The Fey (45 page)

“
Did you tell them?” Raz
asked.

“
Not a chance. You think I
want them to know that I had her in my bed and let her go? The tape
shows her team laughing about me. They joked, in Irish Gaelic no
less, the entire way out of the building.”

“
The hostages?” Matthew
asked.

“
Outside the door,” he
said. “I have no idea how she worked their release. The hostages
never said a word.”

Sean fell silent and the men went back to
work. After a silent hour, Sean looked up. He watched Raz and
Matthew work. While Alex lingered in his mind somewhere between
fantasy and dream, these men were her friends. If he didn’t ask
them, he would never know.

“
Have you spent time with
Alex?” Sean asked breaking the silence again.

Raz furrowed his brow, “All over the world.
Why?”

“
Have you ever noticed
that she has a smell?”

Raz pierced his brow, then looked at
Matthew.

“
Cinnamon rolls,” Matthew
said. “Troy says she smells like cotton candy.”

Raz raised his eyebrows and laughed.

“
Oh come on, you’ve
noticed it.”

“
Warm chocolate lava
cake,” Raz said. “I thought it was because we’ve eaten so much
chocolate together. She loves warm chocolate lava cake.”

Raz and Matthew looked at Sean who blushed
and looked down at his laptop computer.

“
Well?” Matthew
asked.

“
Christmas pudding,” Sean
said.

Raz made a disgusted face.

“
It’s wonderful stuff.
We’ll have it the next time you’re in London.”

“
I’ll take your word for
it,” Matthew replied.

“
The very smell of her is
intoxicating. She’s still married, right?”

Matthew nodded his head.

“
That guy would have to be
a complete idiot to fuck that up. There’s a guy at SIS who is
absolutely obsessed with her. I guess she rescued him from
somewhere in Eastern Europe. He swears she smells like rain. Do you
think everyone experiences that?”

Matthew smiled. “I think it’s only men. Her
team used to tease her about it.”

“
Is it a
perfume?”

“
No,” Raz said. “It’s just
the way her skin smells.”

Sean shook his head then returned to his
laptop. The men worked in silence for more than a half hour before
Sean had to ask one last question.

“
Why do you think it’s
different for different people?” Sean asked. “My unit head says she
smells like a sweet shop.”

“
She’s a fairy, Sean.
You’re smelling fairy dust,” Raz said under his breath.

Matthew remembered Alex standing over him on
the martial arts mat at Special Forces training. She had just
kicked his ass. Beamed at him in greeting, not pride or
achievement, just greeting, she held her hand out to help him up.
He hated this woman for daring to be a Green Beret. But looking
into her smiling face, he knew he’d made a friend for life.

Matthew nodded. “Fairy dust.”

“
Fairy dust?” Sean
asked

“
Fairy dust.”

FFF

October 14 – 12:30 P.M.
Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado

“
Sir?” Matthew
asked.

He walked into the conference room to find
Patrick and Ben arguing. In all the years of knowing Alex and
dating Erin, he had never seen Patrick Hargreaves angry. At this
moment, Patrick’s face was flushed bright red and the soldier–hard,
driven and deadly–emerged on Patrick’s face.

Standing with his face an inch from
Patrick’s face, Ben punched Patrick’s chest with the index finger
of the hand holding a lit cigarette. They were speaking French in
terse whispers. When Matthew spoke, Ben whipped around and glowered
at Matthew. He walked away from Patrick puffing on his
cigarette.

“
Max says that Alex is
doing well.”

Patrick put a hand to his face. Ben fell
toward the wall catching himself with the hand that held the
cigarette. Not sure of what to do next, Matthew kept talking.

“
Jesse said that she was
really sick last night but when she woke up this morning she was
better. Max says that she’s really better, like before all of this
happened, like two years ago.”

“
And what does Jesse or
Max say she plans to do?”

Matthew smiled, chuckling a little, “She’s
going to kill them then wait for Eleazar.”

“
How will she do that?”
Ben asked. His desperation seeped into his voice.

“
I’m not sure exactly. Max
said something about razor wire and the Mini-tool? Does that make
sense to you?”

Patrick laughed and patted Matthew on the
back.

“
Wire around the leather
glove?” Ben said in French to Patrick then laughed. “They won’t
miss the wire because of the snow.”

Matthew made no indication that he
understood Ben. There was no way he wanted Ben to think he spoke
French. No way. Working with Alex was one thing but Ben? Not a
chance.

“
Max says that we need to
get moving. He’s not sure where but he says that Alex thinks they
will move her.”

Patrick nodded. “Thank you Matthew.”

“
And sir?”

“
Yes?”

“
Jordanian Armed Forces
have Eleazar’s mother in their control as Alex planned. Also, UN
Security Forces have surrounded Eleazar’s home in Jerusalem but
they have been unable to enter.”

“
Guards?” Patrick
asked.

“
No sir. The PIRA is in
the house. They responded to the death of John Kelly. Raz said that
they seem to be waiting to hear from Alex.”

Patrick raised his eyebrows and rubbed his
forehead.

“
Thank you,
Matthew.”

“
Yes sir.”

As Matthew walked toward the front of the
room, he heard Ben apologize to Patrick and Patrick laugh. Turning
to close the door, he saw the men hug.

For the first time in days, his dear friend
Alex was in real, serious danger.

He was glad her fathers were on edge.

FFFFFF

October 14 – 12:45 P.M.

Cherry Hills Estates, Denver, Colorado

“
Mom,” Erin
said.

Rebecca looked up to take a cup of chamomile
tea from Erin’s hands. Dressed in their warmest clothing, they were
sitting on Patrick and Rebecca’s deck looking out toward the snow
capped Rocky mountains.

“
It’s been three days,”
Rebecca said letting out a breath.

“
I know,” Erin replied.
“We have to believe that Alex is alive and doing all right because
the alternative is just too awful to contemplate.”

“
Every time. I worry about
her every single time. I keep thinking that I will get used to it,
but I never do. And I always know when she’s in danger. I always
know,” Rebecca said.

Erin put her hand on Rebecca’s arm.

“
It’s been wonderful
having Alex back,” Erin said. “I don’t think I knew how much I
missed her.”

Rebecca smiled a little, “I’m sorry I made
her go away.”

“
You did what you thought
was best. I know that, so does Alex. Even Max says it was good.
After all, that’s how he met John and how Alex met Jesse. John and
Jesse were Max and Alex’s first friends.”

“
And how Alex met Matt,”
Rebecca said.

At the mention of his name, Erin smiled. Her
face flushed and her eyes shone with love.

“
And Matt.”

“
He’s a wonderful man,
Erin. I am very happy for you,” Rebecca said reaching over to hold
Erin’s hand.

“
Yes, he is. Who would
have thought? Me and Matt. I dreamed of being with Matt, you know,
day in and day out, when I was sixteen years old. It seemed
impossible. I mean, he’s on a twenty year contract!” Erin shook her
head at the impossibility. “The last months have been a dream come
true. He says that too. Can you believe it? And it’s all because of
Alex.”

Rebecca turned from Erin to watch the
mountains. They sat in silence.

“
Even though I know the
sun will set tonight… Even though I know that what happens today is
absolutely out of my control, I still wish…”

“
Me too.”

F

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

October 14 – 12:53 P.M.
Olde Town Arvada, Colorado

“
They’re coming,” Jesse
said. “Three men, guns.”

Alex stopped running in place. She was warm
and loose or as warm and loose as her battered and bruised body
could be in this frigid room. Sitting with her back to the camera,
she had made leather shoes out of bottom of her leather jacket then
set to work on the slit glasses. Cutting a long strip, she sliced a
thin slit down the middle of the leather. These slit glasses would
act like dark sunglasses and shade her eyes from the worst of the
light. She left the arms, shoulders and chest of the jacket intact
for warmth and protection. Trying to gauge space in the absolute
dark, she positioned herself where she thought the men would stand
after coming in the door.

She also had no idea if the British
Intelligence agent was working in her favor. No matter. She was
prepared for any possibility.

Closing her eyes in preparation for the
blinding light, she heard the men move down the hallway. Her heart
pounded in anticipation when the key scratched into the lock. With
a click, the dead bolt moved. Light blazed from every light
fixture. Even shaded by the slit glasses, her eyelids flashed
bright red.

The door moved open a crack then stopped.
The bottom of the door caught on the dirty bandage set there to
make them force the door. As precious seconds passed, her eyes
adjusted to the light behind her eyelids.

One man rammed against the door.

Alex waited.

Two men threw their weight against the door.
Jesse moved the bandage and the men fell into the room.

Alex exploded off the concrete floor.
Jumping straight up into the air, she kicked her feet outward in a
wide V. Her kick knocked both men backward. Still in the air, she
heard someone throw what sounded like broken glass on the floor.
Laughing, she landed on one covered foot. Rotating sideway, she
kicked the British national in the chest. He slammed into the
cinderblock wall.

She punched her right fist, covered in the
leather glove and wound in razor wire, forward at turban man. He
ducked her fist. He moved to punch her. She sliced the razor wire
through his beard and across his throat. His face flashed shock.
His hands clutched at the deep wound. Choking on his own blood,
turban man fell to the floor. Before Alex could finish him, the
Brit jumped her.

Rotating back, Alex punched the Brit in the
face with her left fist. The Leatherman Mini-tool’s needlenose
pliers, held between her middle finger and ring finger, tore at the
man’s eye. Rotating her fist, she exposed the knife. With her
forearm in front of her face, Alex slashed at the Brit. The young
man screamed with fury. She cut his arms. When he rushed her, she
let loose a powerful sidekick. Her foot smashed his larynx. He
dropped to the ground.

Turning, she saw the man she had rescued
from Abu Graib. He stood just inside the door with the piece of
rubber hose.

“
You fucker!” She rushed
him.

With her left arm under his throat, she
pushed him toward the brick wall. They hit the wall with a thud.
Holding the knife less than an inch from his face, she said,
“Where’s your boss?”

“
Stupid bitch,” the man
replied in Arabic. Rotating his arm, he hit her exposed ribs with
the rubber hose.

Alex slashed his forehead. The five-inch
flesh wound bled profusely. Breathing hard, they stood less than an
inch from each other. Blood spilled into his eyes. Alex had to
decide whether to kill him or trust him. Closing her eyes, her
heart said trust. As if he heard her heard, he nodded. He pushed
her chest and she stepped back. She rotated her right hand and the
razor wire in a wide arch and he slipped from under her.

They were locked in a delicate dance. She
had to fight him for the video cameras but she could not truly
injure or kill him.

He had to take her to Eleazar.

Moving behind her, he batted at her back
with the rubber hose. She rotated, jumping into a butterfly kick
missing his face by less than a half inch. He raised the rubber
hose nearly missing her head. Her front kick pushed him off
her.

He pulled her Glock 9mm handgun from his
pants. He pressed the muzzle of the gun against her forehead. Alex
raised her hands but did not let go of the wire or knife. She let
out a breath as if defeated, then raised her right knee sharply
crushing his genitals.

Leaning forward into her knee, he screamed,
“You think a little bruising is anything after having my nuts
burned in Abu Graib?”

Cocking the gun, he fired the gun. Alex
moved her head out of the way of the bullet, then punched her left
hand forward. The point of the needlenose pliers stopped less than
a millimeter from his face. He slapped a handcuff on her left hand.
Using her momentum, he rotated her left arm behind her.

“
Just stay there,” he
murmured closing the second cuff over her right hand.

Stepping away from her, he pulled the
leather slit glasses from her eyes. Alex closed her eyes against
the light. Protected from the video cameras by his body, she folded
the Mini-tool and tucked it into her back pocket. The man pulled
the leather glove and razor wire from her hand. Taking a
handkerchief out of his back pocket, he pressed the wound on his
forehead then made a modified bandage.