In the Grey (25 page)

She notched another arrow
into her compound bow. Max loaded his bow. Ji slipped a throwing
star into each of his hands.

“
We go together,” she
said.

The men nodded. She raised
three fingers and counted down to one. They moved as one unit down
the hallway and stopped at the corner. From the hole in the wall,
Colin whistled once. There was a pause and he whistled
again.

There were two people
standing in the hallway.

Alex glanced at Ji and
Max. She nodded and they turned the corner.

Ji’s quick hands threw the
stars at the moment Alex and Max released their arrows. The men
dropped to the ground. While Alex and Max loaded their bows, Ji
retrieved his stars.

Jesse pointed at a door.
He held up a hand. Five men were inside.

“
This way,” Alex
signed.

She stopped short at the
door, and Max ran into her. Ji fell in at their side. Ji turned his
back to them to cover the hallway. Alex kicked open the door. She
fired on the man standing next to the entrance. Out of the corner
of her eye, she tracked Max’s arrow as it pierced the eye of
another captor.

The bright flash of one of
Jesse’s energy balls lit up the room. Ji’s flying stars sparkled
like diamonds in their light. She was about to point it out to Max
when she saw Steve.

Bruised and bloody, he was
tied to a chair with a filthy rag tied around his eyes. His
clothing was ragged, and his cheeks gaunt. His hair held the dirty
sheen of someone who had been dunked or water-boarded. His left
ring finger was missing, and the rest of his fingers were broken.
His feet were shredded and swollen from beatings.

“
Sensei,” Alex
yelled.

“
Kill them all,” he
growled in Spanish.

The man standing next to
him grabbed a syringe and leaned over Steve. Alex jumped onto the
man’s back and broke his neck. As he fell, she grabbed her Bowie
knife to cut through the ropes that held Steve in the chair. She
rolled around the chair and cut the ropes on the other side. She
heard Ji fighting with a man in the corner. Spinning in place, she
loaded her bow and shot the man Ji was fighting. A man rushed
toward her. Max slammed his bow into the man’s face and then shot
him with an arrow. For a moment, the only sound was falling
bodies.

The ground rocked with
another explosion.

“
Time to go,” Ji said in
English. “They’re bringing the building down.”

Alex pulled Steve to
standing. Ji took one side of Steve, and Max took the other. Alex
ran to the door and peeked out. Several armed men ran down the
hallway. She signaled for Max and Ji to stop moving. They waited
for the men to turn into another hallway. Max and Ji dragged Steve
from the room. They shuffled to the exterior hole where the Fey
Team and Ji’s team waited for them.

Ji stepped through the
hole. Alex helped Max lay Steve down. Troy and a member of Ji’s
team grabbed Steve’s shoulders and dragged him through the
hole.

“
The priest is out of the
building,” Alex yelled over the machine gun fire from the mine
shed. “Cliff?”

“
Here!” Cliff
said.

The Fey Pave Hawk
helicopter landed just feet away from the entrance. Troy and
Matthew carried Steve’s by his shoulders, Royce and Colin grabbed
his hips, and Max and Alex took his feet. Raz helped guide Steve
into the helicopter.

“
Ji!” Alex waved him into
the helicopter.

He gave her a slight bow
and turned to his team. Colin dropped to the floor and began
treating Steve.

“
Go,” Alex yelled to
Cliff.

The helicopter had just
started to rise when the mining shed was hit with a heavy artillery
shell from the encroaching Korean People’s Army. Fire shot through
the building. Ji and his team ran to meet their helicopter. Raz
pushed the door closed.

A blast of frigid wind hit
the helicopter. They swung in the wind. Then the rotors caught a
heat wave from the exploding building and rocked in the other
direction. The team was tossed around the passenger compartment.
Alex fell into the seats. Raz grabbed her and dragged her into the
seat next to him. Max dropped into the seat beside her.

She’d just fastened her
straps when Colin gave her Steve’s saline IV bag to hold. The
helicopter fought the cold wind and the heat waves for a few more
minutes before He was able to get the helicopter above the battle.
The helicopter hung in the air for a moment before turning east.
They flew fast across North Korea toward the Sea of
Japan.

“
Do we have satellite in
Pakistan?” Alex asked Raz.

He pointed to his laptop
and to her ears. Alex took off her headset and pulled on the
helicopter headphones.

“
I have Joseph and the
commander of the SSG on the line,” Raz said. Alex smiled at him. He
grinned and gave her his handkerchief.

“
We’re on the ground,”
Joseph’s voice came over the air. “We’re ready to move into
position.”

“
Hold your position,” Alex
said. “Let’s get an update from the SSG.”

“
Roger that,” Joseph
said.

She pulled her balaclava
off and wiped her forehead. The handkerchief was red with blood.
She shot Raz a look of thanks.

“
Connecting to Captain
Jan,” Raz said.

“
Hello Lieutenant
Colonel.” Captain Jan’s heavily accented English echoed in her ear.
Alex smiled. Captain Ahmed Jan was raised in London. Most of the
time, he spoke English with a clipped British accent that rivaled
her husband’s. Captain Jan used this heavy Arabic accent to
disguise his voice.

“
Sir,” Alex
said.

“
We have the building
surrounded,” Captain Jan said. “Our men inside say your phoenix’s
guards have been replaced or dispatched. The guards’ duty appears
to have been to get the bird to the hunting range. The phoenix is
now surrounded by hunters who wish the poor bird harm.”

“
Good to know,” Alex
said.

“
No one will leave or
enter the room,” he said. “You realize the risk?”

Once the potential captors
realized they couldn’t get out of the room, they would kill
everyone including the secretary of state.

“
Affirmative.”

“
You will, of course,
speak with our good friend down south?” he asked.

“
Oh?”

“
That’s correct,” he said.
“Out.”

“
What does that mean?” Raz
asked.

“
Same shit,” Alex
said.

“
Ambivalence for the
phoenix’s outcome,” Raz nodded.

“
I’d guess his team has
the same reservations,” Alex said.

Raz raised his
eyebrows.

“
Yes,” Alex said. “Our
helpers might not be much help. They are allies and friends. And
certainly, the US military is just over the border in
Afghanistan.”

“
Our Captain Jan is in a
tough bind,” Raz said.

“
Yes,” Alex
said.

Alex felt a hand on her
leg. She looked down and noticed that Steve Pershing was reaching
for her.

“
Alex?” Steve
asked.

“
Try not to talk,” Colin
said.

“
I can hear you,” Steve
said. “Alex?”

“
I’m here, Sensei,” Alex
put her hand over his.

She glanced at Colin. He
pointed to his eyes and shook his head. Alex glanced at Steve’s
face. His eyelids were blistered and oozing. The skin on his
forehead and the bridge of his nose were burned. His eyebrows and
eyelashes were gone. Steve had been tortured with one of the twenty
ZM-87 lasers created by Norinco. Steve Pershing’s clear blue eyes
and his sight were gone forever.

“
Alex?” Steve asked
again.

“
Yes, Sensei,” Alex said.
“Colin is at your head. He’s serving as your medic for this
trip.”

“
Sensei,” Colin put his
hand on his shoulder.

“
Ji remained with his
team,” Alex said. “Fong is waiting for us in Japan.”

At the news that his son
was safe and his wife waiting for him, Steve’s entire body relaxed
against the gurney.

“
You’re on a Fey
helicopter,” Alex said. “We’re bound for the USS
Carl
Vinson
for fuel. We’re
en
route
to Yokosuka. My fathers are waiting
for you there.”

“
Thank God,” Steve
said.

“
I am sorry, sir,” Alex
grinned. “It’s a Navy hospital. It’s the best we could
do.”

As she knew they would,
his lips turned up at her joke. The helicopter buffeted in the
wind.

“
The Jakker?” Steve
asked.

“
The kid,” Alex looked
around the passenger compartment. She said to her team, “Roll
Call.”

“
Matthew
Mac Clenaghan, Captain, US Army. Welcome home,
sir.”

“
Troy Olivas, Captain, US
Army, sir.”

“
Royce Tubman, Chief Petty
Officer, US Navy, sir.”

“
Arthur Rasmussen, Senior
Agent, Homeland Security, sir.”

“
Colin Hargreaves,
Captain, US Army, Senior Agent, Homeland Security, sir.”

“
Maxwell Hargreaves,
sir.”

“
Thank God,” Steve said.
“Maxie. They said . . . you . . .
Wyatt . . . and . . . were dead. And
Trece?”

“
He’s in good hands,” Alex
said.

“
Oh my God,” Steve’s words
came with a great exhale of breath. He coughed. Colin helped roll
him onto his side so that he could cough. When he lay down, tears
seeped from the edges of his eyes.

“
Sir, I’d like to put you
out,” Colin asked. “Is there anything we can do before you
rest?”

Alex smiled. In the last
year, she’d taught him exactly what hostages needed to hear the
moment they were rescued. He’d clearly listened.

“
Just . . . ,” Steve cleared his throat.
“Thanks.”

“
It’s what we do,” Alex
said.

“
You rescued me when I was
stuck at the hospital by myself,” Max said. “I had to tag
along.”

Steve laughed, and Colin
injected the anesthesia into his IV. Steve’s head rocked to the
side. Max squeezed Alex’s hand. For a moment, the team looked at
each other. Alex gave a nod before turning her attention to the
action in Pakistan.

“
Ok. Joseph?”

“
Was that the priest?”
Joseph asked.

“
Yes,” Alex said. “He’s in
bad shape, met a ZM-87.”

“
God,” Joseph
said.

“
We’re in
position.”

“
Do we have satellite?”
Alex asked Raz.

Raz nodded and pointed to
his computer screen.

“
I’m looking at a video
feed from inside the event,” Joseph said.

“
On it,” Max
said.

“
We’re unable to wear our
helmets for the video feed, but the admin MacGivered a solution,”
Joseph said. “Can you pick it up?”

Raz hit a few keys on her
laptop to connect her to the Fey Team secure server. A video image
came up. He set the computer in her lap. The camera appeared to be
placed in a bouquet pinned to Leena’s dress at her cleavage. She
turned in place to show the team in their dress clothing. Vince and
Joseph wore black tuxes with white shirts and bow ties. MJ and
Dusty were dressed in their black gear – black tights, jackets,
gloves, and balaclavas. Margaret wore the loose pants and long
over-tunic of a shalwar kameez. Leena took the video camera out so
that Alex could see her gorgeous, deep-blue velvet
dress.

“
Isn’t it pretty?” Leena
asked.

“
Gorgeous,” Alex said.
“You look perfect. Each of you. Well done.”

“
Thanks,” Joseph
said.

“
Who’s that?” Alex pointed
to a tall, large man standing next to Leena.

“
Those tanning lotions
actually work,” Joseph said.

They had decided that
White Boy was too well known in Pakistan to participate in this
action. He was so disappointed that he’d have to stay on base that
Margaret dyed his hair brown. Leena convinced him to use the
tanning solutions and Joseph took out the brown contact lenses
they’d bought for him. White Boy turned in place to show off his
hair, skin, and shalwar kameez.

“
Fabulous,” Alex
said.

Alex looked up to see if
Matthew was watching. He nodded.

“
Let’s do this thing,”
Matthew said to start the action in Pakistan

Their helicopter lost
altitude as it fought against the storm’s pitch. Alex’s eye never
left the video feed coming from Leena’s camera. Colin took Steve’s
IV bag from her.

“
Raz, can you get the heat
readings for the banquet hall?” Alex asked. Raz started working on
his laptop. “Just in case we missed something.”