Lean on Me

by Claudia Hall Christian

  “We’re all working to protect them, Efren,” Alex said. “Myself, my team, our President, yours… Will you do something for me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Will you call your mother?” Alex asked. “Ask her if she or her sisters know where the men are.”

  “My mother?”

  “Your mother and her sisters know everything that happens in that valley,” Alex said. “If the men are within a hundred miles, they will know about it or know someone who does.”

  “I’ll call,” he said. “Thanks, Fey.”

  “For?”

  “For giving me hope,” he said. “I’ll call as soon as I know anything.”

  Alex hung up her call and Max returned.

  “Ready?” Raz held out macchiatos to her and Max.

  She nodded. Pausing for a moment, she waited until the men were at the top of the stairs. She held her Magic 8 Ball to her chest for a moment. With it still next to her heart, she stalked across the basement to the laundry room. She tucked the Magic 8 Ball into the laundry trash can and covered it with a few paper towels. Nodding to herself, she closed up her office and jogged up the stairs to meet the team. Raz waited for her at the top of the stairs.

  “Oh, you have coffee,” Leena held a full pot. “I just brewed this.”

  “We’ll be out soon enough,” Raz said.

  “Thank you,” Alex said. “Where’s the dog?”

  “He and Pete went for a walk,” Matthew said. “They’ll be back.”

  “Is everything ready?” Alex asked.

  Alex stood in front of a home theater screen. Troy had the intelligence video connection projected on the screen. Troy got up so that Raz could sit down at the computer.

  “Where’s my Sergeant?” Alex asked.

  “Sergeant Dusty went to base,” Matthew said. “He’s going to control the feed from there.”

  “Royce?”

  “He went with Sergeant Dusty,” Joseph said. “He’s managing communication lines between the US and Mexico.”

  “Good thinking,” Alex said.

  She nodded to Patrick and the Admiral. Joseph held her camouflage jacket with FEY stenciled on the pocket. He gave her a helmet and her scarf. She wrapped the scarf around her face.

  “Are we ready?” Raz asked.

  “I’m ready,” Alex said.

  “Stand right here,” Matthew moved Alex in front of a webcam. “Sergeant Dusty?”

  “Got it,” Sergeant Dusty’s voice came over the feed. “We are a go.”

  One after the other, male and female voices relayed the same words: “We are a go.”

  “Who won the lotto?” Alex asked.

  “The USNS Nimitz, sir,” Sergeant Dusty said. “They are very excited.”

  “Sir, we have company,” Royce said.

  “Welcome,” Alex said. “X?”

  “System is ready, stable,” Xavier’s computer voice said.

  “Is Eniac on?” Alex asked.

  “Yes,” X said. “He’s watching.”

  “We are a go,” Alex said.

  Alex looked at Matthew.

  “Let’s do this thing!” Matthew said.

  Alex pointed to Raz.

  “This is the Vice-Admiral in charge of the Fifth Fleet of the United States Navy.”

  The Vice-Admiral stood on the observation deck over the aircraft carrier. His fleet commanders stood behind him. The sun glinted off their sunglasses, the band in their hats, and the medals on their full dress uniforms.

  “We were informed that our intelligence corps was incompetent,” the Vice-Admiral said. “Our elite teams were instructed not to trust their intelligence officers and that US intelligence corps has been costing lives.”

  Clearly enjoying himself, the Vice-Admiral smiled at the webcam.

  “So we rounded them up to push them overboard,” the Vice-Admiral said. The webcam panned to the deck below. Hundreds of men and women from the intelligence corps had been herded together in the middle of the deck. They were surrounded by machine gun toting seamen.

  “Throw them overboard!” the men yelled in unison.

  “Then we stopped to think about it,” the Vice-Admiral said. “Every single sailor knows of a team of men whose lives were saved by intelligence. So we decided to ask the intelligence corps. And you know what? They have a very specific message they asked us to pass along to you. Shall we see what they have to say?”

  The webcam panned to the intelligence officers. The men and women had the middle finger of their right hand extended to flip off the camera. The seamen joined in. The camera panned to the fleet commanders who were also giving the finger to the webcam. Five F/A-18E Super Hornet jets buzzed the aircraft carrier.

  “So you see, it’s unanimous,” the Vice-Admiral extended his middle finger to the webcam.

  The screen went dark.

  Alex’s view shifted to a map of the world with an intricate neon-blue line web connecting the major cities and US military bases. The USS Nimitz went dark. In a cascading motion from the major cities, the blue lines went dark until the entire world was dark. A one-minute countdown timer appeared.

  “Ok, here we go,” Alex said.

  “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,” X’s computer voice said. “And we’re live.”

  The major world cities and US military bases lit up with neon-green lights. Slowly, the lights spread connecting city to city.

  “Fey?” the Vice-Admiral’s voice came over the webcam. Raz shifted the screen to view the USS Nimitz. “Are you there?”

  “You are live,” Alex said.

  “We’re live!” the Vice-Admiral yelled to the crew. The crew cheered. “He’s gone?”

  “For now, sir,” Alex said. “We cannot expect to keep him out forever. But at least we know he’s there. For now, the new international intelligence network should be safe, stable, and secure.”

  “The network is still coming up,” X’s computer voice said. “We’ll test the system for the next month.”

  “Whatever you need,” the Vice-Admiral said. “You let us know. We’re going to celebrate here. Hope you do too.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Alex saluted and he returned her salute.

  The screen went dark. Alex took off her scarf.

  “Whatever you need,” the Admiral said. “I love the sound of that. What’s next?”

  “We’re waiting for a call regarding location, sir,” Alex said. “We have it narrowed down to the Chiapas Depression on the border of Guatemala.”

  “Guatemala or Mexico?” the Admiral asked.

  “We’ll find out when I get my call,” Alex said.

  “Oil?” Patrick asked. “Again?”

  “It appears that way, sir,” Alex said. “We’ll know more when I get the call. Unless, you’d like to…”

  “On it,” Patrick said.

  Alex smiled. Patrick had led a team of men through the Guatemalan mountains. As was his way, he’d made friends everywhere he went. When it was Alex’s turn to adventure through the region to rescue five journalists, the tribe leader, Efren’s father, considered himself a friend of Patrick’s. She’d been able to leverage that relationship to free the hostages, her team, and eventually bring peace to the valley.

  “What’s next?” Alex asked.

  Patrick began making phone calls in Spanish near a corner of the room.

  “Troy,” Matthew smirked.

  “Troy?” Alex asked.

  Troy moved over to the computer hooked up to the overhead. Raz got up so he could sit down.

  “As you know, the laptop made no sense at all,” Troy said. “There’s no evidence for the case against my father, no evidence against anything. Just gibberish.”

  “Right,” Alex said.

  “So is Larry’s micro SD drive,” Troy beamed at her.

  “Why is that a good thing?” Alex asked.

  “Add them together and you get…” Troy hit a key.

  The screen in front of her lit up with files.

 
“Emails indicating that my father was well aware of the plan to kill Dahlia,” Troy cleared his throat. “Paid for it.”

  Alex put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her. She willed her strength into him. He nodded as if he understood.

  “Detailed engineering plans for the nano-drones,” Troy said. “And… voila!”

  He hit a key and a white screen with small letters came up.

  “I don’t know what that is,” Alex said.

  “The code for the virus,” Troy said.

  “Did you send it to Xavier?” Alex asked.

  “He did,” Matthew said.

  “And?” Alex asked.

  “X couldn’t stop laughing,” Matthew said. “When he stopped laughing, he said he could tell who wrote it and what to do. We’ve taken a leap forward.”

  “Hector had every single fucking thing on this laptop,” Troy said. “It was partitioned off and cloaked. I didn’t even know it was there until Larry…”

  He cleared his throat.

  “Very sophisticated,” Matthew said. “According to X. The DCPD picked up Troy’s Daddy again. DA says with the information from the laptop, they have a strong case against him. Troy’s mom will be cleared of all charges on Monday and be in Denver on Tuesday.”

  Alex gave a crooked smile.

  “Margaret and Pete are helping me with some of the coded documents on the computer,” Troy said. “Vince too.”

  “The rest of us are sitting around looking pretty,” Trece said.

  “Speak for yourself!” Leena said.

  “I was,” Trece said.

  “Great work,” Alex said. “Everyone. Really. How are the hostage profiles?”

  “Done, sir,” Joseph said.

  “And medical?” Alex asked.

  “Done, sir,” MJ said.

  “I was able to get more detailed information on the contractors,” Raz said.

  “Wow,” Alex said. “And gear? Are we ready to leave if we need to?”

  “Sergeant Dusty has been working with base supply,” Matthew said. “Zack said they are loading onto a plane now. We’re going to have to go to Buckley to meet them but otherwise we’re set.”

  “Who’s flying?” Alex asked.

  “Air Force,” Matthew said. “They are fueled and waiting for us. Zack’s arranged to pick up a chopper in Guatemala.”

  “We have family here,” Alex said. “Let’s start saying our ‘good-byes.’ We’ll find a destination in the air if we need to.”

  “In partner teams,” Matthew said. “Carmichael, Hutchins, you’re first.”

  In the corner of the room, Patrick began to laugh. The team turned to look at him.

  “I’ll go,” Alex said. “Max can you get our gear ready?”

  Max nodded and left for his side of the rooming house.

  “Your gear?” Matthew asked.

  “I have a feeling this job is going to require our special skills,” Alex said.

  Joseph put his hand on her shoulder. His eyes scanned her face.

  “What he doesn’t know about you?” Joseph asked.

  Alex nodded.

  “We’ll support you in every way possible,” Joseph said.

  “Manage the team,” Alex said. “I’d like not to be shot in the back.”

  Joseph smiled. Their CO Charlie O’Brien used to say “She won’t like it if you shoot her in the back” when they went on these missions. Their eyes held for a moment. Patrick laughed again and they looked at him.

  “Going,” Alex said.

  Alex went to her father. His eyes held a soft focus as he focused his attention on the call. He held up a finger to her and responded to the person on the phone. Alex turned away from him.

  “Coffee sir?” Trece asked.

  “Thanks.” Alex looked up at him. He poured coffee from a thermos into her mug.

  “How are you?” Alex asked.

  “I spent the first Christmas in more than ten years with Luz and the kids,” Trece said. “I’m…”

  Trece shook his head.

  “I didn’t think my son would bother with us,” Trece said. “Big college man now but…”

  “He was very welcome,” Alex said. “So handsome.”

  “Takes after Luz,” Trece said. “Did you see how he and Frederec hit if off right away? My kid and a Parisian clothing designer.”

  “They’re talking about spending the summer together,” Alex said.

  “Couldn’t have happened if you hadn’t invited us to be on the team. Thanks,” Trece said. “I think everyone feels the same. The women, kids, our families are so happy. It’s… good, really good.”

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Alex said.

  “Alex?” Patrick asked.

  Alex crossed her eyes to Trece and he chuckled. She walked over to her father. She smiled at the happy look on her father’s face. He seemed happier than he’d been in years. Restarting his team was good for him.

  “You remember the Mexican war in Chiapas?” Patrick asked.

  “I didn’t think it had been resolved,” Alex said.

  “Technically, it hasn’t,” Patrick said. “But there hasn’t been bloodshed in a while.”

  “That’s a good thing,” Alex said.

  “Yes, and something you’ve worked for,” Patrick said. “Do you remember why there was a war?”

  “No one’s quite sure,” Alex said. “A lot of people say it was about oil. Others say it was about indigenous rights. Sometimes I think people go to war to vent their innate crankiness.”

  Alex shrugged.

  “Crankiness leads to war,” Patrick smiled. “I’ll remember that the next time I’m in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.”

  Alex nodded. She was about to walk away when he took her hand.

  “Sorry Dad,” Alex said. “Twenty-three men are waiting for me. Heath is dead. How’s Mom holding up?”

  “She’s furious,” Patrick said. “I think she finally understands what you do.”

  “We need to get this done,” Alex nodded.

  “Yes,” Patrick said. “Down to business. For reasons we don’t have time for, the Mexican government is allowing private contractors to develop the oil fields in the Chiapas region. One of the biggest players early on was your old friends at…”

  “Pecos Oil,” Alex said. “Crap.”

  “Crap is right,” Patrick said. “They own a lot of leases in the region and quite a bit of land.”

  “Cee Cee Joiner,” Alex spit out the name of the man who wanted her dead.

  “Actually, it was his father, Cecil Joiner,” Patrick said. “Bought most of it on spec. Cee Cee had crews working in the region but most of their land and leases have been waiting for Pecos Oil to reform.”

  “So there’s not a lot of Pecos activity in the region?” Alex asked.

  “Wasn’t,” Patrick said. “A few months ago…”

  “You found the hostages,” Alex said.

  “Possibly,” Patrick said. “But you’ll need a good guide and help from Pecos to get there.”

  “Why do I need Pecos’s help?”

  “I didn’t work too hard to understand it because I knew you were close with Cecil and his team.”

  Alex gave a curt nod.

  “You and your brother will have to go in,” Patrick said.

  Alex nodded.

  “We’ll be here when you get home,” Patrick said.

  “Thanks Dad,” Alex nodded. She turned around to find everyone in the room looking at her. “Time to go.”

  “You heard the Fey,” Matthew said. “We will leave in five minutes.”

  “Fifteen,” Alex said. “Say ‘good-bye’. Please. This is not going to be nice and we don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”

  She nodded to the team and went to find John.

  F

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Two hours later

  Saturday afternoon

  December 26 – 2:55 p.m. CST

  Fort Hood, Killeen, Tex
as

  “You have thirty minutes if you need them,” Matthew said as the Hercules lowered to the tarmac. “If anyone needs any longer, let me know. Our goal is to be in Mexico by dark.”

  “We want to bring these men and women home tonight,” Joseph said.

  “Yes sir,” the team called.

  They began filing out of the plane. Max gave Alex a little wave and she nodded. He was off to find them some decent coffee.

  “We have company,” Matthew said.

  “Sue Ann and Bobby?” Alex asked.

  “Crowd of men and women,” Matthew said. “They want to see the Fey. You’ve seen the shot from the Nimitz?”

  “Arranged to have the picture made,” Alex said. “I wanted to get everyone in the shot.”

  “I think every person in intelligence is waiting for you, plus the regular crowd of groupies. You too, Jakker.”

  “It’s nice to be popular,” Zack said.

  “Can you help Sue Ann on?” Alex asked. “She’s not used to this kind of drama.”

  “I’ll get her,” Vince said.

  For a moment, their eyes caught. Alex saw that Vince remembered the first time they’d met Sue Ann Joiner. After her sons were killed by their father, Cee Cee Joiner, Sue Ann was more dead than alive. In the last year or so, she’d battled her way back to life with the help of Krystal Joiner, her boys, and their housekeeper, Luana. Sue Ann was such an integral part of Krystal’s life that even Krystal’s boys had complained when Alex asked for her help. Sticking her head out the door, Alex saw Sue Ann standing next to Bobby Lopez. Not a tall woman, she was fit from the hours of personal training required to fight her way back to life.

  Alex had met Bobby Lopez when Cee Cee Joiner’s boys were kidnapped and killed. Once she’d freed Cecil Joiner, Sr., Bobby Lopez had been reinstated as the head of oil-field acquisition. A hands-on department head, Bobby knew the who, what, where and when of every field. He’d insisted on coming. Cecil was working his connections to get them information from the local Chiapas authorities.

  When Sue Ann saw Alex, she took off running toward the ramp. She ran around Vince and was stopped at the ramp by Fort Hood MPs. Bobby and Vince caught up to Sue Ann and escorted her on board.

  “Alex!” Sue Ann screamed.

  “Sue Ann!” Alex hugged her. “Your hair!”