CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
October 14—9 A.M.
Olde Town Arvada, Colorado
Alex opened her eyes in the dark room and wondered where she was. Remembering the hotel room, she looked for the light under the door. Seeing nothing, she was puzzled. She patted the space next to her to see if John was there.
Nope.
Her face pinched instinctively against the odor of urine, vomit, sweat, stale cigarettes, and garlic. Pushing her greasy hair out of her face, she realized that she was the smell.
“Heya, Jesse.” Alex smiled at the apparition of her best friend.
“Shh, Alexandra. They are monitoring you,” Jesse said. His apparition moved to sit down next to her. “Use sign language.”
“Lucky you’re a ghost, because I smell pretty bad,” she signed. “Where am I?”
“You were taken hostage, beaten up, and stuck in this room,” Jesse said.
“Ah shit. That sucks. I thought the whole ‘beat up Alex and stick her in a dark room’ thing was a dream. Did you use the Captain’s voice last night?”
“I did,” Jesse said. “I’m sorry.”
“It worked.” Alex shrugged.
“Did he really get a court martial?”
“Yep,” Alex signed. “He’s been working Basic. After humiliating this poor girl in front of her team, he assaulted her . . . pressed himself against her, jumped on her . . . that stuff he used to do. Remember Jason Smith?”
“JS? He was in training with us. Why?”
“He’s a big deal now. Caught the Captain in the act. Court martial city! He asked me to testify, but I . . . I didn’t want to leave the house,” Alex said. “I always tell you, Jesse. Bad guys lose. It’s inevitable. Hey, why can I see you?”
“Light reflected off the snow.”
“Oh look! It snowed.” Alex pointed to the snow on the street above. “At least the snow will block some of the wind.”
“I guess your fever broke,” Jesse said.
“I had the most amazing dreams,” Alex signed. “I don’t know, Jesse. It’s like everything fell apart, then cell by cell, I came back together again. What’s next?”
“Today is rape and torture day.”
“Well we can’t have that,” Alex signed. She pushed herself to her feet and slipped back to sitting. “God damn. I hurt. If I ever see that fucker and his rubber hose again . . .”
“You can’t be too angry. He’s kept British Intelligence informed about what’s going on here. His handler is working with your father.”
“Which father?”
“Both,” Jesse said. “Remember, Eleazar doesn’t know that you know.”
“There are a lot of things Eleazar doesn’t know,” Alex signed.
“Your father asked Matthew, who asked Max, to tell me to remind you that they will try to blind you with the light. Max said to remember the slit glasses.”
“That’s a lot of asking,” she signed. “I can make them while I wait. When do you think they’ll get here?”
“Three, maybe four, hours,” Jesse said. “Eleazar isn’t here yet. I heard Ben say that he’s due here this evening.”
Smiling, Alex nodded.
“I’m so glad you’re my friend,” Alex signed.
Jesse wasn’t sure what to say. She used to say that. She’d smile her bright smile and thank him for being her friend. She hadn’t said anything like that since the team died.
“You’ll let me know when they get here?” Alex signed.
Jesse laughed. Looking at her smiling face, he felt like his best friend had returned from a long journey. And he was the one who was dead!
“Of course.”
FFFFFF
October 14—5 P.M.
Northern Scotland
(9 A.M. in Colorado)
John Drayson was standing at the top of a small hill, working on a broken fence. Pulling the broken barbed wire from the wood post, he had the sense that Alex was near. He hoped that meant she was thinking of him.
He hadn’t heard a word from her or her family since he had left Denver. Leaning against the post, his hand instinctively wrapped around her dog tag. He wondered if he would ever see her again.
Moving to the back of the truck, he unwound a length of barbed wire from the spool and smiled.
He wouldn’t even kiss her until Father Seamus said they were husband and wife. Standing at the beach party, she suggested they “test out the works.” Then she smiled that crooked smile. Oh, God. Sand, crowd, party be damned, he’d almost jumped her right there. Everything in him longed to connect with her, but he . . . somehow he managed to step away. John shook his head. To this day, he had no idea how he had resisted her invitation.
Clipping a length of barbed wire, he remembered the electric charge that ran through him when he finally kissed her. He still felt that spark sometimes. She ignited the very core of him.
Overcome by the idea of being married, he took his bride-of-ten-minutes’ hand. He gained control with each step toward the street. When he raised his hand for a cab, he already had a plan in place—bed her, quick annulment, no feelings hurt, back on track. He’d even smiled at his brilliance. Of course, he had to marry her. How else could he bed his best friend’s sister?
Sitting in the back of the cab, he brushed her lips in a kind of “kiss the wife” way, and then could not stop kissing her. Every thought of retreat vaporized in that cab ride. He would have had her right there in the back of the cab, if . . . If what? If she wasn’t his wife. She became his wife on that cab ride.
John’s laughter echoed off the Scottish hills.
He was so drawn by her lips, tongue, and teeth that he didn’t notice the cab slowing at the apartment until the cab driver hit him on the back of the head.
“Pay up. Jeez, get a room,” the cabbie said.
Certain that Alex would be offended, he started to move toward the cab driver when his eyes caught Alex. She was beaming. Seeing the look on his face, she began laughing.
“Yeah, very funny, lady. Get out of my cab.”
She scooted out and waited for John. He had never carried a person before and had certainly never carried a woman. Everything is a first with Alex. He scooped her up simply to give himself better access to that supple mouth. He carried her up the stairs to the apartment. He found himself in front of the locked door, keys at the bottom of his tight pocket, and his arms filled with his beloved. He wasn’t going to set her down.
She laughed when he kicked the door open. Setting her inside, and somehow managing to close the door, he ripped her silk blouse open. As her buttons ricocheted off the entryway, he dropped his mouth to her captivating mouth. Pulling at his tongue with her teeth, she worked his T-shirt from his body. They ripped their way through jeans, underwear, and bra to plush-naked skin.
She stepped back from him. They stood in front of each other. Naked. Neither moved. They just looked at each other.
When her lips turned upward, he responded.
“JOHN.” Tom Drayson touched John’s shoulder.
John raised his eyebrows.
“I’ve been calling you from down the hill. Where’s your head, boy?”
John shrugged.
“You’re almost done here,” Tom said. “We need to get to the north end.”
“To look for the fox?” John asked.
“Right, he comes out this time of day. Fox and chickens. You can’t have one without the other.”
John nodded and moved toward the fence with the barbed wire. Tom took the other end of the wire.
“Rita won’t let us kill the fox.”
“That’s what we used to do.” John tacked the wire to his post. He moved to tack the wire Tom held.
“She won’t have him in her chickens, either.”
“What would you like to do?” John asked. He bent to pick up his tools, and they walked toward the truck.
“I have a plan.”
John nodded and stepped into the passenger seat.
&nbs
p; Turning the key in the ignition, the old truck caught with a roar. Tom caught the goofy look on John’s face and laughed.
“She must be some girl.”
“She is.”
FFFFFF
October 14—10 A.M.
Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado
“You guys worked a lot with the Fey?” Sean Hudson asked.
The British intelligence officer, Raz, and Matthew were working on their laptop computers in a small conference room. Matthew was tracking Eleazar, as well as running interference for the gathering team. Raz worked with Alex’s database. Sean compared the information Raz came up with from Alex’s notes, journals, and database with what British Intelligence had on Eleazar.
“Sure,” Raz said. “I’ve worked with her for . . . five, almost six, years? I’m her Homeland partner. Matthew just started working with her as her second in command here at Military Intelligence.”
“We’ve been friends for twelve years,” Matthew said.
“How do you know Alex?” Raz asked.
“She appeared in my bed,” Sean said.
Raz and Matthew looked up at him.
“I was sound asleep, and I roll over to find this . . . tasty woman lying in my bed. She’s just lying there, wearing this tank top and tiny panties.”
Sean fell quiet, remembering.
“And?” Matthew asked.
“I thought, ‘If this is an enemy agent, I may as well show her a bit of hospitality.’ I’m smooth, you see. So I slipped on top of her to have a go. She smiled and put her arms around my neck. Her mouth is right next to my ear when she said, ‘You have a leak in your department. Your entire team is targeted for elimination.’ I moved to kiss her, and she said, ‘If you think you’re going to use that, you should think again.’ She slipped out of bed and was gone before I’m awake enough to follow her.”
Sean laughed.
“Was there a leak?” Matthew asked.
“Oh, yes. Very big, very messy. My boss, actually. If she hadn’t warned me? I’d be dead. Everyone on my team, as well. Nasty stuff.”
“When did you see her again?” Raz asked.
“How did you know?” Sean laughed.
“It just had to happen,” Raz said.
“A couple of years later. I’m bored and frustrated, sitting in a meeting. We’ve got this impossible hostage situation. We’ve tried everything we know to do and . . . Nothing. We’re fucked. I figured the hostages are dead. Behind our backs, the PM rang some Yank expert. And the great expert is late. We’re sitting in a conference room like ripe old buffers when her team arrives. Did you meet those guys?”
Raz nodded.
“Bloody hell. They were huge guys. Tall, at least six feet, every one of them. Testosterone everywhere. Bulging muscles. Very macho. They push their way into the room with machine guns and dark glasses,” Sean laughed.
“Ten guys stand around the edge of the room. Alex wags her hips across the room with this tawny pit bull-looking guy by her side. That was the Jesse that General Hargreaves was talking about?”
Matthew nodded.
“She sits down at an empty chair in the middle of the table. We’re so surprised that no one speaks. She smiles and says, ‘Next time? Call me before you fuck it up.’ She stands up to leave, and my Unit Chief sputters, ‘What about the hostages?’ She looks at him, puts her dark glasses on, and says, ‘They are waiting for you in the hall. MI-5 saves the day’ and leaves the room.”
Sean blushed bright red.
“Uh huh—what else did she say?” Raz asked.
“Every person in the room is watching her bum as she swishes toward the door. She gets to me. I’m sitting near the door. She raises her glasses and says, ‘Heya Sean. I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on. While there’s a certain element missing,’ she looks straight at my crotch, and raises one eyebrow. ‘It’s very nice to see you again.’ I was so embarrassed that I think my face bled. My team went wild to find out what that was about.”
“Did you tell them?” Raz asked.
“Not a chance. You think I wanted them to know that I had her in my bed and let her go? The tape shows her team laughing about me. They joked, in Irish Gaelic, no less, the entire way out of the building.”
“The hostages?” Matthew asked.
“Outside the door,” he said. “I have no idea how she worked their release. The hostages never said a word.”
Sean fell silent, and the men went back to work. After a silent hour, Sean looked up. He watched Raz and Matthew work. While Alex lingered in his mind somewhere between fantasy and dream, these men were her friends. If he didn’t ask them, he would never know.
“Have you spent time with Alex?” Sean asked, breaking the silence again.
Raz furrowed his brow, “All over the world. Why?”
“Have you ever noticed that she has a smell?”
Raz furrowed his brow and looked at Matthew.
“Cinnamon rolls,” Matthew said. “Troy says she smells like cotton candy.”
Raz raised his eyebrows and laughed.
“Oh come on—you’ve noticed it.”
“Warm chocolate lava cake,” Raz said. “I thought it was because we’ve eaten so much chocolate together. She loves warm chocolate lava cake.”
Raz and Matthew looked at Sean, who blushed and looked down at his laptop.
“Well?” Matthew asked.
“Christmas pudding,” Sean said.
Raz made a disgusted face.
“It’s wonderful stuff. We’ll have it the next time you’re in London.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Matthew replied.
“The very smell of her is intoxicating. She’s still married, right?”
Matthew nodded.
“That guy would have to be a complete idiot to fuck that up. There’s a guy at SIS who is absolutely obsessed with her. I guess she rescued him from somewhere in Eastern Europe. He swears she smells like rain. Do you think everyone experiences that?”
Matthew smiled. “I think it’s only men. Her team used to tease her about it.”
“Is it a perfume?”
“No,” Raz said. “It’s just the way her skin smells.”
Sean shook his head and returned to his laptop. The men worked in silence for more than a half hour before Sean had to ask one last question.
“Why do you think it’s different for different people?” Sean asked. “My unit head says she smells like a sweet shop.”
“She’s a fairy, Sean. You’re smelling fairy dust,” Raz said, under his breath.
Matthew remembered Alex standing over him on the martial-arts mat at Special Forces training. She had just kicked his ass. Beamed at him in greeting, not pride or achievement, just greeting, she held her hand out to help him up. He’d hated this woman for daring to be a Green Beret. But, looking into her smiling face, he knew he’d made a friend for life.
Matthew nodded. “Fairy dust.”
“Fairy dust?” Sean asked
“Fairy dust.”
FFF
October 14—12:30 P.M.
Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado
“Sir?” Matthew asked.
He walked into the conference room to find Patrick and Ben arguing. In all the years of knowing Alex and dating Erin, he had never seen Patrick Hargreaves angry. At this moment, Patrick’s face was flushed bright red and the soldier—hard, driven, and deadly—emerged on Patrick’s face.
Standing with his face an inch from Patrick’s face, Ben punched Patrick’s chest with the index finger of the hand holding a lit cigarette. They were speaking French in terse whispers. When Matthew spoke, Ben whipped around and glared at Matthew. He walked away from Patrick, puffing on his cigarette.
“Max says that Alex is doing well.”
Patrick put a hand to his face. Ben fell toward the wall, catching himself with the hand that held the cigarette. Not sure of what to do next, Matthew kept talking.
“Jesse said that she
was really sick last night, but, when she woke up this morning, she was better. Max says that she’s really better, like before all of this happened, like two years ago.”
“And what do Jesse or Max say she plans to do?”
Matthew smiled, chuckling a little, “She’s going to kill them and wait for Eleazar.”
“How will she do that?” Ben asked. His desperation seeped into his voice.
“I’m not sure, exactly. Max said something about razor wire and the Mini-tool. Does that make sense to you?”
Patrick laughed and patted Matthew on the back.
“Wire around the leather glove?” Ben asked in French to Patrick and laughed. “They won’t miss the wire because of the snow.”
Matthew made no indication that he understood Ben. There was no way he wanted Ben to think he spoke French. No way. Working with Alex was one thing, but Ben? Not a chance.
“Max says that we need to get moving. He’s not sure where, but he says that Alex thinks they will move her.”
Patrick nodded. “Thank you, Matthew.”
“And, sir?”
“Yes?”
“Jordanian Armed Forces have Eleazar’s mother in their control as Alex planned. Also, UN Security Forces have surrounded Eleazar’s home in Jerusalem, but they have been unable to enter.”
“Guards?” Patrick asked.
“No, sir. The PIRA is in the house. They responded to the death of John Kelly. Raz said that they seem to be waiting to hear from Alex.”
Patrick raised his eyebrows and rubbed his forehead.
“Thank you, Matthew.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Matthew walked toward the front of the room, he heard Ben apologize to Patrick and Patrick laugh. Turning to close the door, he saw the men hug.
For the first time in days, his dear friend Alex was in real, serious danger.
He was glad her fathers were on edge.
FFFFFF
October 14—12:45 P.M.
Cherry Hills Estates, Denver, Colorado
“Mom,” Erin said.
Rebecca looked up to take a cup of chamomile tea from Erin’s hands. Dressed in their warmest clothing, they were sitting on Patrick and Rebecca’s deck, looking out toward the snowcapped Rocky Mountains.
“It’s been three days,” Rebecca said, and sighed.
“I know,” Erin replied. “We have to believe that Alex is alive and doing all right, because the alternative is just too awful to contemplate.”
“Every time. I worry about her every single time. I keep thinking that I will get used to it, but I never do. And I always know when she’s in danger. I always know,” Rebecca said.
Erin put her hand on Rebecca’s arm.
“It’s been wonderful having Alex back,” Erin said. “I don’t think I knew how much I missed her.”
Rebecca smiled a little. “I’m sorry I made her go away.”
“You did what you thought was best. I know that, so does Alex. Even Max says it was good. After all, that’s how he met John and how Alex met Jesse. John and Jesse were Max and Alex’s first friends.”
“And how Alex met Matt,” Rebecca said.
At the mention of his name, Erin smiled. Her face flushed, and her eyes shone with love.
“And Matt.”
“He’s a wonderful man, Erin. I am very happy for you,” Rebecca said, reaching over to hold Erin’s hand.
“Yes, he is. Who would have thought? Me and Matt. I dreamed of being with Matt, you know, day in and day out, when I was sixteen years old. It seemed impossible. I mean, he’s on a twenty year contract!” Erin shook her head at the impossibility. “The last few months have been a dream come true. He says that, too. Can you believe it? And it’s all because of Alex.”
Rebecca turned from Erin to watch the mountains. They sat in silence.
“Even though I know the sun will set tonight . . . Even though I know that what happens today is absolutely out of my control, I still wish . . .”
“Me, too,” Erin said.
F
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