The Fey (28 page)

“
My mother says the same
thing,” Alex said.

“
Well, pardon me,” Claire
said. “I’d hate to sound like Rebecca.”

They laughed.

“
One more thing,” Claire
said. “Can you bend down?”

Alex felt hair combs scrape against her
scalp and the silk slipped from her eyes.

Alex gasped. The sleeveless butter cream
satin silk dress was snug from her breasts to her hips. Its draped
V-neckline and dropped waist accentuated Alex’s breasts, wide
shoulders and small waist. Alex turned to see inverted pleats
creating a full skirt and chapel train. The bodice was covered in
an intricate pattern of cultured pearls. The pearls continued on
the inch wide straps. The pattern of pearls was repeated along the
edges of the dress and train. She wore a tulle veil with the same
pattern of pearls on the edge of the veil.

“
She’s speechless,” Ben
said from upstairs. Looking up, she smiled at Ben and the children
standing on the passageway upstairs. “That’s a first.”

Claire buzzed around her making measurements
for the alterations.

“
Say something, Alex,” Max
said. “You have to talk.”

“
Wow,” Alex said. “It’s
more spectacular than anything I could have ever imagined. Did you
do all this bead work?”

“
Helene and Frederec
helped,” Claire said. “Frederec has a real knack for bead
work.”

“
Of course he does,” Alex
said. “Thank you for this.”

“
Oh dear,” Claire said.
“You are so welcome. Thank you for letting me create a dress for
you. I hope this John will appreciate it.”

“
He will,” Max
said.

Claire looked at Max then looked up at Ben,
who laughed.

“
She hasn’t seen Alex and
John together,” Ben said to Max.

Max laughed.

“
Now out of the dress,”
Claire said. “I will make these alterations. Benjamin will bring
the dress to you. You need to get it pressed.”

Alex stepped out of the dress. Claire helped
her into the silk robe.

“
I will be there to help
you get dressed,” Claire said.

“
What about my mother?”
Alex asked.

“
Rebecca will have to live
with it. What is past is done. There’s no changing it. Plus with
such wonderful outcomes,” Claire looked from Alex to Max, “who’d
want to?”

Max blushed and held his hand out to Alex.
The twins held hands, feeling the pulse of each other, then smiled
in unison.

“
At least you know, now,
and we can be more of a family.”

“
Thank you,” Alex said and
hugged Claire.

“
I put a little pocket in
it so you can wear a pistol if you feel you need to,” Claire said.
“Let’s hope you don’t.”

Alex went to change. When she came out, Max
was chatting with Frederec about his new gadget while Helene
pretended not to listen. Alex wasn’t sure if the children knew that
they were siblings. It never occurred to her to ask. Embarrassed,
she withdrew into herself.

Feeling a bump against her leg, she looked
down to see Camille’s bright blue eyes. Camille lifted her arms and
Alex picked her up. Alex kissed Camille’s plump cheek, taking in
her baby scent, and felt less strange. Camille’s little fist
reached around Alex’s neck. When Alex looked up Max had picked up
Eugene.

As Claire shooed them out of the shop, Max
and Alex shared a look. At least they could be family. Alex and Max
followed Helene out the door. The family laughed and talked through
the narrow streets to the Metro station. They took a few short
Metro stops. They found John waiting for them on the platform.

“
He’s very handsome,”
Helene whispered in French.

“
Yes, he is.”

FFF

With Helene leading the way, the family
wandered into a small bistro along a side street. Helene said hello
to a couple handsome young men as they walked into the bistro. Alex
watched the girl flip her hair, press her chest forward and wag her
hips. Shaking her head slightly, her Goddaughter… no… sister?...
was growing up. She looked up to catch Ben’s eyes. Holding the door
for Alex, he smiled and took Camille from her arms. Then, almost on
impulse, he kissed Alex’s cheek. Their eyes held for a moment and
Alex smiled.

Alex watched everything from the sidelines.
Naturally suspicious of a handsome Englishman, Claire peppered John
with questions. She was perfectly clear. She was certain he was not
good enough to be Alex’s husband. Knowing how important Claire was
to Alex, John gave Claire his full attention. By the time the
waiter brought their lunch, John and Claire were sharing stories
about Alex.

Sitting with Camille on his lap, Max chatted
with Frederec. Alex watched one brother then the other brother. She
was surprised that she never noticed how similar Frederec and Max
were. She shook her head at her own confusion. Nothing had changed
and everything was different. They had been dear friends. Now they
were family.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Alex looked
up into Helene’s impatient face. The young woman’s eyes were wide
as she nodded her head toward the table of young men. Alex smiled
at Helene’s impatience. Raising a finger, Alex drank the last of
her French press coffee then she kissed John. He stroked her hip
when she stood to follow Helene.

Arriving at a table of five young men, one
handsome man, Michel, shifted his knee sideways and Helene sat down
in his lap. Helene flirted, blushed and worked her way through
introductions. Alex had to look away when the young man’s hands
began moving along Helene’s body. She had to bite her lip to keep
from saying: “Get your filthy hands of my Helene!”

Chuckling at her own reaction, her eyes
drifted across the street where she noticed Jesse standing under a
green awning near the corner. Alex smiled at Jesse then looked back
to Helene.

Helene moved her lips, saying something, but
Alex’s couldn’t hear her. Alex opened her mouth to say something
but found words beyond her capacity. Alex shook her head and Helene
repeated herself. Alex had no idea what the girl said. Blinking her
eyes, she realized that all sound was gone. Alex pressed her
fingers to her ears in an attempt to clear them. Her face marked
with concern, Helene put a hand on Alex’s arm. Alex smiled, wagged
her head then indicated with her hands that Helene should stay with
her friends.

Jesse appeared next to the table.

“
Follow me,” Jesse
said.

With one last smile to Helene, Alex followed
Jesse across the street. They walked together in companionable
silence until they came to the green awning. Alex looked up,
reading, ‘Le Fee Verte,’ the Green Fairy, Paris’ euphuism for
absinthe.

“
In here,” Jesse
said.

Glancing back at the bistro, Alex noticed
that Ben was standing at the door. He opened his mouth and said
something, but Alex couldn’t hear him. Smiling, she raised her hand
to wave to Ben then stepped into the busy shop.

Sound returned to Alex in a blaze of music,
conversation, and clinking of china. Dazed by the noise, Alex stood
at the entrance.

“
Alexandra! How are you?”
a tall blonde clerk said in French. She was standing behind a bar
where three customers were drinking absinthe. “Where have you
been?”

“
It’s been a while,” Alex
replied. She moved into the shop. Although she had no memory of the
woman or this place, she played along because Jesse waved her into
the shop.

“
We haven’t seen you in
years. I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back. Would you
like your regular?”

“
Sure,” Alex
said.

The clerk poured absinthe into a reservoir
glass. Laughing at something the customer in front of her said, the
woman rested a slotted spoon on the rim of the glass and placed a
sugar cube on the spoon.

“
You look good dear,” the
clerk said. “I like the hair.”

Jesse stood near a door in the back.

“
You can go downstairs,
dear. I’ll have this ready for you when you come up,” the clerk
said. “My God, Alex, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you all
right?”

F

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“
It’s a little weird to be
here,” Alex said.

“
It has been a while,” the
clerk said. She turned to speak to another customer.

Stepping aside so that a customer could move
by her to the bar, Alex walked through the shop to where Jesse was
standing.

“
This is it,” Jesse
said.

Alex opened the door and jogged down a
series of wooden steps into the labyrinth of limestone tunnels that
run beneath Paris. Five steps, turn, five steps, turn. In the dim
light, she counted the steps in her head. Even though the stairs
continued into the darkness, she walked forward off the stairs into
the fifth passageway and froze.

This was the passageway from her
nightmare.

Her heart raced and her stomach lurched into
her throat. Looking up the stairs, she longed to return to the busy
shop. But the passageway called to her. Blowing out her feelings of
dread, she stepped forward.

She heard the door open above her.

“
Alex?” Ben
called.

Jesse beckoned her forward into the dark
limestone passageway. Round fluorescent ceiling lights flickered
then came on as she walked under them. Each time she stepped into
the dark, a light began to flicker over head. Counting her steps,
fifty-seven, she turned at an unmarked door on her right.

No door knob. No hinges. Just a vague
outline of a door cut into the limestone.

Placing her hand on the limestone, a green
light scanned her palm. There was a soft click and a key pad
emerged.

Alex looked at Jesse and he nodded.

Her fingers moved in an automatic rhythm
across the key pad. There was a pop and the door opened a crack.
Alex pushed the door open.

The smell hit her like a tidal wave.

Dried blood and death. Blood dried in thick
pools on the floor. The white limestone walls were patterned with
splattered blood. Crates and boxes around the room bore scars made
by violent death. The sound of ragged breathing and dripping blood
pounded her ears.

In a series of flashes, she watched it
happen.

FF

She stood in front of ten years of her
mission journals tucked in a wall compartment. Holding her journal,
the large one she carried in her pack, she laughed at Mike. He was
bragging about his latest conquest . From his position at the door,
Jesse encouraged Mike’s exaggerations with provocative questions.
Alex shared a look with Jesse and they laughed.

Jax, the medic, was changing into his
running gear for his first long run since competing in the one
hundred and thirty five mile Badwater Ultramarathon. Charlie
O’Brien and Dwight Harris, the weapon’s officer, were arguing about
the outcome of the last Broncos vs. Raiders football game.

Alex glanced at Scott, the engineer, who was
sitting on a crate talking to Tommy, the communications officer.
When she looked away, Scott threw a piece of ice at her. Laughing,
Alex caught the ice in her right hand. She threw the ice at Scott
and hit him in the head.

Paul, the second engineer, was standing in
his boxers displaying his new dance moves to Dean, the other medic.
Laughing at Dean and Paul, Nathan had his foot on a crate so he
could tie his shoes.

They were laughing and loose. Having
finished their work early, they were ready to play. Their body
armor was stacked in a corner. Alex tossed her body armor onto the
stack then turned to put the journal in the compartment. Impatient
and ready to go, Nathan started jumping up and down.

Hearing a sound in the hallway, she cast a
glace at Jesse. Jesse screamed. Falling against the door, his body
jerked as a round of machine gun fired hit him in the chest.
Reaching for her handgun, Alex’s abdomen and hip exploded. Dazed,
she flew backwards and landed on a crate. Round after agonizing
round, a machine gun cut into her screaming friends.

Sitting up, she fired in the direction of
the shooter but was unable to stabilize against the gun’s recoil.
The shot went wild.

The shooter laughed, then turned to shoot
Dwight in the head.

Alex ground her teeth together. Using her
free hand to stabilize, she fired twice in quick succession.

Her shots knocked the shooter backward. The
shooter sneered. Taunting Alex, he pointed to the spot where her
shots hit his body armor. With a cruel laugh, he raised his AK-47
to fire at Alex again.

She pulled one shot, hitting him in the
forehead. The shooter fell backward to the floor.

Bleeding heavily, she dropped to the blood
slick floor. Sobbing and unable to stand or walk, she pulled
herself from one friend to the next. Their bodies lay in pieces on
the limestone. She fell forward over Charlie.

Then she heard the ragged breath. Jesse’s
alive.

“
Don’t die. Don’t die.
Jesse, don’t you dare die. Please. Jesse. Please don’t die. Jesse,”
echoed off the limestone walls.

Pushing and pulling herself along the floor,
she fell forward in front of his broken body.

Jesse smiled.

Laying on her stomach, she pressed her hands
into his wounds trying to stem the flow of blood.

Jesse shook his head.

She dragged her hips around and moved to
sitting. She pulled his head on to her lap.

“
I’m dying,” he
whispered.