The Fey (38 page)

“
No. Max. Broken rib.
Troy?”

“
Sorry about that,” Troy
said. “He saw me and pulled off a few rounds.”

“
How many?” Alex
asked.

“
Three,” Troy
said.

“
Did he fire into the
Memorial?” Alex asked.

“
No. He fired at me,” Troy
said. “I’m coming back.”

“
I’ll meet you at the
bird,” Matthew said.

Troy ran to Alex and they set off toward the
entrance. Larry was waiting for them near the edge of the ceremony.
They ran toward the entrance. The helicopter was running when they
got there. Alex opened the door for Larry and Troy to jump in. Alex
turned to look for Matthew when he ran up behind her. He stepped in
and she followed closing the door.

“
Get us out of here,” Alex
said to the pilot.

Alex turned to Larry. “Sergeant? Your
report.”

“
Joseph was shot by a
Secret Service agent. Then, I’m sorry, sir, the agent shot your
brother and your husband,” he said. “Agent Rasmussen fired on the
agent. I left after that.”

“
Cian and
Eoin?”

“
They are with your
brother and husband.”

Alex opened her cell phone and called Raz.
No answer. While Troy and Matthew told an enraptured Larry about
the shooters, Alex sat down by herself.

Staring into space, she worked up the
courage to do what needed to be done. Once she set this train in
motion, there was no going back. Swallowing hard, she dialed
Ben.

“
Max Hargreaves and John
Drayson were killed at the ceremony today as was Captain Joseph
Walter.”

“
Got it,” he said.
“Jakker?”

“
The same.”

“
Will do.” He clicked
off.

“
Major?” the pilot called
from the cockpit. “Your commander is requesting your
report.”

The co-pilot moved out of his seat. Leaning
over her, the co-pilot plugged in a headset. Alex took the headset
and put it on her head.

“
This is Major Drayson,”
Alex said.

“
Colonel Gordon here.” His
voice was tense and formal.

“
Yes sir,” Alex
said.

“
I need a report, Major
Drayson.”

“
This channel is not
secure, sir,” Alex said.

“
Don’t tell me what I
already know,” he said.

“
We found three shooters,
two in the trees and one on the ground. I knocked out the first
shooter. The shooter was a non-national carrying C-4 in a backpack.
We checked with command and were told that there were no Federals
or law enforcement in the trees. My associates took out the other
two shooters. We returned to our meeting location and are now in
the air.”

“
Confirm AK-47 fire,” the
Colonel said.

“
Roughly three rounds were
fired at my associate from a shooter about 300 meters west of the
Memorial. The shooter was eliminated.”

“
Were shots fired toward
the ceremony?” the Colonel asked.

“
No sir,” Alex said.
“There was no fire from our direction into the memorial area. We
cannot confirm information outside of our direct
experience.”

“
Major, I expect a
detailed written report,” Colonel Gordon said and clicked
off.

Alex stood, moving toward the back of the
helicopter when her cell phone vibrated. She opened the phone.

“
Howard, what is going
on?” she asked.

“
A Secret Service officer
shot Captain Walter, Max Hargreaves and John Drayson before being
neutralized by Agent Rasmussen,” Colonel Gordon said. “Our guys
picked up the shooters after you took off. The Secret Service is
saying that they were responding to shots fired by Captain Walter.
They say that Max and John got in the way. You’ll be interested to
know that Captain Walter is not armed.”

“
What are their
conditions?” Alex asked closing her eyes.

“
We have report from
Homeland Security that all three are confirmed
fatalities.”

“
That’s
correct.”

“
Captain Walter is in
route to the hospital but he’s fine. We’re dropping him in route
where his wife is waiting for him. Max and John are on their way to
St. Joseph’s Hospital. Both received minor injuries. They will be
pronounced DOA at the hospital.”

“
And Captain
Walter?”

“
Pronounced at the scene,”
Howard said. “You’re sure about this.”

“
Yes sir. This is a major
offensive. Eleazar must believe that he is succeeding.”

“
He will be left with only
one option.”

“
Yes sir. He has only one
option now.”

“
And Captain Jakkman?”
Colonel Howard Gordon asked.

“
Sir?” Alex
asked.

“
How…”

“
Sir?”

“
Never mind. I need full
details on my desk tomorrow. And Alex? Dot every single
‘i’.”

“
Yes sir. And sir? Agent
Rasmussen?”

“
He’s Homeland Security,”
Howard said. “He didn’t kill that little weasel. They’ll release
Agent Rasmussen.”

“
And the President?” Alex
asked.

“
He’s bruised up from the
Secret Service, but he’ll live.”

“
Thanks,” Alex
said.

“
I’m proud of you guys.
Tell your associates that they’ll get a Presidential
commendation.”

“
Thank you, sir,” Alex
said then closed her phone.

She looked into Troy’s face, then Matthew’s
face.

“
As far as we’re concerned
they are dead. Joseph died at the scene. Max and John will be DOA
at the hospital.”

“
What about your parents?
Erin?” Matthew asked.

“
Would you mind calling
Colin? Tell him everything. I need to take care of a few things.
Then become the grieving widow.”

When Matthew’s attention turned to his
telephone call, Troy asked, “Alex, what is Eleazar’s only
option?”

“
He’s coming for
me.”

F

CHAPTER THIRTY

Five hours later

October 8 – 6:30 P.M.
Near downtown Denver, Colorado

“
Would you like some
more?” John asked. He held a bottle of Cristal
champagne.

Alex rolled onto her stomach and held her
glass out. They were laying, naked, wrapped around each other in a
tiny CIA owned boutique hotel room near downtown Denver. After
being checked and bandaged in the emergency room, John and Max were
whisked through a series of tunnels into Homeland Security
vehicles. Ben arrived to escort Max, and his broken rib, to a
family home outside of Montreal, Canada.

But John refused to leave Alex so they
compromised with this hotel. John planned to write up his research
project for the Journal of the American Medical Association. Alex
and Raz had bets that he wouldn’t make it a week. Alex had already
arranged for his escort to Scotland.

“
First,” John
said.

He grunted. The bullet caught the edge of
his body armor bruising his shoulder. He was bruised and sore. Yet
for a man who was pronounced dead only a few hours ago, he was
remarkably fit.

She crawled across the bed to kiss him. He
pressed her onto her back as their passion caught. They had been
laying in the bed celebrating the two year survival anniversary
with champagne and love for the last three hours.

“
I think the news is on,”
Alex said.

“
Oh by all means, I’d love
to see your show,” John said rolling to his back. Plucking the
remote from a side table, he flicked on the television. Alex rested
her head against his chest while he flipped through the
channels.

“
Here we go,” he said. He
kissed her head.

“
Three dead as a day of
remembrance turns deadly,” the FOX news reporter said.

“
I think that’s a little
dramatic,” Alex said.

“
Lots of dead in that. How
about this one?” John asked.

“
A family’s tragedy
deepens as Senator Patrick Hargreaves loses another son on the
anniversary of his son Alexander’s death.”

“
That’s a good picture of
my Dad,” Alex said. “Oh look, I missed this.”

Patrick, supporting a weeping Rebecca, moved
into a limousine while surrounded by Secret Service officers.

“
She looks very sad,” John
said.

“
She’s good,” Alex said.
“Look there I am.”

The camera showed a picture of blonde
haired, blue eyed Alyssa collapsing in the hospital waiting room.
Alyssa sobbed into Erin’s arms while Matthew pushed the cameras
away. The announcer said in a solemn voice, “They were to be
married in less than two weeks.”

“
How did I do?? Very
convincing?” Alex beamed.

“
You were brilliant,” John
replied kissing her. “Where is Zack?”

“
Zack’s dead, John, you
know that,” Alex replied in the same tone he used when he
“reminded” her that Jesse was dead.

John squinted his eyes at her sarcasm and
she laughed. Rolling over, she moved on top of him so that her
mouth was next to his ear.

“
He’s with his
girlfriend.”

“
Bestat the
dragon?”

“
Mmm… She sent me a text
when they arrived in Cairo. They’ll stay at her family’s home near
the Valley of the Kings until this is over.”

“
And when do we think this
will be over?”

“
This week,” Alex said
rolling onto her side. He rolled onto his side so he could look at
her. “He’s had success so he will keep moving forward. We are in
place to move at any time.”

“
Hmm,” John said. “Dare I
ask? What’s next?”

“
We aren’t sure,” Alex
said. She rolled onto her back to cover her lie.

“
Hey.” John touched her
shoulder. He misinterpreted her lie for sadness.

She looked over at him.

“
At least it will be over
at some point,” he said.

She nodded wishing that she had his
confidence.

“
I have something for
you,” she said.

“
A diamond?”

“
Something better,” she
said. Standing Alex went to her suitcase and pulled out the box she
found in the cabinet in the vault.

“
We got this for you,”
Alex said. “It was a team present. Everyone was involved. Dwayne
found it at one of those shops with junk stacked from the floor to
ceiling in Abidjan, you know the Ivory Coast. He took Tommy and
Jesse to see it but the shop wasn’t open. I think Paul finally
purchased it like a month later. Charlie had it cleaned. Mike made
sure it was authentic. Anyway, everyone had something to do with
this including me.” She smiled. “Close your eyes and hold out your
hand.”

She set a heavy cylindrical object in his
hand. “You can open your eyes.”

John opened his eyes to an antique fountain
pen with an intricate snail detail in gold overlay the black enamel
body of the pen. The gold cap continued in the snail detail.
Opening the pen, he made a small noise reading the inscription on
the gold nib–ALCO.

“
Oh my God.”

“
Mike said that the pen
was made 1884 or 1885 but the nib is newer,” Alex said. She pointed
to the date–1915. “I thought it was cool to think about someone
using this pen for thirty years then replacing the nib. The
eyedropper to fill it is in the case.”

She passed him a pen case marked Aiken
Lambert.

“
I’ve never seen anything
like this.”

“
We were going to give it
to you when you finished your General Surgery certificate, but we
were stuck somewhere,” Alex said. “We were going to give it to you
for Christmas but…” She shrugged. “We wanted to get you something
special and we knew your love for fountain pens.”

“
I use my green fountain
pen every day,” John said.

“
The one I gave you for
our one month anniversary?” Alex said.

“
I write my notes with it
every day. I even wrote my first prescription with that pen,” John
said. “Alex, this is the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received.
Your team… they were truly great men. I will treasure
this.”

“
Everyone felt involved in
you becoming a doctor then a surgeon. We were proud of you. I am
very proud of you.”

“
Thank you,” He smiled at
her and touched her face.

“
You’re welcome,” she
said. “Dinner?”

“
I had something else in
mind first,” he said.

She giggled when he pushed her onto her back
for another round.

FFF

One day passed, then another.

They began to believe they were on vacation.
The hotel had secure connections to every major computer system
with video conferencing. Alex wandered down the hall to work on the
maps of Afghanistan then wandered back for lunch. Her Sergeant and
his wife came for dinner one night. Raz moved into a room down the
hall. For the first time in over two years, Alex and Patrick played
pool with Raz for an entire afternoon while John worked on his
paper. She played poker with Max via video conference between his
morning fly fishing on the lake and his afternoon fly fishing on
the river.