Beyond the Call of Duty

by Wendy Stone

  “No.” He looked up at Ronald, but could feel the heat of Lexi’s gaze on him. He managed to not look at her, but it was close.

  “Okay.” Ronald flipped over a lawyer’s yellow pad of paper and picked up his pen. “Can you tell me in your own words what happened that night?”

  Gabe ran through it, speaking almost dispassionately. He stopped at the point where one of Traeger’s men shot him, bending forward and dropping his face into his cupped hands. “I heard them die,” he said hoarsely. “I heard every fucking shot, and there wasn’t anything I could do to help them.”

  “Of course not. No one expects you to have done anything but what you did. I’m sure you did everything you could.”

  “It wasn’t good enough,” Gabe growled. “Are we almost done here?”

  “Sitting up has to be hard on you. It amazes me you are doing as well as you are this quickly. We’ll make another appointment for next week when you should be stronger.”

  * * * *

  Lexi rose and went to the office door, opening it just a crack to check the waiting room. It was empty, but for Luke and Molly, and they both looked up when she pushed the door open. She waved Gabe through, doing her best to ignore the leering look Ronald was giving her.

  Setting up another appointment with his secretary took little time, and she sent Luke and Molly to check the hallways. If she was Traeger, this would be the time she’d choose to strike, especially since Gabe was still injured and couldn’t move as he normally would.

  Molly opened the door, nodding to Lexi, and led Gabe toward the elevator Luke was holding open for them. They pushed him to the back of the car, shielding him with their bodies as the doors slid closed, and started down toward the SUV.

  “That went smoothly,” Molly commented, hating the quiet in the car.

  “Molly...” Lexi and Luke groaned together.

  “What? I just said it went smoothly, not that it was going to stay smooth.”

  Lexi grabbed Gabe’s arm, pushing him into the corner behind the buttons and behind her body. “Molly just jinxed us,” she said softly, watching as Luke and Molly hugged the other corner. “If I die...” she growled at the girl.

  “I know.” Molly sighed. “You’re going to haunt me.”

  “You’ll never get laid again,” Lexi said with a grin.

  Lexi pulled her weapon out of its holster, holding it down in front of her with both hands. She felt the shift of the elevator as it began to stop, and nudged Gabe even further into the corner. “Anything happens, you get down and stay down, got me?”

  “Yeah,” Gabe said. “I’d feel better if I had a piece.”

  “Uh huh,” Molly said. “Wits don’t get pieces. They tend to shoot those that protect them before they shoot a threat.”

  The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open slowly. The three marshals looked out into the wide garage. There was no one there. Lexi moved slowly through the door, moving her eyes every which way to be sure there was no threat, and then motioned for Gabe, Luke and Molly to follow her.

  Molly was laughing at something Luke said when suddenly there was an explosion and a flash of fire, and a round hole erupted in the middle of her forehead. She hit the ground, her body limp, her eyes still open, dead.

  Molly had been walking in front of Gabe, so with her gone, he was exposed. He dropped into a crouch and bent to run as Lexi grabbed his jacket, hauling him with her. Luke crouched close to Molly, reaching out to feel for a pulse.

  “She’s gone, Luke! Move your ass!”

  It took Lexi’s harsh voice to get him moving. He pressed against a car just as the window above his head blew out. “Where the fuck is he?” he shouted back at Lexi.

  “Next floor! He’s on the curved ramp! Get Gabe to the SUV and out of here. I’m at a better angle.” She watched as Luke made it toward them. “Go with him!” She growled when Gabe seemed about to protest. “Go! This is my job! Don’t make it harder for me!”

  She watched for just a second as Luke and Gabe ran to the next row of cars. They were only four cars from the SUV, but their sniper was not a patient man. She could hear his footsteps as he tried to move to a better place to bag his target. Lifting up just high enough to see over the car next to her, she caught sight of his back and lifted her gun, firing one bullet.

  The sniper grunted as her bullet struck true, and he fell face forward, landing on the railing on the ramp. Lexi heard car doors slam and the SUV start, the wheels squealing on the pavement as Luke broke all speed limits leaving the garage. She was alone.

  Moving slowly and stealthily, she made her way over to the sniper. If anyone had been with him, they were long gone, and so was his gun. She flipped him to his stomach, using her cell to capture his image before calling Jack.

  Jack handled it better than she thought he would. He was in the second car, after the first cop car showed up. Two more cops and a coroner’s van pulled up soon after that.

  “Where’s Gabe?” Jack said when he came upon her sitting next to Molly’s body.

  “Luke took him in the SUV. SOP would have him going back to the safe house, but with this?” She nodded at Molly’s body, wiping at her eyes.

  “They were close?” he asked, his hand touching her shoulder.

  “Do you remember when I started working for you, Jack?”

  “Yeah.” A smile lit his gruff face for a moment. “The only woman I allowed as close to me as you were was my wife.”

  “That’s what Luke and Molly were like, Jack. Luke’s got to be hurting.” She sniffed, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her coat.

  “Call him, Lexi. Let’s make sure they’re both safe.”

  She nodded, watching as the coroner and his assistant came over and folded Molly’s hands across her chest, laying out the body bag and carefully lifting her into it. They zipped it up as another man brought a gurney over to cart the body back to the van.

  She got out her cell phone, hitting the speed-dial key. The phone rang twice before Gabe answered. “Yeah?”

  “Gabe? Where’s Luke? Why are you answering his phone?”

  He didn’t answer, and then she heard Luke’s voice, sounding full of tears across the distance. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah. She’s dead, isn’t she, Lexi?”

  She sank down to the pavement, ignoring Jack and the cops, focusing on Luke. “Yeah, Luke, she is. I’m so sorry.”

  She heard Luke sob and sigh, staying quiet while he tried to pull himself together. “The sniper?”

  “Dead. His partners bugged out.”

  “Do you know who he is?”

  “No, Luke. I’ve never seen him before. He has to be working for Traeger.”

  “We’ll come back and get you, Lexi,” Luke said, hanging up before she could say anything else. She folded up her phone, lowering her arm slowly, and stared at the black body bag that held her friend and co-worker. She rose only when Jack called her name, and she turned to look at him.

  “You’ve got to suck this up, Alexandra. You’ve got a witness in trouble and need to be strong.”

  “I know,” she snapped. “Trust me, I know.”

  “Then situation report!”

  She glared at him as she told him Luke was coming back for her. Gabe was safe. She knew her words were clipped and concise, almost cold. The emotion only showed when Luke pulled up beside her, Gabe in the front seat next to him.

  “I’ll expect your report in the morning, Lexi.” Jack said abruptly. She nodded, opening the door to the back seat and sliding in.

  Luke didn’t move for a moment; he just stared in the direction of the blood smear where Molly had fallen, then he put the SUV into gear and pulled away.

  Lexi sat in the back seat looking at the moving traffic around her, but her thoughts were far away. She was remembering Molly, her first day on the job, transferring in from the FBI. She’d taken some retraining, but Lexi hadn’t minded. She’d also been unfailingly cheerful and helpful, willing to do what needed to b
e done no matter the cost.

  Losing Molly was doing something not much else could possibly do to her; it was making her feel her mortality. When they pulled into the driveway and the garage, Lexi felt a thrill of fear. Molly had been one of the best, and for her to be gunned down the way she was; well, it got to her.

  Luke walked into the kitchen and sank down into a chair at the table. Lexi made coffee and poured him a cup and sat down next to him. She put her hand out to clutch his shoulder.

  “She had to say it. She had to fucking jinx herself, Lexi. Why her? Why couldn’t it have been me?” He pushed the coffee away and sank his head down to rest on his folded hands, a sob shaking his shoulders. “It should have been me,” he cried.

  “What do you think Molly would say to you if she heard you talking like that, Luke?”

  He didn’t speak, so she reached out and pushed up his forehead up and looked into his red-rimmed eyes. “You know, as well as I do, she’d kick your ass at those words. She loved you, Luke. You’ve got to stay strong for her.”

  “She’s dead, Lexi. Nothing I say or do is going to matter much now.” He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small blue box. As soon as she saw it, she knew what it was. “I was going to ask her after shift today. We were going to have dinner...and...and...”

  “You were going to ask her to marry you,” Lexi finished for him. She reached out, rubbing her fingers against the tears on his face. “She’d have said yes, Luke. She loved you so much.”

  “I loved her too.” He wiped the rest of the tears away. “You’re right. If she saw me crying, she’d have kicked my ass, hard.”

  “Yep.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “Why don’t you go home? Gerald and Joe will be here in an hour. I can handle things until them. Go home, hug your son.”

  “Do you want me to call Molly’s dad?”

  “No, that’s my job, Luke. It’s okay, I can do it.” She nodded as he turned and headed toward the door. When it shut behind him, Gabe poked his head into the kitchen. “Was that Luke?”

  “I sent him home. He was going to ask Molly to marry him tonight.”

  “Oh God, and she’s gone now, because of me.” Gabe turned away, not answering when she called after him

  She sighed. She started to get up, and then looked at the cell phone in her hand. She sank back down, hitting her phone book and finding the number. With another sigh, she heard the phone ring for the third time before it was finally picked up.

  Chapter Eleven

  It had been a week since Molly’s death, and Lexi was feeling every bit of missing the girl with her sunny attitude and go-to demeanor. Jack replaced Molly with a green agent, and the guy jumped at every sound. His hands shook if he reached for his pistol, and Lexi wasn’t sure what he would do if push came to shove.

  To tell the truth, she was missing Gabe as well. They lived together in this safe house, twenty-four-seven, and she’d never felt so far away from a person in her life. She missed his kisses, his touches, the way he made her laugh. She badly wanted to go back to that day and forget the words that had been said.

  However, time travel was impossible, and they both agreed a relationship between them would be a mistake. Hadn’t they? She shook her head, feeling the beginning of a stress headache land right squarely above her right eye.

  “Agent Hunter, perimeter is clear, ma’am!”

  “It’s Toby, right?” She waited for him to nod. “Toby, we do things a bit different than the secret service or any of the alphabets. My name is Lexi. If we were outside and someone heard you call me Agent Hunter, it could blow the cover, and Gabe’s goose would be cooked. Understood?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He was quick to correct himself when he saw her wince. “Yes, Lexi.” He paused and continued to stand there.

  “Yes?”

  “I just wanted to tell you how great I think working for you is. You’ve always been one of my role models. Can I ask a question?”

  Lexi lifted her hand, desperately trying to stop the boy before he declared his love or some other silly thing. “That’s great, Toby. Sure, ask away.”

  “Alphabets, ma’am? I mean, Lexi?”

  “CIA, FBI, ATF, NCIS, JAG...alphabets. Understand?”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s kind of funny,” he said with a horsey laugh.

  She grimaced and managed to hide the pain she was feeling. “Why don’t you go up and relieve Luke? Thanks.”

  Toby nodded and grinned. He turned, almost knocking over a lamp, and went charging for the stairs. “Can anyone say moose?” Lexi asked, and cringed as something crashed overhead. “I think we should get him hired in by the Traegers, at least then we might have a chance.”

  She dropped her head in her hands, sighing heavily. She wasn’t used to so little action, and it was affecting her mood about the same way the headache was. When two wide hands started massaging her shoulders, she almost wept in relief. “Oh, God, please don’t stop,” she moaned, her voice husky. Her eyes were closed, and she laid her head down on her knees, giving her masseuse all the room he needed.

  Tiny moans and whimpers escaped her lips. He found every tight knot, every stressed nerve, and rubbed them into obediently loose strands of spaghetti. By the time he finished, she was almost incoherent with relaxed pleasure.

  She reached up, picking up one of the hands that had given her so much pleasure. She expected to see Gerald or Joe, or even Luke, but when Gabe sauntered around the side of the couch, his hand in hers, she was confused. “T...Thank you,” she said softly as he sank down next to her.

  “You work too hard and worry too much. You looked like one more thing would have sent you over the edge, Lexi. I don’t want to be responsible for your nervous breakdown.”

  “It’s been a hard day,” she admitted. “Molly’s memorial is tonight. I’ve given Luke the time off, but I hate that I won’t be able to go.”

  * * * *

  “You’re the boss, why shouldn’t you go?” he asked, his hand still in hers. He wasn’t eager to let her go. Despite the things that had happened between them, he was unable to forget how she felt next to him, leaning against him, writhing under him. He was hooked and had it bad, bad enough he’d give up everything if she would only tell him that she wanted him. The blonde hookers, his refurbished muscle-car, his fancy lifestyle; he’d give it all up for her, only for her.

  “If someone was looking to grab me so that they could get to you, the memorial would be a good place to do it. Jack’s got agents covering the event already, and he doesn’t need me making an appearance and screwing up the disappearing act I’ve already done.” She sighed and wearily rubbed her forehead.

  “What about the disguise? That old lady thing you did before. I wouldn’t have looked twice at you, Lexi. Molly was not only one of your team, she was a good friend, and I know you miss her.” He slid a little closer and wrapped one big arm around her shoulders. “It kills me inside to see you like this.”

  * * * *

  She stared up at him, her tired mind unable to figure out what kind of game he was playing. “I’m fine, Gabe. You’re the important one here, the one we have to keep alive. I’m not going to allow anything to happen to you. It would be like a slap to Molly’s memory if we couldn’t get you through this. I won’t allow that either.” She made to rise and felt his hand slip down her back before falling away. Reaching down, she grabbed her empty coffee cup. “Want a cup?”

  “No. I’d like you to talk to me.”

  “Gabe, we’ve discussed this...”

  “Well, maybe I’ve changed my mind.”

  Her mouth fell open, and she blinked a few times before she got control of herself. “You’ve changed your mind? What the fuck does that mean?”

  Before Gabe could answer, Luke walked into the room. He stared from one to the other. “You two need to get your heads out of your respective asses. I love you, boss, but I’ve had my world taken away from me. Grab onto yours before someone takes it
from you.” He ignored the look of shock that came over her face. “I’m leaving for the memorial. I was wondering if you had that thing done you wanted me to read?”

  Lexi reached into her back pocket, pulled out a square of folded paper and handed it to him. “I wish I could be there to give it personally,” she said as she hugged him. “Molly was one of my closest friends. I’ll never forget her, Luke. I’ve put her in for a posthumous award for exceptional merit above and beyond the call of duty.”

  “Thanks, boss. I...I had the ring I bought for her buried with her. I really think she would have said yes.” He sniffed harshly and rubbed at his eyes.

  “Go home and hug your boy, Luke, then go and say good-bye to Molly. Take tomorrow off, if you want. It might be good for Toby to have some one-on-one time with us.”

  Luke chuckled. “He is a bit of an ox.”

  “You could say that again, but please don’t.” She hugged Luke one last time and watched as Gabe shook his hand and bent his head close to Luke to whisper something in his ear. Luke glanced up once and nodded before turning around and leaving the room. They heard the back door close, and he was gone.

  Lexi stared down at the coffee cup she still held. Without another word, she turned away from Gabe to go into the kitchen to refill it. He grabbed her arm and suddenly found himself on the floor with her kneeling on his back, his arm twisted up behind him. “Whoa!”

  “I don’t want to talk about this now,” she growled against his ear. “Just leave it alone.”

  She got up easily and reached down to grab his arm, helping him up. “Leave it alone,” she repeated, but he shook his head.

  “I can’t do that, Lexi. I have to tell you how I feel. This situation we’re in, it could kill us. The thought of leaving things unsaid between us…” He shook his head. “I can’t feel right about that. Just talk to me. What could it hurt?”

  “It’s already hurt too much, Gabe. You are my witness, and that’s all it can be.” She tried to push past him, but he wasn’t budging. Instead, he reached out and dragged her into his arms, bringing his head down to take her lips in his in a kiss meant to make her rethink things, to make her realize she had feelings about him too.