by Margaret Kay
“Thank you,” Mother said.
“Cooper and I will talk with Remi,” Lambchop said. “We’ll meet the rest of you in the galley.”
“I’ll go check the lounge out, just to be sure,” Sherman said. He stepped away from them and entered the lounge as the remainder of the team headed down the hall to the galley.
“Hold up, Madison,” Cooper called after her. “I’ll want you to escort Remi’s family to the mess or stay here, if they are still asleep.”
Mother knocked on one of the doors at random. “Annaka, are you there?”
Lambchop knocked on the door next to it. “Remington Ipsen, this is Agent Johnson. I need to speak with you.”
Lying on the bed, wrapped in the warm covers, Annaka was woken by the knocks and the familiar voices. A smile spread on her face as she jumped up and raced through the darkened room to where the sliver of light shone under the door. She flung the door open. Lambchop stood there. He stepped back and motioned to Danny, who was in front of the door beside hers.
“Danny!” She called and ran the few steps, throwing her arms around him.
The door in front of where Danny and Annaka embraced and kissed, opened. Remi stood in the dark room, rubbing her eyes against the bright hall lights. “My daughter is still asleep.” She stepped into the hall and closed the door. Her face registered a smile, seeing Annaka and Danny. She pointed to the third door. “My husband and son are in that room.”
“I’m sorry we woke you,” Lambchop said.
Annaka and Danny broke their embrace.
“We’ll be escorting you two to a special hearing at zero nine hundred this morning at the Alaska Department of Natural Resources that was set up last night,” Mother told them.
“Thank God we’ll get to personally amend that report,” Remi said. “Do they know what happened?”
“The commissioner of the agency was informed last night. I’d imagine the entire board will know the details by the time the hearing commences,” Lambchop replied. “Remi, this is Cooper. He and I need to take your statement, so we have an official accounting of the events.”
“We’ll need to obtain one from your husband too,” Cooper added. He pointed to Madison. “Miller will take your children’s statements. She’s good with kids.”
Remi gave Madison a forced smile. “You’ll be gentle, won’t you? They saw those two men killed last night.”
“I promise I will,” Madison said.
“Is your husband still asleep?” Lambchop asked.
“I’m sure he is. He’s usually the last up at our house.”
“We’d really like to talk with you now. And they have a hot breakfast being served in the galley. Miller can stay with your family,” Cooper said.
“I guess his ass is waking up early today,” Remi said. “I hate to wake the kids though.”
“Breakfast will be available for several more hours,” Lambchop said. “You don’t have to wake them, but do you want to move your daughter in with your husband?”
Danny linked fingers with Annaka. “We’ll talk in your room.” He nodded at Cooper and Lambchop and then disappeared with her behind her closed door. There he turned the light on, and he kissed her again. Then he held her tightly. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”
“No apology needed, baby,” she said. “I’m just so relieved you are here now.”
“I don’t know what I would have done had anything happened to you,” he whispered, feeling emotions surge through him that he’d never felt before. The thought that she could have died, been blown up in her house hurt his heart. He felt protective over people he cared about, but the need to care for her and protect her was all-consuming. “My team will be here until we figure out who ordered this, and we bring them down. And we’ll keep you protected. Those are our two mission directives.”
“Mission, operation?” She pulled away just enough to gaze into his eyes. “I don’t understand what I heard on the phone with you last night or why Rangers brought us here, to a military base.”
He drew her towards the bed. “Sit with me.” He sat and pulled her onto his lap. He wrapped one arm around her, held her hand with the other. He gazed deeply into her eyes. “Cariño, I told you I’m part of a multi-agency task force, but we also have very strong links with our military. We go on some missions that are too delicate for our regular military to engage in, so they do us favors when we need it, like sending the Rangers to get you and Remi last night.”
“What do you mean too delicate?”
“There are some situations that if it were to be learned the regular military were intervening in, it would be a cluster-fuck. We take care of some of that stuff. Everyone in my group has prior special forces experience.”
She wasn’t sure what that meant or what those situations could be. “You were with special forces? I thought you were a Marine.”
“I was in the first training class that founded the Marine Special Operations Group in two thousand six. We are known as Marine Raiders. It is a highly classified organization. We report to JSOC, the Joint Special Operations Command. Navy SEALs, Delta Force, the Rangers, and Green Berets are all the other groups that fall under JSOC. There is even an Air Force Special Operations Command. I’ve worked with men in those groups for most of my career.”
“I didn’t know the Marines had special forces like SEALs.” She noticed how he said ‘we’ when speaking about the group, not ‘they’ and he spoke in the present, not past tense. Was he still considered active duty?
He smiled. “A lot of people don’t. But it gave me specialized skills that allowed me to qualify for the unit I’m in.”
She looked confused. “Your unit is really more than just a multi-agency task force. Isn’t it?”
“The answer to that is yes and no. We’re both. You’re being polite by not asking, but I can see you are wondering if we’re black ops. We don’t use that name, but we do what we have to do, to get the job done. We are all highly trained Operators. We only get assigned to jobs that matter, like this one.”
“So, the missions you go on are dangerous?”
His lips curved into a smile. “That depends on your definition of dangerous.”
“What mission or operation were you on last night?”
“That is classified. What I can tell you is that drugs are killing a lot of American citizens. We partner with the DEA to help bring down big crime syndicates or major distribution networks. I was undercover as a buyer last night, had been working the network all week, and got a break, got a meeting with the top guy last night. The DEA takes credit for the busts and formally makes the arrests, but we make it happen.”
Annaka sat stunned, just staring at him. “A buyer of drugs from a major network. I would classify that as dangerous. And this man you were buying the drugs from, I assume he had a gun?”
“Of course, he was armed. They always are. Where there're drugs, there’s money, and that always means the bad guys are carrying.” He said it more condescendingly than he’d planned. He was just glad she would never know how many bad guys with guns were in that auto wrecking yard.
She glanced away, visibly disturbed by his words.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to sound that way.”
Her eyes came back to him and wandered over his face. “That’s why you look like you do, the long hair, your unshaven face.”
“For this and other missions.”
“What other kinds of missions?” Her voice was quiet.
“We go into other countries when our official forces cannot. Before Christmas we rescued hundreds of women and girls from the hands of a huge human trafficking ring in West Africa. That mission and what we found is what really fucked my head up.” He paused and shook his head. “You wouldn’t believe it, women and girls as young as four years old chained to the floor of shipping containers. They were tagged like cattle going to auction or the slaughterhouse.”
His description stunned her. “And y
our group went in and saved them?” She asked with tears in her eyes.
He nodded solemnly. “As much as that fucked with my head, knowing you were in trouble last night and I couldn’t get to you, was worse. After we made the busts, and the operation was over, Lambchop told me that he and Garcia talked with you on the phone until the Rangers got you. I’ve never been so relieved in my life.”
She embraced him and held him tightly while her mind processed all he had said. Even though she couldn’t comprehend the kind of danger he exposed himself to, one thing did come to her. Danny Trio was a hero, an unknown hero who she’d been conversing with and playing games against for over five years. A hero who she knew she had fallen in love with.
“But this is all classified, even the existence of my organization. You cannot ever tell anyone.”
“I won’t. I promise. You didn’t need to tell me anything, I know. So, I appreciate that you did. I love you, Danny,” she said, the first time those words passed her lips.
Mother dropped his forehead against hers. A smile curved his lips. Hearing her say those three words spread a warmth through his body. “I love you too, Annaka, I know I do.” He paused for a few thoughtful moments, his eyes wandering over her beautiful face. “When this is over, we have to be together, somehow. I’m not willing to be apart from you and I sure as hell will not ever accept my entire team being so far away from you that it takes hours to get you help.” He held her more tightly, wondering how his brothers with women or children didn’t go insane with worry.
She nodded. “I want that too. We’ll figure it out. I know we can.”
“One of the two men who held Remi’s family matched the description of one of the guys who kidnapped you Christmas Eve. They’re both dead so we can’t get any answers out of them. The FBI will be forwarding pictures taken of them at the scene. I hate to ask you to review them, but we need to be sure.”
Annaka nodded. “I need to know if one of them is dead. I don’t mind.”
“I’ll be with you when you see them,” Mother said. He squeezed her hand.
She nodded. “Do you know who they were?”
“We think they were hired guns. But we’ll figure out who ordered this. My guess is someone high up in the oil company’s organization. They’re the only ones who had anything to benefit from the reports being falsified.”
Annaka looked thoughtful. “Will you still try to figure out what Patrick Keeling had to do with this? He had nothing to gain from any of this. I can’t figure out why he would have helped them.”
“Our digital team is still combing through his background and accounts. They are looking for offshore accounts at this point. Money is the best motivator and usually explains a lot.”
Annaka’s stomach growled.
Mother smiled. “Let’s get some breakfast. We were given access to their chow hall and I’m starving.”
She nodded and stood. She looked down at her sweatshirt. “I guess I should get dressed, at least put a bra on.”
Mother eyed her appreciatively. “I think you look great, but I wouldn’t want other men to see what I see.”
She flashed him a flirty smile. She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled in close. “Will you just hold me for a few more seconds? I missed you this last week.”
“Whatever you want,” Mother guaranteed as he held her in his embrace. After several pleasurable moments, he spoke again. “But if we do this too long, I just may want to strip your clothes off and make love to you right here, right now.”
“That sounds nice.” Then her stomach growled loudly. “But I’m hungry too.”
They met up with the rest of the team except for Cooper, Lambchop and Madison in the mess hall. Mother introduced her to the team members she did not know. They were all nearly done eating when Cooper, Madison, and Lambchop entered with Remi. After they got their food, they joined them.
Mother then introduced Remi to the rest of the team. “We’re on the ground till we figure this out.” He saw something pass over Cooper’s face. Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have said it like that. They could get pulled out at any time if something big went down elsewhere. “Are Ben and the kids still asleep?”
“I did wake Ben up when I moved Anna in with him. I’m sure he’s back to sleep though.” Her eyes went to Annaka. “This has been an unbelievable couple of days. I’m sure they are all exhausted. I know I am and wouldn’t be awake yet if you hadn’t woken me up.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Lambchop said.
“Don’t be. Speaking at this hearing today is important.”
“We’ll leave at zero eight twenty,” Cooper said.
“We’ll be ready,” Annaka guaranteed.
Immediately after breakfast, Cooper checked into the three cars that Shepherd arranged for them to use to transport Annaka and Remi. The cars pulled up in front of the barracks at zero eight fifteen. He signed for them. It would take them ten minutes to get off base and then it was a fifteen-minute drive to the building the hearing was in. He, Sherman, and Lambchop got into the car that transported Remi. He watched in his rear-view mirror as Mother, Sloan, Madison, and Annaka got into the car behind him. Bringing up the rear was the spare car driven by Wilson with Burke riding shotgun.
Annaka settled into her seat. Mother held her hand. She appreciated the connection, needed it.
“When you speak at the hearing, don’t mention your house exploding. There is no proof that it wasn’t just a gas leak,” Madison said.
“What are the odds?” Annaka argued.
“Very high that they tried to kill you,” Madison answered. “But without proof, it will weaken the hard facts. It’s supposition at this point.”
“I understand what you’re saying, but it’s a hell of a coincidence,” Annaka said.
Mother squeezed her hand. “There are enough facts including the two dead bodies at Remi’s house. Patrick Keeling’s part in this isn’t debatable either.”
“I know you’re right,” Annaka said. “And I know the truth will come out, eventually.”
“It usually does,” Madison agreed. “When you speak to the commission, just tell them exactly what happened. Paint the picture for them so there is no confusion on their part. Coercing the false filing of a federal report twice is serious. I’m sure they will find it outrageous.”
Annaka gazed out the window and watched them pass through the base’s outer gate. “I still need to call my insurance company and file a report on both my house and my car.”
“Your car?” Mother asked.
“There was some damage. It was drivable but will need some work.”
“You will have time after the hearing.” Mother squeezed her hand again. “We should also stop at a store to pick you up some things.”
“Yes, what’s in my backpack is all I have. It’s going to cost a fortune just to replace my clothes and other personal items. And it’s going to be a hassle.”
“That’s why you have insurance,” Mother said. “To replace your things.”
“Think of it as a license to shop. I’d love to replace my entire wardrobe,” Madison added. “But I agree. It will be a pain in the ass.”
Quebec
They arrived at the Robert B. Atwood Building in downtown Anchorage at eight hundred forty-five hours. Standing at twenty stories tall, the office building was the second tallest building in Anchorage. They got on the elevator and pressed eleven. The meeting would take place in one of the hearing rooms adjacent to the Gas and Oil Division’s offices within the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
Cooper went up to the receptionist, seated at the impressive desk just within the department’s glass doors. She brought them deeper into the suite, to a door marked ‘Hearing Room 1’. “I’ll let the advisory board know that you are here,” she said before leaving.
Annaka glanced around the room. A long table ran along the front of it. The seven member’s name plates were at each seat. Three feet back and facing that table were two
tables lined up but separated by a three-foot walkway. Each table had four chairs at it. Behind them were several dozen chairs in neat rows. Windows along the wall to the left were covered with vertical blinds that were cracked open at an angle. Above were two large chandeliers.
“We’ll probably be seated at this table,” Remi said, stepping up towards the table on the left. The others followed and stood nearby.
The door opened and Clint Ames entered, shadowed by two men. Mother knew they were FBI Agents. He approached his coworkers and greeted them as the two men took seats near the door. “Are you both okay?” He asked.
