“S.E.R.E.” The word came out of Alex’s mouth in a grunt. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
“You remember this room?” Jesse asked in Spanish.
“I should,” Alex said in Spanish. “I spent the better part of three days hanging right over there.”
She rubbed the scars on her wrists.
“Why are we here?” Alex asked.
“No idea,” Jesse said. “What else do you remember about this room?”
“I remember Mattie falling out of the chair right there,” Alex said. “He fell over and lay by the drain for . . . hours, I think.”
“They just left him there?”
“Yep,” Alex said. “We sang children’s songs. He told me that a couple weeks ago, Erin was singing ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’ while she gave Grace a bath. He had to leave the house.”
Jesse nodded.
“I remember you right here,” Alex said. “In this chair. What do you remember?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that,” Jesse turned in place in the room. “I remember a man.”
“All the fake torturers were men,” Alex said.
“Sure,” Jesse said. “This was a man’s voice.”
Jesse pointed to the speakers. Alex looked up.
“Do you remember the man’s voice?” Jesse gave her a hard look.
“Hargreaves! Where is it? Don’t lie to me! Where is it?” Alex repeated what she’d heard in English. “I know you have it. I know you do. Stop lying to me!”
“Right!” Jesse’s eyebrows went up in surprise. He added in Spanish, “I hadn’t remembered, but that’s exactly it.”
Alex looked up at the speakers.
“‘Where is it?’ is not so different from ‘Where is the security token?’” Jesse said.
Alex turned in place to see if there was anything else this room could tell her.
“Did something happen in this room that . . . caused all of this?” Jesse asked.
“That’s the billion-dollar question,” Alex said. “Or . . .”
“What?”
“What do the mind control subjects and this room have in common?” Alex said.
“Every protocol they use here was developed through experiments on them,” Jesse said.
“‘Advanced Interrogation Techniques’ as well,” Alex nodded. “They developed that protocol from mind control tests.”
“What does that mean to us?”
“No idea,” Alex said.
“What if the key is within the program itself?” Jesse asked.
“It’s not mind control subjects, but me?”
“Or what you have in common with them,” Jesse said.
“Exactly,” Alex said. “The link is S.E.R.E.”
The room began to fade.
“Jesse?” Alex asked.
He appeared by her side in the fog.
“I’m so glad you’re my friend,” she said. “Thank you.”
He opened his mouth to say something. Before the words came out, he disappeared.
FF
“Jesse?”
Alex opened her eyes and she was lying on the floor of the Super Hercules. She had an IV in her arm. Raz was sitting with her head in his lap.
“She’s conscious, sir,” a young man’s voice said.
Alex’s eyes flicked in the direction of the voice. A young medic, probably a Marine, was working on her. Raz leaned over to look in her face.
“Lost you for a while,” Raz said. “What happened?”
“Hallucination,” Alex said. “Dream. PTSD trance. Memory.”
She nodded in the direction of the medic taking her vitals. He took her through the usual questions – who she was, who was President, and what date it was. When she answered adequately, he told Raz to encourage her to rest and to call for him if she needed help. With a salute, the young man was gone.
“Aw, and he was so cute,” Alex said.
Raz smiled.
“I’m really all right,” Alex moved to get up. Her head felt like it was going to break open. She lay back.
“Head hurts?” Raz asked.
Alex nodded.
“Where did you go?” Raz asked.
“S.E.R.E.,” Alex said.
“S.E.R.E.?” Raz squinted with worry.
“What do the mind control subjects and I have in common?” Alex asked.
“S.E.R.E.,” Raz said. “I never thought of it.”
“That would be me, Mattie, Troy . . .”
“I bet Trece was experimented on when he was in prison,” Raz said.
“The first time?” Alex nodded.
“They were doing mind control tests on prisoners then,” Raz nodded. “Vince?”
“Everyone, probably,” Alex said. “We’d have to ask Leena. I don’t know what Mineman training includes.”
“White Boy,” Raz said.
“I have no idea what training they’ve had,” Alex said. “All Air Force pilots have to go through. So, everyone’s been through, except you.”
Raz blinked. She waited for him to respond. He shook his head.
“That would be true for every elite team, though,” Alex said.
“Maybe there’s something special about when you went through,” Raz said.
“Like what?” Alex shrugged.
“You were saying this thing, uh, ‘Where is it?’ You used to say that in your sleep. Eleazar said something like that when you first spoke with him. ‘Where is it?’ No, that’s not it.”
“I want my property,” Alex said.
“Right,” Raz nodded. “Almost the same thing.”
Alex nodded.
“I thought you made it through S.E.R.E. unscathed,” Raz said. “Freaked everyone out.”
“I thought so too,” Alex said. “I was there for a few days. They used drugs and shocks and . . . It wasn’t . . . fun.”
“I’ll bet,” Raz said.
“I was in the hospital for a week afterwards,” Alex said. “My dad, Patrick, was in my room when I woke up. I always wondered how he knew when I would wake up.”
“You mean something could have happened at the hospital?”
“Sure,” Alex said. “Or at S.E.R.E.”
“I wish we had your record,” Raz said.
“Record of what?”
“Your S.E.R.E file. It’s missing,” Raz said. “I’ve been looking for it for years.”
“That’s nice of you,” Alex said. “Why?”
“After Paris, I wanted to make sure it didn’t fall into the wrong hands,” Raz said. “I’ve looked everywhere I can think of and . . . Wait a minute, you don’t seem concerned that your file is missing.”
“Know anyone with admin rights to the CIA computer and the Intelligence Center?” Alex asked.
Raz smiled and shook his head. She smiled.
“I should have known,” Raz said. “When did you take it?”
“Maybe ten minutes after it was digitized,” Alex said.
“And the original?” Raz asked.
“Shredded and burned in the fireplace in Santa Monica,” Alex said. “Did you know that videotape lights up in pretty colors when it burns?”
“Why?” Raz asked.
“I don’t know,” Alex said. “That’s a good question. Mostly, I was embarrassed. I had the original because they wanted me to annotate my experience. How did I manage to not flinch here? Why didn’t I break there? Stuff like that. I told them I would do it, but I destroyed the file instead.”
“Do you think there’s a copy?” Raz asked.
“I think if there was a copy, you would have found it,” Alex said. “And . . . my time in the room would have been different.”
“How so?” Raz asked.
“I can tolerate days of silence, but I can’t stand loud sound,” Alex said. “That’s in the file. If they’d read the file, they would have blasted loathsome pop music.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course.”
“I’d like t
o take a look at the file,” Raz said. “Maybe there’s something in the file that connects the dots.”
“I’ll get you a copy,” Alex said. “It’s just . . . embarrassing.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re all – ‘she’s amazing’ – and whatever.”
“I already know you’re amazing and whatever,” Raz smiled. “Would you like to try to get up?”
“I should call Sue Ann,” Alex said.
Raz helped her sit up. She rubbed her head.
“There was a guy,” Alex said.
“A guy?” Raz asked.
“At S.E.R.E. He kept asking me that question, you know, ‘Where is it?’”
“You don’t remember what ‘it’ is?” Raz asked.
“No idea.”
“And the guy?”
“There’s something familiar about him,” Alex said. “Connected to all of this and . . . before, maybe basic training. I don’t know.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“I wonder what ‘it’ is,” Raz said.
“I thought the whole thing was part of the program,” Alex said. “You know they would try to get me to give up information on where ‘it’ is, and I wouldn’t do it. I wonder if everyone is asked the same question.”
“You don’t know?” Raz asked.
“Jesse and Mattie were with me, so their job was to not tell the interrogator where ‘it’ was, either,” Alex said. “I’ve never talked about it to anyone other than Jesse and Mattie, not even Troy. What if the others weren’t asked that question?”
“I’ll follow up.” Raz helped her to her feet. They walked back to their seats.
“How long was I out?” Alex asked.
“Half hour or so. Why?”
“I can’t call Sue Ann,” Alex said.
“Why?”
“It’s the middle of the night there. I might be interrupting something good.”
Raz laughed.
“How are Pete and Bill?” Raz asked. Sergeant Peter Bailey and his Belgium Malinois, Master Sergeant Bill Bailey, had interned with the Fey Team the previous year.
“Good,” Alex said. “They’re training dogs to locate the nanodrones at puppy school on Lackland Air Force Base. So far, two military dogs, both Belgian Malinois like Bill, can identify them.”
“That seems very good,” Raz said.
Alex nodded.
“How are Pete and Sue Ann doing?” Raz asked.
“Good,” Alex smiled. “They seem happy, but who knows? Krystal told me there’s trouble in paradise.”
Raz smiled.
“Should we sleep for a while?” Alex asked.
“Probably,” Raz said.
He put his arm around her, and she leaned against his shoulder. In a few minutes, she was out. He always marveled at how she could make herself sleep. He smiled. She’d taught him to do the same thing. He closed his eyes and joined her.
F
CHAPTER TEN
Saturday night
November 6 – 11:14 p.m. PDT (12:14 a.m. MDT)
Pelican Bay Prison, California
When Emanuel, Trece’s cellmate, groaned and rolled onto his side, Trece hopped to his feet.
“You sign?” Trece used American Sign Language.
Emanuel glowered at him. When Trece sneered, Emanuel reviewed Trece’s face before raising the middle finger of his right hand.
“Nice,” Trece signed.
Emanuel gave him a toothy grin.
“I’ve been thinking,” Trece signed.
“I thought that wasn’t your strong point,” Emanuel signed.
Trece raised both of his middle fingers and Emanuel chuckled.
“I’m on the Fey Team, asshole,” Trece signed.
Emanuel shifted his head back and forth as if he was thinking. He nodded to indicate that he got Trece’s point.
“You’re looking for bioweapons?” Trece signed.
Emanuel nodded.
“Look around you,” Trece said. “Listen.”
Trece pointed to his ears and they listened for a while.
“No one can get away with shit in the general population,” Trece signed.
“How do you know that?” Emanuel asked in sign.
“I spent seven of my formative years in a cell just like this one during a time when no one gave a crap what happened inside the cell,” Trece signed. “With SHU right there, this place is locked down tight. No one’s getting away with anything in here. Just listen. What do you hear?”
“Sleeping,” Emanuel shook his head.
“That’s what I mean,” Trece signed.
“Bioweapons are coming from this facility,” Emanuel signed.
Trece nodded.
“SHU,” Emanuel signed. “They’re making them in solitary.”
“Something to pass the time,” Trece signed.
“They videotape every prisoner,” Emanuel signed.
Trece nodded.
“Pay off someone. With hundreds of prisoners . . .” Emanuel stopped signing and looked away. “It would be easy to miss. I should have thought of it.”
“You don’t have enough experience in hell,” Trece signed.
Emanuel gave Trece a reassessing look.
“You’ll work with me?” Emanuel asked.
Trece nodded.
“Ready?” Emanuel asked.
“No broken bones,” Trece signed. “Infirmary before SHU?”
“They can fake the records in the infirmary,” Emanuel nodded.
“Get the fuck off me,” Trece yelled.
Emanuel attacked him. Trained fighters, they worked to create visible damage. Emanuel broke Trece’s nose with a back-handed punch. Trece returned the favor with a quick palm punch. They battered each other with quick, effective strikes. By the time the guards arrived, they were bruised and bleeding profusely.
Trece allowed himself to fall limp between the guards. They dragged him to the infirmary. He reviewed his body with his mind. His tongue found all of his teeth. He would be sore, swollen, and bruised, but, except for his nose, nothing was broken. When they got near the infirmary, Trece shook off the guards and went after Emanuel. Before he reached the man, he was tasered into submission. A medic ran to him and injected him with something.
“You stupid motherfucker! I own you!”
Trece looked up to see Emanuel coming toward him. He reached out and jammed his thumb into the side of Emanuel’s knee. Emanuel fell on top of him. Trece lost consciousness.
Five hours later, he woke up in a cell in the Secure Housing Unit. He had a cast on his wrist, and his ribs were taped. His nose had been taped. He had an ankle cast and a knee brace. He’d clearly been over patched up and tossed in here. He heard the guards dragging someone into a cell two down from him. Before he could wonder if that was Emanuel, he fell into a sound sleep.
FFFFFF
Sunday, early morning
November 7 – 1:40 a.m. HAST (3:40 a.m. PST)
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Honolulu, Hawaii
“Yes,” a hostile woman with a thick Texas accent answered the phone on speaker.
“Sue Ann?” Alex had to yell over the sound of the jet engine. She and Raz were standing on the tarmac in the Honolulu humidity while they waited to board their flight to Japan. Alex sat down on her rolling suitcase.
“Alex?” Sue Ann’s voice transformed to friendly and happy.
“Is everything all right?” Alex asked. “You sounded a little . . .”
“I am pissed off at my boyfriend,” Sue Ann said. “That boy . . . I swear Alex, he’s going to be the death of me.”
Alex didn’t know what to say. Sue Ann had barely survived the death of her sons, Daniel and David.
“Are you still there?” Sue Ann asked.
“Just not sure how to respond,” Alex said.
“All righty then, Lieutenant Colonel Alex,” Sue Ann said. “I admit it! I was being a little dramatic.”
“Just checking,” Alex said. “
Your last serious relationship didn’t end so well.”
Sue Ann laughed.
“Should I speak with the sergeant?” Alex asked.
“That boy . . . ,” Sue Ann said. “He told me that he wasn’t sure he wanted to share his life with Krystal and her family, my family. Can you believe it?”
“What did you say to that?” Alex asked.
“I said tough luck,” Sue Ann said. “‘Krystal and Alex are the reasons I’m even here on this planet.’ That’s what I told him. Oh, and ‘he needed to get on over it.’”
“You broke up?” Alex asked.
“He’s taking time to think,” Sue Ann laughed.
“What are you doing at five in the morning?” Alex asked. In an exaggerated Texas accent, Alex added, “Shouldn’t y’all be gettin’ your beauty sleep?”
“Very funny. I’m on my way to yoga,” Sue Ann said. “I thought it would clear my head of that dog-handling young man.”
“Good luck with that!” Alex laughed.
“I know,” Sue Ann said. “I’m pathetic. Go ahead. You can say it. I was head over heels the moment I saw that man on your big plane to Mexico.”
“He was too,” Alex said. “But, Sue Ann, you have to admit your situation is unusual.”
“So am I, Alex. So am I.”
Alex heard Sue Ann turn off the car.
“Did you call because he called you to complain?” Sue Ann asked.
“He would never call me to complain about you,” Alex said.
“I guess that’s right,” Sue Ann said. “What’s up?”
“I’m on my way to China, Sue Ann,” Alex said. “They caught Cee Cee.”
“That’s very good news,” Sue Ann said.
Alex grimaced when she heard Sue Ann’s car door slam. Sue Ann’s ever-present high heels clicked across the asphalt.
“Sue Ann, honey, can you get back in the car?” Alex asked.
“Just tell me?” Sue Ann asked. “What did my ex do now?”
“He put a woman in the hospital,” Alex said. “Life support. Her parents haven’t pulled the plug yet, but they probably will.”
“Poor woman,” Sue Ellen said.
In the Grey Page 10