Trece,” the White Boy said.

“I am trying to be respectful. I’ve lost friends. Hell, I lost Jesse. I might not have spent every day with Jesse, but I loved him. Losing friends is like a wound that never ever heals. Sure, you feel guilty that you survived, especially when you see the families. I mean….”

“ANDY!” Alex, Joseph, Matthew and Troy said in unison.

“You guys sound pretty good. Oh, all right. I’m going to be quiet now.”

Trece zipped his lips with his hand then looked out the window. They drove to the edge of Fort Logan National Cemetery.

“Where are we going?” Trece asked.

Everyone laughed.

F

The Fey is the first in a thriller series written by Claudia Hall Christian.
The novel has been serialized for your enjoyment at AlextheFey.com
Entire chapters are be published at On-a-limb.com and
StoriesbyClaudia.com every Friday.

Previous Chapters

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Nine hours later
September 29 – 3:21 A.M.
Downtown Denver, Colorado

Alex woke with a start. Her heart pounded against her rib cage. She had no idea where she was or what woke her. She was simply awake in the dark. Sitting up, she noticed that she was in a hotel room. She patted the bed next to her. John wasn’t there. Moving to sit on the side of the bed, she heard the sound again.

The phone was ringing.

She reached to turn on a bedside lamp then realized she didn’t know where the light switch was located. Her hand fumbled around for a few moments before she gave up. Standing up, she moved toward the light under the hall door and clicked on the light.

Ah shit. The light brought a round of Ketamine induced nausea and head splitting pain. There’s got to be coffee here somewhere. She wandered into the bathroom, then heard the phone ring again.

Ah well, they’ll call back.

Turning on the bathroom light, she blinked at the bright light and grimaced at her reflection. She was wearing panties and someone’s big t-shirt. Her fake hair was crumpled, standing straight up in some places and flat in others. It looked like she had gone to sleep with wet hair….

Oh right. Alex remembered that she was at the hotel in downtown Denver. Her one bag of clothing was in Paris. Glancing at the half open suite door, Raz was across the suite. She nodded at her reflection. Turning on the faucet, she wet her hair trying to flatten it out.

She and Raz went to dinner at Elway’s. They ate steak, drank wine and laughed. Alex insisted they eat some salad which they fed to each other. Raz ordered every chocolate dessert on the menu. Groaning and laughing, they managed to eat them. She smiled. She had such a good time with Raz.

When they returned, he ran a bath for her, set his t-shirt on bed, then left for a date. She scratched her head trying to remember who he saw last night. She could probably just go across the suite to find out who was there. She chuckled to herself.

The phone started ringing again.

Fuck.

Getting up from the commode, she went back into the hotel room to look for the telephone. She had never used the phone in this room. The clock’s red digital letters cast light on the phone sitting on top of the desk . The phone’s over there! Feeling like she had accomplished something, Alex picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hello my dear,” Eleazar’s voice purred in Hebrew.

Alex set the phone down. Dropping into the chair next to the desk, Alex stared at the telephone. She hadn’t expected that.

She knew she should get Raz. She knew she should call into command. She knew she should have the call traced. She knew that she should not pick up the telephone.

But when the phone rang again, she picked it up.

“What do you want?” Alex asked in Hebrew.

“Now is that anyway to speak to an old friend?” Eleazar purred.

“You are no friend of mine,” she said.

“How are you feeling?”

“What do you want?” Alex yelled into the phone.

The door to the suite banged opened and Raz stood in the doorway wearing white boxer shorts. Walking over to her, he wrenched the phone from her hand. He listened at the ear piece then slammed the receiver down into the phone.

“What the fuck are you doing?” He said. “That was Eleazar. God damn it Alex. What are you thinking?”

Leaning her elbows on her knees, Alex shook her head.

“Your mind is fragile from the Ketamine.”

The phone rang and Raz pulled the phone line from the wall. Alex looked up at him and blinked. She had no idea why he was so angry.

“I can’t help myself,” she said. “I feel compelled to speak with him, to find out what exactly it is that he wants.”

“Alex, he planted that in your mind. All of those phone calls conditioned you to want to speak to him again. It’s classic psychological programming. You know that.”

Alex nodded. Her cell phone began ringing. She put her hands over her ears.

Realizing that his anger was also hitting her fragile mind, he pulled her up into his arms. “Oh honey, I’m sorry. Let’s do it together. Give me two minutes.”

When he released her from the hug, Alex plopped back into the chair. Dropping her head into her hands, she rubbed her forehead back and forth against her hands. She looked up to see Raz return wearing blue jeans and talking on his cell phone. She watched the muscles in his taut abdomen move side to side as he walked toward her.

Sensing movement in the sitting area, Alex looked past Raz to see a woman moving across the suite. That’s our server from Elway’s. Alex raised a hand to say, “hello” to the woman. She winked at Alex then let herself out of the suite.

“I’m sorry Raz. Your date just left.”

Raz looked down at her and nodded, “I need your phone.”

Alex dug around in her clothing, piled next to the bathroom, to find her cell phone. She gave him the phone.

“What did you tell her?”

“Cops,” he said. He put his hand over the mouth piece of his cell phone. “I asked her if she would mind leaving. She was delightful.” Turning his attention to the phone, he said: “That’s what I thought. Can you check on that?”

With the phone propped against his chin, he said to Alex, “We’re looking for terrorists. She didn’t want to get involved.”

“Will you see her again?”

“Probably,” he said. “I seem to be in Denver a lot these days.”

Alex smiled. There was a tap on the door.

“I ordered some coffee for you,” he said.

Alex brightened which made him laugh. She answered the door for room service then stood by the door drinking a cup of coffee with a little cream.

“All right, thank you,” Raz said disconnecting his telephone. He looked at Alex, who was completely absorbed by her coffee, and laughed. “Happy?”

“Very.” She poured herself another cup of coffee.

“Let’s go into the suite,” he said then answered his cell phone.

Alex moved into the sitting area and he followed. Sitting down on the couch, she remembered that the coffee was in the other room. She jumped up and ran back into the bedroom where she grabbed the thermos of coffee, a cup and raw sugar for Raz, and returned to the sitting area.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked. She poured a cup of coffee for him then stirred in the raw sugar.

Disconnecting from his phone, he took the cup and smiled at her generosity. Alex would never think to keep something for herself. He took a long drink of the warm coffee fixed exactly as he liked it.

“Eleazar went underground last month. He’s been in Jordan, visiting his mother, as King Abdullah told you. Rather than returning to Jerusalem, he seems to be traveling through the Middle East. We believe he’s been recruiting people for an operation here in the States, but we don’t really know.”

“How did you know he was on the phone?”

“Ben said that Eleazar would try to get to you before the Ketamine wore off. Prior to viewing the vault… Do you remember the vault?”

Alex nodded.

“You believed Eleazar killed your team. He wants you to believe that he killed your team. Ben thought he would contact you to clarify or convince you that your memory was wrong.”

“That Ben is a smart guy.”

“Like his daughter,” Raz said.

Alex’s cell phone began to ring again.

“Go ahead,” Raz said. He waited until she answered the phone then connected through his cell phone. He would listen to the conversation while tracing the call.

“Hello?”

“You are hard to get a hold of,” Eleazar said in English.

“A girl’s got to keep her distance from all the handsome men who want to talk with her,” Alex said. “What is it that you want?”

“I wanted to hear your lovely voice,” he said. “You want to tell me how to get into the vault.”

“I do?”

“You’ll tell me how to get into the vault.” Eleazar’s voice was silky smooth.

“What do you know about that vault?” Alex asked.

“Why?”

“I’m the only one who can get in that vault. I can give you a code but you won’t be able to open the door. Why don’t you tell me what you want and I’ll retrieve your property for you?”

Eleazar clicked off the telephone and Alex threw the cell phone from her.

“I feel dirty,” she said.

“I bet,” Raz said. “Is that true about the vault?”

Alex nodded. “Charlie could get in too.”

“The Army tried for a month to get inside.”

“Who closed the door?”

“They removed Jesse last. The door has on some automatic mechanism. As soon as Jesse was moved, the door swung closed. There was a guy inside who just managed to squeak out.”

“Huh,” Alex shrugged.

“They tried to force the door….”

“You can’t do that,” she said.

“Why so much security?”

“I was usually there by myself. I felt like that vault was the safest place on the planet but Charlie worried. I was supposed to close the door when I was there alone.”

“Did you do that?”

“Mostly,” Alex said. “Sometimes I was running in to drop cash or a book and I’d leave the door open but usually I closed the door. That’s what’s weird, Raz. What could possibly be in there? I was there every single time the vault was opened.”

“And why didn’t they get what they wanted after they killed everyone?” Raz asked.

“I wish I knew,” Alex said.

“How does the lock work?”

“There are four spots that scan for hand prints. One spot for each of my hands and each of Charlie’s hands. If I put my hand in the wrong spot, Charlie’s spot for example, the door cannot be opened for seven days. Mess up more than once and the security has to be over ridden.”

“How?”

“In a long and very painful process. The keypad is a complicated mechanism of fingerprint scanning and code. The codes are sort of random. Charlie had the system made some place in Asia… Laos I think.”

“I’ve never even heard of such a thing.”

“Yeah?” Alex asked. “The door used to just have the keypad lock but around the time Joseph left, Charlie changed the door. He set the codes to random and added the hand print scans. He also added a bunch of security inside the vault. There are compartments in the floor that only I can get into.”

“Why did he do that?”

“I don’t really know,” Alex said. “Joseph and Charlie had been friends for more than twenty years. When Joseph left, Charlie became increasingly anxious. He would stay up after everyone went to bed as if he was guarding us. He didn’t want anyone to go anywhere alone. I guess that’s why we were in the vault. We usually roamed Paris then met at the apartment to change and stuff.”

“I remember. And you don’t have any idea what was going on?”

“With Charlie? No. I asked him, more than once, but he would just assure me that everything was all right. Joseph told me that he noticed the change in Charlie too.”

“When did Joseph see Charlie?”

“We routed through Denver to meet his twins after they were born. Joseph said he asked Charlie what was wrong. Charlie made an excuse and changed the subject.”

“Was that like Charlie?”

“Charlie? Oh yeah.” Alex looked over at Raz. “Charlie was like a big Dad. He took care of every worry, every problem. He said our work was hard enough to have to worry about bullshit.”

“Maybe the journals will give you some clues,” Raz said then yawned.

“Maybe. I’m going to need help transcribing them.

“Transcribing?

“They are in a code based in Navajo.”

“You mean that someone has ten years of your journals in a code? In Navajo?”

Alex nodded. Raz laughed then yawned.

“Are you going back to bed?” She asked.

“I didn’t get much sleep.”

“I’m glad.”

Raz smiled. “Wanna snuggle?”

“That sounds very nice, but I should work on maps for a while. I haven’t listened to the map phone messages in at least a week. The Intelligence Center added video so that should be interesting.”

“Will you wake me if anything…?”

“Of course,” she said.

She stood and hugged him. “Thanks.”

He kissed her cheek then went into his bedroom.

With her cup and pot of coffee, Alex went back into her bedroom. She closed the door then sat down in an armchair by the window. Lost in thought, remembering and reliving, she watched the night turn into day. As the sun began to reflect off the mountains, Alex promised herself that no one else would be injured by Eleazar.

Not again.

Never again.

F

The Fey is the first in a thriller series written by Claudia Hall Christian.
The novel has been serialized for your enjoyment at AlextheFey.com
Entire chapters are be published at On-a-limb.com and
StoriesbyClaudia.com every Friday.