Dreamspinner Press Years One & Two Greatest Hits

by J. M. Colail

  Jack knew if he stayed calm it would be easier to settle Mark. He had, after all, been trained how to react in situations like this. “Easy, Mark. You’re hurt, but you’re going to be fine. Try to calm down and breathe easy.”

  Mark swallowed and his face contorted in pain. “Can’t….”

  “Okay, look into my eyes and breathe with me. You can do this.”

  “What?” Mark was trying his best to slow down his breathing, but he was shivering violently.

  Jack tried to keep his voice level, but it wasn’t an easy feat. “We were cornered at a stoplight; two guys jumped into the car and held us at gunpoint. They shot into the air a few times, and then made the driver speed away. They got rid of him when he didn’t want to do what they wanted.” He paused, wondering how much he should tell his bodyguard. “I think you were shot, Mark. They tied my hands so I can’t check. Can you move at all?”

  Mark shook his head, his breathing a little less desperate, but still shallow. “No….”

  LUCAS AND Sean watched the BBC World News, which was not very forthcoming with information.

  Sean had been put on hold at the American Embassy after he had blown his lid and pulled rank on the young receptionist. Finally, someone else came on the line.

  “Stacey Tanner, Junior Protocol Officer. Can I help you, sir?”

  Sean smiled nervously. “Stacey love, what’s going on?”

  “Mr. Gallagher, hello. I’m afraid we don’t know much more than they are saying on the news, sir. Two armed men got into Mr. Christensen’s car. Mark Jones was with him. The driver was thrown out of the car and left by the side of the road. He’s in hospital, but he’s fine. No statements have been made, no responsibility claimed, and no ransom demands either. We are in lock-down and trying to bring as many Embassy personnel as we can to the Embassy.” Her voice sounded nervous, but Sean could tell she was trained for this.

  “Maria?”

  “We’re keeping her inside the home and have dispatched extra security personnel over there.”

  Sean sighed. “She knows what’s happened?”

  “She has been fully briefed, sir.”

  “Fine,” Sean answered in as professional a manner as he could muster. “Can I have your direct line, please?”

  “Reception now has my orders to redirect you to me immediately, sir.”

  “Thanks, Stacey.”

  Sean put down the phone and turned to Lucas. “Now tell me exactly just how close you and Jack are.”

  “I KNOW I’ve been hit, sir. I’m sorry.”

  Jack sighed. He was afraid of this. He was going to have to keep Mark calm but alert. “I think in these circumstances you’d better call me Jack. And stop apologizing. You saved my life.”

  “All part of the job, sir….” Mark gritted his teeth, clearly biting away the pain. ”Jack.”

  Jack tried to remember his terrorism training. “We should look at our assets here. Your hands are untied.”

  “I can’t move, Jack,” Mark cut in. “I can’t move anything.”

  “THE BELGIAN driver of the Ambassador was found by the side of the road and taken to a hospital. He was well enough to be questioned by the police, but they are keeping a tight lid on any and all information in light of the investigation.

  “Jack Christensen is an experienced US Ambassador with earlier postings in Europe and South America as well as the Middle East. He was accompanied by a Secret Service man who remains unnamed, but is said to be a well-trained, experienced member of the service.”

  “They’re not saying anything!” Lucas burst out.

  “Calm down, Carlton.” Sean had never seen the young man this frightened. Lucas was always confident and in control, but the way Lucas behaved now suggested very personal investment in the well-being of a certain American Ambassador. Sean was starting to realize why Jack hadn’t been able to tell him who the man was that was making him think about leaving his wife.

  “Lucas. I know about you and Jack,” Sean started tentatively.

  The young man turned his eyes from the TV screen toward his superior. For an instant, Lucas looked trapped and then regained his composure. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about. Jack and I have been working together closely, so yes, I’m worried about him. We’ve been spending a lot of time together and of course we’ve become friends….”

  “And then some, it seems. Lucas….” Sean sighed. How was he going to tell the young man Jack had all but confessed to this? Ah, to hell with it. “Jack told me.”

  Lucas slumped down on the chair, defeated.

  “He didn’t mention your name, Lucas. He was always discreet. He just told me he was thinking of leaving his wife for a man, and I think that man is you.”

  Lucas’s head was in his hands now. Sean wondered if he was crying, but as the young man looked up an entirely different emotion was visible on his face. This was determination and resolve, the go-getter attitude for which Lucas was hired in the first place had replaced the scared look.

  “So we just sit here and do nothing?”

  “Well….” Sean was thinking quickly. “I have a friend in the Brussels Police Force I could call.”

  “So do it!” Lucas ordered, and then he remembered who he was talking to. “Please. Sir.”

  Sean picked up the phone and dialed. Lucas heard him talk to the man on the other side of the line, explaining the situation. After a few nods and “I see’s,” he replaced the telephone.

  “Mark was carrying a GPS homing beacon. If he and Jack are still together, then they should have them within the hour.”

  JACK WAS startled out of a fitful sleep by a loud rumble in the next room. He was hurting from his bruises and from falling asleep on a hard concrete floor with Mark’s body resting against his. His bodyguard wasn’t moving and the fear that the young man had died crept up on him again. How could he have fallen asleep?

  A blinding light entered the otherwise pitch-dark room as a door gave way to the two men in combat gear who had broken its seal. Three more followed as Jack watched apprehensively. Either they were being rescued or they were going to be killed.

  Jack’s eyes were still adjusting to the light when a hooded man with an assault rifle crouched beside him and spoke in perfect English, but with a heavy French accent. “Mr. Ambassador? I am Sergeant Lefebvre, Belgian Military Police; we have come to rescue you. Are you hurt?”

  Jack shook his head. “Take care of Mark first. He was shot, I don’t know if he’s still….”

  “Do not worry, sir, we will take care of him.” A young man in a jacket with fluorescent stripes reassured Jack while he examined Mark.

  Jack was pulled from underneath Mark’s limp body and a sharp pain pierced his side, stealing his breath.

  LUCAS RAN into the emergency room of the University Hospital and slapped his hand on the counter of the dispatch station. “Mr. Christensen” he barked. “I need to see Mr. Jack Christensen, US Ambassador, he was brought in here a little while ago!”

  The white-dressed women sitting behind the counter gave him an annoyed look.

  “Mr. Carlton?”

  Lucas turned sharply and saw a man dressed in a dark suit, hands folded in front of him and a discreet earpiece in his ear.

  “Please follow me, sir.”

  Lucas was escorted through a maze of corridors and elevators to a locked door, which the security man opened with a key card. The large plaque on the door said Intensieve Zorgen. Lucas’s Dutch was good enough to understand that this meant Intensive Care, and it stopped him dead in his tracks. Jack was badly injured, otherwise he wouldn’t be in the ICU. He had probably been shot. The thought turned Lucas’s heart to ice.

  “Mr. Carlton.” The man held the door for him and continued calmly but with a certain insistence. “Please don’t dawdle.”

  Lucas took a deep breath as he entered the ward. At least Jack was alive and they were going to let him see him. He was therefore rather disappointed when he was led into a small wait
ing room. “Could someone just tell me if he’s okay?” he asked the man who had led him there.

  “Someone will come to see you shortly, Mr. Carlton,” he was told dispassionately as the man left him alone.

  Lucas couldn’t sit down. He tried to look through the gaps in the shutters that covered the windows, but found himself staring at a wall on the opposite side of the corridor. Nurses and doctors walked in and out of a room at one end of that corridor; some of them carrying equipment. Lucas couldn’t read their faces and his fear grew with each passing second.

  What if Jack was dead? The hospital sometimes left people in the ward so relatives could come and pay their last respects. He shook his head. No. That couldn’t be.

  “Lucas?”

  He turned around and saw Maria standing near the entrance of the waiting room. She was wearing trousers and a sweater and her hair was untied. Her face looked worried and there were dark circles under her eyes.

  “Maria… how is….”

  “He’s fine. A bit banged up, but nothing that won’t heal,” she answered quickly. Lucas could tell she was trying hard to sound unemotional and she wasn’t looking at him.

  “Can I see him?” Lucas tried, his voice soft.

  “No,” she stated firmly, “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Lucas. It’s enough that you know he’s all right.” She started to turn around, so Lucas took a few steps toward her and grabbed her arm.

  She pulled away and gave him a hostile look. “You have no claim on him.”

  Lucas tried to keep his emotions in check. “Don’t you think that’s for him to decide?”

  “He has decided,” Maria snapped. She then clearly regained her composure and narrowed her eyes. “Do you know what happens to discredited US diplomats, Lucas?”

  “Jack didn’t do anything wrong, Maria. He fell in love, that’s all.” Lucas was trying to keep his breathing calm, but not succeeding very well.

  “In this administration, that’s plenty, young man,” she continued, her tone condescending. “They won’t fire him, you know. He knows too much about the inner workings of US diplomacy. They will bury him under a mountain of paperwork in Washington, make him write reports on proposed foreign policy, make him use his extensive foreign experience in some dead end office job where they can keep an eye on him. That will be his future. And why? Because of an indiscretion with a junior British diplomat. He will hate you for it, because you will have ruined everything he ever wanted for a career. Everything he’s ever wanted will be out of his reach. You only get one chance at this, Lucas. I’d like to see how far that ‘love’ will carry you then.” Her eyes were wide and dark and staring intently at Lucas. Then she seemed to calm down again. “He knows that now.”

  Lucas’s chest tightened. She was right. The American President and his party were trying to get a ban on same sex marriages written into the constitution. They would never let a gay man keep such a publicly visible position. An Ambassador was a country’s calling card and had to display everything that was good about a nation. Maria was right. Lucas’s love was going to cost Jack everything he’d ever worked for.

  “At least let me say good-bye to him,” Lucas asked, fighting his tears.

  Maria looked straight at him and inhaled deeply. “Fine. Follow me.”

  Lucas was amazed that she was going to let him in to see his lover and he steadied himself as he followed her down the corridor. He had to be strong for Jack.

  She nodded toward the door and let Lucas enter by himself.

  Jack was on the bed in a white hospital gown with the hospital’s logo on it. He smiled at Lucas when he saw him enter. “Hey there. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

  Lucas felt the tears well up again, but took a deep breath. The last thing he wanted to do was cry like a girl. “Hey.”

  He took Jack’s out-stretched hand and squeezed it.

  “You okay?” Jack asked softly.

  Lucas felt a single tear roll down his cheek and wiped it away. “What are you asking me for? You’re the one in the hospital bed.”

  Jack tried to chuckle, but this clearly hurt too much. “Just a bit banged up, that’s all.”

  “Yeah, Maria told me,” Lucas answered.

  “You saw Maria?”

  Lucas nodded. “So how badly banged up are you?”

  Jack smiled. “Two cracked ribs, a few bruised ones, a broken collarbone and a bruised jaw. Oh yeah, and a concussion from when they knocked me down. The drugs they gave me take the edge off. Mark’s worse, though. He took a bullet for me. They tell me he’s alive, but they’re still working on him.”

  Lucas sat down next to the bed and raised Jack’s hand to his lips to kiss it. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” He inhaled a few times trying to keep himself from becoming too emotional.

  Jack shushed him. “It’s okay, Luke. Everything will work out.” He opened his hand to touch Lucas’s cheek and they sat there for a while enjoying their hands entwined until Lucas noticed Jack had fallen asleep.

  He kissed his lover’s hand one more time and gently placed it on the bedcovers. “Never forget that I love you, Jack,” he whispered to his sleeping lover before he walked out of the room.

  Impasse

  FUNCTIONS: THE necessary evil of his public office.

  To Jack, Christmas always felt like such a fake affair at the Embassy. It was one of those things you should celebrate with your family, yet he was supposed to show up at a reception Maria organized for all the Americans who wouldn’t be able to celebrate with their loved ones. How ironic, Jack thought, that he had lost almost everyone he loved these past months. First Lucas had left. The last Jack had seen of the young man was in hospital. No good-bye, nothing. Sean told him that Lucas had been granted educational leave and had left to finish his Master’s degree at Stanford University. Then Jack got a phone call from one of his brothers to tell him that their parents had been killed in a car accident in Namibia. Their bodies were flown to New York for burial and he had settled all their affairs, dividing their assets equally between himself and his two brothers. For a moment, he had thought of flying on to California to try to get in touch with Lucas, but he felt it would only make matters worse.

  Maria was still there, of course, still the ever devoted wife. As if nothing had happened.

  He still loved her dedication, the way she could totally set aside her own feelings when it came to doing what needed to be done. But he didn’t love her any more, not as a wife at least. He had taken up residence in the guest room, not wanting to share a bed with her now, and she hadn’t argued. The nights were long and lonely. He missed Lucas and he often woke up in the middle of the night realizing he had dreamt about his young lover. Ex-lover. There was no changing that now. Not now that he had chosen to continue his diplomatic career.

  In a minute they would be going out to greet their guests, and he would no doubt be complimented on his lovely wife again. The charade continued.

  “So are you ready?”

  Maria looked lovely in her strapless night blue dress, her hair carefully sculpted and pinned back. Her make-up was flawless and she smiled at him warmly as she straightened the lapels of his jacket and wiped some imaginary specks off his shoulders.

  “You look lovely, Maria.”

  “Thank you, so do you,” she gracefully accepted the compliment as she took his hand and led him into the reception hall.

  It was quite busy in there. Stacey had already done a great job welcoming their guests and he and Maria would soon be making their rounds, greeting Presbyterian ministers and businessmen. There would be eggnog and turkey sandwiches and a speech on the meaning of Christmas around the world.

  Jack felt his eyes wander over to the entrance from time to time, secretly hoping that a beautiful young man with dark curls would walk in again.

  But he knew it wouldn’t happen.

  Negotiations

  Resumed

  Chapter Nineteen

  “LUCAS, I need a big favor.”<
br />
  Liz leaned over his desk in her usual flirty-without-ulterior-motives sort of way.

  “I really need this afternoon off, but since I’m the senior officer, I’ve been stuck with the assignment from hell.”

  Lucas knew she was a bit of a drama queen, so he didn’t take the “assignment from hell” too seriously. “So you want me to take over from you, leaving you with a free afternoon to go shag that guy from the Italian delegation, right?”

  “Lucas!” she rebutted, feigning insult. “We don’t just shag. His wife is always in Italy, so he told me he’s divorcing her.”

  “Yeah, that’s what they all say, Liz, just to get you in the sack. But they never leave their wives, believe me, I know.” He shook his head and conceded. “Fine! What’s the job? You and Mister Italy go shag like bunnies; I’ll stay here and work for a living.”

  “All I know is: former US Ambassador who has a job interview here in the UN building. You are not to let him wander around alone. After the interview, you will be told whether or not you need to help him fill out his security requirements. So either you escort him outside or you help him get a security badge.”

  Liz was in turbo mode, clearly eager to leave as soon as possible, so Lucas didn’t waste any words either. “Briefing folder?”

  Liz produced a dark blue file from behind her back. “You will find your average, very stuffy, middle-aged career diplomat at the front desk….” She checked her watch. “…in about ten minutes.”

  Lucas knew it would probably take him at least fifteen minutes to walk to the front desk, so technically he was late already. Luckily he knew the inside of the UN building like the back of his hand and with a short run across the public arena, he could make it just in time.

  On the final stretch, he opened the folder, so he would at least know who he was looking for. His heart stopped.

  The head shot on the visitor’s pass was a photo of Jack.