by Margaret Kay
“Thanks, Mother,” Cooper said. He pulled his phone from his pocket and held it up. “I guess I need to call Shepherd.” It was not a call he was in any hurry to make.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Mother said.
He returned to the room the team was in. Madison sat on the bunk, Hahna on her lap. She was eating another protein bar and drinking from a bottle of water. She wore a dark blue, short-sleeved compression shirt of Madison’s. It hung past her knees. The sleeves reached to her elbows.
Mother took a seat on the bunk facing them. “She’s going to need something much warmer than that on the flight and when we land back at O’Hare.”
“I figured I could keep her wrapped in a blanket or two,” Madison answered.
“I’ll text Elizabeth. I know we have several larger sized outfits in Olivia’s closet. I’m sure we have a few things that will fit her,” Doc said.
“I can text Angel and ask her to go shopping and pick up a few essentials for you too, like a car seat, a winter coat, boots, socks, shoes, a few warm, winter outfits,” Jackson offered.
“Thank you, that would be great if you both would. I’ll pay you back for any items bought,” Madison said.
“Don’t worry about that,” both Jackson and Doc agreed.
“Hey, Sloan,” Mother called across the room. “If she’s coming on the flight back, we’re going to need a child-sized oxygen mask.”
“We’ll see if we can get a compatible one at the airbase in Spain,” Sloan said. “If not, we can modify an adult mask.”
Charlie
On the flight back it was quiet. Mother watched Madison snuggle the little girl who slept in her arms. He watched Cooper gaze at Madison with concern. Throughout the trip, Cooper would tenderly lay a hand to her shoulder. He’d give her an embrace, or a kiss pressed to the top of her head. Very uncommon acts while on duty. Yeah, this mission had been different.
It had been a rough mission. Mother knew that what they found profoundly affected every member of the team. People in containers tagged like cattle, women and children crammed together for export, slaves chained to the floor with prices written on their arms. They were to be sold all across Europe. Some may have made it to the Americas. The team shrink, Dr. Joe Lassiter, would be working overtime when they got back.
Mother knew what he felt, and he didn’t even have a child. Across the belly of the bird, Jackson, and Doc both stared at pictures of their families on their phones. Garcia and Sherman, both of whom were expecting a child, were sullen. Even Sloan, who normally joked around to raise everyone’s spirits, was silent.
Mother clicked on his phone, opening his word game. A small lift to his mood occurred just by seeing the ten games waiting for him with a player he had been playing against for years. Her screen name was Dr. ASS. He knew her first name was Annaka. He assumed the other initials stood for her middle and last names. He wasn’t sure if she was a doctor of some sort or not. He knew she worked in a lab.
They chatted in the in-game chat screen on a very regular basis. Even though he’d never met her, he felt as though he knew her well. He considered her a friend. He saw a message also waited. He clicked into the chat screen and read the long message from her.
Dr. ASS…Danny, it sounds like work is very busy for you again. It is here too, though when isn’t it! Christmas is only a few days away. Will you still be able to visit your family? I’ve opted to work through the holidays again this year so that those with children can be off. It’s fine. I’ll take some time off in January, maybe go on a trip to some tropical beach for a week. I do like to travel, LOL, I wonder if someone who travels for work as much as you do, can say that? And when you do travel for pleasure, besides going home to see your family, where is your favorite place to go? For me, as I’ve said before, it is definitely to a beach. There is something about the rhythm of the waves, the peace and serenity that comes with it, that relaxes me. Plus, if I’m going in the winter, getting to a warmer climate is a plus. Each year, the winter seems a bit colder and seems to last longer.
Mother considered what he’d just read. He and Annaka had never told each other where they lived or other pertinent, identifiable information about each other. He of course couldn’t because of the nature of his job, and Annaka was understandably guarded. Said she didn’t tell strangers too much about herself. Based on what he just read, though, she too lived in a northern climate. He wondered where. He also thought about asking her if they could talk on the phone sometime, a thought he’d had before. He’d love to hear her voice and actually talk. He wouldn’t bring that up now.
Mother Grunt…Hi Annaka. Yes, work is always busy, even this time of year. And yes, I should be able to make it home for Christmas if nothing work-related interferes. It’s been too long since I’ve been home, and I have missed my family. My youngest brother is a senior in high school this year. He came out and stayed with me for a week last summer, but I haven’t seen my parents in nearly a year. I’m looking forward to my trip home. The beach, huh? That sounds like a nice winter trip. As far as where I’d like to go, I don’t know. Maybe up in the mountains in the summer, hiking and camping. The solitude sounds nice. One of my buddies likes to go fishing in a remote area. I’ve never liked to fish but spending time on the lake and hiking through the densely wooded area he describes sounds like a nice place to unwind and relax. Maybe I’ll take some time and go there during the summer.
He sent the message and exited out of the chat screen. Then he played all the games that waited for him. He was fiercely competitive in all he did. He approached these word games no differently than anything else in his life. Annaka was a well-matched opponent. That was one of the reasons he enjoyed his games against her.
After his games were played, he laid his head back against the fuselage and closed his eyes. The rest of the flight was the same, uneventful. Soon, they landed at O’Hare International Airport and taxied back to the military hangar near the cargo facilities. It was ten hundred hours.
It was a cool twenty-three degrees when they deplaned. Mother glanced over at Madison. She had Hahna wrapped up tightly in a blanket to keep her warm. It struck Mother that Madison and Cooper needed everything for her. He would help however he could. He’d go shopping and buy whatever they needed. He wondered if the enormity of what she’d taken on had hit Madison yet. He was sure everyone at Shepherd Security would help. They were a team. It’s what they did.
“Cooper is not happy,” Sloan remarked once their SUV, driven by Lambchop, drove out of the O’Hare gate.
Mother’s eyes were fixed on the SUV in front of him, with Alpha Team in it. Charlie Team’s SUV was behind them. “I understand why Madison felt compelled to bring her home.”
“I think Brielle or any of the women would have too,” Sherman added. “And I’m sure they will all pitch in and help Madison with her.”
“Jackson and Doc were messaging with their wives on the flight back. Angel and Elizabeth were going to get somethings together for Hahna like a winter coat and some clothes,” Lambchop said. “I’m sure they’ll have a bunch of things at the office when we get there.”
When the team got out of their vehicles in the private Shepherd Security parking area of the garage, they saw a pile of boxes and bags near the elevator. Upon closer inspection, it was all needed items for Madison and Cooper to house Hahna. There was a car seat for a child her size, a winter coat and boots in what looked to be her size, bags of clothing, and even tear free children’s shampoo and body wash.
The elevator opened. Angel and Elizabeth stepped off. Angel held a baby doll in her hands. Elizabeth held Olivia. Mother watched Doc and Jackson greet their wives with hugs and kisses. Doc took Olivia, his four-month-old daughter, from Elizabeth and showered her with kisses.
“I figured it would be easier to load all this stuff if we left it here,” Angel said. She pulled a warm-looking sweatshirt and sweatpants outfit in purple from the top bag. She also produced a pair of socks and two pairs of tennis shoe
s. “I think the clothes will fit fine, but I wasn’t sure on shoe sizes. Jackson said she needed some warm clothes, socks and shoes right away.”
Mother saw tears gather in Madison’s eyes. “Thank you for getting all this. Tell me what you spent, and I’ll reimburse you. Yes, she needs everything.” She clutched Hahna, still wrapped in the blanket, against her chest. “Hahna,” she said, turning her in her arms. “These are friends, Angel and Elizabeth,” she said in Arabic.
“Oh my God, she’s precious,” Angel said, gazing at the adorable little girl in Madison’s arms. Jackson was right. She was very small for her age.
“Hi Hahna,” Elizabeth said with a smile. “We’ll help you with her, will watch her now during your debrief. Brielle has Sammy in the gym. We figured play is universal.”
Angel handed Hahna the doll. “For you.” She beamed a smile at Angel as she took the doll and hugged it.
“That dolly is for you,” Madison told her in Arabic. “These women are my friends. You have to go with them for a little while. They have warm clothes for you to wear. Then I will be back in a little while and I will take you home to my house.”
Hahna allowed herself to be passed into Angel’s arms.
“I’ll get her changed into the warmer clothes.”
Madison was numb as she helped unload their equipment from the cars. After she’d stowed her gear, she followed the others up the stairs to Shepherd’s office for the meeting. She was nervous about talking with Shepherd. Cooper said Shepherd had made no promises about them being able to keep Hahna.
Dr. Joe Lassiter, the team shrink, was in Shepherd’s office when they entered. Mother wasn’t surprised. It had been a hell of a mission. And that didn’t include Madison bringing that little girl home. Mother watched Shepherd’s gaze, which settled on Madison.
Finally, Shepherd scanned the group and spoke. “I know this was a rough one. That’s why I invited Joe to sit in. You did good work, team, freed a lot of women and girls from a shitty future. The government of Algeria locked down all news about the operation. It wasn’t reported at all.”
Several of the men groaned. Mother just shook his head. He hoped they’d really saved those women and girls that had been in the containers. The problem with so many of them going to that orphanage, was that the bad guys would know right where to go to reacquire them.
“Well, that’s just bullshit,” Sherman remarked. “How can we be sure the Tangos we turned over to them won’t be released to carry on with business as usual?”
“We can’t be, but we do need to remember that it was the Algerian government that called us in to begin with. They had a reason to shut this group down, at least on this shipment,” Shepherd answered. “Unrelated to the Algerians, was there anything that didn’t go smoothly, that we could have done better?”
“Well, we didn’t have to do any recon because the location was handed to us on a silver platter, but the recon we did on the exact location of our Tangos when we arrived was performed well,” Cooper said. “The team didn’t take anything for granted.”
“And the execution was timed perfectly. We even managed to keep a few of the Tangos alive in case the Algerian’s planned to interrogate them,” Lambchop added.
“Charlie Team operated as though they’d been back in the field a lot longer than they have been,” Cooper reported.
The corner of Shepherd’s lips pulled down. “Yes, they did. Ops only had a few minor notes on performance. I’ll address those issues with you offline, Taco, but overall, I’m very pleased,” Shepherd said to Jimmy Wilson, Charlie Team’s lead.
“Yes, sir,” Wilson acknowledged.
“Anything else?” Shepherd asked.
Mother could tell he was looking for something specific. “I thought the support from the Algerian authorities could have been better. After we liberated the women from the Tangos, the officials took custody of the Tangos but didn’t seem to have a plan for the women.”
“Thank God none of those women needed intensive medical care. The Algerians did not have anything in place to support them,” Doc said.
“We would have had to medivac them back to the Bush,” Sloan added.
“And the Algerians didn’t even have anyone onsite that spoke English. Thankfully Xena was there to speak with them in Arabic,” Mother said. “It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea for a few more of us to learn Arabic.”
Shepherd nodded. “I was thinking one man per team on a volunteer basis.”
“Count me in,” Rich ‘Handsome’ Burke from Charlie Team spoke up. He was a light skinned African American. When his hair was longer, and he was dressed appropriately, he easily passed as a Middle Easterner.
“I’d be willing to try to learn it too,” Mother volunteered.
“Me too,” Lambchop spoke up. He flashed a grin at Mother. “We’ll learn it together.”
“I know you will assist them,” Shepherd said to Madison.
“Yes, I surely will,” she acknowledged.
“Charlie Team, you need to complete your mission reports. You are dismissed after until zero nine hundred tomorrow morning,” Shepherd said.
“I’ll send meeting invites to each of you. If any of you need to see me today, send me a text after your mission reports are filed and I’ll fit you in,” Lassiter added. “Otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Charlie Team filed out of the room. Mother glanced around at the others still seated at the table. That was odd that Shepherd would dismiss one of the teams and not the rest of them.
“Charlie Team performed well given that they have had limited exposure to combat missions in the past few years since being assigned to the Power Grid Protection Project. We still need to catch up on our install schedule, so Charlie Team will continue to be assigned to it fifty percent of the time. Cooper and Lambchop, I’m assigning the two of you to work with Charlie Team to identify any gaps in their training and remedy that when they are not working on the project. We have given a few of them exposure to the DEA Partner Missions but need to broaden that to the others. I expect you two to handle the team assignments. The next DEA Partner Mission will be early January. Get me staffing and training recommendations by end of day tomorrow.”
Cooper and Lambchop exchanged glances and head nods and then acknowledged Shepherd.
“Lassiter will meet with most of you today, beginning with Miller and Cooper,” Shepherd said. “I do want to bring up one more item. Many of you communicated with your wives or girlfriends while en route back from this mission. You shared mission details that had not yet been declassified by me, specifically the presence of the child. This should not have happened. I consider that child’s presence no different from any other aspect of a mission.”
“Hahna,” Madison spoke up. “Her name is Hahna, and she’s a human being, not a mission aspect.”
Shepherd’s eyes narrowed on her.
“Shep,” Jackson said. “Angel sees the mission reports, and either knew or would know before we got back. I also thought that she needed to know so she could round up some clothes and other things Madison and Cooper would need for Hahna.”
“My intentions as well in telling Elizabeth,” Doc said. “I knew we had clothes sized up to Hahna’s size for Olivia that we could loan them. Jesus Christ, the girl didn’t even have socks or shoes on her feet, and we were bringing her back to below freezing temps.”
“Good intentions, gentlemen,” Shepherd said. He glanced around at all the Operators. “In the future, I expect mission details to not be disclosed until after you have been notified you are free to do so after our briefing.”
Mother acknowledged him, as did the others. He glanced at Madison. She sat rigid in her chair. He hoped Shepherd had arranged for her and Cooper to keep Hahna. Madison would be devastated if the child were to be taken from them.
“Mother, Lambchop, unless either of you need to meet with me today, I’ll catch up with you tomorrow,” Lassiter said.
“No, I’m good,” Lambchop sai
d.
“Me too,” Mother seconded.
“The rest of you, keep yourselves available. I’ll call you to my office one by one,” Lassiter said.
“Miller and Cooper stay,” Shepherd said. “The rest of you are dismissed.”
The men stood and silently left the office. Once in the hallway, on the other side of the closed door, Sherman spoke up. “So, I’m confused, can we discuss Hahna now?”
“Given that Brielle is a part of the agency, I’m not sure you were ever barred from telling her about Hahna,” Lambchop said.
“I’m not sure why Shepherd reacted the way he did,” Garcia said. “It’s not like Sienna is going to tell anyone or discuss Hahna with anyone outside of the Shepherd Security group. And she can be helpful to Madison and Cooper. We already offered to have Hahna overnight if they need us to.”
“Us too,” Sloan said. “And Kaylee is already researching nearby preschools for Madison. Kaylee can watch Hahna over the Christmas break while we’re all still around, but Madison is going to need some sort of reliable daycare with extended hours come January.”