Lean on Me (27 page)

“
You know about them?” Alex
asked.

“
Sami can see them from her
condo,” Raz said.

“
What’s going on,
Lieutenant Colonel?” Royce asked.

Recognition flashed across Joseph’s face.
Alex nodded to him.

“
Add it up and you get the
original hostage retrieval team – leadership and all,” Joseph said.
“Are the rest of them coming?”

“
I guess so,” Alex
shrugged.

“
This is going to be
interesting,” Joseph said.

“
Interesting?” Vince
asked.

“
Wait until you meet these
characters,” Joseph said. “They’re like something out of a comic
book or…”

“
The land of the lost,”
Trece said.

“
Disney,” Alex
laughed.

“
Sir, you asked me to tell
you when we were moving into some turbulence,” the pilot said over
the intercom.

“
Time to strap in,” Cliff
said.

“
You didn’t work out,”
Trece said.

“
Turbulence, sir,” Cliff
said.

“
Fine,” Trece dropped down
into a seat. “You’re mine and White Boy’s pudge boy when we get
home.”

“
What?” Cliff’s voice
cracked in horror.

“
Thank you for letting us
know,” Alex said. “We’re strapping in now.”

“
We have another two
hours,” Joseph said.

“
Time to eat and rest,”
Matthew said. “Like always, we never know what we’re walking into.
We need to be one hundred percent.”

Alex checked Raz’s safety straps and sat
down next to him.

“
You seem happy,” Raz said
when she was strapped in. He checked her safety straps.

“
I feel a hopeful breeze
that we might actually be able to do this thing,” Alex
nodded.

“
Let’s hope so,” Matthew
said.

F

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Two days later

Sunday morning

November 1 – 9:34 a.m. EST (7:34 a.m.
MST)

Naval Station Norfolk, VA

“
Why are we landing here?”
Alex looked out the side door window of the Pave Hawk. “Are we
dropping off Vince?”

“
You, Raz, Colin and MJ are
getting out here,” Joseph said.

“
We’re what?” Alex
asked.

“
The Jakker is taking us to
Sheridan Circle,” Matthew said. “We will assist Troy and Leena. We
will meet you in Denver this evening.”

“
What am I doing?” Alex
asked.

“
Your medics and your
partner are taking you to see a doctor about your hip,” Joseph
said.

“
On who’s orders?” Alex
asked.

Joseph and Matthew shifted uncomfortably. No
one in the passenger compartment dared even take a breath.

“
No one’s trying to make
you do something,” Raz said. He touched her shoulder and she looked
up at him. “We’re worried about your hip. MJ called the doc when
you were meeting with the mob boss in Russia. He agreed to come in
today to see you.”

Raz got out of the helicopter. In the way of
younger brothers, Colin leaned into her.

“
Don’t be an asshole,”
Colin said. She looked up at him. “Everyone’s really worried about
you.”

Surprised, her eyes flicked from concerned
face to worried face, finally resting on Sergeant Dusty. As her
assistant, he had been the person who had dragged her back to
health after having been wounded. His eyes bored into her in the
way they did when she wasn’t taking care of herself. She
flushed.

“
I’m sorry,” Alex said.
“I’m being an ass. Thank you for setting this up.”

With a nod of good-bye to the team, Alex
moved to get out of the helicopter. Raz helped her down. MJ and
Colin followed them to where their Navy security escort waited.
Alex returned their salute and got in the back of an armored SUV.
MJ and Colin took the far back, while Raz and Alex took the
middle.

“
I’m really all right,”
Alex said.

“
You’re not all right,” Raz
said.

“
You haven’t been since
before your last hip replacement,” Colin said. “Even
Mom
noticed.”

“
When was the last time you
sparred?” MJ said.

“
I’ve been kind of busy,”
Alex said. “Plus, it’s not like I haven’t been working
out.”

“
You’re an award winning
martial artist,” MJ said. “Your last fight was…?”

“
Thailand,” Alex
said.

“
February,” Raz
said.

“
What’s the big deal?”
Colin asked. “It’s just a doctor’s appointment. How bad can it
be?”

“
She’s worried she’ll need
more surgery,” Raz said.

Alex turned her head to look out the window
at the Naval Station passing outside. Taking her gesture as anger,
the men fell silent. Alex turned back to look at them.

“
Sorry, I was just trying
to think through why it’s a big deal,” Alex nodded to Raz. “I don’t
want more surgery; that’s true. It means months of rehab and
inactive duty or crutches. Surgery sucks.”

Alex nodded.

“
But I could stay home for
months. With a little effort, I could stay home for a year. We
could train other teams to do the smelly schlepping around the
world,” Alex sighed. “That sounds really yummy right
now.”

“
What’s the problem?” Colin
asked.

“
I really hate being poor
baby Alex.”

“
Poor baby Alex?” Raz
asked.

“
You know, ‘Widdle baby
Alex has an owie.’ That kind of thing,” Alex said.

“
Dad could be a real dick
if he thought we were faking,” Colin said. “Especially to
Alex.”

“
Your father is an
asshole,” MJ blurted out. When they turned to look at him, he
blushed, “No offense meant.”

“
None taken,” Alex said.
“You Col?”

Colin shook his head.

“
I was going to go to
Special Forces training no matter what,” Alex said. “Trust me. I
got a lot worse when I was there.”

“
Alex,” Colin leaned
forward so that his head was right next to hers. “You think this
hip thing is a big deal.”

Surprised, Alex jerked and looked away.
After a moment, she nodded.

“
I’ve had a lot of problems
with my hip,” Alex said. “I could list them, but I’m sure we don’t
have a year or two to finish the list. This thing is a whole new
and different animal. No one seems to know what’s
wrong.”

Alex shrugged. The weight of her words fell
like a heavy blanket over the vehicle.

“
Sir, we’re nearing our
destination,” the Navy SEAL in the passenger seat said. “Our orders
are to escort you to your appointment and secure the
area.”

“
Thank you,” Alex
said.

“
Sir, if it’s not an
imposition,” the driver started. He looked at the man sitting next
to him and fell silent.

“
What is it?” Alex asked.
“You may speak freely.”

The SUV pulled up in front of a medical
office building.

“
Everyone’s saying…” the
driver started. His eyes flicked back and forth in the rearview
mirror.

“
Sir,” the Navy SEAL in the
passenger seat turned around to look at her. “Our CO says that a
number of guys are lost all over the world. He says at least two
SEAL teams are missing, off the grid, vanished. We wanted to
know…”

“
Are you looking for them?”
the driver asked.

“
We are,” Alex said. “We
just returned from retrieving one of those missing teams. They
were… uh…”

“
Lost,” Raz said. “The
Lieutenant Colonel has some friends in Borneo who found
them.”

“
They are on the
USNS
Comfort
,”
Alex said. “But they are fine. Healthy. Not harmed or molested in
anyway. A little sunburned and hung over.”

“
We found them nude
sunbathing on the West Coast of Sabah,” Raz said.

“
They’ve been processed.
They will remain in a secure location until this situation is
resolved. Afterwards, they’ll receive a month’s paid leave,” Alex
said. “But that’s not what you’re concerned about.”

“
No sir,” the SEAL in the
passenger seat said.

“
We’re delighted you found
our colleagues,” the driver said. “We’re concerned… Our CO too…
when we’re sent on a mission, it will end up in our…”

“
Sir, we’d die for our
country,” the young man in the passenger’s seat said. “We are
willing to do anything… anywhere… anything… but…”

“
How do we trust that the
next assignment we’re sent on won’t end up in…” Upset, the driver
got out of the SUV. The passenger jumped out of the vehicle to go
after him.

“
Oh,” Alex
sighed.

“
Oh?” Raz asked.

“
That’s why I can’t stay
home,” Alex said. “I didn’t realize…”

“
Every team, Alex,” Colin
said. “Every service.”

“
We heard it everywhere,”
MJ said.

“
You were too busy
debriefing soldiers or reviewing their debriefings,” Raz said.
“These guys were out on bases.”

“
We had to refresh our
medical supplies,” Colin said.

“
When I was in Iraq, we
knew more about what other teams and other soldiers were doing than
anything that was going on in the news,” MJ said. “Soldiers talk
and…”

“
I just never thought of
it,” Alex said.

The door next to Alex yanked open. The Navy
SEALs stood at attention.

“
Sir, if we’ve offended you
in any way,” the Navy SEAL who had driven them.

“
No,” Alex said. “You’ve
provided me with valuable information. I wonder if you might come
back in the vehicle for me to ask you a question.”

“
Yes sir.”

The door closed and the Navy SEALs got back
in their front seats.

“
Sir?” the young man in the
passenger seat asked.

“
Are you concerned about
the intelligence corps? Or command?” Alex asked.

The men looked at each other and then back
at Alex.

“
The Fey wants your honest
answer,” Raz said. “There will be no repercussions to you, your
team, or command.”

“
They went out on
intelligence missions, sir,” said the young man in the driver’s
seat.

“
Intelligence corps, sir,”
the young man in the passenger seat said.

“
Oh,” Alex fell silent
while she processed the information. The men in the car stared at
her. When the tension in the car was too much to bear, Colin pushed
her shoulder. “Sorry. Did I blank out?”

Raz nodded.

“
You’ve given me valuable
information,” Alex said. “I appreciate your honesty. Agent
Rasmussen was correct. There are no repercussions from this
conversation. I honestly didn’t know or think of it. But… of
course, you’d doubt the intelligence corps. I would
too.”

She looked from the driver to the man in the
passenger seat.

“
Can you trust me?” Alex
asked.

“
You’re the Fey,” the
driver said.

“
If we can’t trust you, who
can we trust?” the passenger asked.

“
Can I trust you?” Alex
asked.

“
Yes sir,” the men’s
response was immediate.

“
I need you to help me,”
Alex said. “I need eyes and ears in the services to help figure out
what this is really about. The information you gave me will help me
get to the bottom of this thing.”

The men glanced at each other.

“
I’m not asking you to
tattle on your friends,” Alex said. “I’m asking you and your
friends to give me your honest opinions and information about what
you see and hear. Someone flew these teams somewhere. Some ship
took these men somewhere. I need to hear from everyone. That’s
all.”

“
I’m in,” the young man in
the passenger seat said.

“
Me too,” the driver said.
“We’ll have to check with our CO.”

“
Have him contact me. The
Map Phone is always the best way,” Alex said.

“
It’s on the Intelligence
Center’s servers, sir,” the driver said.

“
Oh, right,” Alex said.
“That’s why no one’s called.”

“
That’s why no one’s
called,” MJ confirmed.

She looked at Raz.

“
Call my Sergeant at
Buckley,” Alex said. “Give him your names and contact
information.”

“
We’ll contact you when we
have something more secure,” Raz said.

“
Thank you,” Alex said.
“Please thank your CO as well.”

She opened her door and got out of the SUV.
The SEALs jumped out of the SUV to protect her. Raz, Colin, and MJ
watched the SEALs attend to Alex.

“
That’s how she does it,”
MJ said almost under her breath.

“
That’s how she does it,”
Raz said. “You’d be amazed at all the people Alex knows. Not
everyone loves her. But everyone trusts her.”