by Margaret Kay
XRay
Three weeks and three more DEA Partner missions later, Sloan reported to Shepherd’s office. He’d been summoned out of the blue while he and Delta Team, Garcia, and Rich ‘Handsome’ Burke from Charlie Team were packing up their gear to head out on the next DEA Partner mission. This would be the first of these missions that a member of Charlie Team was slated for. The training of the new Echo Team with Charlie Team was going well.
U.S. Marshal Michael St. Vincent sat on one of the leather couches in the seating area within Shepherd’s office when Sloan entered. “This can’t be good,” Sloan remarked as he closed the door behind himself.
“How is everything going?” St. Vincent asked.
“Good, why are you asking? Should we be worried?”
“No, not at all,” Shepherd replied, motioning Sloan to have a seat. “We need Kennedy to pay a visit to her parents though. The FBI’s investigation into her illegal adoption is at a standstill. We need information that only her parents would have.”
“And we deem it an acceptable risk that her parents know she’s alive,” St. Vincent added. “As long as they do not tell anyone, they can know.”
“We’ve even set up secure email accounts so they can correspond, if all parties want to,” Shepherd added. He handed the email addresses to Sloan.
“Man, I don’t know if Kennedy is ready to see them and talk with them yet,” Sloan said.
“Then you will need to convince her she is,” Shepherd said. “Bring Lassiter in to help you if you need to. We need names, dates, and places from them, every detail of how they made payment and to whom,” Shepherd ordered.
“I’ll try, Shepherd, but it was a long time ago.”
“They’ll remember every detail, I guarantee you that,” Shepherd said. “You’ll fly out with the team on the Lear. They’ll drop you in Cleveland on their way to New York. Angel will have a car waiting for you at the hangar. Make sure Kennedy has her ID’s, depending on the timetable, you may have to fly commercial back.”
“We’re flying out today?” Sloan asked.
“Yes, as soon as you get Kennedy and bring her to the airfield, you’ll leave. I’m putting Doc on this detail to replace you. He’s already been notified,” Shepherd said.
Sloan nodded, wondering how he’d convince Kennedy she wanted to confront her parents. “I’ll call her and have her pack a bag. I’ll convince her on the drive to the airfield.”
“Make this work,” Shepherd ordered. “The FBI needs this information.”
“Yes sir,” Sloan said, standing. Once in the hall, he dialed Kennedy as he headed back to the Team Room to swap out some equipment. He was sure Shepherd would have already notified Lambchop of the change of plans.
“Hi, this is a nice surprise,” Kennedy answered on the second ring.
“I’ll explain when I get there, but I need you to pack a backpack with clothes and things for three days. Everything is fine. You are in no danger. I’ll be home in fifteen minutes.”
“What? Where are we going? And what about work? I have school Monday. I can’t be gone on Monday. And what about the mission you were supposed to leave on today?” She fired her questions off without a breath between them.
“I’ll try hard to have you back by Monday morning when the bell rings. I’ll explain it all when I get there. You are home, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I just walked in. You’re lucky the kids had early release today, or I’d be at school for another two hours and I wouldn’t have picked up your call.”
Sloan hadn’t even thought about what he would have done had she not picked up. He glanced at his watch. It was one-forty-five. She must have left school the second the kids were released at one-fifteen. “Please pack that backpack. Jeans are fine.”
“Can you at least tell me where we are going?”
“I will when I get there. Pack light. You won’t need more than the one pair of jeans, a couple shirts and a light jacket.”
He entered the Team Room. Doc was already there packing up his stuff. The remainder of the team must have already been out in the garage, packing the SUVs. “Good luck in Cleveland,” Doc said. “Is Kaylee going to be okay with this?”
Sloan shook his head. “I’m not sure. I guess it depends on how I frame it.”
Doc’s face set in a smirk. “You better get creative.”
“Yeah. Sorry you have to go last minute like this. I’m sure Elizabeth isn’t too happy.”
Doc shrugged. “It’s the job. She understands it. Jackson is getting alerted he’s going on this mission, right now. Sherman got a call from his brother, some emergency back home. Sherman’s leaving immediately for Louisiana.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah,” Doc confirmed.
“Where is Sherman now?”
“Out in the garage with rest the team.”
Sloan passed through the door into the garage and glanced over at Sherman, who paced near the two packed SUVs. His phone was pressed to his ear. Lambchop was also on his phone, with Shepherd, Sloan guessed.
“We’re packing up the cars now. We left your packs here.” Mother pointed to Sloan’s two backpacks, his rifle case and his bag containing his assault gear, his black fatigues, helmet, and body armor.
Sloan grabbed his medical pack and his regular backpack. He threw both into the back compartment of one of the two black SUVs. “I’m heading home to pick her up now. We’ll meet you at Chicago Executive. You’re dropping us in Cleveland on your way, so keep those accessible when you load the Lear.”
Lambchop stepped over, off the phone now. “We want to be wheels-up in under an hour. Make it fast, your trip home to get Kaylee.”
Sloan’s eyes went back to Sherman, who had just ended his call. He walked quickly towards them with long strides.
“What’s up?” Sloan asked him.
“My little brother’s gotten himself arrested again, drugs. If I don’t go back and flash my badge to get him into rehab, again, it’s a long stint in the state lock up this time. He also told me my boat needs tending, it’s hooked up to power at the marina, running the AC. I’ll get a hell of a bill for that if I don’t go shut it down. He’s got no one else to call. I’ve never heard him sound so desperate.”
“Go ahead and take off,” Lambchop told Sherman. “Jackson has been assigned to this mission to cover for you. Angel will have your boarding pass sent through to your phone before you reach O’Hare and Shepherd will have the ATF notified of the armed agent clearance you’ll need to pass through security.”
“Thanks, man,” the Cajun said to Lambchop, giving him a hug.
“Prayers for your brother’s healing. Maybe this time the rehab will stick.”
Sherman shook his head. “I sure hope so. The dumbass just can’t stay away from the shit.”
“Good luck, man,” Sloan said, embracing his friend.
Then Mother embraced Sherman as well. “You need to tell him that he needs to get his shit together. Pretty soon it’s going to be time for some tough love.”
“Oh, believe me, we are way past the time for tough love. He’s going to get my size ten up his ass if he doesn’t straighten up and fly straight. Good luck with the mission. Be safe.” He grabbed his backpack and headed to his car.
Sloan went back into the Team Room to stow the remainder of his gear. Jackson was there. He and Doc finished packing their gear and left the room. Sloan grabbed the small box from his locker shelf, where it had been for several weeks, and shoved it into his pants pocket. The two SUV’s were just pulling out of the parking area when Sloan reentered the garage, heading to his own POV.
All the way home, he ran different lines through his head. Which would convince Kennedy she was ready to see her parents? In the end, as he pulled into his driveway, he decided to tell her the truth. He found her in the bedroom placing some toiletries into her full backpack. Her purse and a blue jean jacket sat on the bed beside it.
“Hi babe,” he said as he entered the room. He pr
essed a kiss to her lips and embraced her.
“What’s going on, Gary?”
“As I told you on the phone, nothing is wrong. We’re flying to Cleveland because upon learning of the illegal adoption your parents participated in, the FBI opened a case to investigate it, to be sure the network or any variation linked to it was still not in operation today.”
“That was over thirty years ago! Certainly, it’s no longer operating.”
“We had to be sure. The investigation is at a standstill, and the FBI wants us to talk to your parents and get the information that only they would have, places, names, payment particulars.”
She stared at him with a disgusted look on her face. She didn’t speak. She just shook her head no, ever so slightly.
“Marshal St. Vincent was in the meeting with Shepherd and he advised that as long as your parents keep quiet that you’re alive, it is an acceptable risk that they know.”
“I don’t want to see them. I told you, it’s best that they think I’m dead.”
Sloan embraced her. “Babe, you don’t mean that. Come on, don’t you want closure? Don’t you want to look them in the eye and ask why they never told you that you were adopted? You have to have questions that only they can give you the answers to.”
She picked the picture frame up from the dresser of Melody with her mother. “This right here is the only answer I need. They lied to me, Gary. My whole life, they lied to me.”
“Don’t you want to ask them why? Don’t you want to ask how it was you were separated from your birthmother and twin sister? This is your chance. Babe, do you really think that you’re never going to want those answers?”
“I was playing a summer fair tour about seven years ago. We were going to play at three different fairs within a few hours’ drive of their house. I called them and told them, invited them to my shows. Do you know, my dad told me I’d played those same fairs before my big music contract, had to throw in my face that he didn’t think I’d gotten too far. I told him I played them as an undiscovered local artist back then, early in the day for all of twenty-five dollars, but I was coming back the last warm-up act with the big closer making a lot more than that. They didn’t come, not to a single show. That was the last time I called them.” She glanced away as the tears filled her eyes and then spilled down her cheeks.
Sloan embraced her tightly and kissed the top of her head. “Well this time you’ll be with me and I won’t let them make you feel less than anything. As far as I’m concerned, you’re a hero who saved that girl and brought down those monsters. I’m proud of you. You don’t need their approval of anything in your life. Don’t you want to tell them that? Don’t you want to have the satisfaction of telling them that you know you were adopted and ask them why?”
“Maybe, but not yet. I’m not ready to see them.”
“Babe, the FBI needs you to.”
“Why the rush on this? Can’t it wait until after your mission? Give me a little time to wrap my mind around it and make plans to be away from work?”
“That’s not the way it works. When a mission is greenlighted, it moves. As soon as Shepherd got the request from the FBI, he called the Marshals in, who approved the trip and then I was summoned to Shepherd’s office. He already had a backup for me packing for the mission. We’ll fly out with the team this afternoon and get dropped in Cleveland on their way to New York.”
“That’s where you were going, to New York?”
“Yes, but now my mission is to get this information from your parents.”
“Why can’t you just go get it? Why do I have to be involved?”
“Come on Kennedy, they aren’t going to give me or any other federal agent that information. Having you stand in front of them demanding it, will make them comply.”
“I’m not ready to see them yet.”
“Kennedy trust me. You need this closure. You can’t open the next door of your life without closing the last. You cried just now about something from seven years ago. You have so much pain related to your parents. I truly believe this is the best way to rid yourself of it.”
She embraced him tightly and rested her head against his chest. “Don’t you dare let them hurt me.”
“I promise, I won’t.”
Sloan knew it would be tight accommodations on the Lear with eight of them on board and he knew she didn’t like to fly. Her nervousness was already palpable as he parked in the hangar alongside the agency SUVs. Several of the men milled around the hangar near the aircraft. He grabbed her backpack and her hand and led her towards the plane.
Lambchop and Mother greeted her with a hug. Doc gave her a smile and then mounted the stairs. Jackson was nearby on his phone. Kennedy could hear him tell Angel they were about to go wheels up and that he had to go. She groaned when Gary motioned her up the stairs.
Once onboard, she saw Garcia and a man she didn’t know. They were seated at the front of the plane near the computer equipment.
“Hi Kaylee,” Garcia greeted. “Good thing classes got out early today, huh?”
She smiled. “Yes, very. I think I would have been pissed had Gary shown up at my school to get me, and my principal wouldn’t have liked it very much either.”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Garcia agreed. “Sienna was disappointed when I told her you’d be gone over the weekend. With me away, she was going to get a hold of you for a movie night tonight.”
“Awe, that’s so nice. I would have liked that. Next time, for sure.”
“Babe, this is our teammate, Rich, from Charlie Team,” Gary said, motioning to the man she had never seen. Upon the introduction, he stood. He was tall, at least six feet. He was a light skinned black man who looked like he had some Asian in him as well. He was very handsome with close shaven black hair, a clean-shaven face, and a solid build.
“It’s nice to meet you ma’am,” he said with a distinct southern accent.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Rich. Are you the unlucky one who got put on this mission last minute to cover for Gary since he has to bring me to Cleveland?”
“No, ma’am, that would be Doc, to cover as medic. We always have a medic along on all missions.”
“Yes, I guess that’s important,” Kennedy admitted. She hadn’t really thought of it before.
Gary motioned her to the seats at the back of the plane. She headed to where she had sat before.
Sloan noticed that Kennedy seemed more comfortable this time during takeoff. He still held her hand, because he wanted to, not because she needed him to. Doc and Jackson sat in the seats across from them.
“I’m sorry you had to go last minute, Alexander,” Kennedy said to Doc.
“It’s the job,” Doc replied. “Besides, I’d rather go and not be needed then not be there and be needed.”
Kennedy nodded uncomfortably. Alexander and Gary being needed would mean that someone was hurt. She glanced past Alexander and Jackson at the others. The thought that any of these men would be hurt, injured, possibly shot brought a chill to her. That was when she realized Brian wasn’t on the flight. “Where is Brian?” She asked Gary.
“He had a family issue to deal with. He’s flying to New Orleans.”
“I hope it all turns out okay for him,” Kennedy said quietly.
She assumed someone had to be pulled to fill in for him on this mission too. That could be Gary one day, supposed to be home, but put on a mission last minute to cover for a teammate with a family or personal issue. The last month had been nice and predictable. Gary was gone on average for five days each week, and home for two or three. She knew that at any time he could suddenly be called in, and she’d be disappointed. But it was comforting to know that they covered for each other for things like this.
When they deplaned in Cleveland, the SUV waited just within the hangar. It was fifteen degrees cooler in Cleveland than it had been in Chicago. It was late afternoon, on what turned out to be a crisp fall day.
Sloan placed the call to Kennedy’s parent’s ph
one number. Her father answered on the third ring. “Hello Mr. Bristow, this is Gary Sloan.”
The shock was apparent in Dale Bristow’s voice. “Gary, I’m surprised to hear from you. Allen said you’d come home after Kennedy was found, but you had to leave before the wake and funeral. We were quite disturbed you were not there.”
“Yes, I’m sorry I missed it, Mr. Bristow. I had to get back to work. I’m back in town now though, and I really need to come to see you and Mrs. Bristow. Would you have time to see me in about an hour?”
There was a pause on the line. Sloan heard faint murmurings. He was discussing it with his wife.
“I’m not sure what there is for us to say to each other that can’t be done on the phone. Her mother and I are still grieving and not really up for visitors.”
