In the Grey (28 page)

“
I do.”

“
How many nights has it
been?”

“
Four,” Cian
nodded.

“
I don’t like it,” Eoin
said. “Something’s wrong.”

“
You think they’re
divorced?” Cian asked.

“
No,” Eoin said. “No
way.”

“
Then what?”

“
I don’t know,” Eoin said.
“I’m not the one who figures out the conspiracies! That’s your
job.”

Cian laughed. Eoin
smirked. There was a sound from the shared dining room, Cian turned
to look. When he looked back, he gave Eoin an intense
scowl.

“
Well, what is it then?”
Cian asked.

Eoin gave Cian an anxious
look.

“
Just tell me,” Cian said.
“I won’t laugh.”

“
I think Neev’s
programming Wyatt and Samantha, not deprogramming them,” Eoin said.
“Did you hear what Joseph said?”

“
Alex said Joseph had
decided to stick with his own therapist,” Cian said.

“
He told me that they did
a kind of hypnotic treatment,” Eoin said. “He felt funny
afterwards, like he wanted to throw up. In fact, he said he did. He
went home and threw up.”

“
That’s not good,” Cian
said.

“
You’ll keep an eye on
her?” Eoin asked.

“
I will,” Cian said.
“You’ll take the boys, just in case?”

“
Of course,” Eoin said. “I
know she’s your sister and all, but I’ll kill her myself if she
hurts our boys.”

“
I’ll not stop you,” Cian
said.

Eoin nodded. There was a
knock at the door to the sitting room.

“
Are you there?” Hermes
asked from the shared living area. “I think they’re in
there.”

Cian moved to get the
door.

“
The thing I don’t get,”
Eoin said.

Cian turned to look at
him.

“
Why didn’t Alex ask me to
help Wyatt?” Eoin asked. “Neev was in the convent while I
deprogrammed the boys who made it out. Hell, if I hadn’t
deprogrammed Jack, he’d never have gone to her!”

“
I doubt Alex knows,” Cian
said. “We’ve played things pretty close to the vest.”

“
True,” Eoin
said.

“
Maybe you should help
them yourself,” Cian said.

Eoin nodded.

“
Are you in there or not?”
Hector James’s voice came from the other side.

Cian laughed and opened
the door.

“
It’s time for dinner,”
Hector James said. “And it’s
our
turn to cook.”

“
We were hoping you would
help,” Hermes said. “Fionn said he would help
but . . .”

“
I’m not much of a cook,”
Fionn said in his thick Scottish accent.

“
That won’t do,” Cian
said. “Come on boys! Let’s make dinner. Go on. Get your
aprons.”

The boys ran to the
cabinet where the aprons were stored. Fionn started to leave the
kitchen. Eoin pushed him back.

“
Oh no, young man,” Eoin
said.

“
I’ll not have a nephew
who can’t cook,” Cian said.

“
You’ll never woo that
girl if you can’t cook,” Eoin said.

“
But . . .”
Fionn started.

Neev came in from the
backyard with her hands full of kale.

“
Neevie, can you believe
this young man can’t cook?” Cian asked.

“
That won’t do,” Neev
said.

“
Can you help him get an
apron?” Cian asked.

Neev took Fionn over to
the cabinet to get an apron. Cian nodded to Eoin over their
shoulders. He went up the stairs to find Wyatt.

“
Now, let’s see,” Cian
said. “Should we have a lovely boiled cabbage?”

“
No! Gross!” the boys
squealed, and Fionn groaned.

Cian smiled at Neev and
gave her an onion to slice. He set the boys to work peeling carrots
and got Fionn to set out the pots.

“
Well done,” Cian sat down
in a chair and pulled out the Irish Times. His workers moaned. Cian
laughed. With one eye on the stairs where Eoin had gone, he set
about making dinner.

F

The next day

Thursday
evening

November 11 – 4:51 p.m.
EST (2:51 p.m. MST)

Sheridan Circle Mansion,
Washington DC

Alex held on to Raz’s arm
on her way down the stairs outside the Sheridan Circle Mansion.
Even though her hip had healed from last year’s treatments and
infections, she still wasn’t stable in her six-inch stiletto heels.
MJ had asked her to stop wearing them. But Claire Martins, her
dress designer and Ben’s wife, loved “the line” of Alex in the
super-high heels. Alex wasn’t about to argue with her.

She glanced at Raz. She
hadn’t planned on attending a formal dinner at the White House when
she’d left for China. They were both wearing the outfits Claire had
designed for their dance at the World Trade Center a few weeks ago.
It had rained that night, and they’d left their clothing to be
cleaned. The beautiful things were still hanging in the closet
here. Alex wore a lovely cream-colored dress with a pencil skirt,
long sleeves, and a light-grey silk bow at her waist. Raz wore a
light-brown tux, a shade darker than his caramel-colored skin. His
light-grey bowtie and cummerbund matched his grey-hazel eyes and
her silk bow. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he gave her hand a
squeeze and smiled.

A transportation sergeant
opened the back of the limousine. Raz helped her inside and slipped
in beside her. They were sitting across from the Admiral. Not a man
for small talk, he smiled in greeting, but held his tongue. Alex
waited to speak until the limousine moved into Washington
traffic.

“
Thanks for picking us up,
sir,” Alex smiled.

“
I wanted a chance to
speak with you privately,” he said. “Are we being
tracked?”

“
Yes, sir,” Raz
said.

“
And monitored?” he
asked.

“
Yes, sir,” Raz
said.

“
Go ahead,” the Admiral
said.

Raz clicked a device that
blocked satellite coverage on the limousine and disrupted
electronic surveillance.

“
I want to know about
Joiner,” the Admiral said. “Did he really say, ‘Joke’s on you’ as
the bullet came out of his mouth?”

Alex nodded.

“
We think that means?” the
Admiral asked.

“
No idea,” Alex
said.

“
Rasmussen?” the Admiral
asked.

“
I agree with the Fey,”
Raz said. “We believe it could mean anything from the fact that he
was actually executed as part of the action in play right now
to . . .”

Raz shrugged.

“
Anything. Yes,” the
Admiral nodded. “But you believe we’re being set up.”

“
Yes, sir,” Raz said. “We
do.”

“
Crap,” the Admiral said.
“The mind control subjects? The girls?”

“
Smoke screen,” Alex
said.

“
To cover what?” he
asked.

“
One or two who are
active,” Alex said.

He raised his eyebrows and
nodded.

“
Sir?” Alex
asked.

“
Yes, Lieutenant
Colonel?”

“
I’m wondering why the
Chinese were allowed to execute Cee Cee Joiner, a United States
citizen,” Alex asked. “I realize he’s a pestilence, but he is still
a US citizen.”

“
It’s our understanding
that diplomatic solutions were not attempted,” Raz said.

“
The last time a US
citizen was executed in this manner was in World War II,” Alex
said.

“
You’re forgetting Horman
and Teruggi in Chile, 1973,” the Admiral said.

“
I’m not forgetting Horman
and Teruggi,” Alex shook her head. “That was a little
different.”

“
How so?”

“
They were journalists
killed during the military coup of Chile,” Raz said.

“
Tragic, yes,” Alex said.
“But not this.”

“
Dogan,” the Admiral
said.

“
I haven’t forgotten that
Israel killed Mr. Dogan, a US citizen, on a flotilla,” Alex said.
“Also different.”

“
How so?” the Admiral
asked.

Raz took a breath and Alex
put her hand on his arm to keep him quiet.

“
Why do you ask, sir?”
Alex asked.

“
I think you’ll find the
reason that Mr. Joiner was not diplomatically retrieved to stand
trial in the US by looking at the historical precedent,” the
Admiral said.

Alex glanced at Raz. He
gave the Admiral a piercing stare.

“
You don’t know,” Alex
said.

The Admiral
smiled.

“
Does anyone?” Alex
asked.

The Admiral shook his
head.

“
And the tragic deaths of
Mr. Horman, Mr. Teruggi, and Mr. Dogan?” Raz asked.

“
Just names and instances
you may hear tonight,” the Admiral said.

“
Any opinions?” Alex
asked.

The Admiral glanced at the
driver. Alex took out a button that looked like a clicker. When she
clicked it, a wall of white noise came from the button. She set it
next to the window that separated driver and the passenger
compartment.

“
Handy,” the Admiral
said.

“
Trece gave it to me,”
Alex said. “Steve picked it up somewhere.”

“
I think Joiner ran out of
chances,” the Admiral said. “If he was returned to the US, we’d get
extradition requests from . . . everywhere. He’s
wanted in almost every country in the world. This way, he’s done.
His father’s oil business is not disrupted; his wives and children
can go on with their lives. It’s just over.”

“
Did you get the autopsy?”
Alex asked.

“
Yes,” the Admiral said.
“As you suspected, he’s riddled with cancer. Bones, lungs, liver.
He wouldn’t have survived the year. This was more
compassionate.”

“
Compassionate?” Alex
shook her head. “I’ll buy fast.”

“
Before you ask,
S. haematobium
,” the
Admiral said.

“
Flukes?” Alex asked.
“That’s weird. Dean gave him treatment for that disgusting
parasite. Twice.”

“
Wonder why he had it so
frequently?” the Admiral shrugged.

Raz went pale and shivered
with disgust.

“
Heebie-jeebies, Agent
Rasmussen?” the Admiral laughed.

“
Just disgusting,” Raz
said.

“
Rest assured,” the
Admiral said. “They cremated him. He’s expected to arrive with Fong
Song. As you know, she is a well-known ancient art curator for the
Mogao Caves. She has the clearance to bring such an item to the
states. We’ll take care of it from there.”

“
You know that she’s Steve
Pershing’s wife,” Alex said.

The Admiral’s face went
blank while he processed the information. He slowly shook his
head.

“
He’s not an asexual spy?”
the Admiral smiled. “I was sure something as lowly as human desire
was burned out of him when he burned off his fingerprints, or
something like that.”

Alex smiled.

“
You have real papers on
that?” the Admiral asked.

“
You mean originals? Or
just not forged papers?” Raz asked.

The Admiral
smirked.

“
I like you more and more,
Mr. Rasmussen,” the Admiral said.

“
My mother, of all people,
has the paperwork,” Alex said.

“
What?” Raz turned to look
at her.

Alex shrugged, “They’re
old friends.”

“
How is he?” the Admiral
asked.

“
You didn’t get an
update?” Alex asked.

“
Mr. Pershing is blind.
He’s had three surgeries for his feet, blah, blah,” the Admiral
said. “I have his medical report. I also know Ben and Patrick are
there. How is he?”

Alex shrugged.

“
That means?” the Admiral
leaned forward.

“
He told us to kill
everyone in the room,” Alex said. “Is that what you
mean?”

“
That’s not like Steve,”
the Admiral said.

“
Right,” Alex said.
“Otherwise, he’s been in and out of surgery. Fong’s been with him.
His mind seems clear, and he appears to remember everything that
happened.”

“
What did they want from
him?” the Admiral asked.

“
He’s not sure,” Alex
said. “He gave secondary bits of information he had, of course. But
he’s not in the middle of anything. Trece and White Boy were in
Denver. Their wives and young children were coming for
Thanksgiving. They haven’t had an assignment in a while, so he’s
not sure what they were after.”