Lean on Me (36 page)

She heard Max take a breath and knew his
sorrow in leaving her.

“
I’ll be in Washington,”
Max said. “Stay safe. Call John when you can. He’s beside himself
that you had to stay the night in Norfolk. He won’t be happy with
this either. And…”

Max let out a sorrowful sigh.

“
Yeah, you know,” Max said.
“Love you.”

Alex closed her eyes. When she opened them,
MJ was standing behind Vince.

“
Is the dog here?” Alex
asked. “I smell dog food.”

“
Beetle and Bill are here,”
Vince said. “Since the Admiral is on leave, and they were assigned
by the Admiral, he was sent to Norfolk last night. He’s ready,
maybe a little too ready, but wants to be an active member of the
team.”

Vince leaned down to Alex.

“
You can refuse his
service,” he whispered. “But he’s very sincere. I think it would
break his heart.”

“
I like them,” Alex said.
“Handy. But Somalians have vicious dogs. Wouldn’t take Bill on
board.”

“
Sergeant Beetle was
briefed by Joseph on the Somalian pirates, their dogs, and your
interactions with them,” Vince said. “He’s ready to share that with
us when you’re able.”

“
At least he
knows.”

“
The hostages appear to be
the team my old Commander was referring to,” Vince said.

“
The ones he felt were
asking for his help?” Alex asked.

Vince nodded.

“
Are you all right to
continue?” Alex asked.

“
More motivated, sir,”
Vince said.

“
Sir, you need to rest
until Bahrain,” MJ said. “We have twelve more hours. I’ll get you
up and moving around in eight or ten hours. That gives you a few
hours to plan and make phone calls.”

Vince nodded to MJ and turned back to
Alex.

“
I need to pee,” Alex
said.

“
Trece?” Vince
asked.

Trece appeared in front of her. Alex grunted
with pain as she flew through the air.

“
Slow,” Alex
said.

“
I’m going slow. You’re
just coming off the anesthesia.” Trece leaned his head toward her.
“Do you have to pee or vomit?”

“
Both,” Alex clamped her
mouth closed.

“
Vomit,” Trece jogged her
to the toilet. She made it just in time before she threw up. Trece
turned to the men in the compartment and held his hand out. “Five
bucks, right here.”

She slammed the door to his antics. When she
was done, she flushed the toilet and unlocked the door. Trece was
counting his money.

“
It’s not good to steal
from children,” Alex said.

“
A guy’s got to make a
living,” Trece said. “Luz’s talking about another baby and
I…”

Alex held her arms out. He put her over his
shoulder.

“
MJ thought this might be
less painful,” Trece said. “Is it?”

“
Except for the view,” Alex
said.

The men laughed. He carried her back to the
litter and laid her down again. MJ reattached her IVs.

“
Everyone say ‘good-bye’ to
Alex,” Trece said.

“
Bye,” the men
said.

“
Count back for me, sir,”
MJ said.

“
Five, four, three,
two…”

F

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Thirteen hours later

Wednesday morning

November 4 – 7:47 p.m. EST (3:47 a.m.
AST)

NAS Bahrain

“
We have ships in the area
monitoring all activity on the intended target,” the Vice-Admiral
in charge of the Fifth Fleet said. “We have a little more than an
hour before dawn. The…”

He looked at Alex. Sitting on the edge of a
table, Alex smiled at him.

“
You don’t know anything
about ships,” he said.

“
Army born and bred, sir,”
Alex said. “We made every effort to include men and women from each
service to help us understand the workings of those services.
Captain Vince Hutchins is here to interpret, if need
be.”

Vince stepped forward to stand by the table
she was sitting on.

“
So noted,” the
Vice-Admiral gave her a patronizing smile. “We can get you onto an
aircraft carrier in the region. No one will notice another aircraft
coming or going. From there, you will need to take a… boat to an
area near the ship in question. We planned for you to swim on board
but it looks like that’s not a possibility.”

“
I was in surgery when we
determined the location of these men, sir,” Alex said. “I will do
anything within my physical power to obtain their return. That is
my military assignment and my moral duty as a Green
Beret.”

“
Green Beret?” the
Vice-Admiral’s eyebrows went up. He glanced at his second in
command who nodded. “I’d heard a rumor that some woman survived
Special Forces training. That’s why you’re the Fey?”

“
Yes sir.”

“
You’re a big
secret?”

“
I’m an intelligence asset,
sir,” Alex said.

“
Is that why the men call
you sir?”

“
Yes sir,” Alex
said.

“
So noted,” the
Vice-Admiral said. “You can rest assured that you will have our
utmost cooperation. No one is more interested in the return of
these men. That’s why I’m handing this matter myself. I assume your
team will be lead by Captain Hutchins.”

“
Yes sir.”

“
Once you get there, you’re
on your own,” the Vice-Admiral said. “But we will do everything
within our power to ensure your safe passage there and back. Do we
know which soldiers are on board?”

“
Yes sir,” Alex said. “My
team was wondering if we might take a look your most recent heat
and radar scans. We’ve been working off satellite imagery, but in
my experience you have better data.”

“
We’re sending men into
battle. We need the best information possible,” the Vice-Admiral
said. “We were told not to send anything through intelligence
channels. Something about the channels being corrupted?”

“
Yes sir,” Alex said. “My
team has set up a secure network. In fact… Raz?”

“
Yes sir,” Raz’s voice came
over the loud speaker.

“
Well I’ll be damned,” the
Vice-Admiral said. “How did you do that?”

“
I hired a team of the best
hackers in the world, sir,” Alex said. “Russian, led by a security
expert from Belgium.”

The Vice-Admiral raised an eyebrow at Alex.
He glanced at his second in command.

“
It’s not what you know,
it’s who you know?” the Vice-Admiral laughed.

“
Yes sir. That’s our motto
for this mission.”

“
Sir, Major Walters here,
we are particularly interested in any data on the interior of the
ship,” Joseph’s voice came over the intercom.

“
We have schematics, sir,”
a young officer stepped forward. “We are happy to forward those to
you.”

“
Got ‘em,” Raz said. “Thank
you.”

“
We are particularly
interested in a grandfather clock,” Alex said.

“
A clock?” the
Vice-Admiral’s voice was slow and dismissive.

“
Yes sir,” Alex
said.

“
Sir, there is a
grandfather clock in the Captain’s office,” a young sailor said.
“You can see it on the scans. It gives audible chimes every
hour.”

“
Joseph?” Alex asked. She
looked up at the speaker.

“
That’s it,” Joseph
said.

“
Sir, what aircraft to do
you believe can land on the ship deck?” Alex asked.

“
What aircraft will the
ship deck support? Seriously?” the Vice-Admiral’s eyebrows went up
in disbelief. “Ma’am, you won’t survive a trip to that ship, let
alone be able to land on top of it.”

“
I understand your
concerns,” Alex said.

“
I don’t think you do,” the
Vice-Admiral said. “I don’t know what you’re used to, but these
pirates are not characters from some Disney movie. They are armed,
experienced fighters who kill without warning.”

“
Yes sir,” Alex said. “I’ve
had the pleasure of making their acquaintance. In fact, I’ve
previously rescued soldiers from this particular
Captain.”

“
O’Brien would
never…”

“
Captain Charles O’Brien
didn’t make this trip, sir. I wish he had. But he was left behind a
few years ago in Paris,” Alex said. “If he was here, he would tell
you that you are being a damned fool to risk your command over a
simple question. Now, can anyone give me the assessment I requested
or shall my team create their own?”

The men and women in the room seemed to hold
their breath. Every eye was on the Vice-Admiral.

“
I remind you that there
are twelve men in the hold of that ship. They have been there for
over a month. I’ve seen the damage a month of Somalian pirate
hospitality can do to a person. Have you?” Alex’s voice was deadly
low. “Further, I remind your command that they were instructed to
give me every resource I request. Your failure to cooperate will be
noted.”

Alex looked around the room.

“
Anyone know the answer to
my question?” Alex asked.

“
I will not allow my pilots
to risk their lives on some cockamamie fairy plan!” the
Vice-Admiral yelled.

“
Lucky for you, you don’t
have to, sir,” Zack said from the doorway. “Sorry, we were delayed,
Lieutenant Colonel.”

He nodded to Cliff and a US Air Force
engineer and navigator.

“
The US Air Force has no
problem flying the Fey wherever she wants to go,” Zack said. “We
have been instructed to extend any resource necessary to accomplish
this and every mission. So we brought our own bird.”

“
We are at your command,”
the engineer and navigator saluted Alex. She returned their
salute.

“
I guess that’s it,” Alex
said. “Captain Hutchins?”

“
Nothing to add, sir,”
Vince said. “Gentlemen, I remind you that you are assigned to the
Fey for this mission.”

Uncomfortable, the Norfolk SEALs looked
around the room to see if someone might rescue them.

“
Thank you for the
briefing,” Alex said.

Alex nodded to Trece. He picked her up and
carried her from the room. Unhappy, the twelve members of the SEAL
team they had brought from Norfolk shuffled along behind them.

“
Where are we going?” Alex
asked.

“
Air field,” Zack said. “We
brought a truck.”

Trece carried her onto the back of the
truck. Vince and MJ followed close behind. The SEALs filled the
rest of the seating. The truck started and took the quick trip to
the Hercules C-130 they had flown in on. They met Sergeant Beetle
and Master Sergeant Bill Bailey on the plane.

“
Sir,” one of the SEALs
said when they were all seated. Alex was sitting on the edge of her
litter.

“
You may speak,” Alex
said.

“
Are we flying to our
deaths?” the sailor asked.

“
Of course not,” Alex said.
“Don’t be silly. Right now, we’re flying to the aircraft carrier.
Zack brought a Black Hawk with him…

“
Pave Hawk,” Zack said. “US
Air Force has
Pave
Hawks
.”

“
Same thing.”

“
They are
not
the same bird,” Zack
said. “They have this great electronic…”

“
But other than that, they
are the same helicopter,” Alex said.

“
Yeah, but…”

“
Anyway, he brought
a
Pave
Hawk
because he likes flying them,” Alex said. “It’s being moved to the
aircraft carrier right now. We took the data we needed from the
NAS. We were only there so they would feel like they were involved
in some way.”

“
But sir…” the sailor
started.

“
Not everything is as it
seems,” Vince said. “Welcome to working with the Fey. You either
trust or you leave.”

“
And you sir? Are we flying
to our deaths?”

“
I’m one of the more than
four thousand who owe our lives to the Fey,” Vince said. “A few
years later, she talked the love of my life into giving me a
fiftieth chance, which I did not deserve. I owe her my life and my
family. I trust her before I trust any other human
being.”

“
And you Sergeant
Scully?”

MJ had a stethoscope in his ears and was
listening for inflammation building in Alex’s hip. Alex touched his
arm and he looked up. She pointed at the young sailor. He looked at
the sailor with clear disdain.

“
What’s the question?” MJ
asked.

“
Are we flying to our
deaths?”

“
We’re always flying toward
our deaths,” MJ said. “Death is the only sure thing that awaits at
the end of this mad flight we call life.”

The sailor shook his head and turned to
Trece.

“
Shut the fuck up,” Trece
said. “If you had any idea what you were really asking, you’d be
embarrassed. Now hush.”