In the Grey (29 page)

“
Russian contractors?” the
Admiral asked.

“
Multinational,” Alex
said. “No way to know who or what generated the request to grab
him.”

“
He’s the head of a black
ops unit,” the Admiral said.

“
I guess,” Alex
said.

“
I guess?” the Admiral
asked.

“
Just a feeling,” Alex
said.

“
Go ahead,” the Admiral
said.

“
I feel like we’re missing
something,” Alex said. “I know I say that a
lot . . .”

“
We’re often missing
something,” the Admiral said.

“
I guess what I mean to
say is that there’s so much activity, at once,” Alex
said.

“
And?”

“
This feels like it’s
going in a specific direction,” Alex said.

“
Such as last year’s
attempt to take control of the world’s nuclear armament?” the
Admiral asked.

“
And control the world
powers’ computers,” Raz said.

“
Right,” Alex said. “This
feels directed, like all of this activity leading to a
crescendo.”

“
Any idea what that might
be?” the Admiral asked.

“
None, sir,” Alex
said.

“
I reviewed a report by
Pakistan’s finest,” the Admiral said. “You know, you didn’t have to
give them credit.”

“
It was the right thing to
do,” Alex said. “We’re better off hiding in plain sight than in the
spotlight.”

“
I’ll tell you,” the
Admiral said. “The secretary is thrilled. She called me personally
and thanked me for supporting you and creating this team. She
described in great detail how relieved she was to see Leena and
Vince. She said that she’ll never forget; I don’t think she will.
You’ve changed her life.”

“
We’ve built a great
team,” Alex said.

“
It’s you,” the Admiral
insisted. “You built this team, compelled them to become great,
developed their capacity to pull off missions like this; you can be
modest, but you built this.”

“
Thank you, sir,” Alex
said.

“
Any word from Trece?” the
Admiral asked.

“
Nothing new,” Alex
said.

“
That seems like good
news,” the Admiral said.

“
Yes, we believe so, sir,”
Alex said.

The limousine pulled in
behind a long line of cars waiting at the White House guard
gate.

“
Do you have video for
me?” the Admiral asked.

“
Video from China, North
Korea, and Pakistan are on the server, sir,” Raz said.

“
And?”

“
The team just returned
from Pakistan, sir,” Raz said. “I haven’t had time to review it or
debrief them.”

“
But you found Hector’s
nano-things in China?” the Admiral asked.

“
Yes, sir,” Raz said. “The
Fourth Bureau had one.”

“
And you think they were
with you in North Korea?”

“
There’s no reason to
think they weren’t,” Alex said.

“
Very strange,” the
Admiral said.

“
You saw my request for
the dogs to go to China?” Alex asked.

“
Yes,” the Admiral said.
“The feasibility is being weighed. It’s likely that we’ll invite
them here to train their own dogs.”

“
I think they were
relieved that someone knew something,” Alex said.

“
They want help disposing
of them,” Raz said.

“
It’s an inexpensive way
to garner favors from the Chinese,” the Admiral said.

“
Yes, sir,” Alex
said.

“
Do we have intel
regarding the purpose of Dahlia Jasper’s murder?” the Admiral
asked.

“
Not yet sir,” Alex said.
“Captain Olivas has been in Pakistan. Their plane landed less than
two hours ago. He will attend to that matter after he’s
rested.”

“
Make sure he does,” the
Admiral said.

“
Why, sir?” Alex
asked.

The Admiral rubbed his
eyes. The limousine pulled past the guard house and toward the
parking lot.

“
Sir?” Alex
asked.

“
Cee Cee Joiner,” the
Admiral said. “He always makes me think
of . . .”

“
Yes?”

“
I went to a lecture,” the
Admiral said. “Before all of this. Before the Fey Special Forces
Team was killed. Before everything. Gosh, must have been when I was
in grad school . . .”

The limousine pulled to a
halt.

“
We need a minute,
Sergeant,” the Admiral said over the intercom.

“
Yes, sir,” the sergeant
said. “Let me know and I’ll get the door.”

“
Thank you,” the Admiral
said.

They sat in silence for a
few minutes waiting for the Admiral to speak.

“
Lecture, sir?” Alex
finally prompted him.

“
There was an old guy
there,” the Admiral said. “He was a security expert. One of those
Operation Paperclip guys from the war. As you know, I find that
crap fascinating.”

“
Yes, sir,” Alex
said.

“
He talked about modern
methods of consolidating power and controlling governments,” the
Admiral nodded. “Nothing new, right? It’s just
that . . . I don’t know how to say this, but it’s
like this guy was so . . . sure. Of course, I was a
lot younger and less experienced. Still, it almost seemed like he
already had some action in play. His certainty . . .
It’s stayed with me, even all these years later.

“
But really, why did I
care? I didn’t have this position then. I didn’t imagine I ever
would. And let’s face it, lots of people want to take over the
world. It’s kind of straight from the standard whack-job manual or
comic book.”

“
What was different about
this guy, sir?” Alex asked.

“
He said that there was no
point in consolidating power or money or resources or anything,”
the Admiral said. “There was no way to spend it without getting
caught. With the UN becoming so entrenched in modern life, power
doesn’t pay off like it used to and having lots of resources only
means something if you can trade them. Look at North Korea –
billions of dollars in minerals, and no one to buy
them.”

“
So, why take over the
world?” Raz asked.

“
I wondered the same
thing,” the Admiral said. “Well, mostly I wondered if I was hearing
him correctly. Most of the people around me seemed assured that he
was saying there would never be another Hitler or Genghis Khan or
whatever. They applauded and left. But I . . . I
didn’t hear that.”

“
What did you hear, sir?”
Alex asked.

“
Yes, that’s the question,
isn’t it?” the Admiral nodded. “I waited in a long line of fans.
When I finally got to him, he was about to leave for lunch. I
didn’t have time to play around. I just asked him, ‘Why do it? Why
bother collecting money and power?’ You know what he
said?”

Alex and Raz shook their
heads.

“
To watch it burn,” the
Admiral said. “The bastard stood there with a large grin on his
face and said that the only reason to gain control is to set it all
on fire.”

“
Did anyone else hear
him?” Alex asked.

“
No,” the Admiral said. “I
was the only one there. But it’s something I’ve never forgotten. He
was a pleasant enough guy. He said good day and left for lunch with
Dr. Haemon Jasper, Troy’s father.”

“
Who gave the lecture?”
Alex asked.

“
Someone who’s not
living,” the Admiral said. “I’d tell you his name, but I’m not sure
he’s the point.”

“
So you think he was
speaking hypothetically?” Raz said.

“
No,” the Admiral shook
his head. “I think he was talking about something he had been
thinking about and working on for years. In fact, I told you about
it.”

“
Me?” Alex
asked.

“
About six months before
the assault in Paris,” the Admiral said. “I asked you to look into
it. You were rescuing hostages all over the world and Cee Cee
Joiner would pop up like a bad penny. I started to wonder if we
were seeing the start of the world burning. I asked you to look
into it.”

“
And did I?” Alex
asked.

“
I assume so,” the Admiral
said. “You were so busy that year. You were going to get back to
me, but never had the chance. Then . . .”

The Admiral
shrugged.

“
You know what?” the
Admiral smiled. “Forget I said anything. The man is long dead. Any
‘world-on-fire’ scenario would have its own YouTube channel and a
show on the Fox channel. Let’s have dinner with the president,
revel in our successes, and sleep tight. No reason to let old
ghosts haunt new situations.”

“
Yes, sir,” Alex said. She
turned off the white noise.

“
Sergeant,” the Admiral
called into the intercom.

The transportation
sergeant got out of the driver’s seat and opened the door. The
Admiral got out of the vehicle. Raz followed him out and helped
Alex. By the time she was standing in the parking lot, the Admiral
was laughing with someone from the White House staff.

“
What do you think?” Raz
asked.

He took her arm and they
walked with their heads together.

“
I’ll tell you,” Alex
whispered. “When he said those words, ‘watch it burn,’ I had an
eerie feeling.”

“
Me too,” Raz
said.

“
Do you remember talking
about this before?” Alex said.

Raz shook his
head.

“
I don’t either,” Alex
said. “But . . .”

Alex shrugged. He kissed
her cheek and they entered the White House for dinner.

F

The next day

Friday evening

November 12 – 5:09 p.m.
MST (7:09 p.m. EST)

Denver, CO

Alex sprinted into the
house. She waved at Cian who pointed to the dining room. She nodded
and turned up the stairs. She moved side to side on the stairwell
to be certain her feet only fell on the non-squeaking part of each
step. She made it to their bedroom and sprinted into the bathroom.
She turned on the shower while brushing her teeth. She spat in the
sink and jumped into the shower.

Two minutes later, she was
out of the shower. She grabbed the sexy underwear she’d stuck in
the back of her drawer. She plucked her sacrum holster and handgun
from her pile of clothing and put it over the now not-as-sexy
underwear. She snatched the padded bra she’d worn the previous year
when she’d dressed up like a prostitute to get into JFCOM from a
hook in the back. She grabbed a maroon mini-shirt, a white dress
shirt, a maroon tie, and matching shoes. At the door, she stepped
into the skirt and the shoes. She pushed her arms into the white
shirt and buttoned it while she trotted down the stairs. She found
Troy standing on the landing between the first and second floor. He
mussed up her hair, tied her tie, and sent her on her
way.

She reached the first
floor, pushed her shirt into the band of her skirt, and took a
breath.

“
John?” she said. “Cian?
Have you seen John? He said he would be here fifteen minutes ago
and . . .”

Looking amused, John came
out of the dining room. He was wearing dark slacks, and a dress
shirt and tie with a blue silk sweater. His face lit up at the
sight of her.

“
There you are,” she
smiled and kissed his lips. “I’ve been
waiting . . .”

“
Thirty seconds?” he
smiled and tucked her shirt into the back of her skirt.

“
Maybe forty,” she said.
“When does the party start?”

John’s hands pressed
against her inflated chest.

“
What’s this?” he
asked.

“
When does the party
start?” she asked.

“
Yes, just ignore me,” he
said. “It started at five, as you know, my love. Just promise me
you didn’t have any recreational surgery while you were in
China.”

“
We should go,” Alex
grabbed her long wool jacket and gave it to him. He helped her put
it on.

“
Surgery?”

“
Not tonight,” Alex
smiled. “I’m going to a work party with my gorgeous
husband.”

Laughing, he followed her
out back to the garage where the luxurious Audi R8 lived. Worth
more than they’d paid for the house, the car was shiny, very fast,
and spent most of its life in this garage.

“
How did you get Raz to
loan you his precious car?” Alex asked.

“
First, it’s not
his
car. Second, he’s on
a plane to Denver from Washington DC as we speak,” John smiled.
“What he doesn’t know . . .”

Alex pointed to Raz
standing in the doorway of the garage. They owned the R8 together
with Max and Raz. The agreement was that everyone would agree
anytime the car was driven. That way, if the precious automobile
was scuffed, stolen, or wrecked, everyone was to blame. Raz waved,
and they drove out of the garage.