Learning to Stand (49 page)

“
They are moving your mom
and Maria,” Troy said. “South stairway.”

At the edge of the stairwell, the men in
SECURITY shirts noticed Alex’s approach. Pushing a woman out of her
way, Alex watched two men capture Maria and Rebecca. With their
machine guns against the women’s ribs, the men held their elbow
against the women’s windpipe. They could break Maria and Rebecca’s
necks with ease in this position. Jesse appeared between the women.
His hands pointed to the men’s necks.

Pushing people out of her way, Alex ran
toward them. Ten feet from her mother and Maria, she screamed:

“
NOW!”

Maria and Rebecca moved in unison. Stomping
on the men’s feet with their stiletto heels, they jammed their
elbows into the men’s solar plexus.

Jesse threw his electricity balls into the
men’s necks.

The men doubled forward. Maria and Rebecca
met the men’s noses with the heel of their hands. The force of the
blow knocked the men backward. The men grabbed at the women as they
fell. Jesse shocked their outstretched hands.

Rebecca and Maria kicked at the men’s eyes
with the sharp toes of their Christian Louboutin heels. Screaming,
the men curled up in balls covering their eyes.

Alex reached Rebecca and Maria. Picking up
the discarded machine guns, she gave a gun to Maria and another to
her mother. The women cocked their guns with obvious
enthusiasm.

Looking around the party, Alex saw Troy had
released Trece from the man holding him captive. Trece held a man
by the neck. He bashed him in the face then threw him in the
direction of Patrick Hargreaves. Patrick bound the unconscious
man’s wrists with nylon restraints.

Alex whistled. Secret Service agents,
scattered among the party goers, pulled their weapons. The agents
pushed their VIP targets face first to the ground.

Everything stopped.

The party goers didn’t dare twitch. The
remaining men in SECURITY T-shirts stood their ground. Troy and
Heath stopped firing. Everyone looked at Alex for direction.

Alex smiled.

As if responding to Alex’s victory smile, a
man in a SECURITY T-shirt threw his machine gun in front of him and
raised his hands. Near the edge of the party, two additional men
threw their machine guns down. The rest of the men in SECURITY
T-shirts followed suit. Trece forced the men flat on their faces on
the ground while Patrick continued binding wrists.

“
They’re coming for you,
Alex,” Troy said. “That’s why they gave up their guns. They
identified you. Two, maybe three men coming up from the lower
level.”

Alex took off toward the stairwells in front
of her. “Zack?”

“
I’ll meet you there,” Troy
said.

“
I see ‘em,” Zack
said.

The Black Hawk Helicopter rose to hover over
the amphitheater. When the men appeared at the top of the stairs,
Zack shot over their heads. The men stopped short. Before they
could fire, Troy knocked them off their feet with a low kick. Alex
skid to a stop to avoid the unconscious men.

Maria began to cheer. The party goers
clapped sedately then joined in Maria’s cheer. Zack nodded the
helicopter to the crowd then flew to the parking lot.

“
I’m wondering if I missed a
memo. General?” the Admiral in charge of Special Forces asked
Patrick Hargreaves.

“
We didn’t want to worry
you, Admiral,” Patrick said.

“
Just made sure I wore my
body armor?” he asked.

“
Intelligence tips are
notoriously unreliable.”

“
When your daughter’s
around?” The Admiral clapped Patrick’s back. “It’s best to expect
the worst.”

“
Sir?” Alex jogged over.
Saluting, she stood in front of her boss’s boss. “The subjects have
been detained. Requesting permission to leave the rest to the
Secret Service.”

“
Yes, of course. Let Secret
Service get the credit?” The Admiral’s blue eyes sparkled with
laughter.

“
And the paperwork, sir,”
Alex said.

“
I was stunned at the
efficiency of the Texas Rangers,” the Admiral said.

“
They are impressive,” Trece
said.

“
Sir, we are needed at
another location,” Alex said.

“
Yes, Lieutenant Colonel. By
all means.” The Admiral saluted. Alex and Trece returned his
salute. She and Trece turned away from the Admiral when he called
her again, “Fey?”

“
Yes sir?”

“
How about a little less
domestic action and a little more foreign extraction?”

“
I’ll speak with the
men.”

Following Troy to the parking lot, Alex
jogged past Maria. Maria moved into her path.

“
Maria! You were amazing!”
Alex hugged Jesse’s beloved wife.

“
I had a very good teacher.
Thank you. I know you need to go, but…”

“
How can I help?” Alex
asked.

“
You can tell your friend,
Mr. Abreu I’m not going to find another husband.” Maria’s eyes
sparked with defiance. Her lips formed a single angry
line.

“
Uh.” Alex’s face shifted to
blank.

“
I saw him. So don’t pretend
I’m crazy.”

“
Would I do
that?”

“
Yes. And while you’re at
it,” Maria crossed her arms over her chest. “You tell Mr. Abreu he
can just as easily speak to me as you. I have important issues to
speak with him about.”

“
Maria, honey, I’d love to
talk but we have to go. Let’s get lunch next week.”

Maria punched Alex in the shoulder.

“
Ow!” Alex said.

Maria wrinkled her nose at Alex.

“
You’ll talk to him?” Maria
asked.

“
I’ll talk to him,” Alex
laughed.

Alex ran about six feet when Maria said:

“
Oh Alex. I’m
sorry.”

Alex flipped around and Maria jogged over to
her.

“
I found this in Jesse’s
stuff. I finally went through his belongings. I found this at the
very bottom of his shirt pocket. You know, what he was wearing
when...” Maria’s eyes filled. Pushing her grief away, she cleared
her throat. “At first I was sure it was love letters… to me, of
course.”

Alex’s mouth fell open. Maria pulled Alex’s
small Fey Special Forces Team journal from her evening bag. Alex
gawked at the book. Maria put the book into Alex’s hands.

“
Alex, honey, isn’t this
your book? It’s your handwriting.”

“
I thought… It’s been gone.
We thought the killers stole this journal.”

“
No, just Jesse. The little
thief.” Maria laughed. Maria called Jesse a thief because he stole
her heart when she was only ten years old. “I tossed those stupid
books last week, you know like the other girls? Do they think we
don’t know our husbands?”

“
Jennifer
called?”

“
I was on my way here. I
would have brought Jesse’s journals but I didn’t have time to go
home,” Maria said.

“
Alex! Come on!” Trece
yelled.

Alex hugged Maria.

“
I’ll bring the journals by
tonight,” Maria said.

“
Thank you!” Alex yelled as
she ran toward the parking lot.

“
Talk to your friend!” Maria
yelled back.

Turning back, Alex saw Jesse standing next
to Maria. She waved to them then ran to the parking lot. Trece
stepped into the helicopter then turned to help Alex.

Next stop, home.

Alex’s stomach turned over. She prepared for
the worst.

F

CHAPTER Forty

Tuesday afternoon

April 1
–
4:25 P.M. MDT

Carriage House, Denver, CO

“
For fuck’s sake,” James
said.

They were playing cards in the sitting area
of the carriage house. Sitting on the couch with his feet on the
coffee table, John held up his winning cards. Raz and James sat in
armchairs at either end of the couch. James kicked John’s feet off
the coffee table.

“
They’ve moved through the
house.” Vince sat at the small dining room table watching the
satellite and heat sensor on a laptop.

“
Raz, what did you get?”
White Boy said.

White Boy was standing to one side of the
door. Cian stood to the other side. Cian held a wooden hurling
stick in his hands.

“
Nothing I’d like to share,”
Raz replied.

“
What is that thing?” White
Boy asked Cian.

“
This my friend is a Camán.
In the language of our oppressors, it’s called a Hurley. Made from
ash, it’s used in the fine game of Lomáint.”

“
Hurling.” James
said.

“
Surely, you’ve played
hurling.” Cian rotated the stick in his hands.

Helene and Larry laughed upstairs.

“
You better be watching the
yard, G.I. Joe,” Matthew yelled at Larry from his position at the
back door. They heard shuffling upstairs.

“
I know what hurling is,”
White Boy said. “It’s when you vomit. Vomiting is
hurling.”

Cian’s face went red. He opened his mouth to
speak.

“
Leave it,” John said in
Ulster Gaelic.

Shaking his head, Cian muttered something
about the ignorance of Americans.

“
John plays poker with Alex
and Max.” Raz shuffled the cards. “Have you played with
them?”

“
I played with Alex while
she was in jail.” James gave an exaggerated sniff. “Twas quite
traumatic. I’d rather not speak of it.”

The men laughed.

“
I play with Max, Alex and
my brother,” Cian said. “Hasn’t helped my game.”

“
Here they come!” Larry
yelled.

“
Two at the front, two
moving toward the back.” Vince jumped to the other side of the back
door.

“
You should play with
Patrick,” John said. “He’s unbelievable. He makes Alex look
like...”

“
Forty years his junior,”
Raz said. “Can you imagine what she’s going to be like when she’s
his age?”

“
Nothing would make me
happier than to play cards with Alexandra when she’s seventy,” John
said.

“
Ahhhh,” James said. “Johnny
fancies the wife.”

“
He hopes Alex lives that
long,” Cian said.

The men fell silent at the thought.

“
Cards?” Raz
asked.

“
Two,” James
said.

The front door smashed open. Two men,
carrying machine guns, rushed into the carriage house. Acting
surprised, James and John jumped to their feet. In the noise, Raz
cocked the handgun hidden in his right arm sling.

“
Get down!” The men
screamed. “Get the fuck down!”

“
Really, that’s not
necessary.” John accentuated his London accent. “I have cash. Do
you require the cards as well?”

He extended his wallet in the men’s
direction. White Boy and Cian crept up behind them. One man turned
to engage White Boy.

Cian smashed the Hurley in the back of the
other man. Moving at the same time, John and James punched the
man’s face. The man dropped unconscious to the ground.

“
Hold him still,” Cian
yelled to White Boy.

White Boy grabbed the attacker’s arms and
Cian bashed the man with his Hurley. One last punch from White Boy
and the second man was down.

White Boy and Cian dragged the men into the
sitting area’s walk-in closet. White Boy closed and locked the
door. White Boy plopped down next to John on the couch.

“
Whose cards are these?”
White Boy asked.

“
Move over,” Cian said.
White Boy made room for John and Cian on the couch.

“
Mine,” John said. He took
another hand of cards from Raz.

“
These cards are mine now,”
White Boy said.

“
Your hand’s bleeding.”
James pointed to John’s hand.

“
Bloody hell!” John looked at his bleeding right knuckle.
“I’m a God damn surgeon. My hands are my
life
. I’ll
lose everything if I injure my hands. Fuck. I know people who won’t
even ride bicycles for fear of injuring their hands.”

“
You probably caught his
tooth,” Raz said. He pointed to his incisor.

“
There’s no residency for
punching people.” John grumbled.

“
Surgeons are such pussies,”
White Boy said under his breath.

“
Watch it! That pussy is my
brother,” Cian and James said at the same time. They
laughed.

“
Two in the back,” Vince
yelled. “One upstairs.”

“
Oh crap,” Larry
yelled.

They heard wrestling upstairs when two men
burst through the back of the carriage house. The men rushed past
Matthew and Vince and into the sitting area.

“
Get the fuck down,” the man
screamed.

“
We’re making weather here,”
James said.

“
I don’t give a fuck what
you’re doing. Get down.”

“
It means we’re hard at
work,” John said.

“
I was about to call,” James
said. “Call.”

“
Get the fuck down.” The
second man pushed the muzzle of a machine gun in James’s
face.