The Fey (11 page)

God, her mother had been angry that she was
moving in with her twin. ‘You’ll never find a husband now,’ she
insisted. Alex sighed. She could have told her mother that she and
John were married six weeks earlier. Even all these years later,
Alex shuddered to think of her mother’s hysterical, ‘it doesn’t
look right.’

The apartment was perfect. And so was
John.

She smiled remembering John. He’d sit in
this chair surrounded by books. His blue eyes vague while his mind
worked to memorize another scientific fact. His hair askew. He
usually had a pencil stuck behind his ear or in his mouth. He would
look up just before she landed in his arms.

From the moment she laid eyes on that man,
his gravitational pull was more than she could withstand. She had
to be near him, in his arms and touching his skin. She would throw
money at the cab driver then fly past the bubbling fountain and
blooming roses through the apartment to his arms. Every single
time....

Except the time she broke her thumb.

Holy crap.

Alex sat up in the chair. She forgot about
breaking her thumb.

She never thought to tell John that her
thumb was broken or the subsequent surgery to fix the break.
Standing at the apartment door, she realized he would be furious.
Her ears resonated with his imagined: ‘and you never thought to
tell me?!” She dropped her duffle at the door and ran away. John
found her sitting on the swings of a nearby playground. Their first
Christmas together…

She broke her thumb when they were dropping
Matthew off in Afghanistan. They found the Russian compound that
trip.

She lay between Jesse and Matthew focused on
the world of stars and the calculations in her head. They were lost
and she had to find their location. Still the new ‘girl,’ she had
to get this right. Her stomach rumbled with nausea. Letting out a
breath, she turned on her head lamp to check the map one more
time.

They were attacked by four Afghani men.
Throwing a man over her head, she caught her thumb on the strap of
his AK-47. She broke her thumb and a bone in her hand. She worked
that entire trip with a broken left thumb. Jax, their medic,
wrapped her hand every morning.

Just before they were attacked, Jesse said
something. What did he say? Alex’s core burned hot. This was the
piece she was missing.

If only Jesse was here. Fuck.

“
I said that we don’t know
how big this blackout area is.”

Alex’s mouth fell open. The full apparition
of Jesse Abreu appeared in her office. He was wearing digital
fatigues pushed up over his forearms and his dog tags hanging
outside his T-shirt. His pocket read “ABREU” in block letters. As
she watched, the apparition began to fill in. The tattoo of an
angel, Jesse’s essential nature as defined by the Cairo tattoo
artist, flashed on his forearm.

“
Who did you think you
were talking to?” Jesse continued speaking in Spanish. They spoke
to each other in Spanish. “I’ve been trying to do this for a long
time. You know, being a ghost doesn’t come with a
manual.”

“
Jesse,” she said in an
exhale of breath.

“
Hiya, Alexandra. I hate
that blonde hair.”

“
Jesse, you’re dead,” she
said continuing in Spanish.

Jesse laughed. “I’ve heard at least four
people tell you that.”

“
You were there… at Piñon
Canyon. I saw you there.”

“
It was my first time like
this,” Jesse faded for a second. “I just freaked and it
happened.”

“
The guy who killed
everybody? Eleazar? He’s got some soldiers in
Afghanistan.”

“
He didn’t kill
me.”

“
What?”

“
You heard me. He wants to
get to you. He’s going to kill Mattie and the boys today. Did you
ever forgive Zack?”

“
No,” Alex
said.

“
It’s good that some
things don’t change.” He faded out.

“
Jesse,” Alex said.
“Please don’t go Jesse.”

“
Jeez, I’m not any good at
this ghost crap,” Jesse said. The outline of his form appeared,
then in a flash, his body appeared. “Listen we never mapped the
edges of that GPS zone.”

“
Right. Matthew’s going to
the compound.”

“
The soldiers are twenty
miles south of the compound. The dead zone is huge, Alexandra.
They’re about four miles into the area.”

“
Thank God we have some
time.”

“
Why would you think that
he would keep to a time table?” Jesse disappeared.

Stunned, Alex fell back in the chair.

“
Get to work, lazy butt,”
Jesse’s voice said.

Alex jumped to her desk just as the video
link clicked showing Matthew’s face.

“
Hey Alex,” Matthew said.
“We’re about five miles out from the compound. Zack says that the
instruments are going crazy. I wanted to check in before we got cut
off.”

There was a knock at her door. Without
looking, she reached behind her to open the door to Ben and
Raz.

“
Mattie, you have to turn
back. Jesse said…”

“
Honey, Jesse’s
dead.”

“
Do you think I’m fucking
stupid? I know that Jesse’s dead. The soldier’s aren’t at the
compound. They’re planning…”

“
Hey Zack can you hold,”
Matthew called through the intercom to Zack. Alex heard Zack
laughing. “Let us check it out. We’ll be careful. We’re all
wearing…”

“
They don’t have any
intention of letting you land.”

Alex clicked her computer to connect with
Zack’s radio feed.

“
Zack?”

“
Hey Alex, we’re way ahead
of schedule. We’ve got at least an hour before…”

“
Listen you’ve got to head
back. Eleazar doesn’t intend for you to land.”

“
Have a
feeling?”

“
Something like that,”
Alex said.

“
That’s enough for me.
One-eighty time.”

Alex closed her eyes for a moment. Zack was
the only one who had experience working with her. She let out a
breath and said a silent prayer for patience. But the familiar
longing for “normal”–a team that listened and responded, her Fey
team–rose from inside. Opening her eyes, she saw Matthew discussing
the change with the men.

“
Ah crap,” Zack
said.

“
What
happened?”

“
We picked up a couple of
Grails. Missiles,” Zack said. “Four.”

“
Have they
locked?”

“
Not yet,” Zack
replied.

“
Can you evade?” Matthew
said.

“
Does shit stink? You’d
better hang on,” Zack said. “Release the chaff. Hey Matthew, can
you get your guys…”

“
We’re on it,” Matthew
said.

Glued to the screen, Alex watched as Matthew
and Troy threw open the helicopter doors and began shooting at the
missiles with machine guns. Trece and the White Boy used their bulk
to hold the men in the weaving helicopter.

“
Troy?” Trece gave Troy a
Barrett .416 longrange rifle. Throwing his machine gun to the side,
Troy fired in quick succession.

“
Hey! That boy can shoot.”
Zack’s echoing voice through the radio feed created commentary for
the riveting scene in front of her. “Troy’s hit two of them with
that .416. My gunner’s hit another. One more to go. Now this shit
is just pissing me off. Hang on.”

“
We picked up two more,”
Matthew yelled.

Troy threw the empty rifle at Trece and
picked up the machine gun. Trece worked to load the weapon. The
screen jerked as the helicopter evaded the missiles. Flares,
designed to draw the Grail heat-seeking missiles away from the
helicopter, sparkled outside the helicopter doors. Trece gave the
loaded Barrett back to Troy. Troy picked up the rifle and fired in
quick succession.

“
He hit another. Where’d
you pick up this guy, Alex?” Zack asked.

“
Basic.”

There were voices in the background. “The
gunner hit another missile. FUCK! We picked up another one. They
must have watched us go over. Alex, you know this area. Where can
we go to get away from these missiles?”

“
What’s your exact
location?” Alex asked.

“
Command just linked to
your Sergeant. You should have it on your screen.”

Alex tabbed her second computer screen as
her Sergeant flicked onto the video link.

“
Fey?”

“
Sergeant? Can you contact
the CO and tell him that he needs to get moving? Tell him it’s
orders.”

“
You have the…”

“
I’m looking at the
coordinates right now.”

Alex walked to her table to review her maps
of Afghanistan. Nodding her head, she returned to the armoire.

“
Zack.”

“
Alex, you should leave
the Englishman and marry me.”

“
You’re very funny. Listen
if you make a quick right turn.” The men clung to the helicopter as
it swung around. “Ten kilometers that’s all, then left. Good job
Zack. Now head South. Right. Your engineer is good. But don’t stay
there too long. You’ll pick up another tribe in fifty kilometers. I
don’t think they’re hostile but I wouldn’t risk it.”

“
Got it,” Zack
said.

“
Grails?” Alex asked. The
video feed continued to jump and dodge as Zack maneuvered the
helicopter to evade.

”
Still have two on
us.”

“
Locked?”

“
One,” Zack said. “Ah
fuck. Hold on.”

“
Got it,” Troy
screamed.

Trece and the White Boy pushed the doors
closed as a missile exploded within feet of the helicopter. Through
the small window, they watched the fireball of light and shrapnel
explode, then explode again. Zack maneuvered the helicopter away
from the worst of the fire.

“
Hey,” Zack said. “We’re
clear. My gunner got the last one.”

Alex watched the men cheer and laugh.

“
I’m sending your engineer
the coordinates to get you back to Kabul,” Alex said.

“
What about the soldiers?”
Matthew said. “We’re here to get the soldiers.”

“
It’s too
dangerous.”

“
Alex, where are the
soldiers?” Zack asked.

“
We came to do a job,”
Matthew said. “God damn it, Alex. Those men are out there.
Alone.”

Alex closed her eyes for a moment. Two years
ago, she would have laughed, celebrated and sent them on to do
their job. But today? When she closed her eyes she saw their death
in bright blood red Technicolor.

“
A terrorist succeeds when
you are afraid,” Ben said.

Alex startled when he spoke. She had
forgotten he and Raz were there.

“
Where are the soldiers?”
Raz asked. He was standing next to her map table looking that the
maps.

“
Hang on, Matthew,” Alex
said.

She pointed to an area of the map.

“
They started here.” She
pointed to an area to the left margin of the area. “Assuming they
walked three or maybe five miles an hour at the maximum, they
should have made it here.” She pointed to a ridge line. “According
to their CO, they said they were in a flat, dry spot, which is not
this location. The U-2 data shows a series of caves under
here.”

Alex pointed to an area that looked like a
flat open valley between the squiggly lines of the topological
map.

“
I thought you knew that
tribe,” Ben said. “Isn’t the guy who controls that whole area a
friend of the Fey’s?”

“
I’m not there,” Alex
said.

“
Where’s the rest of the
team?” Ben asked.

“
Here,” Alex pointed to a
spot near the edge of the map. “I ordered them to get
moving.”

“
Eleazar’s going to roll
on them,” Raz said.

Ben pointed to the map.

“
You’re thinking they have
Grails in the caves or that the helicopter won’t be able to
land.”

Alex nodded.

“
You have no contact with
the three soldiers.”

“
According to the CO,”
Alex said.

Ben raised just a small corner of his
mouth.

“
What?” Alex
asked.

“
Would you mind if I used
your computer?” Raz asked plopping down in her chair.

Standing behind him, she watched him log
through the Homeland Security server then through to a world
network. He clicked in a series of codes and they were looking at
satellite feed.

“
Is that the
soldiers?”

“
Let’s see.”

Alex peered at the computer. Three soldiers
lay in individual sleeping trenches. Their faces were covered in
digital camouflage. They seemed to be asleep.

“
I think so.”

He clicked a series of buttons and they were
looking at heat-seeking imaging.

“
You’re right,” Raz said.
“There’s at least three guys, maybe more, on the ground here. I
would say tunnels, not caves. There’s also a grouping of people
just over this ridge.”

He clicked the buttons again to look at a
picture of twelve armed men, Eleazar’s men.