Learning to Stand

by Claudia Hall Christian

  “I’ll make a deal with you,” Alex said. “Make these bullshit accusations go away and I’ll show you where your brother-in-law’s buried.”

  “That’s blackmail.”

  “That’s negotiation. You’re asking me to divulge classified information about a classified situation,” Alex said. “You have enough experience as a police detective to know my situation is bullshit. I never provoked Robert Powell to do anything, except the job he was paid to do. He is a predator plain and simple. You must know that.”

  The detective was silent the rest of the way back to her South City Park home. He pulled up to the house then went around letting the men out of the back. Alex was half way to the house before she turned and went back to the car.

  “If I was a different person, I would sue you and your department for harassment. Blackmail my ass.”

  With the detective sputtering at her back, Alex walked toward the entrance to her side of the rooming house. She was almost to the door when John came running out. He lifted her into his arms to carry her.

  “Gentlemen, I’m taking my wife,” John said to Trece and White Boy. “There’s nothing you can...”

  At that moment, John saw James. John’s mouth dropped open and his eyes filled with tears. As if to protect her, he shifted Alex closer to him.

  “Johnny!” James said.

  “Jimmy? How…?”

  “He’s James Bond,” Trece said. “Can you believe it? You remember James Bond from Prague?”

  John looked down at Alex. She nodded her head.

  “You’ve met the wife,” John said. “Listen can we catch up...”

  “Go ahead,” James said. “She’s exhausted. We can catch up later.”

  John nodded.

  “Cian and Eoin are in the kitchen. Why don’t you go in and say hello?” John asked before he entered the house.

  “Cian and Eoin?” John heard James yelped with surprise.

  John carried Alex through their private sitting room then up the stairwell to their room. When he set her on the bed, she was asleep. She woke up when he began taking her clothing off.

  “I need a bath,” she said.

  “No baths for a month, love,” he said.

  “Shower with me.” Alex caught his hand. “Please.”

  “You don’t have to ask me twice,” he said.

  “What about your brother?”

  “My brother...” He pulled her long sleeved T-shirt and tank top off over her head. “No bra?”

  “Colin made a sling for my arm with it,” Alex said. “What about James?”

  “We had this very conversation last year,” John said. “This brother, like the other one, will understand my priorities. Did he ask you to marry him?”

  “Yes, in Prague.”

  Alex stood to slip off her filthy pants. He helped her out of her body armor then slipped a plastic bag over her ace bandage cast.

  “He always said he’d marry my wife some day,” John said. “Did you say yes?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “God, you’re so bruised. You’ve been beaten, blown up TWICE, two surgeries and in jail this week. Alex, you need to be in hospital.”

  “I can’t shower with you in the hospital.” Alex smiled the crooked smile she knew ignited him.

  “Brutal use of the smile.”

  John stripped off his clothing then led her to their shower. She was adjusting the water when she noticed his clear interest. She raised an interested eyebrow and he laughed.

  “Without his trousers, a gentleman struggles for polite,” John said.

  Alex laughed.

  “I was thinking.” John pulled her toward him then kissed her lips.

  “Yes?”

  “There’s still a lot of fun stuff we could do without having intercourse,” he said.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “A little Catholic school ‘touch mine; I’ll touch yours’ game. Surely you and Zack were quite adept at the sport.”

  Alex stiffened. She shifted away from him to get a wash cloth and some Samantha purchased special bath wash. Humming to herself, she began to scrub the dirt, stress and trauma from her.

  “Hey!” John almost yelled to get her attention. “What happened?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “We were right here.” He moved close to her. “Kissing, skin to skin, close. Then wham, you’re inside yourself.”

  “I was… washing up,” she said.

  “Uh huh,” John said. “What did I say?”

  “It’s ...” Unable to finish the statement, Alex continued scrubbing.

  “Catholic school games?”

  Alex shook her head.

  “I already know about you and Zack,” John said. “So what’s the problem?”

  “What do you know about me and Zack?” she snarled at him.

  “Well… I mean he and you...”

  Alex scowled at him. Turning away, she began washing her hair with one hand.

  “This is not going like I planned,” John said. Grabbing her shoulders, he turned her around to him. “Stop. Please stop. I haven’t seen you in days. We’ve had such an awful week. Please. I love you. I thought we’d share a laugh and you could get some rest.”

  Alex sighed. She closed her eyes then nodded. When she opened them, John was kneeling holding her right hand. She watched him kiss her hand.

  “I’ve missed you so much this week. I simply cannot bear it if you shut me out.”

  She nodded.

  “You’re still wearing your ring.” He touched the sparkling diamond band. “Did you miss me at all?”

  “Only every moment,” she said. “I haven’t signed my reup papers. Sitting on my lovely cot in the palatial Air Force jail, I decided I’d rather be a rich surgeon’s wife.”

  “That’s very nice.” Standing, John hugged her. “You say the most wonderful lies.”

  “I’m dead serious.”

  “You’d go barking mad in about three days,” he said. “Nail appointments, shopping for the perfect thing to wear, managing the help, and...”

  She kissed him quiet.

  “I love you as you are,” he said. “Crazy life and all.”

  “You say the nicest things,” she said. “You were going to show me Catholic games?”

  “Yes. At my Catholic school, we didn’t want the sin of fornication on our record. But we were frisky little buggers.”

  “We know you were.”

  “That’s definitely true. We played these games. Show me yours, I’ll show you mine.”

  “We’re a tiny bit past show and tell. Plus, we...” Alex pointed to John then herself. “We are married. No sin here.”

  “Thank God.” He kissed her.

  “What happens next?”

  “I’ll show you,” he said. He put her hand on him.

  “You know, I’ve done this before,” she said.

  “I would think so.”

  “With you.”

  “Ah yes, that’s true as well.”

  “What about your part?”

  “I’m so glad you asked,” he said.

  His surgeon trained hands began to work on her soft sensitive areas. With her nipple in his mouth, her heat and passion began to rise. She was very close when, pressed against the shower wall, he caught her mouth with his. Together, they reached explosive release. They had to hold each other up against the tile.

  “Wow,” Alex said. “Is it always this… powerful?”

  “No love, that was quite special.” He kissed her nose. “I see stars.”

  “I wonder why.”

  “It’s been a few days. You’ve been under an enormous strain. I almost died of boredom in my class. You’ve been ill. I’ve been worried.” John kissed her lips. “Complaining?”

  “I think we should try again,” she said.

  “Oh love, you have to rest,” he said. “You’ve people to interview, work to be done and...”

  He grabbed a bar of soap
to begin cleaning up. Within moments, they were kissing.

  “Alexandra, my love, we can’t. We...”

  They were off again.

  FFFFFF

  One hour later

  Sunday night

  March 30 – 9:00 P.M.MDT

  Denver, CO

  After making certain Alex was sound asleep, John wandered downstairs to the kitchen. He found Cian, Eoin and James baking cookies, drinking Guinness, and laughing.

  “Is she asleep?” Cian asked in Ulster Gaelic.

  John nodded his thanks to Eoin when he gave him a Guinness.

  “We made the yanks leave,” Cian said. “They went... Where did they go?”

  “Shooting range,” James continued in Ulster Gaelic. “They think they will win a special prize or something while Alex is asleep.”

  “Max went?” John asked in Ulster Gaelic.

  “They don’t think much of the Maxwell,” Eoin said.

  Cian, Eoin and John laughed.

  “Why is that funny?” James asked.

  “Max is every bit as good as Alex. It’s a joke between them. There’s no file on Max Hargreaves. He’s underestimated.”

  “He likes that,” Cian said.

  “What?” James asked.

  “Being underestimated,” John replied.

  “Here’s an interesting fact,” Eoin said. “Johnny, did you know that your brother, James here, sells magazine adverts like our Alex? My guess is he works for the British branch of the same company.”

  Cian and John laughed.

  “I never said Alex and I worked for the same company,” James said.

  Cian, Eoin and John laughed.

  “Our Alex tells the civilians that she sells magazine adverts. You sell magazine adverts that means...” Eoin said.

  “You’re in Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service,” Cian said.

  “Holy crap, Jimmy, you work for SIS!” John clapped his older brother on the back.

  “Thank you for not saying MI-6,” James said. “And... I sell magazine adverts… like Alex.”

  The men laughed at him.

  “At least, I’m not some IRA hoodlum.” James taunted Cian and Eoin.

  Like alter boys, Eoin and Cian opened their mouths as if they were shocked. Their blue eyes sparkled with innocent indignation.

  “We’re washed clean in the Belfast agreement, brother,” Cian said.

  “We told you we’re bakers,” Eoin said.

  James looked at John. John nodded his head.

  “You’re CLEAN?!? Cian Kelly and his best mate, Eoin Mac Kinney, are clean?” James exclaimed. “You know clean means: no bombs, no extortion, no under the table operations, no cigarette sales over the borders, no...”

  “We are self respecting business owners,” Cian said. “We paid US taxes last year. All nice and legal. Eoin even has a soon-to-be wife.”

  “Eoin? A wife?” James fell on the floor in exaggerated shock.

  “That boy always had a flair for the dramatic,” Cian said.

  “Where’s Maggie?” John asked.

  “She’s asleep in her crate, Johnny,” Cian said. “She’s worn out from all the romping around.”

  “Did she get dinner?”

  “Who’s Maggie?” James asked.

  “She likes you to feed her,” Cian said.

  “She won’t eat from us,” Eoin said. “We tried.”

  John nodded and began getting Maggie’s food together.

  “Who is Maggie!?” James asked again.

  John went into the shared living room and opened Maggie’s crate. Maggie came bounding out of her crate to say hello to everyone.

  “Wait, that’s an English Springer,” James said.

  “Johnny named her Maggie,” Eoin said.

  “After PM Thatcher?”

  “You catch on fast,” Cian said.

  James began laughing. Eoin joined in and Cian couldn’t hold out.

  “It’s a good name,” John defended his choice.

  “Do you boss her around?” James asked between chortles.

  “Nah,” John set Maggie’s food down. “She’s only a puppy. She’ll have to be trained up a bit.”

  “Let me guess the attack word is...”

  “Get those damned Kellys!” Cian and John said in unison.

  James spit his beer over the kitchen floor. Eoin clapped James’s back as he coughed up the rest of the beer. Cian threw James a towel to clean up the mess.

  Eoin retrieved the last tray of lemon drop cookies from the oven. The brothers and their friend laughed, ate cookies, drank beer, and played with Maggie the rest of the night.

  As if by design, the men returned from the shooting range at the same time Raz’s ambulance pulled up to the house. While John signed the necessary papers, the men helped carry Raz down to his basement room. A flustered Samantha showed up about a half hour later, and everyone settled in for the night.

  F

  CHAPTER THIRTY-One

  Twelve hours later

  Monday mid-morning

  March 31 – 10:05 P.M. MDT

  Denver, CO

  Alex sighed.

  Back to Joiner.

  Back to work. Secure in her basement office, Alex spent the morning with the quiet solace brought by a map of a section of North Korea. Joseph had decided they needed a better work environment. The men spent the morning setting up the carriage house. Alex had to smile at their work. The carriage house was clean, furnished, and ready for action.

  Her desk was located on the second floor between Matthew and Joseph’s desks. Raz’s desk sat collecting dust in front of her. She heard the laughter and conversation of the men hard at work around the carriage house.

  Right now, she was waiting for the arrival of her key witnesses. Bobby Lopez and his daughter, Beth Ann, had been interviewed by the Texas Rangers. Their report told her everything she already knew. Tristan Joiner had come to live with them last fall. He was a good kid, blah, blah, blah.

  She’d checked on Tristan this morning. He and the other children were malnourished, beaten and more puzzling, suffering from Mercury poisoning. They were alive, if only barely, in a secure hospital in Texas.

  Alex blocked the mothers from seeing their children. Until she had satisfactory answers, the children would remain safe and secure. The last thing she wanted was to release the surviving boys only to have them held hostage again.

  “Krystal Jo Joiner is here, sir.” Larry stuck his head in the door. “She’s been escorted to the bedroom with the table in it. Downstairs.”

  “Thank you, Sergeant,” Alex said.

  “Oh and sir?” Larry asked. “She’s pissed off.”

  “So noted, Sergeant,” Matthew said.

  Krystal Jo Joiner was her other key witness. Why weren’t her male Joiner children held hostage? She was so indignant during her interview with the Texas Rangers that they didn’t get much out of her.

  “You coming Joseph?” Alex asked.

  “No, I need to work on the Weasel’s file,” Joseph said. “I’m compiling the information you received from the Weasel with the Joiner information. I meeting with James in about an hour to go over the information SIS has on the Boy Scout.”

  “Troy?”

  “He’s made headway on the Fey bank account. He said it should be ready by this afternoon.”

  “Good,” Alex nodded. “Vince?”

  “He’s working with the Texas Rangers on the bombs in the Mariscal Mine. They aren’t sure how the bombs were ignited.”

  “Larry seems quite chipper.”

  “He’s researching Joiner’s holdings while his honey studies for her exams.” Joseph smirked.

  “His honey?” Alex raised her eyebrows.

  “Don’t worry fairy godmother. He has a crush on your Helene.”

  “A crush?” Matthew laughed. “He worships the very ground she walks on.”

  “Anyway, nothing happened last night. Or so her father said. By the way, Ben said he was returning t
o Paris. You know how to get a hold of him?”

  Alex nodded.

  “Weasel then?”

  “Weasel it is,” Joseph said.

  She looked at her watch.

  “When Robert Lopez and his daughter get here...”

  “White Boy and Trece are on their way with them,” Joseph said. “Trece says Bobby’s a great guy. They want to play cards. So don’t worry. We’ll let Trece and White Boy entertain them for a while.”

  “Those boys come in handy,” Matthew said.

  “We need to talk about the men.” Noting Alex’s dark look, Joseph said, “Later.”

  “Later,” Alex said. “Krystal Jo then Bobby and Beth Ann.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Joseph said.

  “Thanks.”

  Alex touched his sleeve. He looked up and smiled at her. She nodded. He put his hand over hers in a gesture of support.

  “I always hated Joiner.”

  “I know,” he said. “See you in a bit.”

  Alex and Matthew walked down a short hallway to a straight flight of stairs.

  “How are you feeling?” Matthew asked.

  “Yes,” Alex said.

  She turned down the hallway to the small bedroom on the first floor. Matthew laughed.

  “Good answer.”

  “And you?” Alex asked. She nodded to the Texas Rangers standing next to the door.

  “Yep,” he said.

  She smiled.

  “At least you don’t smell anymore,” he said under his breath as they walked into the room.

  A medium sized blond woman stood with her back to the door. She was staring out the window at the melting snow in their backyard. Wiping her eyes, she turned to watch them enter the room.

  “Hello. I’m Lieutenant Colonel Alexandra Hargreaves and this is Captain Matthew Mac Clenaghan, US Army. You may call us Alex and Matt.”

  “Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?” Krystal Jo Joiner asked. “The police came… and I don’t know where my boys are… and...”

  She sniffed at a tear then squared her shoulders. Her eyes sparked with strength.

  “What has Cee Cee Joiner gotten us into this time?” she asked. Her voice was as fierce as her Texas accent deep.

  “May I get you some water or iced tea?” Alex asked.