by J. M. LeDuc
In a consoling voice, Maddie told him she had heard from the president that morning. He hadn’t had any luck either.
“That makes no sense, Maddie. Hell, he’s the freaking leader of the free world, and he doesn’t know where one of his own helicopters came from or went to?”
“He said he was out of the loop. When the SIA originated, a triage and emergency care unit were set up, complete with surgical suites. He and everyone but the director of the SIA were purposely left out of the loop for their own protection.
“Supposedly, the president and the Congress know nothing about SIA, so if they were ever questioned under duress by our enemies, they would not be able to release any information.
“Lucille said the same thing had happened when Joseph was taken away. She never heard another word. She just knew that there was no way he wouldn’t have contacted her if he was alive. With Joseph’s mysterious death, no one, including me, knows of the whereabouts of this M.A.S.H. unit.”
“The people who work there, at the medical facility, and the guys on the copter, they must get paid.” Seven said. “Why can’t the president track them that way?”
“I asked him that exact question. He told me that the money to finance the operation is electronically transferred to a Swiss bank account. There’s no way to obtain any other information.”
Seven looked down, slowly shaking his head from side to side. “I’m missing something. I know there is something that I’m just not seeing.”
“Sweetie,” Maddie said, rubbing his shoulders, “there is nothing you’ve missed. He’s…” The emotion welling up inside her, choked off her words. She had promised herself she would not become emotional when she talked to Seven. Now she was on the brink of losing that control. “…gone.” Tears of sadness rolled down her face as the word slipped from her lips.
“You saw the text message from Chloe the day after everything went down. She told us she would be back on Friday, to make final arrangements for the weekend. She couldn’t say or even text the words, but she was telling us he didn’t make it.”
Seven’s eyes again filled with tears. “Damn, doesn’t the body ever run out of tears?” he said. “I don’t believe he’s dead. I can’t believe he’s dead.” Wiping back tears, he added, “He’s my best friend, my brother, and he has saved my life more times than I can count. I stood there and watched that s.o.b. plunge a sword into his chest. I can’t, and won’t, accept that he…” Seven couldn’t finish the thought. He picked up the Bible. “He told us to believe with our hearts and not our eyes. Well, my heart still says he’s alive.”
After a few moments, Maddie said, “If that’s what you believe, then I’ll stay here and pray with you. Jesus told us that when two or more gather in His name, He is there.”
“Make it more than two.” At that moment, the squad, Joan, Father Jessup and Lucille stood at the door of the church. “We’re all staying here with you until…just until,” Jefferson said.
All but Lucille took their seats behind Maddie and Seven. She joined the couple in the first pew. In the five days since Brent had been wounded and disappeared, she’d aged ten years.
CHAPTER 61
Five days earlier, the military ‘copter’ carrying Brent and Chloe flew non-stop from Palm Cove to Washington, D.C. They landed approximately three miles from the White House in a run-down urban area. The paramedics rushed Brent to a team of medical personnel waiting for them on standby.
“He’s still got a faint heartbeat, but he’s unconscious,” the chief medic remarked. “With all that blood loss, I don’t know how he’s hanging on.”
Medics transferred Brent to a gurney and then headed inside the abandoned warehouse.
“What about her?” one of the doctors asked, head motioning at Chloe.
“She’s his wife. We checked her out. She’s SIA, top government clearance. So she’s going with you.”
The doctor nodded. “Right this way, Mrs. Venturi. We still have a ways to go.”
They wheeled Brent through a corridor that seemed to lead to a dead end. One of the staff pushed a button that looked like a car remote, and the wall at the end of the corridor opened to expose an elevator shaft.
It was a tight squeeze but everyone fit inside the elevator. The doctor pushed the only button and the elevator shot down so fast Chloe thought she’d lose her lunch.
“You look a little green, ma’am. Just hold it together for another thirty seconds and it will stop.”
A half-minute later, the elevator came to a quick halt. That caused her as much nausea as it had when it was in motion.
They stepped off the elevator into a huge tunnel whose walls, floors and ceilings were stainless steel. An ambulance waited.
“Where are we?” Chloe asked.
“Presidential bunker, ma’am. Seven stories below the earth.”
“Does John, I mean, President Dupree know we’re here?”
“No, ma’am. This is all on the hush. The president doesn’t know this part of the bunker exists. Now, hold on. Mac has a lead foot and we’re about to take off.”
For three days, the medical team tended to Brent. It was touch and go. He’d lost so much blood that his organs shut down twice and he had to be shocked back from the brink three times.
On the fourth day, Brent came to. Chloe was asleep in a chair next to his bed, her head resting on his mattress.
“Hey, there, sunshine,” he rasped and rested his hand on top of her head.
Chloe opened her eyes in disbelief. “Oh my God, you’re alive!” She threw her arms around his neck and her tears of joy moistened his shoulder.
“You made me promise, remember? I’d never break a promise to you.”
On the fourth day, the staff watched Brent like a mother Eagle watches her young. Now on the fifth day and for the biggest part of the last six hours, doctors ran every test imaginable on him. They’d expressed surprise at how well he was recovering. When they finished their tests, they removed all of his IVs.
While the tests were conducted, Chloe waited in a room adjacent to Brent’s. She watched as an older gentleman walked around, as if he were lost. She had seen him sporadically over the past days and surmised he might be the parent of one of the staff, or he might be suffering from Alzheimer’s. She grabbed a nurse passing by and asked who the man was.
“That’s John,” she explained. “John Doe, poor guy. He was brought here about fourteen months ago. He slipped into a coma for three weeks. By the time he came out of the coma, he had no memory. He didn’t know who he was or anything about his past. He carried no I.D. and we didn’t have any luck identifying him through prints or dental records. The doctors tried everything they could think of to jog his memory. Nothing helped, though.”
“So he lives here?” Chloe asked.
“We’ve tried to reacclimatize him to the outside world, but he has such built-up phobias. It’s all just too scary for him. We gave up finally, and, well, here he is.”
“Is it all right if I say hello?”
“You can try. But he doesn’t take to strangers. He does seem curious, though. We’ve never seen him walk back and forth like this in front of someone he’s never been around. Go ahead and try.”
When John walked through the room, Chloe softly called to him. “Hi, John.”
The man looked at her. She saw fear in his eyes.
“It’s okay, John. I won’t hurt you, I promise. I just thought we could be friends,” she said. “My name is Chloe.”
When he heard the name, he stopped walking and turned to look at her. He could feel electric shocks going off in his brain and he began to hear strange, though familiar, voices. He slowly walked up to her.
“Chloe?”
“That’s right, my name is Chloe.”
“I know that name from somewhere. It’s…familiar to me. Why are you here, Chloe?�
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“My husband was hurt very badly and this is where they brought him.”
“Your husband? Is he still here?”
“Yes,” she said, smiling. “Would you like to meet him?”
The man nodded.
Chloe held out her hand. “Come. Come with me and I’ll introduce him to you.”
Chloe and John walked into Brent’s room, just as the doctors were finishing up. “Ah, Chloe, I was just about to look for you. Your husband is an amazing man. He’s weak, but he’s going to have a full recovery. I’m recommending that he be released tomorrow and transferred back home. Susan Collins can treat him at the HQ facility.”
The doctor saw that she held John’s hand. He gave her a surprised look. “Well, I see you’ve met John.”
Brent had been sitting on the opposite side of the bed, putting his shirt back on when they walked in.
“Honey,” Chloe said as Brent turned toward them. “I’d like you to meet Jo…”
“Joseph!” Brent yelled. “You’re alive! What the hell are you doing here?”
Joseph’s memory flooded back the instant he saw Brent. Paralyzed with shock, he waited as Brent walked toward him. Then he started to laugh. Soon, laughter turned to tears of joy.
“I don’t believe it. My memory is back. My name is Joseph Conklin and my wife is…Lucille. Oh, dear God, is Lucille all right? I mean is she ali…?”
“She’s fine, Joseph. My mother is fine.”
“She told you? A lot must have happened since I was brought here?”
“You have no idea. I’ll fill you in on our way home.”
Brent looked at the doctors who watched in disbelief. “How soon can we be transported out of here?”
“It’s already ten o’clock in the evening. I’d like to run some tests on Joseph. But if all checks out, we can have you out of here by four a.m.”
“Great. Where’s my phone? I have to call home and let them know that I’m—we’re okay.”
“You didn’t have a phone on you. When we caught your wife texting four days ago, I’m afraid we confiscated hers and destroyed it for security reasons. You’ll have no contact with anyone, Colonel, until you see them. Sorry.”
CHAPTER 62
At 7:00 a.m., the helicopter landed a block from the church. Six days had passed since the monumental events had taken place nearby.
“I still don’t know why you had them drop us off here and not at headquarters?” Chloe said.
“Call it a hunch. If I know Seven, and I do, he’s there.” Brent pointed at the church as they walked closer to it. Their pace was slow because of Brent’s injuries and subsequent weakness.
“My friend,” Joseph said, “would you mind if I ran ahead? I need to find Lucille.”
“Go,” Brent pointed to the church. “We’ll be right behind you.”
Joseph ran as though he were twenty, not seventy-two. Up the steps he vaulted. He swung the double doors open and spotted a group of people gathered in the front pews of the church. In that instant, he knew Brent’s hunch was correct.
“Why do you mourn the living?” he yelled.
Lucille turned at the sound of the voice she thought she’d never hear again. There stood Joseph, the early morning sun shining brightly behind him. In that light, he appeared a misty vision. As he walked towards her, she knew he was no illusion. She gasped and elbowed Maddie.
“What is it, Lucille?”
She could only point. “Your father has come home.”
“What?” Maddie turned in disbelief to see Joseph Conklin walking up the aisle.
The nearer he came to the two most important people in his life, the more he was overcome with emotion.
Maddie and Lucille ran to him and wrapped their arms around him.
“Let me see your face,” Lucille said, caressing his face with her hands. “My God, it’s really you. It’s a miracle.”
Joseph clutched her hand and inhaled. The perfume she wore on her wrist invigorated him.
“I don’t believe this. How did you…where did you come from?” Maddie asked.
“You could say I came from nowhere, but, thank God, He sent Brent to find me there.”
Still very confused, the women looked up at Joseph. In unison, they cried out, “He’s alive? Brent’s alive?”
“Hey,” a familiar voice yelled from the back of the church. “Do you think an injured guy could get a little help? This is a church, isn’t it?”
Everyone turned and watched Brent hobble up the aisle, leaning on Chloe for support. Overcome with joy, they rushed to greet him.
Seven was the first to arrive at Brent’s side. “I knew you were alive,” he smiled. “I just knew it.”
“You believed with your heart, didn’t you?” Brent asked, smiling.
“You’re damned right I did,” Seven said. “My God, you look like crap.”
“It’s good to see you too,” Brent smiled.
Back at the Inn, everyone told stories of their involvement in the happenings that took place in the past week. They all gathered round Joseph, to hear of his ordeal, astonished that he’d survived it, and listened as Chloe brought his story to a climax. Those who didn’t already know Joseph took an immediate liking to him.
Lucille quietly sat back in her chair and surveyed the room. Joseph, Maddie, Brent and Chloe, she couldn’t believe her family was whole. She closed her eyes.
I miss you, Jacob, but I know you’re happy for me. I will always love you. Can you believe what a wonderful family God has given me? This is truly the happiest day of my life.
Maddie followed Chloe into the kitchen. “Hey,” she said.
Chloe stood at the counter reaching for a coffee cup, turned and smiled at her friend. “Hey back atcha.” Maddie walked over to Chloe, opened her arms wide, and they both wrapped their arms around each other and held on as if their lives depended on it. They were exhausted from the emotional tidal wave that they had been through.
“I am sooo happy you and Brent are all right,” Maddie said. “And finding Joseph and bringing him back…well, it’s more than I could have hoped for.”
“When he first recovered his memory, he asked two questions,” Chloe said. “First, was his wife all right, and second, was his daughter okay. He really does see you as his daughter, you know. I think you’d better ask him that all-important question.”
Maddie looked confused. “What question? Wait, before you answer that, I have to know something. If Brent wasn’t…I mean, if he was alive, why did you send the email that he wasn’t?”
“Huh?”
“Chloe, maybe you were in a state of shock but you emailed me that you would be back on Friday to make the final arrangements.”
“Oh.” Covering her mouth with her hand, she instantly realized how Maddie had interpreted her innocent communication. “I’m so sorry. I mean, that’s not what I meant. When the infirmary personnel saw me texting you, they ripped my phone out of my hand and destroyed it. I never had the chance to finish my message.”
“If that’s not what you meant, then what were you talking about?”
Chloe giggled. “Through all that’s happened, have you forgotten what this weekend is?”
A second later, Maddie gasped. “Tomorrow is my wedding day.” Suddenly, the reality of all that she had to get done before then hit her. “Oh my gosh, I have so much to do. Where do I begin?”
Chloe laughed so loud, everyone crowded into the kitchen to find out what was going on.
“Well, let me suggest you start with two things,” Chloe said, “one, remind your fiancé that this is his last night as a bachelor. And two,” she said as she looked at the others, “ask your father to walk you down the aisle.”
Joseph stepped forward. “I’d be honored. I’d have it no other way,” he said with an ear-to-ear grin.
/> Maddie looked into his eyes. What passed between them was that special connection that exists only between father and daughter. “I’m afraid that’s not the way it’s going to be,” she said. Everyone mumbled at that. Speaking louder this time, she added, “I want you and my mother to walk me down the aisle.”
Lucille hugged Maddie and Joseph, squeezing them hard. “I would love that,” she said.
The men drifted out of the room, as the women started to discuss final plans for the next day’s big event. Chloe took the reins and delegated some of the errands that had to get done before then. When they had Seven alone, they ribbed him about becoming henpecked.
Just then, the alarm on Joan’s laptop sounded. Everyone stopped what they were saying in mid-sentence, waiting to hear what Joan found out. She opened her computer and punched in several codes.
“We have trouble,” she sang out.
“What is it?” Brent asked from his seat on the couch.
“It’s President Dupree. He plans to be here tonight at nine to personally pin commendations on everyone…and to take Charlotte home.”
Charlotte looked at Brent. “Sir?”
Brent looked at the clock. Six p.m. “Stop whining. Soldiers don’t whine,” he said. “I want everyone showered because, frankly, you all stink. I can’t believe you spent so much time in church that you didn’t take time to bathe.”
His tone of voice eased the sudden tension. Everyone laughed. “Squad, be in uniform and down here at full attention when the President walks through the door.” He turned to Charlotte. “Everyone but you, Charlotte. I want you in uniform, but wait in the other room, behind the double doors until I call you out.”
At 9:00 p.m. sharp, they watched as the unmarked helicopter landed on the helipad outside the Inn.
Minutes later, the front door opened and in walked President Dupree, flanked by Secret Service agents. Maddie and Brent greeted the President and Brent shook his hand.
“It’s good to see you, John.”
“And you. We all prayed for you.”
