Lean on Me (43 page)

“
It could be her plane,”
Alex said.

“
It looks more like bomb
shrapnel,” Raz said. “Dusty?”

“
If they say it’s her
plane, I believe them,” Sergeant Dusty set the phone
down.

“
All set?” Alex
asked.

“
She’s sobbing, sir,”
Sergeant Dusty smiled. “I guess the baby’s late.”

“
He may make it after all,”
Raz said.

“
Why don’t you see what we
can do?” Alex nodded to Sergeant Dusty and he went to make the
arrangements. They watched Matthew convince the men onto the
Chinook. Slowly but surely, the ardent men began their journey to
the USNS
Mercy
.

“
Sir,” Joseph said. “We’re
ready to go. We’ve changed, decontaminated and are awaiting your
orders.”

“
You may take command,”
Alex said.

“
Yes sir,” Joseph
said.

“
But Joseph,” Alex said.
“By the book. Don’t let these bastards get off due to some
brutality on our part.”

“
Yes sir,” Joseph said. “I
was just reminding the team of our fun adventure at Abu
Ghraib.”

“
Good thinking,” Alex said.
“Good luck.”

“
Are you out?” Matthew
asked.

“
I’m here if you need me,”
Alex said. “I think you guys need to handle it from there. White
Boy’s with Leena?”

“
Yes,” Matthew
said.

“
Good,” Alex
said.

“
Let’s do this thing!”
Matthew called. He and Joseph found seats in the Pave Hawk
helicopter. The helicopter lifted off the aircraft carrier and flew
to the Bikini Atoll. A Chinook with US Navy Military Police
followed the team. The Jakker hovered over the twelve contractors.
White Boy and Trece opened the helicopter doors.

“
Get back,” Trece
said.

“
We are here on a rescue
mission,” Zack said over the outside speaker.

The men skittered back. The plan had been
for the team to gain control of the atoll and take the three men
into custody while retrieving the other contractors. But as Field
Marshall von Moltke and Patrick Hargreaves always said, no plan
survives contact with the enemy. This was no exception.

To everyone’s shock, as Zack was lowering
the helicopter, the contractors took defensive positions and began
to fire on the team.

“
Sir?” Matthew called for
her.

“
We have to assume it’s
some kind of island fever,” Alex said.

“
We’ve seen it before,”
Joseph said. “Just never in people we wanted so badly to
shoot.”

“
Lower your weapons,” Zack
said on the outside speaker. “This is a mercy mission. I repeat.
This is a mercy mission.”

The contractors responded by firing on the
helicopter.

“
Look,” Raz pointed to one
of the contractors. “Isn’t that a cell phone? Alex, they’re talking
to their command.”

“
No way,” Joseph
said.

“
Hey Pete, is that a cell
phone?” Matthew asked Sergeant Beetle.

“
I believe so, sir,” Pete
said.

“
You know what to do,” Alex
said. “Make sure your video recorders are working.”

“
Double checking now,”
Joseph said.

“
See you later.”

“
Out,” Matthew
said.

Zack raised the helicopter. White Boy closed
a door. Trece dropped a satellite block and closed his door. From a
half-mile above, Colin shot at the satellite block and Alex’s
screen went black.

“
I like those new blocks,”
Raz said.

“
Handy,” Alex
said.

“
What happens now?”
Sergeant Dusty asked.

“
They’ll wait for the team
to settle down and go back to get them,” Alex said. “I’ll ask
Martha to call the contractors’ boss. I’ll send the feed we have to
CNN.”

“
Oh, I’m sorry,” Sergeant
Dusty said. “I already sent the feed.”

Alex smiled.

“
Lieutenant Colonel?”
Martha’s voice came over the speaker.

“
Mr. Special?”

“
He’s back. He seems really
mad,” Martha said.

“
Huh,” Alex said. “You can
put him through.”

“
You sure?”

“
I’m sure,” Alex said.
“Hello sir.”

She let the man scream at her for a
while.

“
Are we recording?” Alex
asked Sergeant Dusty.

“
Yes sir.”

“
What was that?” the man
asked.

“
I was making sure we were
recording,” Alex said. “I wanted to make sure that the people who
pay your company hear what you have to say.”

“
But… but…”

“
We also caught what you
were saying to your men on the island before they opened fire on a
United States Pave Hawk which had clearly identified their
mission.”

Alex looked at Raz and he nodded.

“
You cannot take my
men!”

“
Okay,” Alex said. “We’ll
leave them on Bikini Atoll. We have you on record telling us to
allow your men to remain on a contaminated island without food or
water. I assume you’re going to retrieve them.”

“
That is correct,” he
said.

“
I’m wondering how you
might get there,” Alex said. “We’ve locked down the water. Nothing
goes in or out.”

“
You can’t do
that!”

“
It’s not me sir,” Alex
said. “That order came from Naval command. It has to do with an
issue you’re not privy to. However, I’m happy to call my men and
let your employees wait until you can come to get them. I don’t
think they’ll survive that long. One of my men thinks they may have
Island Fever.”

The man was silent.

“
Nice to chat with you as
always,” Alex moved to hang up.

“
You’re going to prosecute
my men,” he said.

“
Only three of them,” Alex
said. “And I’m not doing anything. The Navy CIS has completed a
thorough investigation. They passed their report to JAG. Turns out
that while your men can treat a human being anyway they want, they
do not have immunity from destruction of military property. As a
Mineman, Petty Officer Carmichael is the property of the US Navy.
And she’s been damaged.

“
Of course, I’d be happy to
send my entire file, including the photos showing your men dragging
Petty Officer Carmichael across the compound by her hair, to CNN or
maybe Nightline. You know, they’re wearing their work shirts with
your logo on them. That’s probably good advertising.”

The line went dead. Alex smiled. She was
pretty sure the head of the contracting company was calling his
military friends. Of course, she’d already taken care of that
task.

“
Hey Alex,” Matthew’s voice
came from the satellite feed. “We’ve got them. Can you believe the
jackasses tried to swim away? You should have seen Royce and Vince.
They swam like motorboats. Incredible.”

“
And the third?”

“
Bill got him,” Matthew
said. “Man, we need to make Pete and Bill a permanent
placement.”

“
I’ll get my Sergeant on
it,” Alex said. “How did Leena do?”

“
One of the guys attacked
her,” Joseph said. “Came straight at her. She panicked. You’ll
never guess what happened?”

“
White Boy stopped
him?

“
Margaret,” Joseph said. “I
thought she was going to kill the guy. She was very intense. The
Marine guards helped, but man, Margaret’s fierce.”

“
And Leena?”

“
White Boy took care of
her,” Matthew said. “The team’s with her on the island now. The MPs
took the bastards to the ship. Zack and Cliff took the first load
of men to the
Mercy
. We’re with the rest of the contractors. They came very
easily. In fact, the CO was more than happy to tell us all about
the phone call he had with his boss.”

“
And you were right about
the Island Fever,” Joseph said. “MJ says they’re pretty sick. MJ
told them their recovery chances are only forty
percent.”

“
Sad but true,” Alex
said.

“
And their boss wanted to
leave them?”

“
That’s correct,” Alex
said.

“
They’ll be thrilled to
hear that,” Matthew said.

“
How are you doing?” Alex
asked.

“
The team’s fine,” Joseph
said. “In good spirits. We miss you guys. Even Troy.”

“
He would have loved this
action,” Matthew said.

“
I’m sure,” Alex
said.

“
We’ll send our audio and
video as soon as we’re back on the ship,” Matthew said. “Zack and
Cliff have tentative arrangements for our trip home but they need
Dusty’s help.”

“
I’ll take care of it,”
Sergeant Dusty said.

“
Zack’s back,” Joseph
said.

Alex listened to them load onto the
helicopter.

“
We’re on our way,” Matthew
said. “Get better Alex. We need you.”

“
Will do,” Alex
said.

“
Out,” Joseph
said.

“
Out.” Alex lay back on her
mattress and closed her eyes.

“
Ready to go home?” Raz
asked.

“
I need a moment to gather
myself,” Alex said. “Sergeant, you can work on their
travel.”

“
Yes sir,” Sergeant Dusty
went around to her desk to use her computer.

“
How’s Sami?” Alex asked
Raz.

“
Shaken,” Raz said. “I
haven’t seen her so… fragile. They did a rape kit last night. Found
DNA.”

“
Yours?”

“
It’s definitely not mine,”
Raz said. “I keep seeing her blank face in my mind, you know, when
she said she wasn’t going to have sex with him last
night.”

“
She’d already had sex with
him,” Alex said.

“
How…?”

“
Jesse,” Alex said. “He
interrupted. Where is she now?”

“
My home,” Raz said. “Mammy
and Cian are watching her.”

“
Mammy? And Cian? That’s a
match made in…”

“
Rebel prison?” Raz smiled.
“They offered and… I thought Sami could use a little Mammy and Cian
lovin’. Erin’s coming later with Grace.”

Alex watched Raz for a moment. He was lost
in thought.

“
Finally, there’s an answer
to a lot of questions,” Raz said. “Sami kept trying to end the
relationship with the Senator. She never could. All this time, she
was trying to tell me, but…”

“
I never would have
believed it either,” Alex said. “Mom told me something similar
gosh… last year. I think we all thought Sami needed to work through
it. Instead, she was drugged by the jerk.”

“
The Denver Police set up a
hotline,” Raz said. “Twelve women have already come forward saying
they had this very same experience with the Senator. Sami thinks
there are a lot more.”

“
Wow,” Alex
said.

“
Yeah,” Raz said. “Wow.
Your father’s pissed. I’ve seen him angry but… He unnerved
me.”

“
He’s pretty scary when you
fuck with one of his kids.”

“
Anyway, your mom has set
up therapy for her,” Raz said. “She’s…”

Raz fell silent. He looked at Alex and
touched her cheek. She smiled at him.

“
What?” Alex
asked.

“
Samantha is truly your
sister,” Raz said. “She’s tough. She actually told me that she was
glad this happened. She can finally close a chapter in her life and
move on. Amazing.”

Alex smiled.

“
Why don’t you let me take
you home?” Raz asked.

“
In a minute,” Alex said.
“I need to rest up for the journey.”

Raz held his arm out and she snuggled to
him. He counted to twenty and she was asleep. He held her close
while she slept. Having set up the team’s travel, Sergeant Dusty
brought Raz a syringe of pain medication. Raz injected the
medication into her IV line and stayed with her until she’d
received all of her meds. When the IV was done, he carried her to
their SUV and drove home.

F

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

November – December

Over the sea of pain, Alex remembered the
next month in a series of snapshots.

Not long after they’d rescued the men from
the Marshall Islands, Samantha made her first appearance at the
Sibling Saturday breakfast. Wearing one of Raz’s old white shirts
and a pair of Erin’s jeans, she arrived with a carefree glamour no
one had seen before. Erin and baby Grace came in right after
her.

When breakfast was almost over, Samantha
turned to Alex to say, “I need a place to live.” Alex smiled and
nodded. Riding on Colin’s back, she led Samantha to a cute room
with a private bathroom down the hall from Troy and the kids. Once
John’s home office, they’d converted the space to a Samantha
paradise with a ribbon of pink rose buds adorning the walls and
matching floral duvets and sheets. The private bathroom had a
clawfoot tub and matching pink rose buds on the wall. Samantha wept
when she saw the room and settled in right away.