J. J. chuckled. So did Tess.
Then she dissolved into tears.
J. J. AND THE team moved to the official telecommunications site on the base and stared at a very weary-looking Colonel Mac.
“Glad to see you guys are alive. You gave me quite the scare.”
“Joker is a drama queen,” J. J. said.
“I’ve heard that.”
Aliki didn’t respond. J. J.’s next conversation with the big man would involve questions about his now-obvious hearing problem and a lecture about endangering the team, a lecture sure to scorch the skin from his face. At the moment, he didn’t see any need to mention the problem to Colonel Mac. Not yet anyway.
“Jose on his way to Germany?” the colonel asked.
“Yes, sir. Left twenty minutes ago. He said to give you his regards. Sir, I plan on putting his name in for a medal, blue one with five stars on it.”
“And I plan on approving it.” He cleared his throat. “I know I asked a lot of you, but I’m afraid I had no other choice. Time was working against us.”
“No problem, sir. This is what we do. No complaints here, just questions.”
“Such as?”
“I was given the impression all American flights over Kyrgyzstan were banned. Did you or Colonel Weidman just order the flights anyway?”
“Wanna take that, Colonel?” Mac said.
“Sure.” Weidman sat at the back of the small theater-style room. “We had the blessing of President Oskonbaeva. He also ordered the military to the building with the bio-chem lab. It seems saving his daughter put him in a better mood.”
“Do we know who was behind the attack?” Pete asked.
“Our president has been in contact with his Kyrgyzstan counterpart. The dust has settled, but he’s starting to think his prime minister was behind everything. He was staging a coup without it looking that way. The riots, the protests were orchestrated to focus on key areas. The bio-chem attack would be blamed on the United States, forcing us to close the base. At this point we’re guessing, but our intel guys think he was after the three billion the Chinese offered the country if we got the boot, and he was going to get a hefty pile of cash for himself. That’s still speculation.”
“Where is he now?” A female voice said.
J. J. turned to see Amelia Lennon enter.
“Sorry to be late. Jildiz is quite the talker—when she can breathe. Oh, and she’s doing fine. Still confined to bed, but she’s getting the care she needs at the Embassy. Her parents are there keeping her company.”
“Any word on where the prime minister is now?” J. J. asked.
Colonel Mac said, “He took a helicopter from Ala-Too Square just like the president did, except this time the chopper went all the way out of the country: to China.”
“So he’s going to get away with it?” Amelia said.
Mac shook his head. “Word has it the Chinese will return the helo. They might return the prime minister with it.”
“Does that mean the base is safe?” Crispin asked.
“I doubt it,” Amelia said. “This country needs cash and lots of it. Three billion is serious money. Besides, those riots could have only been arranged if the locals really do want us gone. An influx of money from China and Russia and the removal of a sore spot from their land will probably prove too much for the president to resist.”
“But we saved his daughter.” Nagano seemed put out.
“True,” Amelia said, “but you didn’t save the daughters of every member of parliament. The president will have to rescue himself.”
“We saved his daughter,” J. J. said, “but if you hadn’t been there in the first place she probably would have been dead long ago.”
“Thanks,” Amelia said.
“You know,” Nagano quipped, “I’m not married.”
J. J. turned to see the sniper aiming his eyes at Amelia. “You know you’re talking to an officer, don’t you?”
“I’m just thinking out loud, Boss. Nothing more.”
“One last thing,” Colonel Mac said. “Sergeant Kinkaid and I paid a little visit to the president. Don’t ask, I’ll explain later. Anyway, Kinkaid asked President Huffington if he would be kind enough to have the FBI look at the video that made us all think you were dead. It turns out those burned bodies aren’t yours.”
J. J. cocked an eyebrow. “That’s good to hear. I’d hate to wake up and find out I was dead. How could the FBI tell?”
“Footwear, Sergeant Major. Footwear. The corpses weren’t wearing military boots.”
“It always comes down to shoes,” Amelia said.
AS THE TELECONFERENCE WAS breaking up, J. J. asked Colonel Weidman if he might have the room for a few moments. The colonel consented.
“Aliki, Mike, hang back a sec.”
The two exchanged glances, then in near unison: “Sure, Boss.”
When the room emptied, Nagano asked if they should sit.
“Nah, this won’t take long.” J. J. looked up and into Aliki’s eyes and spoke louder than he would normally. “I need some advice and I think you’re the best guy to ask.”
The big man shifted his weight. “Glad to help, Boss. What can I do?”
“I’m not sure how to handle a problem. Let’s play ‘Just Suppose,’ shall we? Just suppose you were leading a team and one of your soldiers had a physical problem. Let’s pretend it’s something with, oh I don’t know, his hearing. You know what happens to guys like us from time to time: too much noise, and explosions, the kind of stuff that can damage an eardrum. Those things happen on mission.”
“I’ve heard of that, Boss.” Aliki chewed his lip.
“Now just suppose that soldier didn’t tell anyone, or maybe just confided in, say, a friend.” He faced Nagano for a moment then returned his attention to Aliki. “Such a thing could be a problem in the field, or am I exaggerating?”
“I agree, such a condition might be a problem in the field. In fact, I believe that more now than ever.”
“Do you? Good to hear. So the question is this: How should a guy like me handle such a thing?”
“Well, um . . .” Aliki looked at the floor. “I suppose, if the soldier were a man of honor with a stellar service record, I might drop a hint and let him get checked out by a civilian doc.”
J. J. nodded. “That’s a good idea. It would keep someone like me from having to make a note of it in the mission report. Do you think the soldier’s friend would make sure his buddy got checked out?”
“I think you could bet on it, Boss.” Nagano seemed to be standing straighter.
“Well, if I ever come across such a situation I’ll follow your suggestions.” He moved to the doors. “I wonder if the mess serves barbecue.”
EPILOGUE
J. J. WAS THE last off the commercial aircraft that delivered him to Columbia Municipal Airport a short distance from Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The rest of the team arrived two days earlier, but J. J. requested and received permission to stay with Jose at the U.S. Army Hospital, Heidelberg. He spent his days sitting with Jose, who showed remarkable progress. They talked of old times, tried to make sense of European soccer, and read.
He also made certain Jose had plenty of private time with Lucy. Jose couldn’t leave his bed, but he could hold his wife’s hand for hours.
J. J. allowed himself to believe Jose would live long enough to give him a bad time in the years ahead. The thought gave him great joy.
“Why didn’t you leave when I told you to?” Jose asked the first evening.
“Because I’m team leader and, well, you’re not. That means I get to order you around. The reverse isn’t true. Besides, you saved my life once.”
“True, but that was just business.”
“Just business, eh? I’ll rememb
er that the next time you’re dying before my eyes.”
Jose gave a crooked smile, it was all he could manage. “Well, I’m going to give you another order, J. J.”
“I plan to ignore it.”
“I doubt it. Go home. Go give Tess a big hug for me.”
“I can hang another day or two.”
“No, you can’t. Get out of here, or I’ll crawl out of this bed and make you leave.”
“I don’t think you can manage it, but I think you’d try, then I’d have your wife to deal with. Of the two of you, she’s the one who scares me.” J. J. stood.
“Thanks for everything, J. J.”
“You’re a hero, Jose. A red, white, and blue hero, and I am a better man for knowing you.”
“Whatever. Get out of here. I’m going back to sleep and dreaming of the Mexican Riviera.”
That evening, J. J. caught a commercial flight out of Heidelberg Airport. The trip was long, and recent events quickly put him into a sleep coma, something he wished would last for a week. His desire for sleep faded when the Lufthansa A380 touched down in South Carolina. He waited until the plane was nearly empty before disembarking. He walked through the terminal, past security, and into the area of the airport where family waited for arrivals.
Standing in the middle of a crowd was the only person he could see. Tess was beautiful in every way. A few moments later, J. J. took his wife in his arms and embraced her deeply, longingly, thankfully.
Then he pulled away, dropped to one knee and placed his mouth near her belly. “Hey kids, Daddy is home.”
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