The Fey (5 page)

“
What’s the secret?”
Marcos asked.

“
If you must know, I was
asking Erin what kind of ring Alyssa might like. We bought that
little band a while ago. I was thinking of making it
legal.”

Alex squealed and reached for Erin’s
hands.

“
We’ll both be
brides!”

“
Thanks for spoiling the
surprise.”

“
I still don’t get why you
were holding Erin’s hand,” Marcos pressed.

“
Erin was showing me on
her hand a ring that Alyssa had admired. I don’t think I held her
hand as much as pointed to it while we discussed the ring. But from
across the room, I can understand why you were
confused.”

“
Oh Matthew,” Alex said.
She leaned against his shoulder and he kissed her head. He put his
arm around her shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”

Despite the tense situation, Matthew gave a
genuine laugh at her suggestive tone.

“
I don’t want to miss my
chance. Plus,” Alex arched an eyebrow, “I have a surprise of my
own.”

Matthew opened his mouth at the suggestion,
then moved to get up.

“
Please stay for dessert,”
Erin said.

“
Yes, stay for dessert at
least,” Rebecca said. She returned to her chatter about Colin’s new
classroom.

With Matthew’s arm around Alex, they shared
a dessert so that Marcos could have one of his own. Alex had no
idea what this guy’s problem was or why Erin introduced her as
Alyssa, but she did not like this Marcos. As soon as she could,
Alex was going to do a little spy work on this Marcos.

“
I thought you were
married to the big curly haired guy,” Marcos asked Alex as they
said good-bye. “Erin has an old photo of you, her brother and that
other guy. She’s standing next to you and you’re at Disneyland. She
said he was your husband. Of course, your hair was
dark.”

“
Are you sure it was me?”
Alex asked. “Erin is friends with a girl named Alex. They are as
close as sisters. People often get us confused because we’re both
tall and thin. But Alex has brown hair and brown eyes. She’s
married to a doctor in town. Mattie, honey, do you remember his
name?”

Matthew made a face and shook his head.

“
Brain on testosterone,”
Alex said. She shook Marcos’ hand. “Very nice to meet
you.”

Leaning on the forearm crutch, Alex made
slow progress through the restaurant and into her Jeep CJ-7 which
Matthew drove to the restaurant. He helped her into the passenger
seat, then jumped into the driver’s seat. They were two blocks away
before they started laughing.

“
What the fuck was that?”
Alex asked.

“
He reminds me of my Dad,”
Matthew said.

“
And that’s not a good
thing.”

“
No, it’s not,” Matthew
said.

“
What
happened?”

“
She flipped out. In a
very low voice, she told me exactly how much I suck. I took her
hand to try to comfort her. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Erin that
upset.”

“
It’s not like that’s new
information.”

“
That I suck?” Matthew
laughed. “No it’s not news. What do you know about this
guy?”

“
I’ve been so caught up in
myself that I…. No, I’ve never met him.”

Matthew nodded. They drove out of the Cherry
Creek shopping area and toward the highway. Flicking on the radio,
Matthew picked a classic rock station. When “Sweet Home Alabama”
came on, they sang along with Lynard Skynard. They were almost to
the highway when Alex spoke.

“
Will you take me to see
Jesse?”

Matthew pulled the Jeep over to look at
Alex. Their eyes held for a moment.

“
Honey, Jesse’s
dead.”

“
I haven’t been to the
memorial. You went to the ceremony but I was in the hospital. I
haven’t been able to go because it wasn’t safe. I’m all Alyssa-ed
up today. Please Mattie. Please take me to see Jesse.”

“
Alex, it’s your first day
out of the house. Do you….”

She nodded.

“
All right. But then we
train.”

“
Then we
train.”

F

CHAPTER THREE

Five weeks later
February 8 – 11:45 A.M.

Denver, Colorado

Alex pressed the video link to her command
and waited for her assistant to respond. She sat in her leather
office chair in front of the red oak armoire that held her
computers and the link to command.

“
Name,” her Sergeant
said.

“
Fey,” Alex replied. She
waited while security confirmed her face and voice
imprint.

“
Sir, you are amazingly
popular today.”

“
Oh yeah?” Alex
asked.

“
Seven messages. Would you
like me to read them to you?”

“
Just send the emails,”
Alex said. “Is it….”

“
Eleazar. There’s new
intel out of Iraq about him.”

“
We go through this every
month. The eighth of the month rolls around and suddenly everyone
has something to say about Eleazar. Anything I need to
know?”

“
Officially?”

She laughed at his sarcasm. She wasn’t sure
how they picked him to be her assistant, but he was a perfect
counter balance. She was amazed at his ability to predict her mood
then give her exactly what she needed. He even ran interference
with brass.

“
The Colonel would like to
speak with you before you take the call.”

“
Can you connect
me?”

“
He’s in a meeting but he
said he would call you at 1200 hours.”

“
Anything
else?”

“
I’ll email the messages.
Do you know someone named Olivas?”

“
Troy? I went to basic and
Special Forces training with him. Why?”

“
He’s left three messages
saying that he’s at the Fort. He won’t tell me what he wants. He
just says, ‘Tell the Fey that I’m at Fort Carson.’ Sir, I ran his
profile and…. Sir, he has a reputation for being wild.”

Alex laughed.

“
There’s a new sim at Fort
Carson. Afghanistan, I think. He wants me to beat it.”

“
Can you do that?” Her
Sergeant’s voice held a mixture of surprise and disbelief. “I mean,
with your injuries, you can still beat the training
simulations?”

“
I’ve beaten every one so
far.” Alex shrugged. “I’ll call him when I’m done with Eleazar.
Have we heard from Trece or the White Boy?”

“
They’re off the radar.
Last report, they were at working at Camp David.”

Alex nodded. Her friends had a way of
showing up on the eighth of the month.

“
When Olivas calls again
ask him about Trece. They’re probably at the Fort.”

Her Sergeant nodded.

“
Maps? We’re
cartographers. And cartographers….”

“
Work on maps,” they said
in unison.

“
Yes sir. The Intelligence
Center fixed the map phone.”

When her team arrived in Afghanistan with
only aged, inaccurate Russian maps, Alex fixed, redrew and
annotated their maps out of habit. Her team passed their maps on to
other teams. Soon soldiers were begging the Intelligence Center for
copies of those ‘fairy maps’.

After fielding international requests for
the maps, the Intelligence Center began distributing the Fey map
series. In turn, Alex requested a telephone line where soldiers
could leave their feedback. Eleazar called the ‘map phone’ every
month.

“
Just in time to talk to
Eleazar.”

“
The Intelligence Center
expresses its profound apologies for any inconvenience the Fey
might have experienced,” her Sergeant read from a letter. “Sir,
I’ve never known anyone who received an apology from the
Intelligence Center.”

“
They make a bundle off
the maps,” Alex said.

“
And then some. Do
they….”

“
Just doing my duty,
Sergeant,” Alex answered his unasked question. No they didn’t pay
her for the maps. They were considered intellectual property of the
United States Army. Or something like that. “Iraq-Iran
border?”

“
The map of the Iraq-Iran
border has been a great success. We’ve heard from three of the six
teams. Their messages are waiting for you on the map phone. You can
get them when Homeland returns the line.”

Alex nodded.

“
Sir, there’s some
question about quadrant four and sixteen. The overhang near the
center of the quadrant four? It’s about a foot wider and three feet
deeper than marked. Quadrant sixteen has a well marker but there’s
no water there.”

“
Let me check,” Alex
said.

Alex looked at the quadrant in question on
her computer then moved to wide table where she worked on her maps.
She pulled out the hard copy of the map from black wood cubby
tucked into the wall. Unrolling the map against the table, she
noted the overhang change, then searched for the well.

“
I made a note on the
overhang. But I don’t have a well on my hard or electronic
copy.”

“
It shows on the GPS
copy.”

“
God I hate
GPS.”

“
It’s an inanimate object,
sir.”

Looking up from the map, Alex caught his wry
grin. She laughed when he wagged his eyebrows.

“
Can you shoot a message
that GPS is always behind? It’s usually at least two months behind
a map change.”

“
Yes sir,” her Sergeant
said.

“
Anything
else?”

“
There’s a new order to
continue in Afghanistan,” he said. “Um, three, no six identified
zones that need remapping.”

“
Oil?”

“
Probably,” he
said.

“
All right,” she said.
“I’ve been working on refugee maps of Jordon and Syria. Do you have
those changes?”

“
Yes,” he said.

“
Thanks
Sergeant.”

Alex looked at the clock. She had an hour
and four minutes before Eleazar phoned.

“
Sir?”

“
Yes Sergeant?”

“
Good luck.”

“
Thanks.”

Alex clicked the connection to standby.
Pushing back her leather office chair, she wandered across the
hardwood floors to the overstuffed green chair that sat in the
corner of her secure office. She flicked a remote and the gas
fireplace cast a dancing yellow glow onto the antique map of the
world hanging on the opposite wall. Alex closed her eyes, resting
for a moment, in the warm, safe room.

Sixty minutes to go.

When Alex traveled, Max, Alex and John lived
in the house next door. After Alex was injured, Max and John
purchased and remodeled this house with two guest bedrooms, a spa
bathroom, an entertainment room, laundry and this secure office in
the basement. Alex spent most of her time in the basement either
working in the office or recovering from more than forty surgeries
in one of the guest bedrooms. She felt safe and protected here.

Until Eleazar called.

She went to bed the seventh of every month
knowing that she was hours away from speaking with Eleazar. The
morning of the eighth evaporated into intelligence details and her
own fear. What would he say this month? Would he tell her again
about the powerful Mike begging for mercy? Would he laugh at Jax’s
futile efforts to save Nathan? Or would he repeat what he said over
and over again: she killed her friends.

Alex leaned her head back against the chair.
She despised the very timber of his voice, his heavily accented
Hebrew or Arabic or Farsi and the distinctive cruel laugh that
turned her stomach. He repulsed the very center of her being.

Not for the first time, she wondered what
Jesse would say. Jesse, who happened to sit next to her in the mess
tent a couple weeks into basic training. Jesse, who stood next to
her when they received their Berets. Jesse, who slept next to her
night after night in the field, celebrated her wedding and invited
her into his family as the godmother to his children.

It was Jesse who forced her to get the
tattoo that designated her as the Fey in name and legend. ‘Just get
your essential nature’ he told her before whispering to the tattoo
artist in Cairo that she was a fairy. The bright blue winking fairy
tattoo under her left bicep was legendary in Special Forces. Jesse
encouraged her to get her belly button pierced. Jesse also designed
the green Vivaldi scripted“F” armband that designated the Fey
Special Forces team. Many of the people they rescued wore, with
immense pride, a black Vivaldi scripted“F” on their right arm or
wrist.

“
Eleazar killed Jesse,”
Alex said out loud. “He stole Jesse from Maria, from his babies,
Jesse Jr. and Gabriella and from me.”

Her eyes caught a glimmer of light dancing
around her office. She said to the glimmer, “Eleazar killed Jesse.
He wants to kill me. I will kill him.”

She sighed.

“
I’m just
crazy.”

“
We knew that was true,
love,” John said.

He walked into the office. His curly hair
was wet from the snow and his cobalt blue eyes flashed while his
eyebrows worked at the insinuation. He bent to kiss her.