In the Grey

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “Do you know where he is welcome?” Alex asked.

  “If I knew, I would easily solve our mutual problem,” the head of the MSS said. “Would that bother you?”

  “No,” Alex said. “A problem solved is a problem solved. There are always plenty of problems.”

  “How do you detect these drones?” the technology agent near them asked.

  “We discovered a few Belgian Malinois can detect them,” Alex said. “We believe that it’s unique to the breed. However, not every Belgian Malinois has the capability.”

  “You will loan us a dog?” the head of the MSS said.

  “We will arrange for a dog and his handler, someone you can trust, to help you clear out your offices as we have cleared ours,” Alex said. “We will also provide you with the information and the instruction to train your own dogs. At this point, as you can imagine, our program is in its infancy.”

  “I will contact your secretary of state and start the official procedures,” said the head of the MSS.

  “Thank you,” Alex said. “Where is Steve Pershing?”

  “At this moment, he is in a work camp in the Hamgyong Mountains,” the head of the MSS said.

  “North Korea,” Max said.

  “We have it on good authority that he will be moved to Chang Bai Shan within the week,” the head of the MSS said.

  Chang Bai Shan, or White Eternity Mountain, is an inactive volcano which towers nine-thousand feet above Northeast China. The crater lake on top of the mountain, critical to the mythology of both China and North Korea, sits in both North Korea and China. Heavy snow makes it almost inaccessible from late October to early May.

  “China?” Alex asked.

  The head of the MSS shook his head.

  “We were given this information by the North Korean government,” the head of the MSS said. “We were told to tell you that the government of North Korea had nothing to do with his capture and imprisonment.”

  “Then who?” Alex asked.

  “They hired contractors to assist them in extracting minerals from their mountains,” the man with the broken nose said. “They have oversight on the contractors, but not full control. It is their understanding that these contractors took an additional contract to hold Mr. Pershing. The North Koreans indicate that they are willing assist you in regaining Mr. Pershing, however they are on a tight time schedule. They will strike in the next day or so.”

  “That’s oddly cooperative of them,” Alex said.

  “These are unusual times,” the head of the MSS said.

  “We have found the engineer who created the nanodrones,” Alex said. The technology agents perked up. “He developed the drone as a kind of . . . prototype. He wasn’t aware they were in production. He is currently looking into their capacities. We can make him available.”

  “In exchange for what?” the head of the MSS asked.

  “Access to the contractor who is holding Mr. Pershing,” Alex said. “Any documentation – photographs, emails, phone – related to the capture of Mr. Pershing.”

  “Done,” the head of the MSS said.

  “If there isn’t anything else,” Max smiled. “We’ve come a long way and could use some rest.”

  The head of the MSS stood from his seat and the rest of the Chinese agents followed. After a series of complicated half-bows and handshakes, they were back in the elevator with the man with the broken nose and the two young agents who had escorted them in the building. They met the soldiers, who escorted them to their vehicle.

  Alex turned to say good-bye to the man with the broken nose. He nodded to her and stepped into the limousine after Max. Raz glanced at Alex, and she shrugged. She got in the limousine, and Raz followed. Assuming they were being monitored, they said nothing. At the entrance to the resort on the North Hot Spring Park, the man got out with them.

  “You should find your accommodations secure and comfortable,” the man said. “There is an official dinner tonight to celebrate our mutual health. I will return around nine to bring you. I will also return tomorrow morning for early breakfast and bring you to your meeting with Mr. Joiner. We can arrange our trip after your appointment tomorrow.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Alex said.

  She prepared to bow but he held out his hand. She took his hand, and he kissed the top of her hand near the knuckles.

  “Tomorrow,” he said, and got into the limousine.

  They were escorted into the resort and up to their rooms. As fitting with their status and covers, they were given two adjoining rooms – a suite for Alex and Raz to share, and a luxurious executive room for Max. They were alone in their rooms before Max dared to ask, “Was that what I think it was?”

  “He loves me,” Alex smiled and held up a small piece of paper.

  “I can see you as his ernai,” Max grinned. Ernai was the term for a “little second wife”, a modern concubine.

  “I’m over thirty,” Alex said.

  “His ex-ernai?” Max laughed.

  Raz put his hands on his hips and turned away to keep from laughing. Alex waited to read the note until she was on their balcony overlooking the Jialang River. Max and Raz joined her there.

  “He wants asylum for his mother,” Alex said. “You know, he has dual citizenship.”

  “He does?” Raz asked.

  “He’s Steve Pershing’s son,” Max said.

  “Officially, Steve Pershing is a childless, professional black ops director.”

  “Like the Mister,” Alex said. “They have three kids?”

  “Four,” Max said.

  “How do you know he’s Steve’s son?”

  “Steve told us when we were kids,” Alex said.

  “Not told us, told us – you know, in words,” Max said. “Steve was always clear that he was his son.”

  “Does he have a name?” Raz asked.

  “The Chinese man who’s nose was broken by Alex?” Max asked.

  “That’s what I mean,” Raz said. “It’s too complicated for a sentence.”

  Max smiled.

  “His US passport says ‘Ji Song.’” Alex said. “His official name in China is Song Ji.”

  “Family name is Song?” Raz asked.

  “His mother’s name is Song Fong,” Alex nodded.

  “He’s a member of the Chinese Central Committee,” Raz said. “How did he get a US passport?”

  “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” Max smiled.

  Raz furrowed his brow and glanced at Alex. Lost in thought, she leaned against the balcony railing to watch the river. He touched her lower back, and she glanced at him.

  “They took Steve and Trece,” Alex said. “Now we’re talking to Steve’s son who just happens to have had the Fey Special Forces Team long-lost object. That’s after we spent an hour talking about our top secret nanodrones.”

  Raz’s eyes reflected his concern for her. She smiled.

  “It’s like a flakey Parisian croissant,” Alex said. “Layers and layers . . .”

  “You think there’s a gooey chocolate center?” Raz asked.

  “Crap,” Max said.

  Alex nodded.

  “Crap croissant,” Raz said. “Sounds delicious.”

  “Margaret is the only one on the team who speaks fluent Korean,” Alex said. “The others can get up to speed on the trip, but . . .”

  “Do we know the nationality of the contractors?” Raz asked.

  Alex shook her head. There was a knock at the door.

  “That’s mine,” Max said.

  “Expecting anyone?” Alex asked.

  Shaking his head, Max went to the door. They heard him speak to someone at the door.

  “There’s a car here to take me to the US Consulate in Chengdu,” Max said. “Seems like our little conversation wasn’t as private as we might have liked.”

  Alex leaned forward to press her forehead against Max’s forehead.

  “I should be back for dinner,” Max smiled.

  He raised a han
d in good-bye to Raz and left the suite.

  “Work?” Raz asked.

  “I need time to think,” Alex said. “Do you mind if we . . . ? I don’t want Sami to get mad or . . .”

  “She knows that we cuddle,” Raz said.

  He loosened his tie, took off his shoes, and hopped on the bed.

  “Come on,” he said. “You do your best thinking right here.”

  Alex smiled. She slipped off her shoes and lay down next to him. He put his arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder. A few moments later, she realized that he was asleep.

  Thoughts flew around her brain like nanodrones. Every time she swatted one worrisome thought away, another thought sprung up out of nowhere. She was about to get up when the alarm on Raz’s watch went off. He kissed the top of her head and went to shower for dinner. She waited until she heard him step into the shower before placing a call to a Paris answering machine.

  “Papa? I’m wondering if I can come home to Paris after I leave China,” she said in French. “Would you check with Mama? She said she might be traveling this month. I don’t want to miss her. And you, of course. Love you, and love to Mama.”

  Nodding to herself, she got up to get ready for the formal state dinner.

  FFFFFF

  Monday morning

  November 8 – 7:37 a.m. MST (10:37 p.m. China Standard Time)

  Buckley Air Force Base, Aurora, Colorado

  “Yes, that’s correct,” Ben said into his cell phone as he walked down the hallway. “Yes. Give me thirty minutes.”

  He stopped short at the entrance to the main Fey Team room.

  “Yes, that’s correct,” he said and hung up the phone.

  Hearing his voice, the remaining Fey Team members looked up from their work.

  “Sir?” Joseph asked.

  “I determined what you’re supposed to miss,” Ben smiled. “Well, actually Alex figured it out, but she left me this cryptic message and . . .”

  He looked at their stunned faces and realized that he’d never spoken to most of them. Colin stood up from the table in the middle of the room. He glanced at Joseph and Joseph nodded.

  “We’re getting ready to go to retrieve Steve Pershing,” Colin said. “Is there something I might assist you with?”

  “They are going to kidnap the secretary of state from an awards ceremony in Pakistan,” Ben said.

  “Sir?” Sergeant Dusty said. His tone indicated that he thought Ben had lost his mind.

  “Listen,” Ben said. “They tried to derail Captain Peaches, right?”

  “I speak Korean,” Margaret said.

  “So does Chief Tubman,” Ben said.

  “You do?” Margaret and Joseph said at the same time. Royce shrugged.

  “Sure,” Royce said. “My best friend growing up was Korean.”

  “You learned a dialect of Pashto last year,” Ben said. “When you were . . .”

  “Oh my God,” Joseph said. “The secretary of state is attending an awards ceremony tomorrow night in Peshawar. She’ll be reviewing that region all day. Do you have confirmation, sir?”

  “Enough,” Ben said.

  “I speak passable Pashto. That dialect, the one you’re talking about, I speak that too,” White Boy said. “I don’t know as many words as Trece but I’ve talked to more people than he has.”

  “Anyone know that?” Joseph asked.

  “Steve,” White Boy shrugged.

  Matthew laughed out loud.

  “That’s right; Steve’s missing,” Ben said. “So, what do Trece and Alex have in common?”

  He looked out across the Fey Team. For the first time in the last couple of days, they were smiling.

  “A lot,” Matthew said.

  “One thing is that they know people in that region of the world,” Ben said. “They have a lot of friends there.”

  “Trece hasn’t been anywhere without me in . . . ten years, maybe more,” White Boy said. “I know everyone he knows, sometimes more, because he’s usually . . . you know, doing something.”

  White Boy shrugged as if “doing something” meant everything from having sex to killing someone.

  “I know everyone in that village,” Joseph said.

  “You’re supposed to be drugged or crazed by the mind control,” Matthew said.

  “What about me?” Leena asked.

  “Isn’t the secretary of state’s assistant one of your best friends?” Sergeant Dusty asked.

  “We shared an apartment for a while when I first moved to Washington,” Leena nodded.

  “Time to give her a call,” Ben said.

  “Sir?” Royce asked.

  When Ben’s eyes turned to him, he panicked. Matthew walked over to him. Royce cleared his throat.

  “I queried my contact at the secretary of state’s office,” Royce cleared his throat again. “When you came in, sir.”

  “And?” Ben asked.

  “Her usual security detail is sitting this trip out,” Royce said. “They all got sick at the same time. Norovirus. Highly contagious. A couple of them were hospitalized. She’s traveling with a new set of agents. A few of them no one’s met before. Her team was uncomfortable with it, but she wouldn’t hear of missing a trip.”

  “This is going down,” Ben nodded.

  “You said something about Alex,” Troy said.

  “Alex left a message on an old answering machine,” Ben said. “We used it before cell phones and the like. I didn’t realize it was still active. My brother received the message and checked out what she said. He has come to the same conclusion. I just had to fill in the blanks.”

  “Sir, we need to help the Fey rescue Mr. Pershing,” Matthew said.

  “And rescue the secretary of state,” Ben nodded. “Where’s the Jakker?”

  “Here, sir,” Zack raised his hand from a corner of the room. “We’re working out flight plans.”

  “Can you fly in both regions?” Ben asked.

  “I can only be in one place at a time, sir,” Zack said. “That’s a law of physics.”

  “Which one needs your skill?” Ben asked.

  “Pakistan,” Zack said. “But the Jakker always flies the Fey.”

  “Exactly,” Ben said.

  “If the Jakker always flies the Fey, then I’d be in China,” Zack chuckled.

  “And the Fey Team would never get to the secretary of state in time,” Ben said.

  “Guess you’re getting a turn at the wheel,” Zack clapped Cliff’s back. Cliff smiled.

  “You’ll hear from Alex when dinner’s over,” Ben said. “She’s going to want confirmation that she was correct. Joseph? Matthew? Let’s get with the General. When Alex calls, we’ll have everything ready for her approval.”

  “Yes, sir,” the team called.

  Ben smiled.

  “Sir?” Vince asked.

  “You are better than I’d ever hoped for,” Ben said. “Now get to work. We’ll need to be ready to board when she calls.”

  “You heard the man,” Joseph said. “Get ready.”

  The team hopped into action.

  “Joseph, Matthew,” Ben said. Their intelligent faces turned to look at him. “Please.”

  Smiling to himself, he walked out the door.

  F

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Tuesday morning

  November 9 – 6:56 a.m. China Standard Time

  (November 8 – 3:56 p.m. MST)

  Yuzhou Prison, Changqing, China

  Alex nodded to Ji and followed Raz into a small, cement-lined room. The cold, sterile room had no furniture. A slight maroon stain surrounded the drain in the middle of floor. Just under the heavy disinfectant odor lay the smell of death, a lot of death. She gave an involuntary shiver and Raz shifted closer to her. She pressed her shoulder into him and looked up. He smiled.

  Last night, they had gone through the ritual of gourmet dinner and dancing until Anna Chen, Max’s date from the US Consulate, said she needed to get home. They raced in her limous
ine to the US Consulate in Chengdu where they worked until almost dawn, getting ready for the two actions.

  One Fey Team would head to Pakistan, while the other half was coming to China. Alex agreed with the assessment to shake things up, and gratefully, no one argued. They’d spent the last two years preparing for the eventuality that they would have to work more as individuals and less as a team. This would be their first test.

  The trick would be a surprise. Joseph and Matthew had done their best to shake up the teams. Alex took it one step further. She hoped she was right. Their best chance was to snag the secretary of state before she was in the captors’ custody. It was a big risk. If they failed, the consequences would be too dire to imagine. Alex closed her eyes and said a silent prayer that they would be able to pull this off. She glanced at Raz and saw the same concern on his weary face. He gave her a soft smile and their eyes held.

  They heard the door rattle and turned to look. Two armed Chinese guards brought Cee Cee Joiner into the room. She’d expected him to look broken, defeated, or maybe a little thinner. Instead, he looked exactly how he’d always looked – an angry towering figure of a man who was used to an easy life.

  “You sure took your own sweet time,” he said.

  Even handcuffed and shackled, he continued to act as if she was a lazy servant who was late picking him up. Surprised, his Chinese guards looked at him and then at Alex. She shrugged. They hooked his chain through a loop in the floor.

  “Thank you,” Alex said in Mandarin. “We can take it from here.”

  One of the guards left the room.

  “We will be watching,” the remaining guard said in Mandarin. “If you need assistance, you can ring us here.”

  He pressed a red button near the door. An alarm echoed through the prison. He used a key to turn off the alarm.

  “You have one hour,” the guard said. “We’ll flicker the lights when you have ten minutes.”

  “Xiè Xie,” Alex thanked him again.

  He gave her a slight nod and left the room.

  “Well, let’s get it over with,” Cee Cee said in his thick Texas drawl. “You can take these offa me. I’m ready to go home.”

  “I’m sorry, Cee Cee,” Alex said. “You’ve reached the end of the line. No amount of diplomacy is going to save you this time.”