On a limb with Claudia

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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

October 13 – 8 A.M.
Olde Town Arvada, Colorado

“You need to move, Alex.”

Alex opened her eyes. She wasn’t sure who had told her to move around but just straightening her leg brought waves of pain. With force, she pushed herself to standing. She had to be ready for them when they came. She glanced at the basement vents. The light turned from halogen orange to yellow.

Was that daylight? Had she been here one day or two?

Not three days.

Surely, not three days. The silent pitch-black night continued in this room.

Feeling for the wall, she began stepping around the edge of the room. When her body loosened, she walked faster then ran with her hand along the wall. As her body warmed the tightness and pain began to ease. Slipping off her jacket, she went through a Sun Salutation yoga routine to stretch her whole body. She dropped to the ground to stretch.

She thought she knew pain. The sharp pain in her forearm was familiar, almost comforting. But the swollen, bruised sensation between her skin and her muscles was a whole other beast. She felt as if the space between her muscles and skin was filled with aching, swollen lumps.

She walked the room ten more times. Ten was probably enough. She promised herself that she would repeat the routine tonight.

Dropping back to her sitting position, she ate another bite of the cherished Snickers bar. She never noticed all the textures and flavors in this candy. Captain Gordon loved these bars and sent them with people on missions. Troy used them when he trained for marathons. Snickers bar. She pushed the rest of the bar into its wrapper.

Only Troy would bring her a candy bar. He didn’t think of bringing water or a weapon. Troy knew that she didn’t really need those things. He brought her something she needed, something for her heart.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

October 12 – 3 P.M.
Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado

“Sir, I have a signal,” Alex’s Sergeant said.

He pointed to the computer screen. Alex’s friend worked in her small office under Buckley Air Force Base.

Raz looked over his shoulder, “Thank God.”

“What does that mean?” Matthew asked.

“It means that Alex is alive and able to turn on the tracking signal in her hip. It means that we can determine her location and what to do next.”

“If she’s alive, we have hope,” Colonel Gordon said.

“Let’s go get her,” Troy said. He was ready get into action. The sitting around worrying and wondering was almost more than he could handle.

“I’m sorry,” Raz said. “We can’t do that.”

“Why? We know where she is being held. We’ll just go and kick some ass.”

“They will kill her before we even get close,” Colonel Gordon said. “Alex knows that. I’m sorry, Captain. We need to work our plan and trust Alex to endure what is to come.”

Matthew made a noise then sniffed his nose to hold back his emotion.

Troy looked over at Matthew, “Hey man, remember S.E.R.E.?”

Matthew stiffened. His mind flashed to the memory of laying on the cold tile, sobbing, while Alex sang children’s songs to him. He could almost hear her sing “intsy wintsy spider.” Matthew’s brown eyes shifted to look at Troy, “Yeah.”

“I mean you were with her, but I heard that the staff was completely freaked out by our Alex.”

Matthew nodded his head. “She didn’t bat an eye. She told me once that they have asked her to annotate her S.E.R.E. tapes to explain how she managed to never show fear. She refused. She said living through it once was enough.”

“If she wasn’t affected by S.E.R.E. then why would someone try to break her down by holding her captive now?”

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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

A half hour later
October 12 – 10 A.M.
North Denver, Colorado

When Alex came to herself, she was sitting in a chair with four men standing around her. Wrapped in rope, her hands were tied to her sides and she was tied to a chair. She wasn’t sure what released her from the semi-trance state. She was just here. Closing her eyes, she remembered waking up, the feel of John’s hands across her skin, the warm burst of water from the shower and the rich coffee at breakfast. God damn it, she left her coffee.

Opening her eyes, she looked from face to glowering face and smiled.

“Hello.”

“How dare you speak to us? Filth!” A medium sized man stepped forward and hit her across the face with his open hand. He began screaming Islamic slogans at her in Arabic. His head was wrapped in a white turban and his beard was peppered with black and white. His eyes glowed with insanity.

“Do I know you?” Alex asked. Her eyes blinked at the sting of his slap. She looked at each face. They looked familiar but she had not met them before. “Oh right, you guys are on the Homeland terrorist list.”

“You insolent little bitch,” turban man said.

The man with the turban hit her across the face with the back of his hand. He spat at her face.

Alex closed her eyes against the burst of pain, then rubbed her bleeding lip against her shoulder. The man’s discharge dropped from her cheek to her shoulder. Alex shifted her shoulder and the spittle dropped to the ground.

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CHAPTER THIRTY

Five hours later
October 8 – 6:30 P.M.
Near downtown Denver, Colorado

“Would you like some more?” John asked. He held a bottle of Cristal champagne.

Alex rolled onto her stomach and held her glass out. They were laying, naked, wrapped around each other in a tiny CIA owned boutique hotel room near downtown Denver. After being checked and bandaged in the emergency room, John and Max were whisked through a series of tunnels into Homeland Security vehicles. Ben arrived to escort Max, and his broken rib, to a family home outside of Montreal, Canada.

But John refused to leave Alex so they compromised with this hotel. John planned to write up his research project for the Journal of the American Medical Association. Alex and Raz had bets that he wouldn’t make it a week. Alex had already arranged for his escort to Scotland.

“First,” John said.

He grunted. The bullet caught the edge of his body armor bruising his shoulder. He was bruised and sore. Yet for a man who was pronounced dead only a few hours ago, he was remarkably fit.

She crawled across the bed to kiss him. He pressed her onto her back as their passion caught. They had been laying in the bed celebrating the two year survival anniversary with champagne and love for the last three hours.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Twenty five minutes later
October 8 – 12:25 P.M.
Near Fort Logan National Cemetery, Colorado

“Can we get Secret Service feed?” Alex asked the pilot.

“Ma’am,” the co-pilot said. “We’d prefer for you to stay in the passenger compartment.”

“Oh sorry, Captain Jakkman usually talks to me while he flies.”

“Ma’am, Captain Jakkman is dead.”

Alex stared at the co-pilot. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide. Even though she knew that Zack was all right, she simply could not believe this young Sergeant’s lack of sensitivity. She had known Zack since she moved to Denver when she was ten years old. They went all the way through Catholic school together. And this little snot-nosed Sergeant was going to blithely tell her that her friend was dead?

“What’s your name?”

“Ma’am, we’d prefer for you to return to your friends,” the co-pilot said.

“Your name, Sergeant.”

Furious, she blinked her eyes and smiled slightly. Matthew came up behind her. He looked at the co-pilot then at Alex.

“Sir, can you remove her from the cockpit?” the co-pilot asked Matthew.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Digging around in Maria’s desk, she pulled a yellow pencil from the drawer and began flipping through the stack of papers. Making notes on the edges of the documents, she made a face.

“Sir, I’d be happy to input the data into the intelligence server.” Larry  said.

Alex was humming Seether’s “Gasoline” when Larry touched her arm. She looked up at him.

“Sir, the intelligence server?”

“Intelligence server? Yeah, people use the server.” Turning back to the pages, she added, “I don’t. Silence?”

Matthew and Troy stood at the end of the desk watching Alex work. She seemed to shuffle the pages back and forth. Transfixed, they watched her rifle the pages, tap her pencil on the table and hum. After a few minutes, she circled a word on one page, then underlined a sentence on another.

They had each worked with a variety of intelligence officers. But they had never seen anything like what Alex was doing. After more than a decade of saying, ‘Yeah, I’m  a good friend of the Fey,’ they saw, for the first time, what made the Fey so special.

“Troy? Can you get my Sergeant on the phone? I need to speak with him. Thanks.”

She worked on the computer for a minute only looking up when Troy gave her the telephone.

“I’ve sent you some documents. Yes, that’s correct. Yes, can you transfer me to his line? Thanks,” Alex said. “Howard? Can you confirm…. No paper. Right.”

Alex closed her phone.

“Mattie, I’m sorry, would you mind calling Raz back? Tell him that… uh… “ Alex flipped through the stack of papers then read her note. “All right, tell him that you bought the tickets for Valencia and we are leaving in a half hour. But, he has to wear his… crap, what’s a men’s swimming suit?”

“Speedo?” Matthew asked. “Swim trunks?”

“No something larger…”

“What does he usually wear?” Troy asked.

“We skinny dip,” Alex replied. She looked up to their wide surprised eyes. She shook her head. “Spy stuff. What do you wear Troy?”

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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“Where?”

“Afghanistan. His U-2 crashed in the mountains.”

“When?”

“Nine minutes ago,” her Sergeant said. “Sir, it’s a total loss. The Air Force says that it will be days before they can even get to the wreck. They had feed from him just prior to an explosion on board.”

“And what exactly did Captain Jakkman say? Word for word, Sergeant.”

“’Oh crap, that sucks’ then the plane exploded and plowed into the mountain. The Air Force confirms that Captain Jakkman is dead by terrorist sabotage.”

“Zack,” Alex said as an out breath. She closed her eyes.

“There’s more, sir. I received a priority email regarding the event. I tried to trace the email but I am unable to.”

“How is it signed?”

“With a Vivaldi script ‘F’.”

“What color?”

“Sir?”

“What is the color of F?”

“Black,” her Sergeant said.

“Fuck. Can you move it to my secure area?” Realizing that she no longer had a secure office to view the document in, she added, ”Scratch that. We have to come there.”

“Sir, I do not advise that you return to base,” her Sergeant said.

“Why?”

“I cannot explain.”

“All right. Can I call you back?”

“Yes sir. Sir?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry about Captain Jakkman.”

“Yes, Sergeant. Me too.”

Alex’s head bowed to her cell phone. Her fingers flew across the keys. She texted this message: ‘z-m?’  then stood staring at the phone. Within seconds, she received a four letter text message: ‘hvhm’.

Alex dropped to her knees and wept with relief. Matthew moved forward to comfort Alex but she blew out a breath and wiped her face. This was not the time for emotions. Eleazar’s plan was in motion. Killing Zack was his first move.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Three hours later
October 8 – 9:00 A.M.
Downtown Denver, Colorado

Alex stood near the edge of the crowded room. The families of the Fey Special Forces Team planned a very small, family only, ceremony for the two year anniversary. They would meet at ten o’clock at Alex and John’s home, then make their way to Fort Logan together. Alex had even arranged for a Denver Police escort.

What a difference two months makes.

Alex and John’s house was gone.

Their private ceremony became a large public event where every politician and all of the military brass would be in attendance. The Secret Service expected at least four hundred people and every media outlet. The families were cajoled, begged, and manipulated into attending with their children.

But the desire to be together, on this day of all days, was greater than the President or something as insignificant as a home explosion. Max found the largest and nicest meeting room in the Cash Register building where his international law firm rented three floors. Rebecca arranged for caterers and decorators. Everything was beautiful.

“Major Alex?” Dwight’s grandmother asked coming over to Alex.

“Yes, Mrs. Harris,” Alex said. She took the elderly woman’s hands in her own. A small woman, with deep creases in her skin, Mrs. Harris looked up at Alex through the mesh of her black hat.

“I wanted to thank you for my necklace.” Mrs. Harris put her gloved hand to the diamond encrusted platinum cross around her neck. “Dwight told me you each received a diamond. It never occurred to me that he would have made something for me.”

Alex smiled. She spent the last week with the team’s families. She wanted to tell them in person what happened and give them the diamond jewelry she retrieved from the vault. Each team member received their choice of diamonds after they rescued the board of directors of a large diamond corporation. No one knew what to pick, so Alex called Raz. The ex-New York City cop helped them choose diamonds. He also arranged for a jeweler in Paris. Raz picked a large diamond for Alex then convinced her to wear it in her belly button.

“Dwight was very clear. He wanted you to have something you would wear,” Alex said with a smile.

“I have another question for you.”

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The next night
September 29
Downtown Denver, Colorado

After spending a gut wrenching day documenting everything that happened in Paris, Alex excused herself from an afternoon meeting and a working dinner. She wanted to take a long bath.

When Raz came to check on her, she was sound asleep in the tub. He helped her out of the tub and got her into bed before he left for their working dinner. Concerned about leaving her alone, and exhausted himself, he promised to return early. He peeked in around nine o’clock and she was curled up in a ball sound asleep. With a sigh of relief, he was asleep in ten minutes.

Max and John arrived from Paris around midnight. Peeking into the rooms, they found Alex and Raz sound asleep with their doors open to the suite. John pulled Raz’s door closed then, raising a hand in good-bye to Max, he went into Alex’s room. Max returned to the room he had been using.

Pulling off his clothing, John slipped under the covers. He lay watching Alex sleep for a few moments. Drawn, as if by a magnet, his lips brushed her cheek then her ear. When she moved her hand, as if to bat at a fly, he put her fingers into his mouth. She sighed, rolling onto her back, and he slipped on top of her. She smiled slightly in her sleep then opened and shut her eyes. Her arms went around him.

His lips caught hers, pulling at her tongue, while his hands drew the t-shirt over her head. His mouth moved along her neck then took her nipple, flicking his tongue across its rising focus. She opened her eyes, looking down at him, as his mouth moved across her belly. His teeth pulled at the diamond in her belly button then his tongue explored the contours behind the gem. His fingers grasped her behind, slipping off her panties while his mouth worked along her fleshy contours and sensitive soft folds. She gasped in pleasure, wide awake, holding his head in place.

He chuckled, “Welcome home?”

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Nine hours later
September 29 – 3:21 A.M.
Downtown Denver, Colorado

Alex woke with a start. Her heart pounded against her rib cage. She had no idea where she was or what woke her. She was simply awake in the dark. Sitting up, she noticed that she was in a hotel room. She patted the bed next to her. John wasn’t there. Moving to sit on the side of the bed, she heard the sound again.

The phone was ringing.

She reached to turn on a bedside lamp then realized she didn’t know where the light switch was located. Her hand fumbled around for a few moments before she gave up. Standing up, she moved toward the light under the hall door and clicked on the light.

Ah shit. The light brought a round of Ketamine induced nausea and head splitting pain. There’s got to be coffee here somewhere. She wandered into the bathroom, then heard the phone ring again.

Ah well, they’ll call back.

Turning on the bathroom light, she blinked at the bright light and grimaced at her reflection. She was wearing panties and someone’s big t-shirt. Her fake hair was crumpled, standing straight up in some places and flat in others. It looked like she had gone to sleep with wet hair….

Oh right. Alex remembered that she was at the hotel in downtown Denver. Her one bag of clothing was in Paris. Glancing at the half open suite door, Raz was across the suite. She nodded at her reflection. Turning on the faucet, she wet her hair trying to flatten it out.

She and Raz went to dinner at Elway’s. They ate steak, drank wine and laughed. Alex insisted they eat some salad which they fed to each other. Raz ordered every chocolate dessert on the menu. Groaning and laughing, they managed to eat them. She smiled. She had such a good time with Raz.

When they returned, he ran a bath for her, set his t-shirt on bed, then left for a date. She scratched her head trying to remember who he saw last night. She could probably just go across the suite to find out who was there. She chuckled to herself.

The phone started ringing again.

Fuck.

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