In the Grey (61 page)

“
The Butterfly effect –
butterfly flaps its wings here, and there’s a Tsunami there,” Alex
said.

“
Sure, a bad example, I
think, but sure,” Sumit nodded. “People talked about it a lot more
in the 1980s and 90s, before the radical and religious became so
loud.”

“
If you believe in God or
order . . . ,” she started.

“
The joke’s on you,” Sumit
said. “Exactly. There were a couple of groups who were big
proponents of creating little incidents to destabilize the
whole.”

“
Terrorists,” Alex
said.

“
We called them militant
groups then,” Sumit said. “But you’re right, terrorism is based in
chaos theory. Create a small action in a public place; say, for
example, kill five people in a marketplace, and the market will die
because people are too afraid to go.”

“
With technology, you
terrify people who weren’t anywhere near your action,” Alex
nodded.

“
That’s exactly
right.”

“‘
The joke’s on you’ is
about believing in larger systems,” Alex said.

“
The stability of larger
systems,” Sumit said. “But I’ll tell you, for all of the ‘there is
no God or system, only chaos,’ life is remarkably stable. Change
happens slowly, over a long period of time. Even major changes,
such as cell phones or the effects of global warming, took hold
over the course of twenty or thirty years.”

“
So, the whole thing is
kind of the joke,” Alex said.

“
You’re right. It is
circular,” Sumit said. “Believing there is no stable system is in
fact the joke.”

“
Huh,” Alex said.
“Thanks.”

“
Truth of the matter is
that little butterfly wings make storms, but they don’t change the
nature of the weather itself,” Sumit said.

“
We can weather storms,”
Alex nodded.

“
You should ask your dad
about this. He’s had a lot of experience dealing with the little
gnats who think they can disrupt the larger whole.”

“
And he’s weathered a lot
of storms,” Alex said.

“
That is true,” Sumit
said. “You should be resting. You’re the mother of two little ones
now. You’ll need your strength. They will take the babies back to
the nursery soon.”

“
Thanks Sumit,” Alex
said.

He turned to
leave.

“
You would never imagine
how many times I’ve been grateful you didn’t kill me in that
clearing,” Alex said.

Sumit turned to look at
her.

“
You would never imagine
how many times I’ve been grateful you scratched this line in my
forehead. It was enough to get me out of the game,” Sumit smiled.
“You saved me in Abu Ghraib and again in that clearing. I owe you
my life, and more importantly I owe you for saving everything that
matters in my life.”

“
The feeling is mutual,”
Alex said.

Sumit gave her a little
nod and left the room. The door closed, and she counted. One, two,
three, four, five. Nothing. She was about to get up when Joseph
came in the door.

“
Fooled you,” he
said.

She smiled.

“
What’s the plan?” Alex
asked.

“
John, Max, and Raz are in
the air,” Joseph said. “They’ll be here in twelve hours. They
chartered a private jet so that you can take your children home
when you’re able to.”

“
What’s that look like?”
Alex asked.

“
Farooq and Nazo filled
out the right paperwork,” Joseph said. “They wanted you and John to
care for their children in the event that something happened to
them. According to their lawyer, they’d planned on letting you know
when the children were born. The lawyer is working with the
authorities here. We’ll know more tomorrow.”

“
Was John mad?” Alex
asked. “We’d just decided on a surrogate.”

“
I don’t know. Matthew
spoke with him,” Joseph said. “I think he was all business. ‘Where
do we need to go?’ ‘When do we need to be there?’ ‘Visas?’ I guess
Max had already told him something was up.”

“
Of course,” Alex said.
“Is it safe for Max and Raz to travel?”

“
You’d have to kill them
to keep them home,” Joseph said. “They’re your family; they need to
be here. They will only be here long enough to finalize the
adoption, and then you will return home together. Controlled
situations, not hopping from refugee camp to refugee
camp.”

“
Among the great
unwashed,” Alex said.

“
Exactly,” Joseph
nodded.

“
Matthew and I have
decided to send MJ, Troy, and White Boy to escort Jack to the
Federal Medical Center,” Joseph said.

“
When will they leave?”
Alex asked.

“
Tomorrow or the next
day,” Joseph said. “Jack is here getting a bunch of medical
tests.”

“
He had no memory of his
life,” Alex said.

“
Nothing,” Joseph said.
“We’re sure he had another life?”

“
Good question,” Alex
snorted.

“
And the
answer?”

“
We’re sure as we can be,”
Alex said. “Eoin remembers Neev and Jack being together as kids. He
said that when they met, Jack fell to his knees and said something
simple like, ‘I’ve been looking for you all my life.’”

“
They were ten?” Joseph
asked.

“
Yep,” Alex said. “There
are also a lot of photographs, financial docs, five kids, and
grandkids. Plus, if you look at his left hand, there’s an indent
from a long-worn ring. Of course, it’s always possible that the
entire thing is a detailed cover, and they’re good actors. It’s
more likely that he had a full life and was programmed to forget
the whole thing.”

“
They can do that?” Joseph
asked.

“
Why do you think so few
people remember that they were involved in the mind control
studies?” Alex shrugged.

“
Well, we didn’t remind
him of his old life,” Joseph said.

Alex nodded.

“
Dusty and Royce have
completed your application for foreign adoption,” Joseph said. “Of
course, it’s pretty easy since everyone in your household already
had a detailed background check. Cian, Fionn, and the Draysons are
going to escort Social Services through your house. Your house
check should be done and signed off . . . tomorrow,
I think.”

“
How . . . ?” Alex asked.

“
Nancy,” Joseph smiled.
“We went through it for our Alex so we know what has to
happen.”

“
What about a room for the
babies and . . . ,” Alex asked. “We thought we
had nine months or more.”

“
John called your
contractor,” Joseph said. “He’s already working on creating a
nursery in your bedroom, and one in Max’s for when you’re away and
John is working. By the time you and the babies get home, the
nurseries will be ready. The rooms are too small for
five-year-olds, but they’ll be perfect until then.”

“
Wow,” Alex said.
“Everything is worked out.

“
The team wanted to do
this to thank you for everything you’ve done for them,” Joseph
said.

Alex’s eyes welled with
tears. She nodded.

“
We’re excited for you,”
Joseph said. “I’m excited for you. Having kids . . .
Well, you know it changed my life. I know you’ll
just . . .”

He smiled.

“
I’m excited for you,” he
said.

“
I
feel . . . ,” Alex touched her heart and looked
at the babies. “. . . so much.”

Joseph nodded.

“
Nazo?” Alex
asked.

“
Her funeral is tomorrow,”
Joseph said. “We went to her village and found Farooq. They will be
buried together.”

“
And Felicia?” Alex
asked.

“
I should let her tell
you, but she’d like to come to Denver with you,” Joseph said. “As
you know, her family disowned her when she converted to marry Emal.
She wants to be a part of the babies’ lives. She’s offered to be
their nanny. I told her it was up to you and John.”

“
Would be nice to have a
nanny who can shoot,” Alex nodded.

“
I thought the same
thing,” Joseph said.

“
How is she?” Alex
asked.

“
Angry,” Joseph said.
“She’s down the hall for the night. I think her anger keeps her
from her grief.”

“
They tried for years to
have kids,” Alex said. “She had a number of miscarriages. They were
so excited when she got pregnant after Nazo.”

“
Dalal thinks the baby
would have made it to full-term,” Joseph said. “The trauma of
seeing Emal killed and the walk to Kabul is the most likely cause
of his death.”

“
Him?” Alex
asked.

“
He’ll be buried with Emal
tomorrow,” Joseph nodded.

“
Poor Felicia,” Alex
said.

“
A spokesman for the
Taliban has said they were not involved,” Joseph said.

“
Oh?”

“
They are saying the
village was destroyed over opium,” Joseph said.

“
They grew watermelon and
tomatoes in that valley for . . . ,” Alex shook
her head.

“
A century,” Joseph said.
“Yes, I know.”

“
That day – you know,
their wedding – it was such a beautiful day,” Alex said.

“
Overlooking the
sunflowers,” Joseph smiled. “Yes, it was.”

“
That’s right,” Alex said.
“Nazo and Emal’s parents grew sunflowers.”

Joseph nodded.

“
Do you think they are a
part of all of this?” Alex asked.

“
Who knows?” Joseph
shrugged. “We met them a long time before the bee crisis, before
everyone died.”

“
They have a gazebo, don’t
they?”

“
The wedding was held in a
gazebo overlooking the sunflower fields,” Joseph said.
“Why?”

“
I had a dream that
Charlie and I talked in a gazebo like that,” Alex said. “Did they
burn the house and gazebo, too?”

“
Everything,” Joseph said.
“The land will revert to the tribe.”

“
I guess they can plant
opium now,” Alex said.

“
That would make it about
drugs,” Joseph nodded.

“
Hmm,” Alex gave him a
skeptical look, and he smiled.

The nurse stuck her head
in. She fussed over Alex for a moment and wheeled the babies back
to the nursery.

“
I’ll stay here with you
until everything is resolved,” Joseph said. “With luck, that will
be tomorrow. The team will return home on Friday.”

“
Thank you,” Alex said.
“For everything.”

“
I wonder sometimes if you
would have been better off taking the assignment in Central America
and not with us,” Joseph said.

“
Never,” Alex said. “We
belonged together.”

He gave her a quick smile
and left the room. Alex lay back and slept. A few hours later, the
nurse woke her to tell her that the babies were off their
respirators. She could hold her babies. Between getting her
bandages changed and holding the babies, the hours seemed to spin
past. The next time she looked up, John, Max, and Raz were standing
in the doorway to her room.

“
The nurse said we could
feed them,” Alex looked up from the tiny baby boy she was holding.
Alex smiled. “She’ll be here in a moment with bottles. Would you
like to?”

Alex set the boy in Max’s
arms and pressed her forehead to his. When she looked up, John was
holding the girl. His head hovered over her face. She saw tears
form in his eyes.

“
Fáilte a chur roimh mo
iníon
,” he said to welcome his daughter in
Irish Gaelic.

The child opened her eyes
and smiled at him. Raz put his arm around Alex and she smiled. She
glanced at Max. He was equally fixated on the boy twin.

“
They were very nervous,”
Raz said in a private tone. “Climbing out of their skins with
worry. Of course, I was . . .”

“
Pensive?” Alex
asked.

He chuckled.

“
And now?” Alex
asked.

“
It was meant to be,” Raz
said.

“
You must meet her,” John
said. “She’s absolutely perfect.”

John held out the girl
twin. Raz took the baby from him. Alex watched Raz’s face break
into a broad smile. John turned to meet the boy. Max set the child
in John’s arms. John welcomed the child as his son. Max put his arm
around Alex. They leaned in to each other.

“
You did really good,” Max
smiled. “Really good.”

Alex smiled. Hearing the
door open, she looked up to see Wyatt come in the room. John set
the boy in the crook of Wyatt’s left arm.

“
Oh wow,” Wyatt said.
“He’s . . .”

There wasn’t a dry eye in
the room.