Lean on Me (28 page)

“
Look who’s here!” Alex’s
head appeared in the SUV. She pointed to John and Max. Unaware Alex
was there, they were deep in conversation and walking toward her.
“The SEALs said that’s why the doctor was here – to meet with some
doctor from out of town. We’ve been waiting for them to exit the
building.”

Max saw Alex first. He took off running
toward her. She ran to Max. Like magnets, Alex and Max were in each
others arms and talking. They pressed their foreheads together in
silent union before looking up. The SEALs scrambled to catch them.
Raz hopped out of the SUV to explain what was going on. Colin and
MJ followed. When Alex looked up, everyone was there.

She saw only John.

“
You’re the patient?” John
asked.

Smiling, Alex hugged him.

“
We were rushed out,” Max
said. “For security purposes. The entire building was
cleared.”

Max hugged Raz and Colin.

“
I assume this is your
work,” John shook MJ’s hand. “I’m impressed.”

“
Just doing my job, sir,”
MJ blushed.

“
We brought the medical
records we have,” Max said. “You?”

MJ nodded.

“
Excellent,” John
smiled.

“
Sir! We will miss your
appointment,” the Navy SEAL driver said.

“
Shall we?” John put his
arm around her shoulder and they walked toward the
building.

“
I thought you were
watching over the General’s bed rest,” Alex said John.

“
Why would Patrick need bed
rest?” John asked. “What’s wrong with him?”

Shaking her head, Alex followed him
inside.

FFF

Sunday afternoon

November 1 – 1:34 p.m. EST (11:34 a.m.
MST)

In the air between Norfolk and Washington
DC

“
What did you think?” Alex
asked. She leaned over her business class seat to put her head on
his shoulder.

“
About the flame retardant
from your fatigues being imbedded in the bone of your hip?” John
asked. “Scary as hell.”

“
Why scary?” Alex
asked.

“
What are our options?”
John asked. “We can’t ‘start over’ and have you re-grow a new hip.
I don’t have to mention the joys of bone shaving.”

“
Sounds like he’s had some
success,” Alex said.

John nodded.

“
But?” Alex turned to look
in his face. “Did he tell you something he didn’t tell
me?”

“
I don’t think so,” John
said. “I just know you. You won’t leave the service. Plus, you’d
drive everyone crazy if you did.”

“
I could shop!” Alex
beamed.

“
Like I said, you’d drive
everyone crazy,” he laughed. “You’ll be his first patient on active
duty. That’s assuming we can find a doctor in Denver who’s willing
to put you through the treatments. Otherwise, it’s back and forth
to Virginia; which you’re never going to do.”

“
I don’t think we’re that
lucky.”

“
Actually, we’re very
lucky,” John said. “These kind of vague and horrible symptoms are
virtually untreatable because no one knows they exist. We’re lucky
he’s working on this.”

“
And?” Alex watched his
face.

“
And you’re working on
this,” John said. “You’re not going to let this go. For better or
worse, you’re going to research, talk to people, and try
treatments.”

“
I might just retire,” Alex
said. “There is all that shopping to do.”

“
Fat chance,” John smiled.
“You off tomorrow?”

“
You?” she
asked.

“
All day,” John
said.

“
Me too,” she said. “Let’s
sleep for a while then do something really fun.”

“
Deal.”

She laid her head back on his shoulder.

“
How was your trip?” he
asked.

“
Boring, hard,” Alex said.
“Then scary.”

“
Scary?” John
asked.

“
I can’t really define it,”
she said. “At least not in words. It’s just a feeling.”

“
Are you in danger?” John
leaned back to look at her.

“
I don’t mean that kind of
scary,” Alex said.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
You remember Ayn Rand?”
Alex asked.

“
She’s a little
unforgettable,” John said.

“
I have this feeling that
what’s behind this is a kind of ‘stop the machine’ philosophy not
unlike Ayn Rand,” Alex said.

“
The machine of the
world?”

“
The intelligence machine,”
Alex said. “Most wars are won and lost based on good intelligence.
But now, all computers, commerce, the Internet, credit, fraud
detection, crime detection and forensics, all security from airport
security to air traffic control to military to government – ours
and others’ – everything depends on the international intelligence
network. If it goes down?”

Alex shook her head. Their eyes held for a
moment as she expressed her horror. He nodded. The flight attendant
came by to ask them if they wanted a beverage. John ordered some
champagne, fruit and cheese. When the flight attendant left, they
fell silent digesting what she’d implied.

“
What would be the benefit
of destroying the international intelligence machine?” John
asked.

“
My Russian Mob friend? You
remember him,” Alex said.

“
He’s a little
unforgettable.”

Alex smiled at his repetition. He smirked
back.

“
Your Russian
friend?”

“
He told me it’s a chess
game. This piece, that piece. Dahlia and the boys are right in the
middle of this. You know what Ben said when he learned about
Dahlia?”

John shook his head.

“
I wonder what she knew,”
Alex said.

“
He might have killed her
because she knew something? About all of this?” John
asked.

Alex nodded.

“
Wow.”

“
Yeah, wow,” Alex
said.

The flight attendant returned with their
champagne. She poured it into their glasses and brought them cheese
and fruit. With a smile, she left to flirt with Max and Raz who
were sitting behind them.

“
Who would benefit?” John
asked.

“
I don’t think it’s about
benefit,” Alex said.

“
What’s it about
then?”

“
Who’s playing the game?”
Alex asked. “If I can figure that out, I might be able to figure
out why.”

“
And what?”

“
As in what they’re up to?
Big picture.” Alex shook her head. “We may never know.”

FFFFFF

Monday early morning

November 2 – 4:34 a.m. MST

Denver, CO

“
What are you
doing?”

Colin looked up from the dough he was
kneading. Not seeing anyone, he shook his head and went back to
work.

“
Mr. Colin?” the little
voice said. “I’m right here.”

Colin looked up again. His eyes scanned the
U-shaped counters until they fell on the small form of Hermes. He
was standing next to the end of the counter.

“
Good morning, Hermes,”
Colin said. “You’re up early.”

“
I couldn’t sleep,” Hermes
said. “Can I come in?”

“
Of course,” Colin said.
“Can I get you anything?”

“
No,” Hermes big eyes
looked up at the tall man.

“
How about some milk?”
Colin asked.

“
Do you have milk?” Hermes
asked.

“
Of course,” Colin said.
“We even have chocolate milk.”

Hermes’s eyes lit up and then clouded.

“
What do I have to do?”
Hermes asked.

“
What do you mean?” Colin
asked.

“
You can’t touch my penis,”
Hermes said.

“
Good to know,” Colin
laughed. He went to the refrigerator and took out one of the small
chocolate milk cartons. He gave it to Hermes and went back to his
dough.

“
Why do you have so much
chocolate milk?” Hermes asked.

“
The runners in the house
drink these after long runs sometimes.”

“
Grown-ups?” Hermes
asked.

“
Grown-ups,” Colin said.
“And you know what?”

“
What?”

“
You don’t have to tell
people not to touch your penis,” Colin said. “You just have to know
they aren’t supposed to.”

“
How will they know if I
don’t tell them?” Hermes asked.

“
Everyone knows,” Colin
said. “Except some really troubled people who don’t know or forgot.
Have you seen the other boys telling people not to touch their
penises?”

“
I don’t know any other
boys.” Hermes looked so small that Colin couldn’t help but kneel
down to him.

“
You will know lots of
other boys and girls very soon,” Colin said.

“
I hope so,” Hermes said.
“What if they want to touch my penis?”

“
They won’t,” Colin said.
“Only someone really bad would want to hurt you like
that.”

“
How will I know who is
bad?” Hermes asked.

“
You’ll know,” Colin said.
“If you meet someone like that, you let me know. I’ll take care of
them myself.”

With his hands on his hips like Superman,
Colin stood to his tallest and biggest. Hermes giggled.

“
What are you doing?”
Hermes asked.

“
Do you want to come up
here and watch?” Colin asked.

Hermes nodded. Colin picked up the slight
five-year-old and put him on the counter.

“
Daddy said this house was
like boys camp,” Hermes said. “I haven’t seen other
boys.”

“
My son Paddie will be here
later today,” Colin said. “He’s a lot younger than you.”

“
Does he tell people…”
Hermes started. “You know…”

“
Not to touch his penis?”
Colin asked. “No.”

“
Do you touch his penis?”
Hermes asked.

“
I have,” Colin
said.

“
Why?”

“
Good question. I changed
his diapers and had to clean up,” Colin said. “I’ve given him
baths. I’ve helped him learn how to use the toilet. He’s still a
baby so he needs more of that kind of help.”

“
Oh.” Hermes fell silent
for a moment before repeating, “What are you doing?”

“
I’m making cinnamon
rolls,” Colin said. “We have some little boys staying with us and I
thought they might like them.”

“
What little boys?” Hermes
asked.

Colin gave him a smile and took a rolling
pin from a holder on the counter.

“
Me and my brother?” Hermes
said.

“
Bingo,” Colin pointed to
Hermes with the rolling pin.

“
Are there other boys?”
Hermes asked. “Me and my brother haven’t met other boys
before.”

“
You met Jesse Jr. and Luis
in Washington,” Colin said.

Hermes nodded.

“
I think a few of our
friends are bringing their kids over to play with you,” Colin
said.

“
I won’t tell them not to
touch my penis,” Hermes said. “I’ll tell my brother we don’t have
to tell people. He’ll like that.”

“
Good plan,” Colin said.
“What if someone does?”

“
I’ll tell Daddy or you or
Mrs. Alex or Mr. Trece,” Hermes said.

“
Another good
plan.”

Smiling, Hermes focused his attention on his
chocolate milk. Colin rolled out the cinnamon roll dough. He mixed
soft butter, cinnamon and sugar for the center.

“
Would you like to help
me?” Colin asked.

Hermes nodded. He held out the empty
chocolate milk carton. Colin threw the carton away and gave Hermes
a spatula. Together, they put the cinnamon on the dough. Colin took
out two baking pans and set them on the counter.

“
Where did you learn to do
this?” Hermes asked.

“
I was sick last year,”
Colin tore off a piece of parchment paper and gave it to Hermes. “I
learned how to do this. It helped me get better.”

“
He learned everything he
knows from me, laddie,” Cian’s thick Irish-accented voice came from
the doorway to the kitchen. “He’s a junior baker. Would you like to
be a junior baker too?”

Hermes’s eyes went big as Cian came into the
room.

“
I’d like to be a junior
baker,” Hermes said.

“
What do you think Colin?”
Cian asked. “Shall we make him a junior baker?”

Hermes eyes shifted from the tall Colin to
the smaller, more solid Cian.

“
Sounds good to me,” Colin
began rolling up the dough and cinnamon.

“
First we must be properly
introduced,” Cian said. “My name is Cian Kelly.”

Cian held his hand out. Hermes looked at him
and then at his hand.

“
You’re Mr. John’s
brother,” Hermes said. “You look like him.”