Finding North

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  They worked quickly and efficiently, but the fire was too much for their efforts. Alex and Raz built row after row of fire lines as the dry wind easily whipped the hot fire past their defenses. A half-hour later, Zack and the Kid arrived with a Chinook with a large water basket attached and Sergeant Dusty inside. They dumped the water onto the fire and circled to a nearby pond for more water.

  The tide began to turn. The firemen and teams of farmers, combined with the Fey Team’s efforts, began to put the fire out. One more load of water, and the fire had lost. Filthy and reeking of smoke, the Fey Team loaded into the Chinook. They were in the Chinook with Dex before anyone was able to ask them who they were or why they were there. They left the volunteer fire crews and farmers to any remaining flare-ups and all of the acclaim.

  “Where to?” Zack asked.

  “New York Presbyterian,” Colin said. “They’re expecting us.”

  “Even I can’t land a Chinook in the middle of lower Manhattan, Hargreaves,” Zack said.

  “New York Heliport,” Joseph said. “I’ve spoken with them. They’ll have an ambulance and a police escort waiting for us.”

  “Much more reasonable,” Zack said.

  “He seems unusually grumpy,” Leena said.

  “I heard that,” Zack said.

  Shaking her head, Alex walked up to the cockpit.

  “What’s going on?” Alex asked.

  The Kid turned to look at her from the co-pilot’s chair. He shook his head.

  “What do you mean ‘What’s going on?’” Zack snarled at her.

  “Uh . . .” Alex said. “Me, Alex. You, Zack. We, friends.”

  She heard Troy shush the team. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that they were listening in.

  “Friends,” Zack snorted. “What’s that mean?”

  “Uh . . .” Alex said. “We met in Catholic school when I was ten. My brother Colin rearranged your face when I was sixteen, and then your parents made you look like a movie star when I was seventeen until I broke your nose when I was twenty-two. In between all of that, you ate dinner and spent almost every weekend at my house almost all of junior high and high school, even after the tragic incident between Colin’s fists and your face.”

  “That’s right!” Zack said. “You broke my nose. Now get the fuck off my deck.”

  Alex raised her eyebrows but didn’t move. The flight engineer leaned out of his compartment to watch what was going on. She thought for a moment. What could possibly make Zack this angry?

  “How’s Tina?” Alex asked about Zack’s drug-addicted ex-wife.

  “You know what? Fuck Tina,” Zack said. “Fuck you, too!”

  Alex pointed and nodded to Cliff. He turned off Zack’s microphone to command.

  “Teddy was at his friend Nash’s house for the summer when we left Denver,” Alex said. “Brit and Sam are . . .”

  Zack didn’t respond.

  “Zack, where are Brit and Sam?” Alex asked.

  “How the fuck should I know?” Zack asked. “It’s not like they’re my . . .”

  Zack didn’t finish the sentence. Alex put her hands on his shoulders in a kind of hug.

  “Can you?” Alex asked.

  “Only for a few minutes,” Cliff said.

  “Come on, Zack,” Alex said. “Let’s go make out in the gunner’s compartment.”

  She reached down and unhooked his seat belt. She tugged on his shoulders. He stayed in his seat for a moment before getting up. He took off his helmet and followed her to the gunner’s compartment. She hugged him.

  “What happened?” Alex asked.

  “I’m coming off shift to come fly for you and I get handed some papers. DNA says Brit . . .” Zack’s voice cracked. “And . . . and . . . Sam aren’t . . . And I . . .”

  Alex hugged him.

  “Doesn’t matter that I’m the only Dad they’ve ever known,” Zack said. “All the nights and days and phone calls and . . . I’m just the military dad. They calculated the number of hours I’ve physically spent with them and . . . It’s . . . shit. It’s my whole life, and to them it’s . . . it’s . . . nothing.”

  “Tina’s just trying to get back at you,” Alex said.

  “She’s succeeded,” Zack said. “Tina and her herd of lawyers went to Mom’s house to force a visit. But Mom didn’t . . . wouldn’t . . . ‘When my lawyers tell me that you get to spend even one hour with these children, then we’ll see,’ Mom told Tina that. Threw her out. Step-dad followed them off the property, but Britty is hysterical, and Sammy . . . my baby boy . . . Tina’s going to take them . . .”

  Alex hugged him while he wept into her shoulder.

  “You have only one minute.” The flight engineer stuck his head in the compartment.

  “Listen,” Alex said. “Tina lost custody of the children. Period. Parental rights terminated. Period. Do we know who their fathers are?”

  Zack shook his head.

  “Tina doesn’t know?” Alex asked.

  Zack nodded.

  “Okay, then,” Alex said. “I’ll call my sister . . .”

  “Samantha?” Zack swallowed hard.

  “The lawyer, yes,” Alex said. “This situation is a little outside of her wheel house, but you know, she’d do absolutely nothing for you.”

  Zack snorted a laugh.

  “You are not alone,” Alex said. “You might fly alone in that U-2 in the sky, but here on earth, you have a team. And you have me. What more could you want?”

  Alex wiped his face with her hands.

  “Did you tell Bestat?” Alex asked.

  “No,” Zack shook his head. “She’d likely eat Tina whole.”

  Alex laughed.

  “I love Brit and Sammy as much as Bestat or our girl, Neuth,” Zack said. “Doesn’t that count for anything?”

  “We’ll make it count,” Alex said.

  Zack gave her a fierce hug and walked out of the gunner’s compartment. Alex waited a moment and followed him to the cockpit. She waited for Zack to strap in, connect to command, and take control of the Chinook before clearing her throat.

  “What do you want?” Zack asked.

  “Is Bestat in New York?” Alex asked.

  “She’s in Alexandria,” Zack said. “Why?”

  “I need to ask her something,” Alex said.

  “That’s weird,” Zack said. “She said that, if you asked about her, to tell you she would welcome your company in Alexandria.”

  “Wanna take a trip?” Alex asked.

  “I need to clock R and R, or I’m over my limit,” Zack said. “But let me know when you go.”

  Alex nodded and walked back into the passenger compartment. The Fey Team applauded.

  “What’s that for?” Alex asked.

  “You’re a Jakker-tamer,” Matthew said.

  Alex laughed and settled into a jump seat next to Raz. He was talking to Colin about Dex’s prognosis, so she leaned back to rest. After a few moments, he put his arm around her. She leaned into him.

  “Colin says he thinks Dex is going to be all right,” Raz said. “It’s touch and go, but . . .”

  “Good thing he found the pellet,” Alex said.

  “Yes,” Raz said.

  “We’ll get him to New York Pres.,” Alex said. “Would you like to stay with him?”

  “And leave you?” Raz asked. “Let you go to Paris by yourself?”

  “I won’t be by myself,” Alex said. “The team is going.”

  Raz shook his head. She closed her eyes.

  “Are you going to tell me?” Raz asked in Alex’s ear. “How’d you know where to find Dex?”

  She grinned but didn’t look at him.

  “What if I beg?” Raz said in a husky voice filled with longing.

  Alex burst out laughing. She looked at him, and he grinned.

  “All of the people who were kidnapped by Romulus were killed or left for dead — we don’t know which — within a hundred miles of where they were captured,” Alex said. “The first wa
s at thirty, second at fifty, third at forty, and so on. Even numbers on the tens. There was one found at eighty-two miles. We figured it was a mistake. But . . .”

  Alex shrugged.

  “It was always within a radius of a hundred miles from kidnap location,” Alex said. “No more, no less. But Interpol announced to the press that the bodies were found in a radius of three hundred miles, usually near the three-hundred-mile mark.”

  “Why would they do that?” Raz asked.

  “No one knows,” Alex said. “At the time, we thought they were trying to be smart. After all this time, it seems kind of . . . bizarre. If you go to the Wikipedia page, it says . . .”

  “Three hundred miles,” Raz said. “I read that while we were waiting.”

  “Ellenburg is within the three-hundred-mile radius and within a reasonable margin of error,” Alex shrugged.

  Raz fell silent while he thought through what she had said.

  “Very funny,” Raz knocked her shoulder with his. “Three hundred miles is a huge radius. There is no way you could have picked Ellenburg out of your hat.”

  Alex laughed. Raz smiled.

  “So . . .” Raz said.

  “Missile silo,” Alex said. “I did some fast research on the decommissioned missile silos when we were looking for Larry. After finding him and . . .” Alex cleared her throat. “Everything. The team worked on a list of missile locations that could potentially be used for less-savory purposes. A couple of silos in the Plattsburg AFB field came up.”

  “I guess I remember that,” Raz shrugged.

  “These Atlas F silos were sold almost immediately,” Alex said. “Most of them were sold within a week of being decommissioned in 1965. Dex’s father bought one. After the divorce, Dex’s mother built a house on the property. Dex grew up there.”

  “He never mentioned growing up next to a missile silo.”

  “He might not have known it was there,” Alex said. “At the time, most people in Ellenburg knew there were missiles just a block from town. But they weren’t there long — a little less than a year — and we’re talking 1965.”

  “It was a long time ago,” Raz said.

  “Exactly,” Alex said. “Dex’s mother moved there in the 1970s. The missiles were long gone and the silos decommissioned. Plus, from what you’ve said, Dex didn’t find out about all of this stuff until his father died, as his father found out when his grandfather died, and on and on.”

  Alex shrugged.

  “How did you know?”

  “It’s in his detailed background,” Alex said.

  “It is?” Raz asked. “I didn’t put it there.”

  “You didn’t create his background,” Alex said. “I think Leena and Vince did. I gave it to them after Dex’s name came up in connection to an old silo. This silo is a connection to us through you. When I saw the picture, I knew right away that it had to be the site in Ellenburg.”

  “The picture on Dex’s murder-investigation board?” Raz asked.

  Alex nodded.

  “I didn’t remember Romulus and the mileage thing until we were in the alley,” Alex said. “I checked on my phone. Then it was just a gut check — was Dex here? I thought he probably was. We knew I was right after you reviewed the satellite intel.”

  Raz nodded.

  “We’re a good team,” Alex smiled. “With a little luck, Dex will survive the ricin. That’s not a bad day’s work.”

  Raz grinned.

  “Are we all going to Paris?” Raz asked.

  “Paris, tomorrow. We probably need to get to China to see if there’s anything about Linear A in the Mogao caves, and Bestat wants to meet us in Egypt,” Alex said. “But we have children to raise. People to talk to. Things like that. Tomorrow, we go to Paris.”

  “Why Paris?” Raz asked.

  “I need to talk to Ben,” Alex said.

  “And the team?” Raz asked.

  “We need to look at that bookstore,” Alex said. “French Intelligence requested we make our presence known. Make it clear — the Americans are involved. They think it will shake something loose.”

  “And the Zeno estate?” Raz asked.

  “We need to meet Josh Peretz at Zeno estate early tomorrow morning,” Alex grinned. “We’re on a plane at 0600 hours.”

  “What?” Raz asked.

  “You’ll see,” Alex said.

  F

  Chapter Nineteen

  Wednesday, early morning

  May 18 — 3:06 a.m. EDT (1:06 a.m. MDT)

  The Warehouse apartments, New York, New York

  “Alex!”

  Troy’s loud whisper woke her from a sound sleep. She opened her eyes.

  “Alex!” Troy repeated.

  She was wrapped in blankets and sleeping on the couch in the CIA apartments. She sat up. Raz was sleeping in the recliner next to her. When they’d returned to the apartments, Colin’s friend and doorman “Tom” moved them to the largest apartment — a four-bedroom, four-bathroom, two offices, and a large living space. They had drawn straws for rooms. Alex and Raz had drawn the couches. Troy and Matthew had drawn one of the offices.

  “Alex!”

  She looked in the direction of Troy’s voice. He indicated for her to come with him. She scowled and shook her head. She wasn’t up for hanging out with Troy in the middle of the night.

  “It’s Helen,” Troy said.

  He held up his phone. When Alex stood up, Raz opened his eyes. She walked by, and he grabbed her hand.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said.

  He looked at Troy and then back at her.

  “It’s Helen,” she said.

  He stood up from the recliner. Troy gestured for them to come with him. They stepped around people sleeping on the floor until they got to the kitchen.

  “What’s going on?” Alex asked.

  “Helen called through her computer,” Troy said to Alex. “She’s very upset. Stefan got her to video-call me, but I think she really wants to talk to you and, oddly, you, too, Rasmussen. She won’t tell me what’s going on. She just kept asking for you.”

  Raz nodded.

  “Helen?” Troy asked. “I’m here with Alex and Raz. Can you see us?”

  Helen’s image came up on Troy’s phone. She nodded.

  “What happened?” Troy asked.

  “I decided to . . .” Helen leaned close to the webcam. “Stay the night with Stefan. First time, you know.”

  Helen nodded.

  “Okay,” Troy said.

  “He made the perfect dinner,” Helen smiled. “We had wine and . . . He’s so beautiful and . . .”

  Helen’s eyes filled with tears.

  “Afterwards, he said we should have some cake to celebrate,” Helen said. “I made a cake like Raz showed me.”

  “How did it turn out?” Raz asked.

  “Really good.” Helen smiled with pride, and then her face clouded. “He was in the kitchen, making coffee and cake and . . . The dishwasher was going, so he couldn’t hear me . . .”

  “What happened?” Troy repeated. Alex slugged him for being impatient. He said, “I’m worried.”

  “I noticed his house didn’t have any photos,” Helen said. “He said ‘Make yourself at home’ so . . . I looked around. I found a photo album tucked way under a bunch of books and papers . . . It was kind of hidden.”

  Helen nodded.

  “I was snooping,” Helen said.

  She turned to her right. Stefan’s hand came around her shoulder, and he kissed her forehead.

  “Tell them,” Stefan said in his deep African accent.

  “I found all these pictures of me.” Tears ran down Helen’s face. “And Stefan. All over the world. Places I’ve only ever dreamed of going . . . and . . .”

  Helen started to cry. Stefan came into the frame.

  “I’m sorry,” Stefan said. “I promised to destroy the photos, but I just could not do it. They are precious to me, and . . . I didn’t think she’d find them.”

  �
��It’s okay,” Troy said. “She needs to know.”

  “I need to know,” Helen’s voice came from the side. She came back into view. “He tried to tell me but . . . I . . . um . . . Alex?”

  “Helen, you and Stefan have been friends for a long time,” Alex said. “Secret friends. You met on a physics panel a little more than ten years ago.”

  Helen’s head went up and down.

  “Now that you say it, I remember meeting Stefan,” Helen said. “He’s . . . smart and nice and . . . fit, you know . . . sexy and . . . wow.”

  “La, la, la, la, la,” Troy put his fingers in his ears, and Helen smiled.

  “You and Stefan were friends for a few years before you both fell for each other,” Alex said. “You hid your relationship by meeting at physics conventions all over the world. He’d come to the States as a visiting scholar for a few months; you’d go to Europe or Africa as a visiting scholar for months at a time. It worked. You got engaged, and he took an appointment at Stanford. You were going to live in San Francisco. You’d received an offer from Berkeley but were holding out for Lawrence Berkeley Labs.”

  “Did I know you then?” Helen asked.

  “Not like we know each other now,” Raz said.

  Helen nodded.

  “After you were hospitalized, there wasn’t anything Stefan could do,” Alex said. “When you moved to Colorado, he took a job at the Air Force Academy in the hopes that somehow, some way, he would reconnect with you.”

  “Did he set up the tutoring?” Helen asked.

  “Tutoring, and meeting him again, and all of that — that was a happy accident,” Raz said.

  “God’s will,” Stefan said. “God himself knows we belong to each other.”

  “Herself,” Helen corrected, and Stefan laughed.

  “My Helen,” Stefan said.

  He kissed her lips, and she smiled. She looked back at the webcam.