In the Grey (42 page)

“
How long do you think
he’ll make it?” Leena asked.

“
I doubt he’ll last the
day,” Alex said.

“
Why would he do that?”
Matthew asked. “We weren’t even asking that much from
him.”

“
No idea,” Alex
said.

“
Maybe he just can’t deal
with going back,” Margaret said as she walked by. “I couldn’t do
it.”

“
Maybe,” Alex said.
“Either way, it doesn’t matter. Trece and his mom are free,
finally.”

“
Let’s go get him,”
Matthew said.

The team cheered. They got
into the SUVs and made their way back to base. It was just getting
dark when they landed at Petersen Air Force base where Zack had
waited for them. Cliff joined Zack in the cockpit, and they flew
the few miles to Florence, Colorado. Zack flew over the prison and
landed in the parking lot.

Alex, Joseph, and Matthew
went into the prison to collect Trece. After filling out a stack of
forms, their friend Freddy brought Trece and White Boy from the
prison. Alex had the pleasure of unlocking his handcuffs. She let
Joseph unlock his shackles, and White Boy unlocked the restraining
belt. They walked to the helicopter where the team greeted Trece
with champagne and hugs. When they were in the air again, Alex
nodded to Joseph.

“
Fey Team?” Joseph asked.
“You are dismissed for the Thanksgiving holiday.”

The team
cheered.

“
Report for duty on
Monday, November 29,” Matthew said.

“
What about the mind
controls and everything else?” Vince asked.

“
My father’s team is going
to follow up,” Alex said. “But for now, we believe they have
completed that plan. We need to be ready and able to pursue our
next objective, whatever that might be.”

“
We’d like you to relax
and enjoy your families,” Joseph said.

“
We don’t know what the
rest of the holiday season will bring,” Matthew said.

“
But we’re still having
Christmas at Alex’s house, right?” Trece asked.

“
We are,” Alex
smiled.

“
So how was it?” MJ asked
Trece.

“
I . . .
um . . . ,” Trece shook his head.

“
Let’s give him a day or
so to get his story straight,” Alex said.

They laughed. Alex settled
back into her seat. Raz put his arm around her.

“
Are you all right?” Raz
asked in her ear.

“
Tired,” Alex
smiled.

“
Did you hear Steve’s
coming home?” Raz asked.

“
Dad told me, but I wasn’t
sure what that meant,” Alex said.

“
He’s medically stable,”
Raz said. “He needs to heal up before he has more surgery. You know
the drill.”

“
Surgery, heal, surgery,
heal, surgery, PT, surgery,” Alex said. “Yes, I’ve done
that.”

“
Me too.”

“
Fong is back in China,
right?”

“
She had to go back to
work,” Raz said. “She’ll be here at Christmas. The hope, I think,
is that she’ll do half-time here, half there, until she
retires.”

“
I can’t believe Steve’s
not retiring,” Alex said.

“
He doesn’t feel like it’s
necessary,” Raz said. “I think he wants to see this whole action
through.”

“
This whole
action?”

“
With you,” Raz
said.

“
Oh,” Alex said. “We think
this will be over?”

Raz chuckled, and Alex
smiled.

“
Where’s Steve going?”
Alex asked.

“
Know any place with easy
access to doctors, good medical care, few stairs, social
environment, workout, healthy food, and spa equipment? Oh, and is
familiar to Steve?”

“
He’s coming to our
house?” Alex turned to look at Raz. She shook her head in
disbelief.

“
Something the General and
Ben set up,” Raz said. “The General’s house has too many levels,
and Steve’s never stayed there. So he’s coming home to our
house.”

“
I wonder why John didn’t
tell me,” Alex said.

“
I think he didn’t want to
bug you,” Raz said. “No one’s wanted to put more pressure on you
since . . . you know.”

Alex nodded.

“
How are you with Steve
coming to our house?” Raz asked.

“
Fine,” Alex shrugged. “I
love the man. He was really great when I was injured.”

“
You’re planning on
getting retribution for his painful recovery workouts?” Raz
smiled.

“
Oh, of course,” Alex
laughed. “I bet Max and Colin will want in on that
action.”

“
Brutal?”

“
Done with love,” Alex
smiled.

“
Of course,” Raz
laughed.

“
Mostly, I’m glad to have
some time off. Are you staying around this week?”

“
Sami is hosting
Thanksgiving,” Raz said.

“
Our family Thanksgiving?”
Alex asked.

Raz nodded.

“
When did that happen?”
Alex asked.

“
When you were working
overtime to take care of . . . ,” Raz nodded in
Trece’s direction. “I was supposed to tell you, but since Y,
I . . .”

His grey eyes filled with
sorrow, and she squeezed his hand.

“
We’ll have fun,” Alex
said.

“
You’re bringing the pie,”
Raz said.

“
Cian makes great pie,”
Alex said.

“
Cian’s going with
Margaret to the reservation,” Raz said. “You’re going to have to
bake the pie.”

Alex pointed to herself
and shook her head. He laughed.

“
It will be fun,” Alex
smiled. “No injury. No drama. Just good food, nice family. I can’t
wait.”

“
From your lips to God’s
ears,” Raz said.

“
Ain’t that the
truth?”

“
Lieutenant Colonel?”
Cliff cut in over her headset.

“
Go,” Alex
said.

“
We have confirmation,”
Cliff said.

The laughing and talking
came to a halt. Every ear focused on Cliff’s report.

“
How?” Alex
asked.

“
Ambush,” Cliff said.
“They were transporting him from lock up to the airport to fly him
back to the states. The Policia believe it was MS-13.”

“
Collateral damage?” Alex
said.

“
No sir,” Cliff said.
“Motorcycle pulled up to the vehicle and took out the target.
Shooter was wearing black with a full helmet. They’re looking for
the bike, but it didn’t have a license plate.”

“
Thank you, Sergeant,”
Alex said.

Trece looked at Alex, and
she nodded.

“
It’s over,” Alex said.
“You’re finally free.”

Overcome, Trece folded
forward and cried into his hands. The team cheered and the
celebration increased a notch. Raz leaned over to speak in Alex’s
ear.

“
Did you release the
information about his cousin?” Raz asked.

Alex shook her
head.

“
I didn’t either,” Raz
said. “Mattie?”

They looked across at
Matthew. He was joking with Troy about Thanksgiving. Alex shook his
head.

“
Then why?”

Alex shrugged.

“
Do we look a gift horse
in the mouth?” Raz asked.

Alex nodded.

“
I thought so,” Raz
said.

F

Four days later

Thursday, early
morning

November 25 – 2:39 a.m.
MST

Denver, CO

The second washing machine
bell got Alex’s attention. She’d been so focused on her gallery of
miscellaneous objects that she’d missed the bell from the first
washing machine. She grimaced. Now she had two full washing
machines and two full dryers to deal with. She got up from her desk
and started toward the laundry room.

Remembering that Steve and
Neev were in the basement, she almost turned back to lock her
office. She glanced down the hallway. They were sound asleep. Plus,
other than her gallery of random objects, everything else was
locked up. She trotted to the laundry room and set to
work.

She groaned.

The top dryer had cooled,
and everything inside was wrinkled. She pulled out a few items and
started the dryer again. She kneeled down to pull the line-dry
items from the bottom washer. Her head was in the washer when she
thought she heard someone speaking. She leaned back to
look.

“
Alex?” Steve asked. He
wore walking boots on each foot, casts on his forearms, and most of
his fingers were taped together. Sheer stubbornness allowed him to
move around on forearm crutches.

“
I’m inside this washing
machine,” Alex said.

“
Ah,” Steve smiled.
“Finding anything good?”

“
Bras,” Alex said. “You’re
lucky you can’t see. You’d be embarrassed at our collection of
underwear.”

“
Yes, underwear,” Steve
said. “There’s nothing worse than a display of wet laundry.
Underwear would do me in. You know me well.”

Alex laughed. She got up
and went to him. She put her hands on his shoulders, and he hugged
her.

“
What are you doing up?”
Alex asked.

“
My internal time clock is
turned around,” Steve said.

“
I bet,” Alex
said.

“
I heard you moving around
and thought I’d come down,” Steve said. “I hope that’s all
right.”

“
You’re always welcome,”
Alex said.

“
Is Jesse here?” Steve
asked.

“
He’s with Maria,” Alex
said. “I’m just doing the laundry.”

“
Do I smell coffee?” Steve
asked.

“
In my office. Would you
like me to bring you some?”

“
No,” Steve shook his
head. “I’ve only just moved up to solid food. Coffee would probably
take me back a pace, but I can dream.”

Alex grabbed a metal stool
from the corner of the room and brought it to him. Placing it near
his right hip, she said, “Stool.”

He nodded his thanks. She
held the stool until he was situated.

“
Do you mind if I keep
dealing with this laundry?” Alex asked.

“
No,” Steve said. “I can’t
tell you how glorious it is to smell coffee or sit in the warm
moisture of this room. Everything is so clean and safe.
It’s . . .”

Teardrops slid down his
face. Alex went back to pulling items out of the bottom
washer.

“
I know,” Alex said. “I
think that’s why I do the laundry. It’s like being immersed in
home.”

“
Typical American life,
yes,” Steve nodded. “I don’t know what I thought would happen. I
wished many times that they would kill me. And all of the sudden,
here I am at Alex’s house. Fong and Ji are coming next month for
the holiday.”

Steve shrugged.

“
But this room?” Steve
asked. “The smell of coffee and laundry detergent? The warm
moisture? Your voice? It’s like falling through the ceiling of pain
and finding yourself in heaven.”

“
It’s really just
laundry,” Alex smiled.

“
You, of all people, know
exactly what I’m saying,” Steve said.

“
I do,” Alex
said.

Steve pulled his clip
knife off the band of his pants. Using only his thumb, he began
clicking the knife in and out. For as long as she’d known him, he’d
had a still, almost motionless presence. This nervous tick was new.
He spent most of his time clicking it. He even joked that Fong had
returned to work to avoid the sound of his new habit.

Everyone had something to
say about Steve and his knife. Alex told them to stuff it. She
hadn’t been as religious about wearing her Glock 9 mm until
everyone was killed.

“
Has Colin made his
cinnamon rolls since you’ve been here?” Alex asked. “The way they
smell . . . the feeling of a warm bath.”

Steve smiled. Alex grabbed
the bin of towels and rolled it over to the empty
washer.

“
Cian decided to wash the
linens while I was gone,” Alex said.

“
And by ‘decided to wash’,
you mean . . . ?” Steve asked.

“
He piled everything not
in use down here,” Alex laughed. “He said we needed to wash it all
before everyone comes for Christmas. And, before you ask, ‘we’ is
me.”

“
Nice of him,” Steve
smiled.

“
Well, he really does all
of the household managing and cooking,” Alex said. “The laundry is
mine. It’s is the least I can do. Plus, like I said, it feels like
home when I’m down here.”

“
Why are you up washing
clothes in the middle of the night?” Steve asked.