Learning to Stand (44 page)

“
With Joiner? What’s not!
Start with Joiner going missing. I mean what kind of a man
disappears?! Leaves his pregnant wife and children in the
lurch?”

“
Put that down. What
else?”

“
Joiner letting them kill
his children rather than doing what they wanted. Holy crap! I have
no idea what they wanted or even who they are! I mean I think
they’re from the Amazonas region, and Bobby Lopez confirmed the
Amazonas region, but he also said Pecos Oil was taking care of the
problem. ‘Making it right.’ That’s what he said.”

“
Put that on another list –
unsolved issues. What happened to those guys the Texas Ranger’s
picked up?”

“
Mexican nationals there to
work on the mine clean up.”

“
Decoys.”

“
Decoys,” Alex said. “They
knew we were coming.”

The awful reality of a leak high up in
military command made them pause.

“
Here’s another question.
Who contacted the Weasel? He gave me all kinds of details but never
told me who his contact was.”

“
You have to add Carlos to
the list,” Jesse said.

“
Yeah, Carlos. I mean what the hell? How was
he
involved?” Alex wrote his name down. “I asked Ben and he
just shakes his head.”

“
Didn’t want to upset
you?”

“
I don’t think he knows,”
Alex said. “And if Ben doesn’t know...”

“
We’ll never
know.”

“
Right. And what the hell did I do to my lighter?” Alex
asked. “So much confusion. I feel like I
used
to
know, really know things but now...”

“
Maybe we never really know
things, Alex,” Jesse said.

Looking over at Jesse, she saw his face mask
with sorrow.

“
What’s going
on?”

“
Maria has been to
California three times. She’s meeting with a lawyer there. I’ve
tried to go, but I can’t seem to get into his office. I can’t
figure out why.”

“
Maybe you can’t be around
bad people,” Alex said. “You were like… before. Remember how you
couldn’t even be around your mother because she was ...”

“
Demon
possessed?”

Alex nodded.

“
I think the lawyer is my
Maria’s lover. She’s so joyful when she leaves his office. I want
her to be happy, Alex. I do. She’s an amazing, beautiful, wonderful
person. She deserves to have another husband to love her but... I
guess I’m a selfish bastard.”

“
Sounds to me like you don’t
have all the facts,” Alex said. “What if I do some investigation? I
have to go to that party tomorrow – you know, to keep Troy from
inserting his body parts into his sister-in-law so she can have
more of his children. I’ll ask Maria tomorrow.”

Jesse nodded.

“
Gosh, Jesse, maybe that’s
the point.”

Alex went to the table. Pouring the last of
her coffee, she took another cookie from the baggie then sat down
facing the wall.

“
What’s the
point?”

“
We don’t have all the
facts,” Alex said. “Like maybe it wasn’t a big deal to Joiner’s
wives that he was gone. Maybe they don’t care. And maybe the people
in the Amazonas region aren’t mad.”

“
Then we’re missing
something,” Jesse said. “Something big.”

“
Something big.”

F

CHAPTER THIRTY-six

Five hours later
Tuesday morning

April 1 – 10:15 A.M. MDT

Denver, CO

Driving the armored SUV, Trece was telling
the story of his four hour poker game with Bobby Lopez. It had
already been a long, tiring morning. Alex took the chance to rest
while he rambled. Turning the corner to Charlene O’Brien’s Park
Hill home, Alex groaned.

“
What’s wrong?” Trece
asked.

“
The Fey Special Forces Team
wives are here,” Alex said. “I’m not surprised. It’s
just...”

“
They don’t like
you?”

“
No, they’re fine,” Alex said. “It’s just that they are
a
them
. I used to be
part of an
us
. And now it’s me
and Joseph. They’ve been wonderful, truly. They brought meals every
day when I was first home from Walter Reed. I think we ate Fey
wives food for a year. But there’s still the ‘Why did
you
survive when my husband is dead?’ It’s
understandable.”

“
John’s not a part of them?”
Trece pulled the SUV to the curb and turned the car off.

“
Oooh no,” Alex said. “The
wives don’t want anything to do with the husband.”

“
I’ve heard that from other
Army husbands,” Trece said.

“
I guess woman soldiers head
out for these grand adventures with their husbands,” Alex said.
“There’s bound to be some friction.”

There was a tap on Alex’s passenger window.
They turned to see a broad rimmed white hat. The hat shifted and
the lined face of Dwight Harris’s grandmother peered into the SUV.
Alex opened the door to hug the elderly woman.

“
I saw you sitting there
Lieutenant Colonel Alex,” Mrs. Harris said. “And I thought, ‘That
girl should not be afraid of these old biddies.’”

Alex laughed.

“
Mrs. Harris, do you know
Captain Ramirez?”

“
Trece and I have met
Lieutenant Colonel Alex,” Mrs. Harris said.

“
Mrs. Harris makes the best
Jambalaya I’ve ever had. Mmmmm. Never had better. Ever.
Anywhere.”

Mrs. Harris beamed at the massive Trece. The
small woman hooked her arms through Alex and Trece’s elbows and
they walked toward the door. They were almost there when Mrs.
Harris said:

“
These old gals are jealous,
Alex. You should ask Nancy about it. They used to be sure you
were... Well… a Christian woman doesn’t gossip.”

Alex laughed.

“
Let’s go in like the much
anticipated church choir,” Mrs. Harris whispered.

Alex nodded to Trece and he opened the
door.

“
Mrs. Harris! Alex!” Dean’s
wife, Jennifer, said. “Come in! Come in! We were getting brunch
together.”

They were escorted down the hall to a
crowded living room. A laughing group of kids cut in front of them
carrying muffins. With a squeeze of her hand, Mrs. Harris walked
into the kitchen to greet the wives.

“
Alex!” Andi, Scott’s flower
child wife hugged Alex around her round belly.

“
Looks like you have some
news!” Alex said.

“
There’s a bunch of us. You
made the guys bank sperm. Well, I used it! Or Scott’s, that is,”
Andi said. “I know Scott wouldn’t have wanted a child, at least
until his contract was over. But this way I get a little piece of
him and a baby. That’s a good deal.”

“
And how are
you?”

“
I’m good, lonely, but good.
I miss Scott. A lot,” Andi said. “I’ve tried to date. I guess we
all have. Us wives. We can’t seem to find anyone who even holds a
candle to our guys. Well, except Mike’s wife. But Charlene said she
was with that woman before Mike died.”

Alex nodded.

“
Anyway, we decided to do it
together. The Fey wives, you know.” Leaning close to Alex, Andi
whispered, “Even Jennifer’s pregnant. She won’t tell anyone until
it’s been three months. She was the last to cave.”

“
I’m delighted for you,”
Alex said.

“
Greta too,” Andi said. “We
had to do some fancy foot work, but she’s pregnant too.”

Alex smiled. Last fall, Greta arrived at the
Fey Special Forces Team anniversary with Paul’s fifteen month old
child, Mindy. Paul’s parents had rejected Greta and Mindy in their
grief. Between Max’s legal abilities, and Rebecca Hargreaves’s
nerve, they were able to get Greta benefits for Mindy. They even
bridged the gap between Paul’s parents and her beautiful child.

“
We owe you a big thank you
for making the guys bank sperm,” Andi said. “Did you hear Maria’s
big news?”

“
Hey, I saw your fight with
that awful Robert Powell,” Jennifer said.

“
I saw the fight too,”
Tommy’s wife, Paige, said. “You were magnificent! I sent the video
around our office. I know they sent it on to their friends. You’re
famous, Alex!”

“
Quite the superstar,”
Jennifer said. “I emailed the link to everyone I know.”

“
I tweeted the link,” Greta
said. “It was retweeted at least ten times. I even posted it to my
blog. I was proud to know you, Alex. That man is so creepy and
horrible.”

“
I put it on my Facebook
account,” Andi said. “I put ‘This is my girl Alex!’ He so deserved
a whoop down. Scott hated him.”

“
Dwight did as well,” Mrs.
Harris said. “I posted the video to my Sparkpeople
forum.”

“
Your Sparkpeople forum? On
the Internet?” Trece asked.

“
I’m old, Trece. Not stupid.
I meet the nicest people on the Internet,” Mrs. Harris said. “My
boy set it up for me so we could email and instant message all
those years ago.”

“
Our Alex is our hero,”
Nancy said. “Did you guys know she’s a Lieutenant Colonel
now?”

While Alex blushed, the women clapped.

“
Oh Alex! I’ve been catching
up on news. I didn’t realize you where here,” Charlene said.
Gesturing to the toddler on her hips, she said. “Did you meet this
gorgeous Mindy?”

“
Hi Mindy,” Alex
said.

“
Alex!”

“
You have special celebrity
status with everyone,” Charlene said. “Ladies, I need to talk with
Alex for a bit.”

“
We’ll see you later,” Andi
said.

Charlene passed Mindy to her mother, Greta,
and led Alex down a long hallway toward the bedrooms.

“
My daughter stayed with me
last night,” Charlene said. “Thank you both for setting everything
up. I understand Captain Ramirez arranged for the house to be
cleaned and refrigerator stocked. The house was delightfully warm,
clean and inviting. And what a blessing to make a pot of coffee
this morning. The girls have been baking too.”

Trece nodded in acknowledgment of her
words.

“
I’ve been very concerned
about you, Charlene,” Alex said when Charlene closed her bedroom
door. “What happened?”

“
It was horrible,
Alex.”

Like a mask, Charlene’s happy face shifted
to the sad, anxious face she wore last night. The woman pointed to
an armchair for Alex then sat down in its twin.

“
Sir, I will wait outside
the door,” Trece said after checking the room.

“
Thank you, Captain,” Alex
said.

Charlene watched the large man leave the
room.

“
I always feel safe when
he’s around. I don’t know what it is. He’s an angel,” Charlene
said. “Talks a lot.”

“
No truer words were ever
spoken.” Alex smiled. “What happened yesterday?”

“
I went out for my morning
run and... Well, they waited for me to leave. I always go around
the same time, so it wouldn’t have been hard. I set the house
alarm. I know I set the alarm.”

“
We have your security
tapes,” Alex said. “You set the alarm. The people knew the
code.”

“
That’s what’s so crazy,
Alex. How could they know the code?”

“
Who else knows
it?”

“
No one. Charlie was very
careful. He made me change the code every two weeks. It’s a habit
now.”

“
How old is this
code?”

“
Two days.”

“
And no one has it – not the
housekeeper, the cook, gardener...”

“
No one,” Charlene said.
“The last months of Charlie’s life, he became kind of paranoid. I
used to tease him that he was getting early dementia. He begged me
to be careful.”

“
It started when Robert
Powell came to work for us,” Alex said.

“
Yes,” Charlene said. “He
never said anything to you?”

“
Not that I remember,” Alex
said. “My head is a little scrambled.”

“
I took everything of his
with me to Nicaragua. Even his clothing,” Charlene said. “I
couldn’t bear being separated from what was left of him. Still
can’t. I even brought some of it on this trip.”

“
The police say nothing was
stolen.”

“
Right, that’s because they
don’t know where to look,” Charlene said. “Alex, they stole all of
Charlie’s journals. You know, the little ones he carried with him.
I guess he got the whole team to use them.”

Alex nodded.

“
They stole all of Charlie’s
except the one I gave Steve Pershing and...”

Charlene stood and walked over to a fanny
pack. She made her way back to her chair while digging around in
the fanny pack. When she sat down, she held up a small journal.

“
This is his last one,”
Charlene said. “He finished it the day… you know... He left it on
the hall table for me to put away then left for base.

“
When he left, he’d say ‘My
soul is yours. My love and life belong to you. You’re my entire
world.’ Every time. For all those years. Then he’d go.”