About Face

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “What happened?” Alex asked.

  “She wasn’t sure,” Quanshay said. “It was after Nathan had died. Billy — that’s what she called the Admiral. She said that she was in town when she saw her Billy. He was escorting his white Ingram grandmother around. You know, that boy looked right through his mother, Mrs. Johnson. She called him back, and he ignored her. She was angry with her child so she chased after him. She started to scold him.”

  Alex winced.

  “He slapped her across the face,” Quanshay said. “Told her never to address him again. He was so strong and large that he terrified her. ‘Just the look on his face was enough to destroy me’ — that’s what she said. ”

  Alex shook her head.

  “She fell to the ground with a small heart attack right then and there,” Quanshay said.

  “What did he do?” Alex asked.

  “He took his wealthy, white grandmother’s arm and stepped over her body. Couldn’t be bothered to call emergency,” Quanshay said with a nod. “Mrs. Johnson was sure that he caused her heart attack. Just from the way he looked at her. She said it felt like he hated her or wanted her dead.”

  “Yes,” Alex said. “I know that one.”

  “I wondered if you did,” Quanshay said.

  “He gave her the evil eye, and she had a heart attack?” Alex said.

  “Small one,” Quanshay nodded. “She says she’s okay now.”

  “Wow,” Alex said.

  “He was that awful to you,” Quanshay said.

  “Yes, he was,” Alex said. “But I’m a Lieutenant Colonel, just a piss-on to an Admiral. Nathan’s mother is amazing. And, I know she had it rough with her ‘Billy.’”

  Quanshay nodded.

  “Her Nathan was dead and, now, her Billy, too. She wanted to die,” Quanshay said. “But the Lord has other plans for her.”

  “Any idea what those plans might be?” Alex asked.

  Quanshay shook her head.

  “I will tell you that she has nothing but respect for you and Joseph,” Quanshay said. “She loves you and was humbled to know that the boy she raised has caused you so much trouble.”

  “Does she have any idea why?” Alex asked.

  Quanshay shook her head and started picking the acrylic off Alex’s nails.

  “He didn’t do well when Nathan was killed,” Quanshay said.

  “How so?” Alex asked.

  “She didn’t say,” Quanshay said. “She said just that.”

  “It’s a puzzle,” Alex said.

  “One thing.” Quanshay looked up at Alex. “She is truly humiliated. Royce and I discussed it on the trip back. This kind of humiliation could kill her. I wondered if . . .”

  “I’ll call her,” Alex said. “Has she seen Nathan’s son, Zaine?”

  “Not since Nathan died,” Quanshay said. “The funeral happened around the time that she was ill. She missed it.”

  Quanshay stopped moving and looked at Alex.

  “I can’t imagine the pain of losing her son,” Quanshay said. “Both of them. She is still not handling it well.”

  “I’ll call her,” Alex said.

  “Perfect,” Quanshay said with a smile.

  “Thank you for going to talk to her,” Alex said. “I didn’t want to fly in and . . . humiliate her, really. I knew that you and Royce would know just what to say.”

  “You must have loved Nathan very much to show such respect for his mother,” Quanshay said.

  “All of them,” Alex said. She cleared her throat, but her eyes welled with tears. “You know how they always say, ‘They were the best of us’?”

  Quanshay nodded.

  “Those guys really were the best,” Alex said. “I was lucky to know them. As a female? The whole thing is miraculous.”

  “Then, you need to get out there and do what you’re best at,” Quanshay said. “These men chose you, made you — you need to stop hiding.”

  “Hiding?” Alex asked.

  Quanshay gave Alex a compassionate smile and started filing Alex’s nails.

  “I know what you’re talking about,” Quanshay said with a nod. “Because you’re a woman, you have to be a hundred times better than the men. These men saw that in you, so they took you under their wings. They made you into something more than you were on your own.”

  Alex nodded.

  “My Royce has the same challenge,” Quanshay said. “He has had to be better, stronger, smarter than any SEAL with white skin simply to get the opportunities he deserved. But you know what? His father didn’t have that opportunity. And his grandfather?”

  Quanshay shook her head.

  “I know your struggle,” Quanshay said. “But to me, that just means that you need to get out there and kick some ass. You are better than most other people, if not everyone. You need to shine the way for all the people who are coming behind you.”

  Alex blushed.

  “Stop planning dinners and get to work,” Quanshay said. “And I’m sorry if I’ve spoken too plainly. I hope I haven’t offended you in any way. I just . . .”

  “You haven’t,” Alex said. “I appreciate your honesty and the kindness that goes with it.”

  “I just feel strongly that you’re here to do great things,” Quanshay said. “That’s why this Admiral wants your planes and your ranks and your soldiers. He wants to keep you from doing those great things.”

  Alex watched Quanshay for a moment.

  “I’m going to tell you this,” Quanshay said. “I think you need to go home.”

  “Home?” Alex asked.

  “Yes,” Quanshay said. “We do, too. Your whole team needs to get back to Denver.”

  “I thought everyone was enjoying the warm California winter,” Alex said.

  Quanshay looked at Alex for a moment. She gave Alex a kind smile.

  “You should talk to your team,” Quanshay said. She set down the file. “Take a look.”

  Alex looked at her nails; they were short, clean, and perfect.

  “How did you do that?” Alex asked.

  “Like I said, I used to do nails,” Quanshay said. “Before Royce, the kids, and all of this military-wife stuff. I like doing nails. My sister wants to open a salon in Aurora, but I have the baby now. Seems like I should stay home, but... My mother wants a reason to come out to live with us. Royce loves her, so that’s not a problem.

  “You let me know,” Alex said with a smile. “I know we’d love to back you in any way you need.”

  Quanshay got up and hugged Alex. She swept the remnants of Alex’s nails into her hand and threw it out in the trashcan under the sink.

  “Thank you,” Alex said.

  Quanshay smiled.

  “You’ll be okay here?” Quanshay asked.

  “I will,” Alex said.

  Quanshay nodded and left the kitchen. Alex waited what she thought was an appropriate amount of time and escaped the kitchen. Joseph Walter was sitting at the dining room table.

  “I didn’t want to interrupt,” Joseph said.

  He looked exhausted and upset. Alex hugged him.

  “We need to talk,” Joseph said.

  Nodding, Alex led him upstairs to the little office John used. Neither spoke until they were settled in his office.

  “Alex, I know what this looks like,” Joseph said.

  “You were on paternity leave when everyone was killed,” Alex said. “And now your house was attacked. It looks like you’ve out lived your usefulness.”

  “I know,” Joseph said. “But . . . I . . . You have to believe that . . .”

  “Oh, Joseph — I know,” Alex said with a shake of her head.

  “You do?” Joseph asked.

  “Of course, I do,” Alex said.

  “How can you be so sure when I’m starting to doubt myself?” Joseph asked.

  “It’s all so carefully orchestrated,” Alex said. “That’s one reason. If I hadn’t survived, you would have definitely been put on trial. Definitely.”

  “I
’d be in Leavenworth,” Joseph said.

  “Everything looks like you killed the team. And now this?” Alex asked.

  Alex sighed.

  “It’s crazy!” Joseph said, his voice rising with frustration. “There’s no one I loved more than the team. Not a soul. I missed them every moment of every single day. And what did I get from killing them? What was my bonus? My prize? And . . . I swear to you that I . . .”

  “My only question is: What do you know or what do they think you know?” Alex asked. “Why are you set up for elimination?”

  “I don’t know,” Joseph shrugged.

  Alex nodded. They’d been over and over this since the Fey Special Forces Team was killed. They’d never gotten any closer to figuring out why Joseph had been spared.

  “How did you know I needed to go underground?” Joseph asked.

  Since the Fey Special Forces Team had been murdered, Alex had worked up an individual plan for each member of the Fey Team. The plans were called “underground,” Each plan was individualized by team member, number of children, and life circumstances. Joseph had known exactly what to do when he was in danger.

  “Once again, it looks like I set this up so that I wouldn’t be there when we were attacked,” Joseph said. “If you hadn’t sent us away, I would have been there. And my babies! My Alex! Nancy! I . . . We’d all be dead.”

  Grim, Alex gave him a nod in agreement.

  “If I was looking at this?” Joseph shook his head. “I’d think that I was dirty. I’d think that I set the whole thing up so that I could skulk away and . . . What are the cops, the team, what’s any reasonable person going to th . . .”

  “I had a dream,” Alex said, interrupting Joseph’s self-loathing.

  “Oh,” Joseph said.

  They looked at each other in silence for a moment. Joseph sighed and shook his head.

  “I don’t know what I know, Alex,” Joseph said. “We’ve been over it a million times.”

  “We have,” Alex said. “Looks like they’re getting more desperate.”

  They gave each another an assessing look. Alex shrugged.

  “Why don’t I tell you my dream?” Alex asked. “Maybe you’ll see something that I missed.”

  Joseph nodded. Alex took a breath and told him everything she remembered.

  F

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Monday early morning

  November 7 — 2:42 a.m. PST

  Oceanside, California

  Alex slipped out of bed and silently dressed in the clothing she’d laid out the night before. She crept through the house. She picked up her cell phone from the charger and put on her shoes at the back door. She carefully opened the back door and slipped out into the yard.

  She set up her straw-filled arrow target on the east side of the yard. Using an application on her phone, she measured the distance. She ran around the lap pool to the west end of the yard and marked the exact spot. She was running toward the back door when her phone vibrated to remind her. She fumbled for a moment before getting her earpiece in her ear. She placed the call.

  “You’re already cheating!” Max said.

  “How?” Alex asked in a low tone.

  She opened the storage box next to the back door.

  “I know you!” Max said with a laugh.

  Chuckling, Alex took out her old longbow and a backpack. In the video, Max was doing the same thing. She went back to her marked space. They texted each other the distance details.

  “Fair?” Alex asked.

  “So far,” Max said. “Ready?”

  “We have to set up the phones,” Alex said.

  They went to set their phones in such a way as to focus on the targets. Alex propped her phone against one of the twin’s floaties and split the screen so the place where she would stand would be in focus. Max did the same thing. She ran back to her spot.

  “Measure again?” Max asked.

  “Oh, come on,” Alex said.

  Laughing, Max shot his first arrow.

  “Hey!” Alex said, firing a shot.

  “Okay, together,” Max said.

  As they did every morning when they were in Denver, they fired ten arrows in each hand to warm up. Alex set down the bow and put on a belt with throwing knifes tucked in the back.

  “Ready?” Alex asked.

  “On your call,” Max said.

  “Go,” Alex said.

  They threw ten knives with their right hands. None of them made center target. One of Alex’s was close, but still not in the center of the target.

  “You’re still holding on to the knife too long,” John said.

  Alex turned to look at him. Carrying a coffee cup, he walked out the back door toward her.

  “What is it?” Max asked.

  “John,” Alex said turning toward her phone. “He says we’re still holding on too long.”

  “Who are you talking to?” John asked.

  Alex pointed to the phone. John grinned at Max. He leaned over to kiss Alex and gave her the cup of coffee.

  “I wondered what got you out of bed so early,” John said. “Max.”

  “Max is at the Pentagon today. He only has until 6:30,” Alex said. She took a drink of coffee and gave the cup back to John.

  “East coast is three hours ahead,” John said. “I should have known.”

  “Is he going to school us?” Max asked.

  “Max wants to know if you’ll teach us how to do it right,” Alex said.

  Still holding the cup of coffee, John picked up a throwing knife. Locking eyes with Alex, he threw the knife without even looking. It landed in the center of the target.

  Alex silently clapped and jumped around in celebration. Max went wild. He was screaming and hooting so much that his bodyguards came to check on him. John took a bow. When he stood up, he was laughing.

  “Will you teach us?” Alex asked.

  “Pretty, pretty please?” Max asked.

  Alex pointed to the phone, where Max was on his knees begging. He laughingly agreed. For the next half hour, he worked with them on their knife-throwing skills.

  They had the best time. Max’s alarm rang to remind him that he had to go.

  “You have to practice!” John said with mock sincerity. “What are you doing with your time?”

  The twins laughed. Waving and throwing kisses, Max clicked off the phone. John put his arm around Alex’s shoulders and kissed her cheek.

  “Welcome home,” John said.

  Alex smiled.

  “I’ve missed you so,” John said.

  She held out her hand, and he took it. For a moment, they just looked at each other. She gave him a crooked smile, and he groaned in mock agony. He grabbed her around the waist.

  “Hop up,” he said.

  She tipped her head in a silent “Are you sure?” He nodded.

  “Hop up,” he repeated.

  She jumped so that her legs were around his waist and her arms around his neck. Once up, he stopped.

  “Where should we go?” he looked. “People can see us here.”

  “The trash area is the only place,” Alex said.

  “The garbage?” John asked, his voice rising with mock indignation.

  Alex laughed into his chest.

  “This is quite a conundrum,” John said. “Shall I make love to you by the fetid trash? Or has the mood passed?”

  “Trash,” Alex said as she laughed. “I want you by the ‘fetid.’”

  Laughing and kissing the whole way, he carried her to the trash area. He pressed her back against the house and stepped down his pajama bottoms. While she wrangled with her compression tights, he kissed the side of her neck and moved his way to her breast. They rose fast and fell with sharp, laughing glee. They stood panting against each other as the sun peaked out over the horizon.

  “Welcome home,” he whispered and kissed her nose.

  She kissed him hard. They were locked together when the door to their house opened.

  “Al
ex?” Quince called. “Are you out here?”

  Alex and John silently disengaged. John put his index finger to his lips.

  “The coffee pot was on,” Quince mumbled. “And the electric kettle was hot.”

  Alex shrugged. John pulled up his pajama bottoms and left the privacy of their trash area. Alex put on her compression tights.

  “I see your bow and the knives. Your phone is here . . .” Quince said. “Hi John. Have you seen Alex?”

  Alex came around the corner. Quince looked at her and then at John.

  “Wha . . .” Quince started.

  “A raccoon got into our trash,” Alex said with a grin. Her neck flushed and blotches began to form on her chest. “We were cleaning it up.”

  “A raccoon?” John burst out laughing.

  Quince looked at Alex and then at John. For a moment, she looked incredulous, and then she laughed. Recovering first, John put on his most doctoral look.

  “Is there something we might help you with, Quince?” John asked in an excessively prim London accent.

  She burst out laughing causing John and Alex to laugh again. Alex picked up her longbow and went around the lap pool for the target.

  “Raz is here to work out with you, Alex,” Quince said. “Troy’s waiting in the living room.”

  “Can you send Raz back?” Alex asked.

  Quince nodded. Alex was pulling the arrows from the target when Raz came through.

  “I heard you have a raccoon problem,” Raz said, working to keep his face straight.

  He took in Alex’s red face and blotchy neck and burst out laughing. They laughed their way through getting the rest of the arrows and knives. By the time they were done picking up, Quince had brought the twins downstairs. Seeing Raz through the window, Máire and Joey wanted all of Raz’s attention.

  “I’ll get changed,” Alex said.

  She kissed the twins “good morning” before heading upstairs. John was just finishing his shower when she arrived. She gave him her crooked smile.

  “Shall we?” Alex asked.

  “Do not tempt me,” John said. “If I’m late, he’ll give me the crap assignments.”

  Laughing, Alex stepped into the shower. Wearing a swimsuit and carrying a towel, she was back downstairs by the time John was leaving for his training. He brushed her lips with his in a kiss. Smiling, she made her way through the kitchen to the backyard. She walked out the door and started laughing.