Blue Skies

by Ali Vali

  The guard at the main door of the area gave Devin a small nod indicating that Blazer was gone. Only then did Devin open the door to Alan’s cell.

  “It’s about damn time,” Alan said after he took a step back because Devin was blocking the entryway.

  “It’s about damn time for what?” Devin repeated and smiled. “You think you’re going somewhere, sunshine?”

  “Since Blazer just walked out I figured you checked our story and you saw I was telling the truth.” Alan pointed in the direction Blazer had headed.

  “We did check your stories.” Devin leaned against the door frame. “I say stories because Blazer’s account had a few different parts to it than yours.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “They didn’t match up because he told us the truth, and his explanation fit the facts better than your version.” Devin spread his hands and lifted them as he shrugged. “We both know you turned back toward the north, and we both know that Cletus ordered you to turn around before you cut off the link.” Devin knocked on the metal door to make Alan look up. “And I do mean you, Lewis.”

  “What are you talking about?” Alan’s eyes were wide open now as he repeated himself and Devin could almost smell the fear Aidan mentioned on him.

  “It was you who wanted to deviate, you who cut the transmission to Cletus, and you who got her and Junior killed. All you, Lewis, and I’ve got the best witness in the world who’ll back it up—your pilot. How’d you get to call all the shots up there? You fucking Blazer?”

  “He wouldn’t do that,” Alan said while he shook his head.

  “Your boyfriend took one look at what the captain showed you and he couldn’t talk fast enough. That means you’re stuck in here for the duration, so get comfortable. When we’re stateside the captain will turn you over for a court-martial and they’re going to fry you. If you want to avoid that—”

  “What, talk?” Alan appeared relieved when Devin spoke again. “I’m not that stupid, Lieutenant.”

  “Boy, I don’t give a rat fuck if you talk.” Devin moved forward so fast Alan fell back on the bunk. “What I was going to say was if you want to avoid a trial then give me a reason to fix the problem cheaper. Give my men any shit and I’ll fucking kill you myself and save the Navy the trouble.”

  “You’re bluffing. You can’t touch me.”

  “You really are as stupid as Blazer said. If you’re talking about your Pentagon boys coming to the rescue, they’re already in custody. I’m sure they’re telling everyone who’ll sit and listen that you’re the grand mastermind. Think about it. It’s Blazer and his father’s word against yours. The odds aren’t in your favor.” Devin left after that and Alan didn’t start screaming until he was in the corridor, but Devin kept going.

  “Let’s see who’s the better bluffer, asshole, you or me,” Devin said.

  *

  Washington, DC

  “Sir, we finished the log search you asked for,” Commander Mark “Rooster” Palmer, head of the security forces for the Pentagon, said and handed Drew a sheet of paper. “The only visit so far that meets the parameters you set is number forty-two.”

  Drew ran his finger down the page and fell back in his seat when he saw Rodney James’s name. He knew the proud man was upset after Peter had forced his retirement, but not enough to participate in whatever Jerry had in mind.

  “Did you talk to anyone with the Navy? What’s the retired admiral been up to?”

  “From my sources, sir, Mr. James has accepted a job with a defense contractor as their liaison with Congress.”

  “Thanks, Rooster, and remember to not talk about this with anyone,” Drew said as a dismissal. When he was alone he picked up the phone and dialed. “Meredith, I need to talk to him.”

  Peter Khalid came on the line seconds later. “What’s up, Drew?”

  “Mr. President, I’ve started an investigation because I think we’ve got a situation.”

  “Give me an hour and we’ll meet here.”

  As Drew gathered his information for his meeting the phone rang. It was Rooster again. “I just got a call from the brig, sir, and Teague’s demanding a meeting with you.”

  “I’ll be happy to oblige as soon as I get warrants for any building he has a mortgage or lease on. Any movement at his house?”

  “Not yet. I had Lucas Rhodes’s assistant call and tell his wife he wouldn’t be home for a couple of days. He said we’d asked him to stay on because of everything that’s going on with the Jefferson. I’ve got his house under surveillance around the clock and we’re looking for any other buildings he has regular access to.”

  “I’m on my way to the White House. Call me if you find anything.”

  When he arrived at the Oval Office, Peter was on the phone behind his desk and he waved him in when Drew hesitated at the door. The president had not only taken his jacket off, but rolled up his sleeves and taken off his tie.

  “Tell me what’s giving you heartburn since you have that look on your face,” Peter said and took a seat across from him.

  Drew gave him all the details he had so far and what he wanted done. “You know Rodney wasn’t happy with giving Aidan Sullivan this commission, and less happy with the way his career ended.”

  “What about the pilot who went down? Any new information?”

  “Officially we’re listing her and her partner as MIA, but the assumption is that the team is dead. The way the planes were set up to self-destruct on impact, there’s going to be very little wreckage for the Koreans to go through. I’m not worried about that. What’s bothering me is the information Teague got off the Jefferson. It makes what happened suspicious. We need to know if Commander Levine’s going down was a loss of war or something aided by assholes with a grudge.”

  Peter smiled. “I love that you don’t think you need to walk on eggshells around me. I’ll arrange for whatever warrants you need, but I want daily reports on your progress.”

  “What about Rodney?”

  “Give me something more concrete before you pick him up. I may not care for his attitude on a whole lot of things, but I do respect his service. That has to count for something.”

  “I’ll keep you in the loop.” Drew rose to leave. By the time he got back to his office, Rooster and a team from the FBI were searching Jerry’s and Adam’s homes and the office space they’d leased under the name New Horizon Consultants. The afternoon was spent going through the boxes of information that were collected, and then Drew was ready to meet with Jerry.

  “Let’s see how he explains most of this stuff, then we’ll meet with the weak link in the chain,” Drew told Rooster.

  “If you’re talking about Adam, that should be a short conversation. So far all he’s given the guards is his name, date of birth, and social. He gives ‘crazy zealot’ a whole new meaning.”

  “That’s fine for him, but I wonder how long he’ll toe Jerry’s line when I threaten him with little Blazer Morris.” Drew picked up Blazer’s file. “Blaze is a good word to describe what could happen to his son’s career if he doesn’t cooperate.”

  *

  North Korean Countryside

  “You awake?” Junior asked as the rain got worse and the skies darkened. They’d been sleeping on and off all day, but it had been difficult with the weather. Berkley had told him about their dilemma when she’d returned from her recon and Junior had spent his time awake rubbing his leg above the break.

  “It’s hard with this water torture going on,” Berkley said without lifting her head off the tree she was leaning against. “What’s on your mind?”

  “How do you think we can move forward?”

  “I don’t have a good map of the area, so I can’t be sure, but I guess the best thing is to wait until at least midnight and then go around this place on the west side.” The bottle Berkley had taken was full of rain water, so she offered Junior some. “It’s more open than the east, but less populated.”

  “I thought you said there
were cops, or some sort of military.”

  “I’m not sure what they call them, but they’re down there. We’re a team, so if you’ve got an idea tell me.”

  “The way I see it, we can’t stay here, but if the rain clears I think somebody’s going to see us.”

  “If this holds up until dark, you want to get going? There’s two ways to look at this. If it’s late, there won’t be a lot of people around, but at first dark they should be inside, especially on a night like tonight.”

  “I say we go early, but whatever you decide I’m behind you.”

  “Actually, you’ll be in front driving the horse,” Berkley said and they both laughed.

  She stretched before she stood and went back to her spot to take another look at the town. It was as if the light had been sucked out of the place. What she hadn’t told Junior was that there was no cover for miles and for their survival it wasn’t a great thing, but he was right. Staying put wasn’t an option.

  She planned their route and kept in mind that the other chance they’d have to take was to go slow while they passed the town. Two people galloping through the countryside would be something out of the ordinary, in her opinion. From the little glimpse of what she’d seen of the place from ground level it was bleak—the kind of place where no one moved quickly because there was nothing to rush for.

  After she’d memorized the map in her head, she went back and sat with Junior. She untied the splint to ease the pressure on his leg and through the tear in his pants she saw the bruising and red streaks that signaled an infection was setting in. Their time was growing short.

  “I want you to keep him at a slow pace and I’ll tell you where to head. If anyone stops us, you stay put and I’ll take care of it. I don’t want to kill anyone, but I also want to get us out of here.”

  Junior nodded and held his hand up as a request to be helped to his feet. When he was standing, he didn’t let go of her. “No matter what, it’s been an honor serving with you, Cletus.”

  “You’re a good man, Junior, try and remember that. All that shit you got from assholes like Blazer was just that—shit.” She squeezed his hand and put the other one on his shoulder. “So don’t go counting us out yet.”

  “I’m not, but my dad always tells me to never leave anything unsaid if you can help it.”

  The horse stood still obediently as Berkley pulled Junior up, and they waited until the streets were relatively empty before starting out. They were past the main section of town when a lone walker with a rifle slung across his back headed toward them with his hand up. He obviously didn’t feel any alarm yet since he never moved to ready his weapon.

  “Stop and relax,” Berkley whispered to Junior as she waved to the man who was saying something in a louder than normal voice, but she figured it had to do with the rain more than any excitement over being the one to catch two Americans in the middle of a field. As he got closer, Berkley could see the guy squinting as if trying to make out their faces. “Put your head down,” she told Junior and copied his action. The man screamed something to them again, but this time started to ready his weapon. “Start toward him and get there before he gets that thing pointed at us.”

  They reached him before he could bring the rifle around and Berkley jumped from the horse and landed on top of him. She pulled his arm back and away from his weapon, and slugged him when he started a panicked-sounding dialogue. It stunned him long enough for Berkley to get behind him and wrap her arm around his neck. The bolt of the gun he so desperately tried to use pressed painfully into her chest, but Berkley didn’t let go.

  She could hear the man trying to squeeze air into his lungs, and he was beating on her arm and kicking his legs. The attempts to free himself became more futile, and after what felt like an eternity to Berkley, he went limp in her arms.

  “Is he dead?” Junior asked.

  Berkley pressed her finger to his neck and nodded. It was the first time she’d killed someone that wasn’t in the cockpit of another plane trying to knock her from the sky, and as upsetting as it was, there was no time to dwell. “Yeah, he is.”

  “What’s he doing out here?”

  “This is the country of the million man army, and the visit earlier probably called up the piece that lives here. I’m thinking it’s the only time civilians like this are allowed to carry guns.” Berkley accepted Junior’s hand to remount. “The grass is high, but they’ll find him by tomorrow, so put some distance between us and this place.”

  “You got it.” Junior used his good leg to spur the horse into a canter. “This pace should be good and won’t tire our ride too much.”

  The rain never let up and Berkley led them a little farther east than she’d envisioned, but she wanted to keep to the open farmlands as a cover. At three in the morning she pointed to a small stand of trees. “It’s not much, but let’s take a break.”

  The three trees stood like gnarled goblins in a sea of yellow grass that had been beaten down by the rain. Their branches started about three feet from the ground, but the foliage wasn’t thick. It was as if they were too old to produce many leaves.

  “This country is strange, don’t you think?” Junior said and sounded glad to be off the horse.

  “How so?” Berkley walked the perimeter and tied their ride to one of the low limbs between two of the trees.

  “You go for miles without seeing anyone, and yet all the land is empty. All this acreage could be used for wheat or something.”

  “You aren’t getting so bored with my company that you want to see more of the local citizens, are you?” Berkley laughed. “People pick their fate, and sometimes they follow so blindly that they end up screwing their kid’s future. I’m sure this wasn’t the promise of the revolution they signed up for, but now it’s too late to do anything but go along with the saber rattling so it doesn’t end up buried in their chests.”

  The damn weather wouldn’t let up and Berkley felt like her fingers were going to stay permanently pruned. There was no way to tell how much distance they had covered, and that they hadn’t seen any sign of a search party shocked her. Then almost as if jinxing herself, she heard it.

  “Wait,” she said when he went to reply to what she’d said. In order to better concentrate and separate the sound from the steady beat of rain, she closed her eyes.

  “Fuck,” Berkley said as she got to her feet. It was crazy to be in a helicopter right now, but they’d probably found the dead civilian sentry and had no choice but to start the search for who’d killed him.

  The sound got louder and the spotlight scanned the area in front of their path. The craft was three hundred yards from them by Berkley’s estimate, but she guessed once it was close enough to spot the trees she and Junior would be caught since she doubted she could hold them off with just her pistol.

  Her heart beat as fast as the prop as she watched the spotlight get closer like a speeding train screaming out of a tunnel. The light reached the ground about twenty-five feet from where she was standing and kept going.

  “Junior, stay put.” She followed the path the helicopter had taken.

  A quarter mile later the land gave way to a slope that rose to the highest hill Berkley had encountered so far. When she reached the tip her chest burned from the exertion, and she bent over with her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Just as quickly she dropped to her stomach and moved back so her body rested on the incline.

  The last thing she expected to see as she crested the hill was a base of some kind with about forty planes lined up on a large tarmac along with a few rows of tanks. Every other light was turned off, but it was enough for Berkley to see two runways and the two men who’d gotten off the helicopter refueling it.

  “What the hell?” Berkley said softly after thirty minutes of watching. It felt like she’d entered the rabbit hole, but she got to her feet and ran before the eerie strangeness of the place completely sank in. The helicopter had started up again and was going back in the direction it had come.
<
br />   The next chance they’d have to take would either get them back to the Jefferson or speed up their deaths.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  CIA Facility, Northern Virginia

  Jerry Teague appeared ill, but Drew figured it was the orange jumpsuit that had washed all the color from his face. The guards at the plain-looking facility had done a good job of stripping away everything that would’ve given Jerry a sense of the life that he’d been taken away from.

  “I know you didn’t care for my political beliefs, Drew, but I never pegged you as a vindictive son of a bitch.” Jerry sat in the metal chair his guard had pulled out for him and crossed his legs, which made his sandal fall off his foot. “And here I was worried about my retirement. Once my lawsuit hits federal court I don’t think I’ll have a problem.”

  “Tell me about your meeting with Rodney,” Drew said as he took his seat. One of his assistants placed a box next to him on the floor before stepping out.

  “The admiral and I met on numerous occasions. You’ll have to narrow your scope.”

  “The one that happened right before the Jefferson set sail.”

  “I was giving an honorable man the respect he deserved,” Jerry said in a sarcastic tone. “That’s something you and your boss need lessons on, because what happened to Admiral James was a disgrace.”

  “So you were being kind by giving him a shoulder to cry on?” Drew kept his eyes on Jerry’s expressions as well as his body language.

  “Is this all you’re here for?” Jerry put his feet on the floor and slammed his hands on the table. “Someone comes to my office who’s under your microscope and suddenly I’m the bad guy?”

  “Obviously all my questions have been too difficult for you so far, so let’s try something new.” Drew took a small notepad from his suit pocket. “Why did you call Captain Aidan Sullivan and Commander Levine to your office before their departure?”