Finding North

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  Alex shrugged.

  “They vanished,” Raz said.

  Alex nodded.

  “How’s your head?” Raz asked.

  “It’s okay,” Alex said. “I took one of those pills.”

  “The knockout ones?”

  “The vertigo ones,” Alex said. “I don’t want to be too out of it. Never know when this place will blow up.”

  “Good thinking,” Raz said.

  He unzipped his black jumpsuit and took it off.

  “Nice bruises,” Raz said about the bruises on her face from being punched.

  “I’ve been icing them,” Alex said.

  She held up the ice packs MJ had made for her. He went to his suitcase and threw a tube of arnica gel at her. She smiled, and he went into their bathroom.

  She closed her eyes and tried to count the hours until John was off work. She started to drift off.

  “Alex!” Raz shook her shoulder. He was naked and wet from the shower.

  “Yes?” Her eyebrows furrowed with concern, and her head pulsed with pain. She grimaced.

  “Go through the names again,” Raz said.

  “What names?”

  “Of the people we thought were behind this,” Raz said.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll tell you where they’re from,” Raz said.

  “Can’t you just tell me?” Alex asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Raz said. “Just say them.”

  “Eniac.”

  “Born in Pennsylvania,” Raz said. “Father worked at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.”

  “Where the first computer, Eniac, was created,” Alex said.

  “Exactly,” Raz said. “His father went to Texas Tech in Lubbock. Kind of a math genius. Recruited by Mauchly. His mother, too. Eniac spent every summer as a kid on his grandparents’ ranch just outside of Lubbock.”

  “What?” Alex sat up.

  “Go through the list,” Raz said.

  “Eleazar,” Alex said.

  “That’s what triggered it,” Raz said. “His specialty was psychological terror, right?”

  “Sure,” Alex said.

  “He grew up in Jerusalem, right?” Raz asked.

  “Sure,” Alex said. “Neighbor to Sumit Roy.”

  “Exactly,” Raz said. “Sumit told me that, for a time, their neighborhood was popular with Americans, especially from Texas.”

  “Why?”

  “Oil,” Raz said. “They were researching Israel’s oil fields.”

  “Israel has always wanted to be energy independent,” Alex said. “They have a natural gas field that would make the Utes jealous.”

  “Exactly,” he said. “We know Joiner paid him.”

  “You think Cecil Joiner or someone from Pecos Oil spent time in Jerusalem when Eniac was growing up?” Alex asked.

  “Exactly,” he said. “Who else?”

  “Boy Scout?”

  “We know he’s Buffy Joiner’s brother,” Raz said. “You checked his DNA against Tristan and that coffee mug Tristan stole from Buffy’s house.”

  “Joiner is obvious,” Alex said.

  “Texas born and bred,” Raz said.

  “Ruiz,” Alex said.

  “Haemon Jasper,” Raz said.

  “We need to get Mattie and Troy in here,” Alex said.

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  He nodded. Alex grabbed her phone.

  “You should get something on,” Alex said.

  Startled, he looked down. His own nakedness surprised him. Embarrassed, he grabbed clothing from his suitcase and went into the bathroom. Alex called Matthew and asked him to bring Troy. There was a knock at the door. Thinking it was Matthew, she yelled, “Come in.”

  Colin stuck his head in the room.

  “Hey, Col,” Alex said.

  “I came to check up on you,” Colin said. “MJ said you had vertigo after the explosion, and I . . .”

  Matthew and Troy came in the door behind him.

  “Are we having a meeting?” Colin came into the room.

  “No, I wanted to ask them something,” Alex said.

  Colin went to where Alex had set out her medications.

  “What?” Troy asked.

  Colin counted her medications to make sure she’d taken them. Seeing she’d missed a few, he grabbed the pills and brought them to Alex. She scowled at him.

  Raz came out of the bathroom.

  “Oh, good,” Raz said. “You’re here. Do you have any idea where Marcos Ruiz is from?”

  “It was in the file,” Troy said. “West Virginia.”

  “I was asking Matthew,” Raz said.

  “Yeah, like I could tell,” Troy said. “Hey, Alex, I’ll take your pills.”

  “Very funny,” Alex said.

  “The file does say ‘West Virginia,’” Matthew said. “But . . . you’re right. There’s something about that, isn’t there? Do you mind if I call Erin?”

  “Go ahead,” Alex said.

  Matthew took out his cell phone and walked out of the room. Colin nudged her to take the pills. She took the pills from him.

  “Was I just his bodyguard?” Troy asked.

  “What’s gotten into you?” Raz asked.

  “Mechanics from Kandahar,” Troy said. “They corner me every time I’m in Afghanistan — Can you fix this? Can you make that? What about this?”

  “Fix what?” Colin asked.

  “Drones,” Alex said at the same time Raz said, “UAVs.”

  “Any little thing can make them suck in the field,” Raz said.

  “The technology is fantastic, and works wonderfully in air conditioned labs in the US,” Troy nodded. “But stick ’em out here in the billion degree heat and sand and sweat and intermittent electricity and . . . I mean, the electronics melt and . . .”

  “Tell them you’re busy,” Alex said.

  Troy sighed and gave her a hard look.

  “You want me to tell them you’re busy?” Alex asked.

  “No.” Troy shook his head. “They need help, my help. Ever since everybody found out about the nanodrones, they email me with questions all the time. I help when I can — I mean I redesigned the electronics on the . . . Never mind.”

  Troy cleared his throat and looked at the wall.

  “You mean, we’re the interruption,” Raz said.

  Troy blushed and Alex laughed.

  “I’ll get to it then,” Alex said. “I wondered if you know if your father ever worked in Texas.”

  “He worked on White Sands for a while,” Troy said. “Does that count?”

  Alex looked at Raz.

  “New Mexico?” Raz asked.

  “It’s just north of El Paso,” Alex said.

  “White Sands Missile Range? Where the Trinity site is located?” Troy said. They gave him a confused look. “Where the A-bomb was tested?”

  Troy shook his head.

  “You know nothing!” Troy said in his best imitation of his father.

  Alex laughed.

  “What about Zutterberg?” Raz asked.

  “He grew up in Texas,” Troy said. “Uh . . . Bovina, that’s right.”

  “Bovina?” Alex asked.

  “It’s just across the border from Clovis, New Mexico,” Troy said. “They had a cattle ranch. His mother worked on base, so they could make ends meet.”

  “And you know this because . . .?” Alex asked.

  “I slept next to him in SF training,” Troy said.

  Alex frowned.

  “In the asshole section,” Troy said. “Far, far away from the pristine . . .”

  Jesse appeared out of nowhere to throw a ball of energy at Troy.

  “Ow! Shit!” Troy hopped around as if he’d been injured.

  Alex laughed. Matthew came back into the room. He looked at Troy’s wincing face and shook his head.

  “What did I miss?” Matthew asked.

  “We were talking about Zutterberg,” Alex said.

&n
bsp; “He’s from Bovina, Texas,” Matthew said.

  “Yes, Troy told us,” Alex said. “And Ruiz?”

  “He’s an illegal,” Matthew said. “He was born in Juarez. Family crossed the border when he was five or six.”

  “Where did they settle?” Raz asked.

  “Out in the west Texas town of El Paso,” Matthew sang the opening line to Marty Robbins’ song “El Paso.”

  “What are you talking about?” Colin asked.

  “We’re finding a link between all the people we thought were behind all of this and are now dead,” Alex said.

  “Oh,” Colin said. “I thought you were trying to figure out who’d been in Texas. I’ve been in Texas.”

  “You have?” Alex asked.

  “I was there with you for that rally,” Colin said. “Remember?”

  “That doesn’t really count,” Alex said. “We were there for . . .”

  Colin’s grin indicated that he’d little brother-ed her.

  “I did six weeks at the NSA’s cryptology school,” Colin said. “It’s on a satellite campus at Lackland.”

  “I took that course,” Matthew said. “When were you there?”

  “I didn’t know that,” Alex said. “Mattie, do you know if Vince went?”

  “He was in my class,” Matthew said. “Remember, I told you we’d taken a class together — that’s how I knew him.”

  “Heath?” Alex asked.

  “He took it,” Colin said.

  “With you?” Alex asked.

  “No,” Colin said. “He told me he took the class.”

  “Why would he tell you that?” Alex asked.

  “He wanted to know about the Kryptos statue. You know, the one outside the CIA building?” Colin asked.

  “I do know the Kryptos statue,” Alex smiled.

  “He wanted to know if you’d really deciphered it,” Colin said.

  “Me and Max,” Alex said.

  “That’s what I told him,” Colin said.

  “Huh,” Alex said. She looked up at Jesse. “You wouldn’t happen to know if Jerome Brown or Jesus Lee went to that school, would you?”

  Colin and Matthew were so surprised by the question that they gawked at Alex.

  “What’s happening?” Troy asked. “What just happened?”

  “Six men were picked up and held hostage,” Alex said.

  “Tortured,” Matthew nodded.

  “They were Matthew Mac Clenaghan, Colin Hargreaves, Heath Wheeler, Vince Hutchins, Jesus Lee, and Jerome Brown,” Raz said.

  “Holy shit,” Troy said. “And you think they all went to that class?”

  “It sounds like they did,” Raz said. “You’re all about the same age and military track. I wonder if you went around the same time.”

  “Who was your teacher?” Alex asked.

  “Some Russian guy,” Colin said. “I don’t know — I was drinking a lot then, and . . .”

  “Oh, my God,” Matthew put his hand on his heart and weaved. Troy grabbed his arm to keep him from falling. Colin ran to Matthew. Troy and Colin helped Matthew into a chair. Raz went to Matthew’s side to support him, and Alex scooted to the edge of the bed. Colin grabbed Matthew’s arm to check his pulse.

  “Oh, my God,” Matthew repeated the phrase over and over again.

  “Racing,” Colin dropped down in front of Matthew. “Matt. Hey!”

  Matthew fell silent. His eyes looked at Colin.

  “Big guy,” Matthew said. Alex leaned forward to hear Matthew. “Blue eyes.”

  “I don’t know,” Colin said. “I guess so. He spoke with a Russian accent. I mean, he was good and all, but . . .”

  “You think it was the Boy Scout,” Troy said.

  “It was the Boy Scout.” Matthew looked at Colin and then looked for Alex. Their eyes locked. “It was the Boy Scout. He was at . . . and . . .”

  Matthew’s hand instinctively touched his chest and the scars he’d received from being tortured with electricity. Colin’s face blanched.

  “And . . .” Matthew said. “Face redone. Before . . . Before he got us . . . New face . . . worked out . . . but I saw his eyes, and . . .”

  Matthew began to visibly shake. Alex jumped across the room to him. She knelt down and held him while he shook.

  “It’s okay,” Alex said in a low voice. “It’s okay. You’re okay. It’s okay. Come on, Mattie.”

  Raz got out his cell phone and called MJ. Troy put his hand on Matthew’s shoulder.

  “You’re in officers’ quarters. Bagram AB.” Troy started repeating facts to try to help ground Matthew. “Afghanistan. You’re my best friend. You’re Alex’s second. You married Erin. You have a baby . . .”

  “You’re okay,” Alex said over and over again.

  “I told you . . . I told you . . .” Matthew whispered. His mind was still locked in the memory. “Moment I saw him . . . I told you . . .”

  “You told me,” Alex said.

  “But I didn’t . . .” Matthew shook his head. “Not until . . . until . . .”

  MJ ran into the room with his medical bag. Margaret was right behind him.

  “How long has he been like this?” Margaret asked.

  “Just happened,” Alex said.

  “Shock,” Colin said. “He’s in shock.”

  “PT . . . T . . . T . . . Ssss,” MJ said.

  “Post-traumatic shock,” Margaret said. “Move back. We’ve got this.”

  Troy, Raz, and Colin stepped back from Matthew.

  “Sir?” Margaret asked.

  Alex let go of Matthew and moved back. They watched while MJ talked with Matthew. He started with an injection of a vitamin cocktail. Margaret worked to try to calm Matthew with a deep-breathing technique Alex had taught them. When that didn’t help, MJ injected Matthew with barbiturates. They waited until Matthew was breathing deeply before MJ helped Matthew out of the chair.

  “We’re going to take him back to his room,” Margaret said.

  Margaret took Matthew’s other side, and they guided him out of the room. Alex, Raz, Colin, and Troy stood in stunned silence.

  “What was that?” Troy asked.

  “It took me a while to find them,” Alex said. She turned to Colin and said, “You. I’m not sure why. When we got there, I found Matthew. Jesse was with me. The guys went to see who else was there, because we didn’t know who — we only knew it was six US servicemen.”

  Alex nodded.

  “The Boy Scout, Robert Powell — or that’s what I thought his name was . . . He came in to tell me that they’d found Colin,” Alex said. “Matthew said, ‘Ambush.’ I don’t know how he could speak. His jaw was broken and teeth were gone . . . Tongue . . . This guy was coming around the corner, behind the Boy Scout, and I . . .”

  Alex shrugged.

  “You what?” Troy asked.

  “The Fey killed everyone,” Raz said. “They found the other four hostages after every single captor was dead.”

  “I didn’t kill everyone,” Alex looked at him.

  “Jesse killed three individuals,” Raz said. “The man the Fey is referencing came around the corner shooting. If she hadn’t shot him, she and Matthew would be dead.”

  Caught in the memory, Alex stared straight ahead. Troy touched her arm, and she looked at him.

  “At the time, we thought we’d just surprised them,” Alex said. “Hostage retrieval is tricky business. You never know what you’re going to get. It was just some weird thing, an aberration. But we know now . . .”

  Alex nodded.

  “It was an ambush designed to kill the Fey Special Forces Team,” Raz said. “Zutterberg’s intel confirmed it as fact.”

  “You don’t remember any of this?” Alex asked Colin.

  “Bits and pieces,” Colin said. “I guess what was happening to me was so huge, so . . . awful . . . that I . . . uh . . . I wasn’t tracking what happened around me.”

  Alex nodded.

  “Most of the shooting happened around Matthew,” Raz said.
“That’s some of the reason he was so disturbed afterwards.”

  “Buffy Joiner,” Jesse said.

  “Buffy Joiner,” Alex repeated. “She has to be . . .”

  “Buffy Joiner,” Raz said. “That’s what I realized in the shower.”

  “What?” Colin asked.

  Alex looked at him for a long moment before nodding.

  “Buffy Joiner is near or at center of this wheel,” Alex said. “I’ll bet Zutterberg knew Buffy.”

  “And Ruiz,” Raz said.

  “She probably paid Eleazar with Cee Cee’s money,” Alex said.

  “The only exception is . . .” Raz looked at Troy.

  “My father?” Troy asked.

  Alex and Raz nodded.

  “I’d bet Helen knows,” Troy said.

  “I bet she does,” Alex smiled. “Go. Ask her.”

  Troy ran out of the room. Alex hopped up and went the door.

  “Before you go back to work on drones!” Alex yelled down the hallway. “That’s an order!”

  “Duh.” Troy’s voice came from somewhere down the hall.

  She shook her head at Troy and looked at Colin.

  “I’m sorry about all of this,” Alex said.

  “Don’t be,” Colin said. “It’s not your fault.”

  Alex nodded.

  “Are you going to be all right?” Colin asked.

  “I just need to rest,” Alex said. “You?”

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine until I get triggered like Matt did,” Colin said. “For now, I’m fine. Take your pills.”

  Alex smiled at him. Her little brother hugged her and left the room.

  “What is it?” Raz asked.

  He put his hand on her shoulder, and she hugged him. For a moment, she closed her eyes and leaned into him.

  “What is it?” he asked in a low, intimate tone.

  “Just a feeling,” Alex said.

  “Of?”

  “We’ve just hit the very tip of a very large iceberg,” Alex said.

  F

  Chapter Forty

  Saturday morning

  June 18 — 10:40 a.m. AFT

  (June 17 — 11:10 p.m. MDT)

  Between Kabul, Afghanistan and Denver, Colorado

  Alex woke up with one thought on her mind.