Learning to Stand (26 page)

“
Mrs. Hargreaves, how nice
to see you,” Helene said in English. “I apologize. I was
rude.”

“
Don’t worry dear. I always
feel like that when I see Alex,” Rebecca said. “I’m off to pick up
at least one handsome man.”

With a wink to Alex, Rebecca moved toward
Patrick. Alex watched her parents hug when she felt a tug on her
sleeve.

“
Did you talk to him?”
Helene asked in French. “About me?”

“
Who?”

“
You know who? If I had known he would be here, I wouldn’t
have come. Papa says he has to stay where you’re staying. But I
don’t want to stay with
him
. Oh Alex, can’t
we get a suite or something?”

Alex felt someone standing behind her.
Turning, she saw Larry had been drawn to Helene like a magnet. Alex
raised an eyebrow to Larry and he nodded slightly.

“
Helene,” Larry said. He
added in perfect French, “I apologize. The room is very loud. I
believe we’ll have dinner very soon. May I get you a
seat?”

Helene flushed bright red.

“
Have you eaten?”

Helene’s brown eyes were dark ovals as she
shook her head. Larry moved forward, but Alex held him in place
with her hand.

“
Why don’t you get us
something to drink?” Alex asked.

Larry nodded and went to where Joseph was
tending bar. Helene swooned into Alex and Alex laughed.

“
Steady girl,” Alex
said.

Running her hand through her curly brown
hair, she pulled on the end of her pony tail while crossing her
eyes. Alex laughed.

“
Papa told me,” Helene said
in French. “He told me on the plane. He says Maman knows. No
secrets ever from Maman. That is what he said, but I didn’t
know.”

“
Know what?”

Helene clutched at Alex, “We are
sisters!”

Laughing, Alex hugged her Goddaughter.

“
We found out last fall,”
Alex said. “Max and me... We didn’t really know how to tell you
guys.”

“
Papa said we will know when
we are old enough to understand,” Helene said. “But we are
Parisian. We understand how things happen. Although I always
thought Patrick was so handsome… and Colin. Yes, blonde beautiful
Colin. I won’t mention your gorgeous doctor husband. Funny, I’ve
never felt that for Max. He is very nice to look at, and funny, and
smart, but… I guess I knew on some level.”

Alex laughed at the girl’s run down of the
men in her family. Every woman in the room seemed a little man
crazy tonight. Her hand touched her battered abdomen.

“
But you don’t like
Raz.”

“
Ladies men. Pfft, they are
a dime a dozen. I tell Papa he is trying to get into your
pants.”

“
And what does your Papa
say?”

“
Our
Papa says
Arthur Rasmussen has seen you in pants, out of pants and everywhere
in between. Then he laughs.”

Alex laughed. Larry gave Alex a beer and
held a wine glass to Helene. When their fingers touched, a spark
registered on their faces. To keep from laughing at them, Alex
glanced around the room. Vince Hutchins came into the room. Moving
to the side of the room, he worked his way toward Alex.

“
There’s a call for you,” he
said. “It came through MI. Your Sergeant is off duty. The relief
Sergeant passed the call through to my cell. I guess your cell
doesn’t work anymore?”

Alex wrinkled her nose. She had forgotten
Joseph hated GPS tracking systems, particularly on cell phones. He
must have collected everyone’s cell phone while she was working on
her map. Unfortunately, the last person to transition got all the
calls.

“
Didn’t give up your phone?”
Alex asked.

“
Amelia is trying out for
the varsity soccer team this week. That’s why she and Emmy haven’t
joined us,” Vince said.

“
Wow, she’s young for
varsity soccer.”

“
She’s good,” said Amelia’s
proud father and coach. “Joseph let me keep my phone so I could
check in.”

“
That’s why you got this
call,” Alex said. “Sorry.”

Shrugging, Vince gave her the phone.

“
Thanks,” Alex
said.

Alex put the phone up to her ear and heard
breathing. Pressing her finger against her other ear, hoping to
reduce the noise from the room, she heard someone screaming in the
caller’s background.

“
This is Lieutenant Colonel
Drayson,” Alex said.

“
You have to help us...” A
child whispered. “They are going to kill us tomorrow. You have to
save us. Please Fey. You’re the only one who can.”

F

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“
Who is this?” Alex
asked.

“
Tristan Joiner. I stole a
phone...” The boy said. “I’m hiding in the office.”

The boy stopped talking and Alex heard
screaming as if a child was dragged past where the caller was
standing.

“
Please Fey. We have no one
else. They said they will kill us tomorrow if they don’t hear from
my Dad. But he’s... He told them…to kill us.”

Alex put her hand over her mouth in
horror.

“
Where are you?”

Alex heard a door open. The thump of blows
came as the child screamed ‘NO!’

The phone was silent.

Alex held the phone away from her head to
look at it. She blinked. Without a thought to leaving the Army,
Alex’s mind began clicking through information.

“
Are you all right? Did you
get drugged again?” Helene put her hand on Alex’s arm.

Alex smiled at Helene then drained the beer
bottle in her hand.

“
I need to work,” Alex
said.

“
What should I do?” Helene
whispered. Her eyes flicked to Larry.

“
Be your beautiful self,”
Alex smiled. She kissed the girl’s cheek.

Stepping away, Alex’s mind transitioned into
the cold, calculating intelligence officer they called ‘The Fey.’
As she walked toward the door, people instinctively shifted away
from her. She dialed her Sergeant’s private cell number. Touching
Raz’s shoulder, she raised her hand to Troy waving him to the
hallway. Matthew got up from the end of the table.

“
Fey,” Alex said.

“
Yes, Lieutenant Colonel,”
Alex’s Sergeant said.

“
Sorry to bug you at
home.”

“
I’m available whenever,
wherever you need me,” he said.

“
I need you.”

“
Go.”

“
I need a trace on the call
that came into this phone. Can you call me when you get the number
and location of the phone? The phone may have been
destroyed.”

“
Yes sir.”

Disconnecting the phone, she walked into
John’s embrace. She sighed into him.

“
Thank you for my ring,” she
whispered. “It’s absolutely perfect.”

“
As are you,” he said into
her ear.

Alex brushed his lips with hers. Stepping
back, she pressed her hand against the dog tag hanging over his
heart. He covered her hand with his. His gesture confirmed that the
dog tag marked the heart she owned. Their eyes held.

She gave him a soft smile before continuing
toward the door. At the door, she turned to see who had followed
her. Colin and Max? She shook her head and moved toward the living
room. The men followed her.

“
Yes Sergeant,” Alex said
into her cell phone. She raised her arm drawing the men into the
large shared living room.

“
The cell phone is either a
Movistar or a Vivo.”

“
South America?”

“
We cannot connect directly
with non-US cellular phones. But, the phone has a GPS locator.
Colonel Gordon has the GPS Operations Center at Schriever Air Force
Base working on triangulating the signal. Even if the phone is
broken, they might be able to find a signal.”

“
Schriever?”

“
The Second SOPS. You know,
their GPS Operations Center? We called in some of your GPS
favors.”

“
Good thinking! Thanks,”
Alex said. “Sergeant, I believe at least one boy’s life depends on
us finding him tonight.”

She heard his Sergeant’s involuntary gasp.
His wife delivered their first child, a beautiful boy, two weeks
ago.

“
Yes sir. Shall I return to
post?”

“
I think you’re needed at
home, Sergeant.”

“
My mother-in-law is staying
with us this week, sir.”

“
Ah, yes, then it’s an
order. You’re to return and stay at post until this crisis is
over.”

“
Thank you, sir. I will call
as soon as I know anything.”

Alex clicked off the cell phone and looked
up to the men’s expectant faces. She motioned for everyone to sit
down. She pushed away the nausea their expectant eyes brought. She
opened her mouth to speak, but was unable to come up with
words.

Joseph moved to her side. He had seen Alex
caught in the complex web of thoughts, memories and analysis. He
signaled for Matthew to take her other side then touched her
arm.

“
Facts,” Joseph
said.

“
I received a phone call
from Tristan Joiner. He spoke of an ‘us’ saying they would be
killed tomorrow if someone didn’t get something from Joiner. He
said Joiner told their captors to kill them. I assume the ‘them’ is
the missing children. What do you have on the missing
children?”

“
We know there are at least
two missing children, probably more,” Matthew said.

Alex nodded.

“
Do we know
where?”

Alex shook her head.

“
Let’s just go,” Troy said.
“If we get the Jakker moving now, he’ll be ready when we need to
go.”

Alex shook her head again.

“
Something’s not right. I’m
sorry but I need think. I can’t lead and…”

Joseph held a yellow pencil and a tablet of
paper for her. She smiled her thanks. Taking the paper and pencil
from him, she sat down at the piano bench. While the men watched,
she began writing, humming, and tapping her yellow pencil to
Breaking Benjamin’s ‘Diary of Jane’ playing in her head.

“
We need to be ready when
she’s done. We’ll use this project to see if you can function as a
team,“ Joseph said to the group. “You should consider yourselves on
probation. Succeed here? And you may have a spot. Fail? You will
receive other placement. At this point, you’ve been informed of
what we see as your strengths and your weaknesses. Now is your time
to shine. MacClenaghan, you need to decide who goes and who
stays.”

Matthew nodded.

“
Who will design the
action?”

Joseph nodded toward Alex. Matthew looked
confused.

“
She’s one hundred percent
better than anyone I’ve ever met. She thinks of details that would
never occur to a normal person. Those details have saved my life
more than once.”

Matthew looked doubtful.

“
You’ll see,” Joseph said.
“Now go on.”

With one last glace at Alex, Matthew stepped
into his new role.

“
Time to get ready to roll.
I want body armor on everyone. I need a compiled report on the
missing kids. Vince? Make certain everyone has loaded weapons.
Joseph, call the Jakker. We need something fast that will hold at
least ten men. Trece? Get Pershing. Also Ben… and Patrick. We’ll
need their intel.

“
Get moving,” Matthew
barked. “We’ll be ready to go when she’s done.”

Troy winked at Matthew then jumped to his
feet. The rest of the men followed his lead. They moved from the
room to do what they were told.

“
Well done, Matthew,” Joseph
said. He put his hand on Matthew’s arm, “That’s what we talked
about. And look...”

They turned to find Alex lost in her world
of humming, tapping and writing.

“
This kind of undisturbed
quiet and space is exactly what she needs.”

Matthew flushed at the compliment then
cleared his throat.

“
She’s special, Matthew. No
one can do what she does. In the entire history of the US military,
she’s the only one who can do this. We need to create the structure
to allow her to do what she does well. That’s our job.”

Matthew nodded.

“
Excuse me,” Joseph said. “I
have a phone call to make.”

When Joseph left the room, Matthew sagged
with relief. First orders given and received with ease.

Looking up, he saw Trece return with Steve
Pershing, Patrick Hargreaves and Ben. He adjusted his stance then
pointed toward a couch and the men sat down. Max came back in the
room holding a dragon body armor body suit. He gave the body armor
to Matthew then sat down next to Steve Pershing. Colin sat down
next to Max.

“
Put it on,” Trece
said.

“
But… I don’t
own…”

Matthew’s hand lovingly brushed the body
armor. Designed with 5 mm body armor protection, the dragon body
armor fit like a comfortable T-shirt. Alex and the Fey Special
Forces Team wore them exclusively. But Alex was also a Senator’s
daughter.

“
It’s a gift,” Troy said.
“Everyone has one. You’ve been on drugs and stuff so you didn’t get
yours. Joseph made a deal with the company.”