In the Grey (17 page)

“
Then what?” Raz
asked.

“
Joseph and Mattie will
take care of it,” Alex said. “I bet it’s someone from the
US.”

“
Why?”

“
They took Trece,” Alex
said. “Trece knows everyone, everywhere. At some point, he and
White Boy have guarded every head of state. He’d know the guards,
friends, lovers, and personal assistants of almost every prominent
politician and military figure in the US. Most people think of
White Boy as a fool.”

“
He’s
not . . . bright,” Raz said.

“
He’s not,” Alex said.
“Most people marginalize him; but he has a kind of innate
intelligence.”

The Hercules C-130’s tail
began to close. They would be taking off soon.

“
I get it,” Raz said.
“Trece’s the ‘smart’ one; White Boy’s . . . what is
it that he says all the time?”

“
I’m no Ringo Starr,” Alex
said. The plane’s tail closed with a thump.

Raz laughed.

“
Ben will show it to White
Boy, and they’ll take care of the problem,” Alex said.

“
Ben will know to do
that?”

“
I trained him,” Alex
winked.

Raz laughed. The plane
began to move across the tarmac.

“
Would you like to stop in
Paris on our way home?” Alex asked.

“
To dance?”

“
Sure,” Alex said. “I want
to check something in the vault.”

“
Fair enough,” Raz said.
“Would you mind if I called for some help?”

“
Let’s see where everyone
is when we get there,” Alex said.

Raz nodded.

“
Will you see Clarissa?”
Alex asked.

“
No,” Raz said. “That’s
done.”

Alex smiled.

“
I will not be distracted
from you, my love.”

Alex laughed.

“
Before you ask, I talked
to Samantha,” Raz said. “She thanked me for warning her. She
promised to take any photos with a grain of salt and then told me
not to pre-arrange arguments.”

Alex raised her eyebrows
but didn’t say anything.

“
What?”

“
She has a good point,”
Alex said.

“
Mmm,” Raz leaned back
into his seat. “You think she’s going
to . . .”

“
Of course!”

They laughed. Alex’s
laptop video connection rang. She pressed a button, and Matthew’s
face appeared.

“
We are ready to report,”
Matthew said.

He stepped back. The
remaining Fey Team were sitting around a table in the small
conference room.

“
Go,” Alex
said.

She leaned back to listen.
One of the things she’d admired the most about Charlie was his
capacity to hear what people said. She did her best to emulate him.
When the team was done, she went over everyone’s assignments to
clarify that she’d heard them. She thanked them for their service
and reminded them to be careful.

“
They are picking us off
one by one,” Alex said. “Do not let them. Something is coming that
we will need to deal with. Stay aware.”

Like Charlie had, she
signed off by reminding them that she was available to them
whenever they needed her.

“
Anything?” Raz
asked.

“
I’m wondering how much I
can get done on this flight,” Alex said.

“
What are we doing?” Raz
asked.

“
Nanodrone orders,” Alex
said.

“
We figure out why the
Chinese want to speak with us,” Raz said.

“
You mean other than our
illegal entry into their country a month ago?” Alex
smiled.

“
Yes, that,” Raz said.
“Did your father’s team find anything?”

Alex shook her
head.

“
So we work?” Raz
asked.

“
We work for a while,”
Alex said. “We eat and then sleep.”

“
I was saving my appetite
for Japan,” Raz said.

“
Great idea!” Alex nodded.
“Snack then?

“
Work, then
snacks.”

“
Dinner in Japan,” Alex
nodded.

She settled into work.
When she looked up, Raz was reading her S.E.R.E. file. Feeling her
gaze, he looked up. She smiled and went back to work. He stared at
her head for a moment before returning to the file.

F

Sunday, early
morning

November 7 – 4:52 a.m. MST
(1:52 a.m. HAST)

Denver, CO

Margaret’s cell phone
buzzed. Trying not to wake her boyfriend, she snatched it off the
bedside table and crept into the bathroom. She closed the door
before looking at the phone. It was a New Mexico area code she
didn’t recognize.

“
Yá'at'ééh
,” Margaret said hello in
Navajo.

“
Granddaughter, baby
Ooljee is in the albini hospital,” an elderly woman’s voice said in
Navajo. “Shiprock.”

“
What?” Margaret asked in
Navajo.

The line was dead.
Margaret tapped the phone against her hand.

“
What is it?”

Her boyfriend’s voice came
through the door. She groaned. She’d hoped not to wake him. She
opened the door and smiled at the naked form of Cian Kelly. He held
out his arms and hugged her.

“
What’s happened?” Cian
asked.

“
I received this weird
call,” Margaret said. “An elderly woman called to say that Ooljee
was in the hospital in Shiprock.”

“
Your grandmother doesn’t
speak on the phone,” Cian said. “We’ve only just gotten her to use
the computer.”

“
She could have paid
someone to call,” Margaret said.
“But . . .”

“
What?” he
asked.

“
The woman on the phone
just gave me the information,” Margaret said. “Your baby Ooljee is
in the hospital in Shiprock. Fair enough. But my grandmother would
say something like, ‘It pains me, my granddaughter, but your baby
was as hot as the desert under the summer sun. We became afraid for
her, so we took the long road to visit the white medical men at the
MC in Shiprock.’”

“
Sounds like
her.”

“
That’s how her generation
talks,” Margaret said. “They take the time to paint a picture with
their words. Plus, my gran would never say Ooljee’s name over any
phone, for any reason.”

“
Should we leave for
Shiprock?” Cian asked.

“
No,” Margaret said. “The
LC said this weird thing. She said that they were trying to split
us up and not to let them. We thought she was being paranoid, but I
wonder . . . What do I have in common with Trece,
Mr. Pershing, the LC, Rasmussen,
and . . .”

“
You’re fluent in the same
languages?” Cian asked. “Do you know languages the others who are
left don’t know?”

“
I do,” Margaret
nodded.

“
Can you call the hospital
to check?” Cian asked.

“
I doubt it,” Margaret
said. “My gran is listed as Ooljee’s guardian. I doubt I have right
to find out.”

“
We should wake
Johnny.”

Margaret groaned and shook
her head.

“
We’ve been creeping
around for more than a year,” Cian said.

“
I heard the LC asking the
Jakker if he knew who your new girlfriend was,” Margaret said. “I
was very
keen
to
hear who you were dating.”

He kissed her nose and
went to put on his clothing.

“
What are you doing?”
Margaret asked.

“
I’m going to get my
little brother,” Cian said. “I bet he knows someone who works
there. He can find out for us.”

“
But . . .”

“
Yes, then my little
brother will know that I’m in love with you,” Cian said. “Are you
embarrassed by me?”

“
No,” Margaret said. “I
thought my gran would have a fit, but you explained that the
Northern Irish are very similar to the Navajo. Plus, you spent a
week on the rez learning how to cook. I thought
she
was going to marry you after
that.”

“
We have a lot in common,”
Cian said.

Margaret plopped on the
bed.

“
What’s the LC going to
say?” Margaret asked.

“
Alexandra will say, ‘Are
you happy? Does he treat you right?’ You’ll tell her what an
asshole I am. Then she’ll kill me and bury me in the
backyard.”

Margaret
laughed.

“
Listen to your heart,”
Cian said. “Is your baby ill?”

“
I don’t know,” Margaret
shook her head.

“
Then you call your team
and I’ll wake my brother,” Cian said. “Do you trust me?”

Margaret
nodded.

“
Let’s stop hiding,” Cian
said. “I’d really like to spend my life with you.”

“
Are you asking me to
marry you?” Margaret smiled.

“
Did that,” Cian said.
“You accepted my offer because I bribed you with warm cookies.
Remember?”

“
I remember the cookies,”
she nodded.

“
Time to stop
hiding.”

Margaret gave him a vague
smile. He kissed her cheek and left the room. She stared at the
door for a while before calling Matthew.

“
Go,” Matthew
said.

“
You’re awake?” Margaret
asked.

“
I just received a call
from Leena,” Matthew said. “She was informed that she was in
contempt of court for not bringing her daughter to see her
father.”

“
To a Supermax in
Maryland?” Margaret asked.

“
He’s in Leavenworth,”
Matthew said. “His military and his civilian sentences are running
concurrently.”

“
I’d kinda hoped he was in
the general population in Maryland,” Margaret said.

“
You and me, both,”
Matthew said.

“
Anyway, aren’t his
parental rights terminated?”

“
That’s what Leena asked.
‘I’m supposed to bring my five-year-old daughter to visit a
convicted sex offender in Leavenworth?’” Matthew asked. “You can
guess the response.”

“
What is she going to do?”
Margaret asked.

“
The General has hired a
lawyer friend,” Matthew said. “Hell hath no fury like the General’s
lawyer friends.”

Margaret didn’t
respond.

“
What’s going on?” Matthew
asked.

“
It’s really happening,”
Margaret said. “I thought the LC was nuts to think they were
pulling us apart.”

“
It appears that way,”
Matthew said. “What happened?”

Margaret told him
everything, including everything about her relationship with Cian.
To her relief, Matthew only said, “So you’re here. Good. I’ll be
right over.”

She set the phone down and
got dressed. She was coming out of the bathroom when Cian returned
with his brother. John’s striking blue eyes scanned her
face.

“
As a resident, I worked
at a lot of hospitals on call. Alex was gone, and we needed the
money,” John said.

“
Okay,” Margaret
said.

“
He knows people at almost
every hospital in the country,” Cian said.

“
I work at training
hospitals,” John said. “It’s very rare for someone to get a job
here in Denver after training.”

“
Do you know someone in
Shiprock?” Margaret’s voice betrayed her desperation.

“
A few, actually,” John
smiled. “Come. Let’s get this sorted.”

Margaret nodded and
followed the Kelly brothers down the stairs of Max’s side of the
rooming house. Matthew was waiting for them in the shared dining
room when they arrived downstairs.

“
I’ll put the pot on,”
Cian nodded to Margaret and went into the kitchen.

“
I’ll make some calls,”
John said.

“
Great,” Margaret sat next
to Matthew. “I’ll wait right here.”

John nodded to Margaret
and followed Cian into the kitchen.

“
Have something to say
about me and Cian?” Margaret asked Matthew. “You’d better spit it
out now.”

“
No,” Matthew
said.

“
Were you
surprised?”

“
Alex told me you were
dating,” Matthew said.

“
She did?” Margaret asked.
“When?”

“
Uh . . . ,” Matthew squinted. “A year
ago? Wait, what month is it?”

Margaret eyes narrowed
while Matthew tried to work it out.

“
More than a year ago,”
Matthew nodded.

“
Then why is she asking
everyone who he’s dating?” Margaret asked.

“
She probably thinks it’s
about time for you to tell everyone,” Matthew shrugged. “How many
times have you heard her ask?”