In the Grey (13 page)

“
I thought he could tell
us . . . something,” Alex said. “He seems connected
to everything from the team’s death to . . . jeez,
global warming.”

“
Global warming?” Raz
scowled.

“
You know what I mean,”
Alex said.

“
I do,” Raz said. “Cee Cee
Joiner seems to be involved in everything we’ve worked on in the
last five years.”

“
I guess I thought he’d
get caught and trade information for a lighter
sentence.”

“
He may still want to
trade information,” Raz said. “You’ve been invited to interview
him. You get one hour.”

“
When?”

“
Tuesday,” Raz said.
“He’ll be executed Tuesday, November 9 at ten in the morning. You
are invited to attend. You’ve also been offered one hour with him
on Monday prior to his execution.”

“
Just me?”

“
We,” Raz said. “You and
I. It’s been cleared through the US Consulate. We are expected to
be on our way in a few hours.”

“
How much time do we
have?”

“
Two hours,” Raz said.
“But Alex, the head of Chinese Intelligence has requested an
interview with you as well.”

“
That’s not good,” Alex
grimaced.

“
We can decline,” Raz
said. “In fact, we probably should decline.”

“
We are the Fey Team,
Raz,” Alex shrugged. “We serve the people of China as well as the
rest of the world. Are you sure you want to go? Last time, Sami
freaked out when she saw the press photos of us dancing at a party
in China.”

“
I remember,” Raz smiled.
“I’ll speak with Sami about the press photos.”

“
Do that,” Alex said. “And
let me know.”

She nodded. He smiled. For
a moment, they sat on the couch, each of them lost in their own
thoughts.

“
No point avoiding the
inevitable,” Raz said.

Nodding, Alex got up and
left his carriage house. She felt as if her feet were lead. With
each step, she moved closer and closer to the moment she’d have to
leave home. She grimaced and went inside.

She went through the milk
porch and opened the door to the kitchen. The kitchen was a
glorious assault of laughter, warmth, and great smells. Alex
stopped in the doorway to draw in the joy.

Hermes was sitting on the
counter stirring a bowl of kale and spices. Hector James was
learning how to make eggplant parmesan. Hermes and Cian were
talking at the same time. When Hector James smiled at her, Cian
looked up.

“
Neevie is staying here,”
Cian said. “That okay with you?”

“
Of course,” Alex said.
“I’m grateful for her help.”

“
You have that look,” Cian
said.

Hermes stopped
talking.

“
I have to leave for a
trip in a bit,” Alex said.

The boys’ round eyes
stared at her.

“
Daddy, too?” Hermes
asked.

“
I don’t think so,” Alex
said.

“
Yea!” Hermes and Hector
James cheered.

“
Hey!” Alex laughed. “What
about me?”

“
We will miss you, Mrs.
Alex,” Hector James said.

“
It’s just that Daddy
is
Daddy
,” Hermes
said.

Alex laughed.

“
You’re leaving?” John
asked from the doorway to the dining room.

The boys turned to look at
him, and the eggplant began to burn.

“
There you go, Johnny,”
Cian said. “Burning the eggplant again. Will you and the missus go
deal with your problems and leave us kitchen slaves to our
work?”

“
Yeah,” Hermes pointed the
spoon at John. “We’re kitchen slaves.”

John grinned at Hermes.
Before he could respond, Alex took John’s hand. They went upstairs
to their room.

“
You’re leaving again?”
John repeated when the door closed.

“
I have to get to China,”
Alex said. “They are killing off the pestilence known as Cee Cee
Joiner.”

“
China,” John sat down on
their bed. “Again.”

“
I know,” she shrugged. “I
have to talk to Joiner. Maybe he knows something.”

“
Well,” John gave her a
soft smile. “I’ll miss you terribly.”

“
I don’t want to go,” she
nodded.

“
Yes, there is that,” John
said. “Before you go, can we talk about a few things?”

“
Of course,” Alex
said.

Alex pulled their old
stuffed green armchair over and sat across from him. He
smiled.

“
I like that about you,”
he said.

“
What?” Alex
smiled.

“
You make time for me,”
John said. “I’m sure you have things to do, a team to order around,
spy work and such, but here you are – with me.”

“
You’re really all that
matters to me,” Alex said. “I can boss everyone around from the
plane. This is my chance to look at you, talk to you, to be right
here with you. That’s really all I want to do.”

He smiled.

“
Neev’s here,” he
said.

“
Cian said those same
words,” Alex said. “I arranged for her to come; you paid for her
travel. I feel like you’re telling me something.”

“
She’s my oldest sister,”
John said. “Cian’s too.”

“
Ah,” Alex said. “It’s
like when Samantha used to visit from Washington.”

John nodded.

“
Is she staying with us or
Max?” Alex asked.

“
She’s staying on Max’s
side,” John said. “Her Jack will probably be here in a day or so.
Wait ‘til you meet him. He has a personality that could fill up the
entire rooming house. We figured they had more space on Max’s
side.”

“
He sounds fun,” Alex
said.

“
Plus, wherever they go,
their kids tend to show up,” John said. “Especially since Fionn’s
living here. By the time you come back, the house will be filled to
the brim with Kellys and Mac Kinney’s”

“
Like last Christmas?”
Alex smiled.

“
Speaking of filled to the
brim with Kellys . . . ,” John’s eyebrows
pressed together with worry.

Even though she knew what
he was going to say, she waited for him to finish his
thought.

“
I . . .”
he started. “You . . .”

John cleared his throat.
His face flushed and he looked away. When he looked up, she smiled
at him. She nodded to encourage him to speak.

“
Don’t you want a family?”
John asked.

She smiled.

“
Okay, okay, we have a
family,” John said. “I know, I know,
but . . .”

“
Stop,” she reached for
him. He took her hand. “You’ve already decided what I’m going to
say and what you’re going to say. Ask me the question. Let me
respond?”

Nodding his head, John
panted to catch his breath. When he looked at Alex, she
smiled.

“
Do you want to have
children?” he asked.

She opened her mouth to
respond.

“
With me? Have children
with me?” he asked.

She raised her eyebrows to
see if he would let her respond. He gave her a “go-ahead”
nod.

“
I get it. I do,” John
said. “We have a house full of people, and Troy’s boys are here. I
know you have work, and I have more than enough work, and we can’t
bear our own children – which I’m totally fine with, absolutely
totally fine with. You know I don’t care that you can’t get
pregnant; I just want to know if . . . We can always
hire a nanny. We make enough money now to do that. Hell, we could
hire one of my siblings’ kids or ten of them, for that matter. I
think they are all unemployed and . . .”

“
Stop,” Alex said.
“Please. You’re way ahead.”

He scowled. She watched
him try to reel in his anxious thoughts.

“
Let’s go back to ‘does
Alex want children with her wonderful husband, John?’” Alex
said.

“
Do you?”

“
Yes,” Alex said. “I
do.”

“
You know, we’re not
getting any younger, Alex, and . . .”

Alex raised her hand. He
stopped talking and gave her a sheepish grin.

“
Would you like to have a
surrogate for our biological child or adopt a child?” Alex asked.
“If we adopt a child, would you like to do that in the US or a
child from another country?”

John blushed.

“
What?” Alex
asked.

“
I never got that far,”
John said. “I thought you didn’t want to have kids.”

Alex shrugged.

“
I should have asked you,”
he said.

“
Yes, that would be good,
and . . . ,” Alex moved to sit next to him on
the bed. “I understand. This life we live,
it’s . . .”

“
Not easy,” John
said.

“
We take all the
survivors,” Alex said.

“
Certainly, we have the
space.” He glanced at her and quickly looked away.

“
What?”

“
I like it when you’re my
Alex and not the Alex in my head,” John said.

She gave him a crooked
smile and he kissed her. Her face was an inch from his face when
his phone rang.

“
It’s hard to be the port
in the storm,” he said.

“
You’ll think about it?”
Alex asked.

“
I will,” he said. He
looked at his phone and frowned. He tossed the phone into the empty
green armchair.

“
Anything else on your
‘talk-to-Alex’ agenda?” Alex smiled.

“
That was the head of
surgery,” John nodded to the phone. “He wants to know if we’re
going to his holiday party. I think I told you about it. Did I tell
you about it?”

Alex shrugged and he
nodded.

“
It’s been mad,” he
said.

“
As always,” Alex said.
“When is the party?”

“
Next weekend,” he
said.

“
I should be back in
time,” Alex said. “Friday night?”

“
I think so,” John said.
“He’s asked me to any number of parties, but there’s always
something. He wants to meet you. He talks on and on about the
military. He seems quite fascinated.”

“
About what?”

“
I don’t pay much
attention to him.”

“
Hmm. Well, we always have
so much going on,” Alex said. “It’s hard to include the niceties
like a little office party into our schedule.”

“
It’s some kind of swap
party,” John said. “A white something or another. Actually, I
haven’t paid much attention
because . . .”

“
Who knows if we can go?”
Alex smiled. “Is it a white elephant?”

“
Sure,” John
shrugged.

“
I’ll get a gift while I’m
in China,” Alex said. “I bet we can find something really weird for
the gift swap.”

“
You’re leaving for
China?” John looked surprised. Alex smiled. “Why do you have your
clothing on?”

“
Now that’s an excellent
question!” Alex laughed. She stripped off her clothes. “Are you
going to join me?”

“
I was just thinking about
the Alex in my head,” John said.

“
And?”

“
She’s really a dud,” he
laughed and pulled her to him.

F

Saturday
evening

November 6 – 9:54 p.m.
MDT

Between Denver and
Honolulu

Alex looked up when Raz
sat down next to her. He gave her a soft smile.

“
You know, it’s kind of
nice,” Raz said.

“
Kick off the dust of
having a team and just go do spy work?” Alex smiled.

“
You’re right,” Raz said.
“It’s not that nice.”

Alex laughed.

“
Where are we picking up
Max?” Raz asked.

“
Japan,” Alex said. “He
had last-minute diplomatic stuff to do for this trip. He’s trying
to make sure we don’t get stuck there.”

Raz nodded. He put his arm
around her, and she leaned into him.

“
I always get so cold on
these flights,” Alex said.

“
I know,” Raz
said.

“
Damned Hercules,” Alex
said.

“
Super
Hercules,” Raz corrected.

Alex smiled.

“
Did you call Sue Ann
Joiner?”

“
I thought I’d call in the
morning,” Alex said.

She smiled when she
thought of Cee Cee Joiner’s third wife. They’d met after Sue Ann’s
children had been killed by their father. They had forged a solid
bond of respect and friendship.