Traces of Grey: Book Four of The Alexis Stanton Chronicles

by Phelps, J. C.

  “Interesting,” I whispered.

  White’s voice startled me. “What’s that?”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “You didn’t.” White sat up.

  “I thought I’d make sure our target and his security team would be at the resort when we show up in a couple hours. He checked in yesterday and even has all his meals scheduled.”

  “Sounds slightly interesting, I guess.” White shrugged.

  “The interesting part is that he has a guest for lunch today. Wonder who it is?”

  “No idea. I’m sure this isn’t purely a luxury trip for him. Ruiz rarely leaves Ecuador. Were you able to figure out where his security team is from?”

  “Nope. I haven’t been back to the room for very long.”

  “Okay. You should get some sleep. I’ll wake you when we anchor.”

  “I’m not all that tired.”

  “We’ll probably be doing some late night surveillance and I need you as alert as possible. Get some sleep. That’s actually an order.”

  “An order?” I teased. I wouldn’t jeopardize the mission in any way and I knew he was right, but I couldn’t resist poking at him for his choice of words.

  He took it seriously and said, “I’m not kidding, Alex. We can’t afford to screw this one up.”

  “I was kidding.” I climbed onto the bed and got comfortable as White walked out the door.

  It seemed as if I had closed my eyes for only a few seconds when I heard the room door open again.

  “We’re anchored. This really is just a one man job, but you can come with me, if you’d like,” White said as he readied his camera equipment.

  “I’d like to. I still haven’t gotten a chance to play with the camera.”

  “We won’t be playing.” He was all business now. “Get your wetsuit on. We’re going out on the motor boat to look like snorkelers taking underwater photos.”

  “Sounds good.” I pulled out my spring suit and changed in the bathroom and put my hair into a tight braid to keep it out of my way.

  “Ready,” I announced when I exited the bathroom.

  White had on a similar suit to mine. He looked really good in it. It accented his muscular arms, legs and stomach. I smiled at him and raised my eyebrows suggestively.

  He returned the look. “My thoughts, exactly.”

  I exhaled heavily as I walked past him and into the hallway.

  “The Captain knows we’re taking the boat. It’s right back here,” White moved toward the stern and down another set of stairs I hadn’t had the chance to explore yet. It led us down to some more cabins. I assumed they were for the crew. Then, as we meandered down a little farther, Scott stepped from a doorway into the hall.

  “This way, sir.”

  We followed him into the room, a nice sized bay with all kinds of watercraft. Billy was getting the boat out of the boat. This last thought made me giggle.

  "What are you laughing about?" White asked.

  "This is so cool."

  White finally smiled. "Yes. It is."

  The side of the yacht opened up and the motorboat slid out onto rails and was lowered into the water.

  "So cool." I marveled.

  Billy climbed down the ladder and into the boat and we followed. As soon as we were settled, he and White released the catches and Billy piloted us away from the yacht.

  We took a few laps around the small bay and around the yacht to find the best location for our surveillance.

  Eventually, Billy stopped the boat a good distance from the yacht and White readied the camera.

  "Here," he handed it to me and dove off the boat. I watched as he surfaced and swam back toward us. He reached up for the camera. When he had it in hand he asked, "Are you going to join me?"

  He didn't have to ask twice. I dove in over his head. The water was a beautiful blue and I could see the white sand through the water. I expected a little cold shock, but the temperature was perfect.

  "Enjoying yourself?" White asked when I surfaced.

  "Yep. You?" I wiped the water from my face.

  "You have no idea." Again, he smiled at me. "I'll let you man the camera this time. Try to get good pictures of everyone. The Admiral likes front facing pictures as well as profile pictures."

  I took the camera from him and zoomed in on the resort. I just hoped the water would remain calm so my pictures wouldn’t be blurry. It didn’t take long to locate the correct cabana. I scanned the entire area and located Ruiz and four of his security team immediately.

  This is going to be easy.

  Ruiz, another man and four of the six expected targets were all outside. The two men sipped drinks on the patio and four men stood guard in various places, surrounding the veranda. I snapped picture after picture and then moved my sites around the area again.

  The two men I’d not accounted for yet soon relieved the men placed on either side of the door. One of them chewed on something. They probably eat in shifts. I snapped several pictures of them and told White, “I think I’ve got enough of all of them.”

  “All of them?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Okay. Let’s get back to the yacht so we can go through them and send them to the Admiral.”

  We swam the short distance back to Billy and the waiting motorboat. White climbed in first and offered me his hand as I climbed in behind him.

  “Thanks.” I plopped into my seat.

  “If your pictures are good enough, maybe we can go inland tomorrow and do a little sight seeing,” he suggested as he sat.

  “Sounds great,” I half shouted over the engine as Billy piloted back to the yacht.

  I expected to go back to the side of the yacht where the boat had exited, but Billy moored us aft of the yacht.

  “We aren’t going to put it back?” I was disappointed. I wanted to watch them raise the boat back into place.

  “No. I’m sure we’ll use the boat tomorrow. Some of the passengers may even want to go out yet tonight.” Billy answered.

  “Come on, Grey,” White’s tone was impatient.

  “Okay, okay.” I followed him back to our room.

  When we reached the suite, White opened the door for me. “You can relax while I download the photos onto the computer.”

  “But,” I was going to argue that it was my laptop and I should do it, but his expression told me he was aching to see the results. I let it drop and went to my bag to get a clean change of clothes. I made my way to the bathroom to get out of my wetsuit and shower.

  I’d just gotten my suit off when I heard White swearing and something crash into a wall. I grabbed my robe and held it up with one hand and threw open the bathroom door with the other. I expected to see White struggling with someone but he was madly pacing the floor alone.

  “What’s going on?”

  He made two more laps around the room, then grabbed me by the arm and led me to the laptop. His grasp was firm but not painful. It was the yanking me along that made me almost drop my robe.

  “These are the men you took pictures of today?” He stabbed his finger at the screen.

  “Yes. What the hell?” I pulled my arm from his grasp. I watched the rage fade to embarrassment.

  “I’m sorry, Alex.” He sat down on the chair heavily.

  “What the hell is wrong?” His gruff actions were forgiven and worry set in.

  “I’m just—” he took a deep breath and seemed to regain his composure. He looked me directly in the eyes and said, “The Admiral should have told me that we might encounter these guys. They know who I am and it’s possible we screwed up.” His voice had a hard quality that I’d never heard before. He cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean to grab you like that.”

  “I’m fine.” I pulled the robe a little higher and wrapped it around my backside with my free arm.

  “I’m still sorry,” the remorse was thick. “You go finish your shower.” He started flipping through the photos again.

  I t
ook the opportunity to slip into my robe.

  “Who are these guys?” I wasn’t fully convinced he’d be this upset just because they might have recognized us. “They weren’t even paying attention to us.” I said.

  “I hope not.” He shook his head.

  I went back to the bathroom and just stood there for a few seconds, listening at the door. It remained quiet so I turned on the shower and let the water run for another minute. When it still remained quiet I decided to shower for real.

  After what was probably the quickest shower of my life, I dried off and got dressed.

  When I stepped from the bathroom again, White was talking quietly on the phone. He’d taken the time to change out of his wetsuit. I got comfortable on the bed while straining to hear what he was saying. His voice was quiet and I wasn’t going to be able to hear him so, I tried to position myself to watch his lips. He deliberately kept his back to me so I got up and moved to the table and sat opposite him.

  “Now,” was the only part of the conversation I got before he hung up. “Get packed. We’re headed back to the mainland as soon as I can find Sam.”

  “I really don’t think they even noticed us.” I tried to reassure him.

  “Probably not, but we absolutely can not be here any longer.” He stood, walked over to me and kissed me on top of the head.

  “I’m sorry we aren’t going to be able to spend a little more time together. I had high hopes for this trip.”

  He didn’t wait for my response and left me sitting at the table while he went in search of Sam.

  Less than an hour later we set down in Miami and White was on the phone again. I said our good-byes to Sam and hurried after White.

  I caught up to him just as he was hanging up his phone.

  “Are you up for dinner at an airport restaurant? We’ve got some time to kill before Brown gets here.” These were the first words he’d said, other than his most recent call, since we boarded the chopper back on Carmen’s Retreat.

  “Sure.”

  His demeanor still had me a little off guard and I wasn’t ready to ask any more questions. It made me almost positive there was more reason for his attitude than a possibly botched op. But, I also understood White’s strict position on need to know, and since he hadn’t told me anything more, things were exactly as he had explained earlier or he thought I didn’t need to know.

  He chose the restaurant and picked a table with a full window view of the runways. White’s outward mood had lightened, but there was a deep sadness in his eyes I’d never seen before.

  Finally, I asked him, “What’s really going on, Rick?”

  He shook his head and sighed. “I might have really screwed up, Alex. The Admiral has been looking for one of those guys for years and if we were recognized—” He looked out the window.

  I reached out and took his hand. His smile was gentle and full of gratitude. “Hopefully, our team will get there before the guy disappears again.” He rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.

  “Dad should be happy to know you found this guy,” I said.

  “That’s what surprises me. He’s wanted this guy for years and if he had any idea that he’d be there, he should have told me. We could have sent in an extraction team instead of a surveillance team. He couldn’t have had any idea.” He was talking to himself now.

  We sat only a few minutes more before White’s phone rang.

  “Yes. We’re on our way.”

  Within fifteen minutes we were handing Black and Brown our luggage and gear to be loaded onto the plane.

  “So? How did you like Carmen’s Retreat?” Brown asked me as we all buckled in.

  “It’s gorgeous.” That was the last of the conversation until I fell asleep in my seat.

  I woke to hushed voices coming from the cockpit.

  “All I’m saying is that he’s lucky it was her there with you,” I heard Brown say.

  “Our team should be there by now.” Black’s deep voice was unmistakable. “He can’t hide any more.”

  The vehemence in his voice was something I’d never heard from Black. I had to figure out what was going on. When we got home I’d run the pictures through the government’s facial recognition program and find out who the hell they were talking about.

  “Hey, Alex!” Brown hollered a couple minutes later. “We’re about to land. Wake up!”

  “I’m awake!” I yelled back.

  Chapter Five

  The four of us rode the elevator down to my apartment.

  “I’ll meet you two in the office in a couple minutes,” White said as he stepped off with me on my floor.

  He took my bags into my apartment for me and set them down just inside the door.

  “I’m going to go meet with the Admiral right away. I don’t know what he’ll want to do, so I might be unreachable for a while.”

  “Okay,” I expected this. I was aching to get onto my laptop to do my own research, but didn’t want to hurry him off. Maybe there was a way I could help from behind the scenes.

  He leaned down and kissed me. “Soon, though.” He said and walked out the door.

  My laptop was on my kitchen bar within seconds of White leaving but I couldn’t find the pictures anywhere. I knew he’d put them on the computer, but he must have erased them. I searched in vain for almost an hour before I gave up.

  I was okay with all of this when I thought I’d have somewhere to start my own research, but without those photos I didn’t know what to do next. I began to pace.

  After only three or four laps around my apartment I hopped back onto the bar stool and got into the governments facial composite program and started trying to piece together the men I’d seen. I did Ruiz first for practice because I remembered his face the best. It took me half an hour to get him put together and I transferred the composite over to the facial recognition program to see if it would pick the right guy.

  While I waited on the results I started work on the rest of the men I’d seen. They were harder to piece together. If only I’d taken more time to study them, I kicked myself. Two hours later I finally finished one of the composites and transferred it to the recognition software. My piecing together of Ruiz had several hits. At least one of them was actually Ruiz.

  I awoke to a knock at my door and realized I’d fallen asleep at my kitchen bar. How I’d stayed in the chair was a mystery. The knock came again, so I closed my laptop and went to the door.

  “Everything okay?” Black asked as he stepped past me into my apartment.

  “Yeah, why?” I rubbed some sleep from my eyes.

  “You’re still wearing the same clothes from last night.” He was looking around my apartment with a suspicious look.

  “I fell asleep at my computer.” I yawned. “What time is it?”

  “Five-thirty. Thought you might like to join me at the gym.” His roving eye seemed satisfied and he addressed me directly.

  “Yeah. I could do that. Can you give me a minute to get changed?”

  “Sure,” He went to my kitchen bar and sat.

  I picked up my laptop from in front of him and went to my bedroom to change. I tossed it on the bed. It did a couple of little bounces, making me worry that it might not have been a good idea to toss it. When it didn’t hit the floor I hurriedly dressed. Then, I took a brief look at where I’d left off last night. I fought the urge to swear. I had almost one thousand possible candidates to weed through for one of the composites and I still hadn’t even finished all of them. I’d have to deal with that when I got back.

  **********

  Helix’s gruff and direct speech made me as uncomfortable as always.

  “You got some sun, girl.” He wagged his eyebrows. “Is it an all over tan?”

  “No.” I wanted to scream at myself for actually answering that question. Now he had facts to back up his imagination.

  “I prefer tan lines. There are some places that the sun shouldn’t kiss. That’s better left up to a good man.”

 
I felt my face heat up and let my eyes wander around the gym instead of looking at Helix or Black.

  “I love how innocent you are.” His laugh boomed across the gym.

  “Maybe it’s not innocence, but being a lady.”

  Black always came to my defense when it came to Helix. Maybe that was why I allowed Helix more room, I always had a champion in my corner to protect me. Plus, I thought most of what Helix said to me was somehow directed at Black.

  “Ahh.” His grin lost most of the wolfishness. “I suspect we might both be right,” he told Black as the two of us walked away.

  “Why do you let him get away with that?” Black asked as we sparred.

  “I really don’t know,” I answered as I dodged his huge fist he thrust at my middle.

  If Brown had said anything like that to me, he would have gotten an earful. I didn’t know why I couldn’t stand up to Helix. Maybe it was because he was a friend of Black’s and I was afraid of offending Black by offending Helix.

  We didn’t speak again until we were heading back home in Black’s SUV.

  “So, White said he knew the men I took pictures of. Who were they?”

  “Some guys that used to work for another PMC based out of the city,” he answered.

  I might not have to spend days building composites and weeding through pictures.

  “What PMC do they work for?”

  “They don’t. Not any more.”

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No. This is the Admiral’s problem. White turned it all over to him last night.”

  “But—”

  “No buts, Grey. This is one you don’t want to mess with.” His jaw clenched shut and I knew I’d gotten all I could get from him. The use of Grey instead of Alex wasn’t lost on me either. He rarely called me Grey anymore, unless we were involved in something for work.