“You will receive a new disposable phone with a new phone number once a week,” Joseph said. “You will find your new phone in your packet. Like your other phones, these phones have been modified to limit detection.”
“No GPS,” Raz said.
“Right, no GPS,” Joseph said.
“Inside your packets, you will find your travel plans as well as one hundred business cards with the new Fey Team phone number on it,” Sergeant Dusty said. “This number is a message-only phone. When someone calls, they will get another phone number to call. These numbers will change with every phone call.”
“You will be asked how we are able to do this,” Joseph said. “Sir?”
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” Alex said.
“That is a direct quote,” Matthew said. “And this project is about who you know. Prior to shipping out, we’d like you to begin making phone calls to every military person you consider a friend or have worked with on a team. Do not hesitate to give the number to command. However, you must inform them that all other lines of communication have been corrupted. They will remain corrupted until further notice.”
“We’re hoping to pass this number from person to person until we find someone who knows something,” Alex said. “This seems like the shortest route to find out where our hostages are located.”
“Someone had to fly these teams to their secret missions,” Joseph said. “Someone had to ferry them near their location. Someone had to drop them off. Someone had to plan for their food, clothing, and artillery. In this military, a soldier cannot take a dump without it being noted. We don’t have those notations.”
“We want to find the note-takers,” Alex said. “You’ll find your security clearance has been bumped up for this assignment. With the badges in your packets, you have the right to ask anyone anything at any time.”
“Homeland Security agents are interviewing the families of the missing US soldiers. France is handling the interviews for the missing foreign soldiers,” Raz said. “These are quiet interviews. I have personally vetted the agents – ours and the French.”
“Agent Rasmussen and Captain Olivas will remain in Denver,” Joseph said. “The rest of the team is on the move. You can plan to be in and out of Denver this week and possibly next, depending on what we are able to gather. We will keep in touch via our disposable phones.”
“Captain Olivas is working off-base on a special assignment,” Alex said.
“Hector Jasper stashed his laptop with his mother,” Joseph said. “She gave it to us as a gesture of good faith. Captain Olivas is working to gain access to the encrypted information on the laptop’s hard drive. He will be working closely with Max and Margaret to decipher the obtained information. He will also be available to you if you need him. His number and Agent Rasmussen’s are programmed into your phones.”
“Agent Rasmussen will be coordinating this effort and collecting any information you obtain,” Alex said. “He will be your point of contact for command. Let him know what you learn as soon as you learn it. He will coordinate your response. He will be in contact with you every day.”
“I want to know what you hear,” Raz said. “I want to know what you smell, taste, think and touch. Any detail can help the Fey figure this thing out. The Fey needs you and your friends to be her eyes and ears on the ground. You may repeat that statement.”
“Any questions?” Alex asked. When no one responded, she said, “You may open your packets now. Captain Hutchins? Captain Ramirez? You are with me. We’re going to Norfolk to speak to a Commander. I’m going to receive my first treatment while we’re there. We should return to base this evening. We expect you to do the same. We will convene when everyone returns.”
Alex waited for the team to open their packets and review their assignments. When there weren’t questions, she raised her hand for Vince and Trece. They followed her out of the meeting room.
“You think this is going to work?” Trece asked in a loud stage whisper.
“It’s better than nothing,” Alex said.
FFFFFF
An hour later
Tuesday morning
November 3 – 7:11 a.m. MST
Denver, CO
“There’s someone in the yard,” Cian said. With his mouth full, he sounded more like a pirate than Irish. Hector James giggled. The boy’s face was covered in chocolate.
“And?” Wet with sweat from his run, John raised his eyebrows at Cian.
“Well, Johnny, we’re just poor immigrants,” Eoin said.
John looked at his brother’s best friend and back at Cian.
“And?”
“We waited for you and Troy’s return from your fitness program,” Eoin said.
“Didn’t want to get into any nasty trouble,” Cian said.
“We’re watching the wee ones,” Eoin said.
John looked at Hermes and he giggled. His goatee of chocolate syrup rivaled his brother’s. He had a glob of whipped cream on his nose.
“Let me get this straight,” John said. “Cian sees someone standing in our backyard.”
“I did,” Cian said.
“And your natural response is to call your mate from the Nort’?”
“Don’t be so separatist, Johnny,” Eoin said. “It’s only a small island. We’re Irish.”
John groaned at the ever present “United Ireland” conversation.
“Who else am I going to call, really?” Cian asked.
“The Police?” John asked.
“Don’t be crazy,” Eoin said.
“Crazy? Yes, well,” John said. “You rushed over to peer at the person in our backyard. That’s sane?”
“Not just peer!” Hector James giggled. “He made our pips like an ice cream sundae.”
“There’s always a party when I’m around.” Eoin’s big smile, bright-red hair, and mismatched clothing made him look like a clown.
“Is he dangerous?” Troy came out of the downstairs bathroom drying his hands. He threw a clean towel to John. John began drying off.
“How should we know?” Cian said. “We’re deportable.”
“What’s he doing in the backyard?” Eoin asked. “That’s my question. Why didn’t he ring the bell?”
“Maybe it’s early and he didn’t want to wake everyone?” John asked. “He didn’t realize we had an early Irish Volunteer warning system.”
Troy’s eyes followed the path that John’s had just moments before. He glanced at Cian’s defiant look and Eoin’s irate glare. His eyes fell on his sons.
“Chocolate syrup?” Troy asked.
“Chocolate syrup happens to be on their approved list,” Cian said. “We checked.”
“Whip cream too,” Eoin said. “Well, cream. But how different can it be when it comes in that little can?”
Giggling, Hector James squirted more whipped cream onto his oatmeal.
“Saved us the trouble of whipping it ourselves,” Cian said.
“We had cherries!” Hermes bounced in his chair.
“Only one,” Cian said.
“We’re not gluttonous proddies,” Hector James repeated what he’d clearly heard from Eoin. Hector James giggled.
“Gluttonous proddies?” John raised his eyebrows at Eoin.
“We are not.” Defensive, Eoin crossed his arms across his chest.
Troy opened his mouth to say, “If your mother was here, she’d freak out.” Their mother wasn’t there and for the first time in their lives, his sons had formed friendships with these two crazy Irishmen. He closed his mouth. The boys beamed chocolate smiles at him.
“Shall we take a peek at the scary man in the backyard?” Troy asked John.
“Let’s,” John said.
They went to the antique French doors that led from the dining room to the backyard.
“Ready?” John asked Troy with as much theatrics as he could muster.
“Ready,” Troy said.
They pulled the sheer curtain back from the door
and looked at the backyard. A man wearing denim jeans and a light-weight jacket stood just to the side of Alex and Max’s beehives. He appeared to be watching the bees.
“That’s no scary man,” John said. “That’s…”
Before he could get the words out, they heard feet pounding down the steps to the first floor. They saw a flash of a dark-haired young man wearing a tank top and boxer shorts. Fionn ran through the kitchen and out the back door.
“DA!” Fionn yelled as he ran down the flagstone garden path. Hearing Fionn, the man turned, smiled, and held his arms open. Fionn ran into his father’s arms.
“That’s Tom Drayson,” John beamed at Troy.
With a nod to the men and children, John went out the French door to greet his father.
F
CHAPTER TWENTY
Tuesday night
November 3 – 9:11 p.m. PST (12:11 a.m. EST)
USS Ronald Reagan, San Diego, CA
“What are you doing now?” Leena asked.
“These bunks weren’t made for people my size,” White Boy said. “Fatties, yes. If you’re fat, this is perfect for you. But me? It sucks. Too wide; too tall; too big.”
Leena chuckled and lay back against her bunk. They were staying on the ship tonight to talk to a flight crew due in the morning. According to the Captain, the flight crew had dropped off a team of Marines for one of these missions. Zack and Cliff were flying in to talk to the pilots early tomorrow. Leena sighed.
“Will you be offended if I sleep on the floor?” White Boy asked.
“Offended? No.”
“No leering,” White Boy said.
White Boy got out of the bunk above her. She hooted at him as he passed on the ladder.
“Very funny.” He reached up to grab his pillow and blanket above her. “Why aren’t you asleep? I thought being on a ship was amazing. Your favorite place in the world. And crap like that.”
“I thought so too,” Leena said.
“Oh.” White Boy threw his pillow and blanket on the floor. “Sorry.”
“It’s my first time on a ship since the Comfort,” Leena said. “I keep thinking about what happened, you know, when I was in the box? And the way the guys looked at me? Everyone knows. Did you see that weirdo who kept trying to get to us? I didn’t realize it but everyone knows. Fuck.”
She hit the bunk above her. White Boy lay on the floor.
“You want to know what I saw?” he asked. “Or you want me to just listen? I never know the difference, so I usually ask.”
Leena didn’t respond.
“I’ll just listen,” White Boy said.
Leena hit the bunk again.
“I still did the wrong thing?” he asked.
“No,” Leena said. “I’m upset.”
“Oh.”
They fell silent for a moment. White Boy stretched to his full length. He rolled over to fall asleep when he heard Leena crying.
“Hey,” White Boy sat up. “Are you crying?”
“Uh huh.”
“You wanna come down here and sleep with me?” he asked.
She didn’t respond. He could hear her crying in the bunk above him.
“That’s what my Yvonne does when she feels upset,” he said. “I won’t try anything; I know you’re gay and stuff. I mean I don’t care that you’re gay and stuff. And you don’t have to tell me and I won’t ask. Plus, we’re teammates and that’s against the rules and Alex would kill me. Trust me, she’s more than willing to kill me; maybe Trece first. Yeah, she’d kill Trece first but I’m definitely second.”
Leena continued to cry.
“My Yvonne went through some stuff like you did. She gets all upset and can’t reason and stuff. She likes to be held for a while.”
“Yvonne went through… stuff?”
“You’ve met my Yvonne, right?” White Boy asked. “She’s tiny. She was easy prey in junior high and high school. She had a shitty family and a bad time with her mom’s brothers. She was like a bird when I met her – very jumpy. Like you get sometimes. She’s better now. Hey, maybe that’s why Alex always asks me to guard you.”
“She is?”
“Who is?”
“Yvonne. She’s better?”
“She’s better,” he said. “Her life is stable and secure. She’s in control at our house. Plus, knowing Luz, you know Trece’s wife, she learned to be tough. Of course, Alex talked her into getting a black belt in karate and I bought her a handgun. That’s what she tells me: ‘Don’t fuck with me, Blanco. I can kick your ass and shoot you when you’re down.’”
She had no idea if it was true, but the idea of tiny Yvonne holding her own with her giant bodybuilder husband made Leena chuckle.
“Very funny,” White Boy said. “Wait ‘til she threatens you!”
Leena laughed at him. He chuckled. Leena climbed out of her bunk, grabbed her blankets and joined White Boy on the floor. She lay next to him until he tugged her over to him. She rested her head on his shoulder.
“This is nice,” Leena said. “I’ve seen the LC do this with the Rasmussen. Vince says it’s not sexual. I didn’t believe him.”
“When you’ve been through a lot of shit, another warm body next to you in the dark can be real comfort,” White Boy said.
“Real comfort. Yeah,” Leena said. “Almost makes me think about switching sides.”
“Sides? You mean not be gay anymore?” White Boy asked. “Why would you do that?”
“No idea.”
White Boy snorted a laugh.
“All right,” Leena said. “Lay it on me. What did you see?”
“I saw people totally jealous of you,” White Boy said. “They were like, ‘She’s a Mineman? She’s like me? And she gets to work with the Fey?’ I know you had a rough time, but you’re a rock star now. Everyone wants to work with the Fey. Seriously.”
“Why?”
“Look at our life from the outside,” White Boy said. “We are on active-duty pay and off-base pay. We know our kids and our kids know us because we’re home a lot. We travel the world when we want to, where we want to. We don’t have to go some place to kill random people on someone’s random order. We actually get to save soldiers and help other people. I mean, I could go on and on. That’s not to mention just the star factor. Alex is the shit. You’ll see. People fall over themselves when she’s around. Zack too.”
“Like a rock star.”
“Right,” White Boy said. “You know how we couldn’t keep Alex safe at Walter Reed, right?”
Leena nodded against his shoulder.
“That’s because no human being or fleet of human beings can sort out the fans from the crazies,” White Boy said. “That’s why the team is so distant. Sheer numbers of fans. Easier just to keep everyone away.”
“You don’t think they know?” Leena asked. “You know about me being held in that box and… everything.”
“If they do, it gives you serious tough gal stripes,” White Boy said. “Most people would snivel away to hide in a corner. You’re here, ready to work, ready to ask tough questions, and ready to find lost soldiers. That makes you just that much cooler.”
“Oh,” Leena said.
“Didn’t think of it?”
“No.”
“Sometimes it takes an idiot to reveal your own idiocy,” White Boy said.
“Yvonne?” Leena asked.
“Alex’s sister Samantha,” White Boy chuckled.
“Gorgeous woman. Wicked tongue.”
“She’s been hurt bad,” White Boy said. “I think you pretty girls suffer more. You’re tempting. Everyone wants something from you.”
“From me?”
“Oh don’t even pretend,” White Boy said. “I know you’re gorgeous. You know you’re gorgeous.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“You want me to find the guy you think is weird? Have a talk with him?”
“Would you?”
“First thing,” White Boy said. “And don’t worry. If a
nyone gets past the lock on the door, all of our belongings, and whatever other booby trap you set, I’ll kill them.”
“You will?”
“Sure,” White Boy said. “I’m not Alex. I’m a soldier. I kill people.”
“Somehow, that’s comforting.”
“It is for Yvonne too,” White Boy said. “I think that’s weird, but she’s female and…”
He shrugged.
“Everything female is weird?”
“Do not tell Alex I said that,” White Boy said.
“My lips are sealed,” Leena said.
“Sleep?” White Boy asked.
“You mind if I stay here?” Leena asked.
“Nah,” White Boy said. “I fart when I sleep.”
“Loud or stinky?”
“Both. It’s the diet.”
“Good to know.”
White Boy was sound asleep before Leena relaxed. As she’d learned in therapy, she went back through the day and all the interactions. Viewing events through his lens, she saw how people were nervous and excited to meet them. She nodded slightly. He was right.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
He farted and she smiled.
FFFFFF
Seven hours later
Wednesday morning
November 4 – 7:11 a.m. EST (4:11 a.m. PST)
Over the Atlantic Ocean
Alex felt the bed jerk, then jerk again. Reaching her hand out for Max, she found herself alone on a litter.
“She’s coming around,” Vince said.
“Vince? Where’s Max?” Tears fell down her face. Not quite conscious, and in tremendous pain, she began to sob. “What happened to Max?”
Vince sat down on the litter. She felt him rub her upper back.
“Max is alive,” Vince said. “Nothing happened to Max.”
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