“You do that and they’ll know something went right,” Del Rio said, snatching the paper away from Callum and quickly tearing it to pieces. “Besides you’re too damn good a man to quit like this.”
“I nearly got the Queen killed,” Callum snapped, his voice shaking with the emotions that churned inside.
“You did your job. The last time I checked, the Queen is alive and well,” Del Rio shot back. “Your team saved the Queen and rounded up a lot of people that needed to be off the streets.”
“Thanks to you.”
“I got lucky,” Del Rio replied. “I had a hunch and it played out. So you got lucky too. So deal with it and move on. We all learned something today. These guys may be bastards, but they can think and plan and counter-attack just like we can. They used their knowledge of you against you. So, next time factor that in and they won’t catch you off-guard. Right? I said, right???”
Callum fumed for a few moments, staring down at the floor. Then he looked up and met Del Rio’s gaze.
“You know, for a Yank,” Callum began, a slight smile starting to tug at his mouth, “you are an insufferable son-of-a-bitch.”
Callum put out his hand and Del Rio quickly grasped it.
“I am damn glad you’re over here,” Callum said as they shook hands. “So, now that I am done feeling sorry for myself, how are you doing with it?”
“With what?”
“Jack, I saw your jacket before you were shipped over here. You’ve never shot and killed a man in the line of duty before. Now you’ve shot six in one go. So I’ll repeat the question: how are you doing?”
Del Rio paused. The night of the shooting hadn’t been a good one. Knowing he had shot to defend himself and others hadn’t helped much. Sleep wouldn’t come and he couldn’t keep from seeing the faces of all six men, and what they’d looked like after he’d shot them.
He’d finally given up on sleep at two that morning and just stood in front of the window in the flat he had shared with Cassidy for nearly a year, looking out at the night. She had come over and wrapped her arms around him and held him, not saying anything, but saying everything by just being there. Their relationship had been unexpected, but he was certain he’d found the woman he wanted to share the rest of his life with.
“I’m getting by,” Del Rio admitted.
“That’s the best you can hope for,” Callum said quietly. He’d killed in the line of duty as well. “The day comes when it doesn’t bother you, is the day you walk away from this job. You remember that Jackie boy. Now then, before we starting bawling into each other’s beers, let’s get back to work.”
Before Del Rio could reply James rounded the corner in a rush.
“Boss,” he exclaimed. “We’ve been ordered to report to the Palace immediately. The entire team.”
Del Rio felt slightly underdressed for the occasion. He was a little awestruck as they were escorted into the Palace and into a room which could have easily held his parent’s entire house back home with room to spare. When the Queen herself strode into the room, Del Rio swore he could hear every spine snap straight to attention.
She walked directly to Callum and thanked him and his team for their work. Del Rio, unsure of the protocol, felt a momentary panic when the Queen turned and addressed him.
“Agent Del Rio,” she began, “we understand we have you to thank most of all for our avoiding tragedy.”
“I was fortunate to be in the right place, ma’am,” Del Rio said modestly. “I was just doing my job.”
“Nonsense young man,” she scolded. “We have received a full report and know full well what you did was above and beyond just doing your job. The question is, just how do we properly reward such service to the Crown?”
At this point a member of the Queen’s entourage stepped forward, a well-polished mahogany case in his hands that he held out toward the Queen. With a mischievous smile she turned, opened the lid of the box and drew something out of it.
“If you don’t mind bending a few rules,” she said as she reached up to pin an insignia just above the breast pocket of his jacket. “Jack Thomas Del Rio, in recognition of your service to the Crown, I hereby knight you as a Knight of The Royal Victorian Order. Stand and be recognized, Sir John.”
Stunned, Del Rio looked at the starburst medal with the white cross in the center. A red crown topped the cross and the word Victoria in gold lettering adorned a blue ring surrounding a crimson oval at the center of the cross. He was aware of the applause in the room and of a big problem that he had no idea how to solve. Fortunately, someone had anticipated that.
“Of course your laws forbid this from being official,” the Queen said, “so I am afraid this will have to be our little secret. However, as far as the Royal Family is concerned, we will always address you as Sir John, and if your FBI ever grows tired of you, you will always be welcome here.”
NINE
“Well, well,” Steve commented after Jack had finished telling the story as the two sat in the nearly empty club. “You can call me downright impressed, Sir John.”
“That’s not exactly supposed to be out in the public domain,” Jack said, shooting his sibling a withering look.
“Well I hate to break it to you little brother,” Steve retorted, “but I think the secret is definitely out on the other side of the Atlantic, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if quite a lot of pretty high brass on our side of the pond don’t know all about it, too. As long as you don’t go around calling yourself Sir John, then I doubt anyone is going to make an issue of it. So relax and enjoy it. You didn’t happen to bring your British hardware with you?”
“It’s securely stashed away in a safe deposit box at the bank, which is where it will stay for now,” Jack said.
“My loss,” Steve said. “Did I tell you I have a friend in NCIS? Says he would love to have you come work for him if the FBI ever wants to get rid of you.”
“I’m fine just where I am. Besides, I don’t think the Navy could handle two Del Rios on active duty at the same time.”
“Likely not,” Steve allowed, chuckling. “So, international hero and a rising star in his field, most people would be doing a perpetual happy dance on the table. Why isn’t my little brother?”
“I’m fine.”
“Fine isn’t happy, kid brother. Since your career couldn’t be in any better shape, I’ll safely assume we’re talking woman problems. The only question is current or past girlfriend?”
“Don’t you have your own love life to meddle with?”
“I’m a sailor Jack, I’ve got one in every port, but I can’t have my little brother shaming the family name can I? So…?”
“I met someone up in D.C. We’ve only gone out twice. It’s too early to say one way or the other.”
“So it’s a past love,” Steve said. “This Laura you mentioned working with in London? What did she do, dump a Knight?”
“It was a mutually agreed on parting,” Jack said quietly. “I was being brought back to the States, she has her career over there. Long distance relationships don’t work out well too often, especially in our line of work. We decided it was better to part sooner rather than later when it would be harder to do.”
“And you’re wondering if you made the right call?”
“Yes, no,” Jack replied, “hell I don’t know. For a short while there, I was ready to settle down and stay over there with her for the rest of my life, if that was what it took to make her happy.”
Jack paused, drifting back to his last night together with Laura. He’d received his orders recalling him to Quantico for reassignment in the States within twenty-four hours.
“I could request permanent assignment here instead,” Jack said as they lay next to each other after making love. “I think I’ve earned a big enough IOU to call in to stay over here. Maybe even resign from the Bureau and take up Callum on his weekly job offer …”
Laura reached over and gently placed two fingers on his lips. Startled into
silence, he turned his head and favored her with a raised eyebrow.
“You’ll do no such thing you bloody fool,” she said sternly. “You’re on the fast track to go very far in your career and I am not about to let you ruin that by getting sidetracked on my account.”
“Not even if I think you are more important to me than my career?”
She leaned toward him and kissed him.
“As much as any girl appreciates hearing that,” she said without drawing back, “can you honestly say there wouldn’t be a time you’d regret staying here and wonder what you had missed by not going back?”
It was in him to say yes, and it would be true, for a time at least. Then again, he was honest enough with himself to realize she was right in the long term, no matter how much he hated the admission. Laura had crossed her arms on Jack’s chest and rested her head on them as she watched him work it out in silence. She could read his thoughts through his expression as clearly as if he’d spoken them aloud instead. She knew the decision he’d reached just as soon as he did.
“I wouldn’t trade a minute of our time together for anything in the world, Jack,” she said softly. “Nothing lasts forever, you know that as well as I, but I’d rather we ended it happy, not sad and bitter.”
“I love you,” he replied, raising a hand to gently caress her cheek. “You know that?”
“I know luv. I love you, too. Always will.”
They’d made love again that night. In the morning he packed up his things, discovering he hadn’t acquired much more in material possessions during his years in London than he’d originally arrived with. They said their goodbyes at the flat, Laura not wanting to spend their last moments together in a crowded airport terminal.
Jack stopped by the London office for a quick farewell with Callum and the rest of the team. By the time the sun had begun to set on London, he was flying west on a plane for Dulles Airport.
****
“You know it’s not too late to change your mind,” Steve said, interrupting his brother’s sojourn into the recent past. “Especially if she means enough to you that you’re this uncertain all these months later. Letting the right one get away is just plain wrong, Jack.”
“You might be right,” Jack said thoughtfully, still caught between past and present. “Say, since when did you become the love expert anyway? I don’t see you married with kids.”
“Well now, Sir John,” Steve teased, enjoying the annoyed look his sibling shot him at every mention of his knighthood. “There just so happens to be a future Mrs. Captain Steve Del Rio, once I make Admiral of course, she just doesn’t know it yet. Her name is Tina and …”
Steve was interrupted by the ringing of Jack’s cell phone. Judging by the look he gave the phone, Steve knew this was a call Jack would have to take. Jack pulled the phone from a pocket.
“Del Rio. Yes, sir?”
“Rock, I’m sorry to do this to you,” Collins said from the other end of the call, “but I need to send you out west. We’ve caught a case that’s right up your alley. It’s a possible domestic terrorist on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and he’s threatening the tribal leadership. There have already been three murders out there. They’ve asked for help directly from us, even though normally the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the Phoenix office would handle this. I told them we’d send our best, and that’s you boy.”
Some of Jack’s annoyance faded as he realized Collins wouldn’t have interrupted this long-awaited trip lightly. If the normal protocol was being bypassed then it must be big.
“I can be back in D.C. and ready to go in about five hours,” he said, wanting to buy another hour or two more with his brother before heading back to D.C.
“You got your go-bag with you?”
“Of course,” Jack said. Every agent had a bag, packed with clothes and other necessities, in the trunk of the car just in case they had to get going immediately.
“Then stay put in Norfolk,” Collins instructed. “There’s a plane on the way for you from Arizona, should land at the base’s airstrip around one in the morning to fly you out there. There’ll be a briefing packet waiting for you on board. You need anything out there, you call me.”
“One last thing, Jack,” Collins added. “The Navajo President is an old friend of mine from college. Do whatever it takes to bring this guy in as soon as you can.”
“I’ll do my best, boss.”
“Good man. Good luck, Rock,” Collins said as he hung up.
Jack sighed as he ended the call on his end.
“Duty calls?” Steve asked.
“Yeah,” Jack said with a grimace. “I need to find a place to store the car until I get back, then it’s just waiting until the plane lands at one.”
“Leave the keys with me, I’ll park it next to mine in the garage,” Steve said as he waved the waiter over. “In the meantime we’ve got about seven hours left before you leave and I suggest we make the most of them. C’mon little brother, let’s see if we can still close down a bar in style and chase off those lost-woman blues.”
Jack levered himself out of the chair to follow his brother outside to whatever destination Steve had in mind. Even for a Navy man, Steve was notorious for his creativity in such situations. Although Jack was very much looking forward to a few more hours of catching up, in the back of his mind, even with a limited amount of information to work with, he was already starting to gather the pieces together for this latest puzzle he’d been tasked to solve.
TEN
Chee leaned against her NNPD patrol car parked at one end of the runway at Gallup Municipal Airport, the blue lights flashing to mark the car’s location, as she waited for the arrival of the FBI agent from Washington. Pools of water had gathered on the tarmac from the previous night’s rain — which had officially marked the start of the summer monsoon season in the region — reflecting the lights in the grayish dawn skies above.
A maintenance worker cruised past in an open cart doing very little to cover the long once-over he gave her. Chee was aware that men found her attractive. Her mother had been a former Miss Navajo in her time and had passed her beauty along to her only child. Always a little taller and thinner than other girls her age — an asset when it came to playing several sports in school — her smooth mocha skin and long dark hair gave her a somewhat exotic look and drew plenty of notice during her college years.
She had learned early on how to discourage any unwanted attention. A polite brushoff, or a more sternly worded “no” when needed, and on those occasions when she found the attention acceptable … well, she knew how to deal with them too.
The look she favored on her latest admirer clearly communicated her disapproval and with a guilty start the man turned his head away and quickly scooted off towards one the hangers without another backward glance. Her mood this morning had no doubt lent some weight to her reaction to the man.
Like all of her colleagues in the NNPD, as any cop on any force would be, she resented the fact that the FBI had been called in on this case even if it was a federal requirement in murder cases on any reservation. That it had been their President himself who had made the call so quickly, before they’d had a chance to try to solve the murders on their own, did little to take the sting out of it, but it was his right to make that call and it was her duty, along with the other officers, to support it as best they could. It didn’t mean she had to like it. Nor was she overly pleased to have drawn the assignment to play chauffer to the FBI intruder while he was here. That request also had come straight from Yazzie himself.
“I’ve known Baker for years,” Yazzie explained after giving her the assignment. “If he says this is his best man to help us out, then I believe him. We need someone from the outside on this. It’s the only chance we have.”
She had seen the quiet desperation on his face, heard it too in his tired voice, and relented despite her misgivings. Her only other dealings with the FBI had been when her parents had been murdered many years ago. An FBI
agent had arrived a few days later and investigated the crime, but he was just a week or so from his retirement and Chee always felt he hadn’t given the case his full attention or effort, and blamed him for the murders remaining unsolved after all these years.
She could only hope this agent was as good as Yazzie’s friend was advertising. So she’d made the early morning drive in from the reservation to the airport. In the back of her mind she wondered what kind of an omen last night’s massive storm was.
Be it good or bad, here she was waiting on the tarmac next to the airport’s only runway, all of seventy-three hundred feet in length. The terminal, such as it was, was more remarkable for the retired U.S. Air Force jet mounted on display outside than the small building itself. The airport was located as far west of the city as it could be and still be considered part of it. There had been several attempts over the years to establish passenger service from the airport, but each attempt had failed to take hold.
She had decided to wait for her charge outside; enjoying the early morning peace and quiet. The payoff was watching as the sun started to peak above Pyramid Rock; a formation of red rock located a dozen miles away that looked like it would fit in with the pyramids in Egypt and served to mark the eastern boundary of Gallup. Just as the orb cleared the top of the formation she heard the sound of an approaching jet aircraft.
The white aircraft, with blue and gold pin striping running down the fuselage and tailfin, reminded Chee of a giant bird swooping down on its prey as it landed and rolled out to the end of the runway. The pilot turned the plane around and rolled along the taxiway, coming to a stop a few yards away from Chee’s car. The door opened almost before the plane had fully stopped and Chee got her first look at Special Agent Jack Del Rio as he quickly stepped down the ramp and onto the ground.
He looked like he had just stepped off the FBI’s recruiting poster. Dressed in black suit and tie, he didn’t look the least bit rumpled as you would expect someone who’d just spent several hours overnight aboard a small jet. He stood at the end of the ramp and slowly scanned the area. Chee, as tall as she was, still came up a couple of inches shorter than Del Rio. He looked to be about her age, and she had to admit he was a very good-looking man.
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