One day later
Sunday mid-morning
November 28 – 10:41 a.m. MST (9:41 a.m. CST)
Denver Health, Denver, CO
“Did they find the ear and . . . what was it?” Alex asked.
She was standing near the back windows of their hospital room. Max was in the bed near one wall, and Steve lay in the bed on the opposite wall. Raz’s bed was between Steve and Alex’s empty bed. Troy had gone home on Friday afternoon. Samantha and Wyatt went home on Saturday.
Because she had such significant hip injuries, she had to be up and walking for at least fifteen minutes of every hour. Fearing she’d use her arm, John refused to remove the tape from her right arm. She walked in her cocoon of gauze and tape.
“Finger,” Matthew said. He glanced at Joseph, who nodded. They had come to give Alex a report on the team’s progress. “Yes, her youngest daughter found everything at the very bottom of their chest freezer. The files were in plastic bags at the underneath her casseroles. The audio and video tapes were in the middle of a frozen stew. But get this; the finger and ear were in a loaf of bread.”
“How did she find that?” Raz asked.
“I guess Neev makes a wonderful loaf of bread,” Matthew shrugged. “‘Beautiful,’ her daughter said. This loaf wasn’t as beautiful. Once she found the loaf, she started looking.”
“Did she bake the finger into the bread?” Alex asked. “So gross.”
“No,” Matthew said. “She cut a hole in the top. They were in a bag.”
“Forensics?” Steve asked.
“Not yet,” Matthew said. “We might get them tomorrow. Preliminary tests indicate that they are Jack Mac Kinney’s. The Irish Police, uh . . . the Gardaí, I guess they’re called, are working with the G2, the Irish intelligence agency, and the . . . how do you say it?”
“Fee-an-o-gla-sh,” Max said. “Fiannóglach, part of the Irish Defense Force, and the finest hostage rescue team the world knows about.”
“Them,” Matthew said. “They want to talk to you, by the way.”
Alex nodded.
“Aren’t you supposed to be walking?” Joseph asked.
Alex sneered at him. He raised his eyebrows in a command, and she returned to pacing along the back of the room.
“How is Neev?” Steve asked.
“She’s all right,” Joseph said. “Tough as hell, my God. She had that seizure, didn’t remember the Mister at all, of course, and still went through fourteen hours of debriefing.”
“She’s a Kelly,” Max said.
“She actually said she was her mother’s daughter,” Joseph said. “Tough to the core.”
“Can you ask the G2 to test more than just the ends?” Alex asked. “I know they are very good, but . . .”
“But what?” Matthew looked disgusted.
“It’s not uncommon to dip tissue from another source in the blood of the hostage,” Steve said. “It’s not enough to fool thorough forensics, but they were dealing with a grandmother. We may get lucky.”
“You get a false positive when the person’s dead or not even in their possession,” Alex said. “Are we sure he’s missing?”
“Other than Neev’s statement?” Joseph asked. “His children haven’t seen him in months. Their mom told them he’d taken a trip, but never specified where. When she came here, they assumed he must have come to see Eoin.”
“No one in town’s seen him,” Matthew said. “He had a very stable routine – get up, milk the cows, tend the farm, stop by the pub for lunch, home by three. He’d be easy to pick up.”
“Then how’d they get him at night?” Raz asked. “That’s what gets me. How’d they get him out of bed?”
“Not sure,” Joseph said. “His oldest son said he had a habit of getting up at night to sit in his recliner. He had a bad back. He liked to wake with Neev, so he usually went back to bed around three.”
“I wonder why she didn’t mention that he moved around at night,” Steve said.
“She probably didn’t think of it,” Joseph said. “According to the son, Jack’s always done that.”
“Neev’s never been with anyone else,” Matthew said. “She may think that men get up like that at night.”
“Either way,” Alex said. “We need to ask her.”
Alex had a coughing fit.
“Done,” Joseph said when she stopped coughing. “Anything else?”
Alex walked back to her bed to get a drink of water.
“What I don’t get is this . . . ,” Alex paused for a moment to get into bed. Joseph helped her. “How he did he get out of Ireland?”
Exhausted, Alex closed her eyes.
“Sorry, I’m very tired,” Alex said.
“What do you mean?” Matthew asked.
“Ireland is an island. It’s almost impossible to get off the island without someone seeing you,” Alex said. “Every port is monitored. Every ferry has surveillance. Every railroad, major highway, shipping route, everything has some kind of surveillance. Even the fishing boats have GPS tracking. It’s part of their national security plan. When I was looking for Aednat, Jesse and I looked through a year’s worth of video from every boat, train station, ferry, everything. She’s a small woman. By all accounts, Jack is a towering figure of a man. You’d see him on a video.”
“That’s a good point,” Joseph said.
“Where’d you find her?” Matthew asked.
“Dublin,” Alex said. “There’s quite a sex trade there.”
“She was strung out and in bad shape,” Joseph said. “Jesse and Alex got her back, cleaned her up; the Fiannóglach did the official pick up.”
“Get lost on the island, sure,” Alex said. “But get off it?”
She shook her head.
“If the finger is truly his, he’s there, somewhere,” Alex said. “Can you bring me a map?”
“I thought you were getting out today,” Matthew asked.
“Not me,” Alex said. “But they do.”
“Why?” Joseph asked.
“I’m still weak,” Alex said. “I have this cough. And . . . I don’t know.”
She closed her eyes and was asleep.
“She’s tired,” Max said.
“Why?” Matthew asked.
“Doctors don’t know,” Max said.
“And the cough?” Matthew asked.
“As far as anyone can tell, it’s the tissue healing,” Max said. “She should have been able to go home when Troy left, but . . .”
Max shrugged.
“We thought she was tired because Max’s heart issues,” Steve said. “But she’s just worn out.”
“Can you blame her?” Raz asked. “She’s been running full bore for years.”
“Will you leave her?” Joseph asked.
“We don’t have a lot of choice,” Max said. “It’s a hospital, not a hotel.”
“We’ll get the video feed and check back in tonight,” Joseph said. “Come on, Matthew, we have work to do.”
Matthew raised a hand in good-bye, and they left the room. The door had been closed for only a moment when there was a knock.
“I’m sorry to bother you . . . ,” Margaret stuck her head in the door.
“Shh!” Max said.
Alex jerked awake. She smiled at Margaret.
“Who is it?” Steve asked.
“Would you introduce yourself?” Alex asked.
Margaret stepped into the room, and a man came in after her. Like Margaret, he wore Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern digital fatigues and a pale-green T-shirt. He had tan skin and a long black braid down his back, but it was his white toothy grin betrayed his relationship to Margaret.
“Semper Fi,” Alex said, and coughed. “Please introduce yourself.”
“Sergeant Margaret Peaches, sir,” Margaret went to Steve’s bedside. He raised his hand, which she took. “You’re looking well, sir.”
“Margaret,” Steve smiled.
“This is my father’s brother . . . ,” Margaret said.
“Gunnery Sergeant Ganny Peaches,” Steve said.
“That’s Sergeant Major to you, white man,” Margaret’s uncle smiled. Steve laughed. He came over to Steve’s bed. He put his hand on Steve’s shoulder, and the men hugged. “How’d you know it was me?”
“The smell,” Steve said.
The Sergeant Major laughed.
“You must be Agent Rasmussen,” Sergeant Major Peaches said.
The Sergeant Major turned to Raz’s bed.
“Yes, sir. They call me ‘Raz.’ Nice to meet you.”
“Gando Peaches,” he said. “And you . . .”
The Sergeant Major was about a foot from Alex’s bed. He shook his head.
“Hi Ganny,” Alex said.
He put his hand on his heart and his eyes welled.
“You know each other?” Margaret looked from her uncle to Alex and back again.
“We’ve met,” Alex said.
“When?” Margaret shook her head.
“Jesse?” Gando asked.
“Didn’t make it,” Alex said. “I thought you’d have heard by now.”
“Just hard to believe,” Gando said. “He’s here, right?”
Alex smiled.
“It’s bad for a Navajo to be around a spirit,” Gando said. “But if it’s an angel like Jesse, I can tolerate it for a while.”
“This is my brother, Max,” Alex gestured to Max with her left hand.
Max waved.
“Wow,” Gando said. “You sure left an impression on him.”
He laughed.
“You know these guys?” The tone of Margaret’s voice reflected her surprise.
“We’ve met,” Gando said.
“What’s going on, Sergeant?” Alex asked.
“I . . . um . . . well, I guess I don’t know what’s going on,” Margaret said.
“My brother’s daughter would like to bring her daughter Ooljee to Denver to live with her and her soon-to-be husband,” Gando said. “I was home and my mother asked me to check out this white man’s home.”
“I married his brother,” Alex said.
“That’s what he said,” Gando said. “Anyway, I toured the residence; very nice, I must say. You will never believe who I ran into.”
“Wyatt Klaussen?” Alex asked.
“Yeah,” Gando said. “My favorite ranger. It’s quite the house. Next you’ll be telling me that General Hargreaves stops by from time to time.”
Gando laughed.
“What can we answer for you?” Alex asked.
“Is it all right that my Ooljee comes to live with you?” Margaret asked.
“We’re excited to have her, and you,” Alex said. “We have plenty of space. We love having Troy’s kids. You met them?”
“Adorable,” Gando said. “They’re so beautiful. Are you sure they’re Troy’s kids?”
Alex smiled and Gando laughed.
“You don’t seem yourself,” Gando sat down on the side of her bed. “There’s something . . .”
“My father’s brother is on the shaman path,” Margaret said.
“The Shaman Soldier,” Steve said.
“I remember,” Alex said.
“Something’s wrong. You’re not all the way back,” Gando said.
“I’m just tired,” Alex gave him a weak smile.
Gando looked at her for a long minute before asking, “Do you remember what happened when you were in between?”
“I remember being alone in this grey . . . ,” Alex said. “Clouds or mist, maybe fog.”
“I went there too,” Max said. “When I had the heart attack, I went there.”
“I’ve been there,” John said from the doorway. “Sorry, you didn’t hear me, and I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Gando, this is my husband, Dr. John Drayson,” Alex said.
“The three of you have been to this grey place,” Gando said. “How about you, Pershing?”
“Not that I know of,” Steve said.
“Rasmussen?” Gando asked.
“It sounds familiar, like a place I went to as a kid, but don’t really remember,” Raz said.
“Huh,” Gando said. “What do you remember, Max?”
“Being alone,” Max said. “I’m Alex’s twin. Even when I’m by myself, I’m not really alone. I’ve never been that . . . alone, you know?”
“Dr. Drayson?”
“The same,” John said. “I have nightmares about being in the grey.”
“What happens in your nightmares?” Gando asked.
John’s face flushed with emotion.
“I don’t mean to be so personal, but . . .”
“It’s all right,” John said. “What’s frightening is that no matter what I do or where I run, I can’t seem to get out of the grey fog.”
“And you’re alone, too?” Gando asked.
John nodded.
“When Alex got home from the hospital the first time, I had this long-running dream of trying to find her in the mist,” John said. “She was so depressed. I felt like I fought to keep her away from the darkness by day while my nights were filled with trying to find her in the grey.”
“Did you ever find her?” Gando asked.
“The few times I did, it was even more horrifying,” John said. “She couldn’t see me or hear me. She was just staring at something in the fog.”
John shivered. As if to protect himself from his own words, he instinctively crossed his arms.
“Wow,” Max said. “Now that you say that, I remember seeing Alex staring at something and the fog . . .”
“I do too,” Raz nodded.
“You’ve never spoken with each other about this?” Gando asked.
“Never,” John said.
Gando took both of Alex’s hands. He looked into her eyes.
“You are so loved that these men come for you in the grey fog,” Gando said. “When you’re there, what are you looking at?”
“No idea,” Alex shook her head.
“Huh,” Gando smiled. “That’s interesting. Would you mind if I did a little journeying around this situation? It would be a great honor for me.”
“We’re about to get out of the hospital,” Steve said.
“I don’t think it will take too long, because the grey is here,” Gando said. “Do you see it, Margaret?”
“I do,” Margaret said.
“My brother’s daughter is sensitive to the energies of the world,” Gando said. “You would honor me by letting me help Alex and Pershing, her husband, and my new friends, Raz and Max.”
“I’m okay,” Alex said. “You guys?”
Raz shrugged.
“Sure,” Max said. “John?”
“You realize they are all ill,” John said. “Not just Alex. Max had major heart surgery. Raz is healing from a brain injury. Steve . . .”
“Your acupuncturist has been in, right?” Margaret asked.
“Of course,” John said. He sat on the edge of Alex’s bed.
“This practice pre-dates acupuncture,” Margaret said. “Members of my family have always been soldiers and always been shamans. My father’s father is a traditional Navajo healer. He’s agreed to lead my wedding sing. My father’s brother is more of a world shaman.”
“You should know that Ooljee is already on the path,” Gando said. “There will be hell to pay if her time in Denver deters her from her destiny.”
“Good to know,” Alex said.
“If it works, they will heal faster; if not, no harm will come to them.” Gando said to John. “Will you allow me to try?”
John nodded. Gando smiled.
“What’s he doing?” Steve asked.
“He’s rifling through his bag,” John said. “To get something, a . . .”
“MP3 player,” Gando said. He held it up. “I’m going to listen to a tape of drums rather than drum here in the hospital.”
While John narrated, Gando took a flower from one of the dozens of “Get-Well” bouquets sitting around the room. He set the flower in the corner. With a towel under his hands, Margaret poured water over them from a pink plastic water pitcher. He took out a small pouch and called in the four directions with ceremonial pollen.
“Pershing, now that your sight has been released, you should be able to follow me,” Gando said.
“I’ll try,” Steve said.
Gando sat cross legged in the left back corner of the room. He put on his headset and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he began to sway back and forth. He said something in Navajo.
“There is a horrible creature, like a mime or a clown; big, tall like a building and . . . ,” Margaret repeated something to Gando. He nodded. “Evil. It’s horrifying.”
“You were terrified of that clown when we were kids,” Max said. “Remember Alex. He was at that Fort Bragg festival.”
“Wasn’t he a murderer?” Alex asked.
“We didn’t know that then,” Max said.
“Shh,” Margaret said.
Gando said something in Navajo again.
“Sunflowers,” Margaret said. “The clown . . . he’s lighting the sunflowers on fire and . . .”
Gando moaned. He fell silent for a while before speaking again.
“There are. . . um . . . honeybees?” Margaret nodded. “The bees are dying. You followed the bees to the sunflower fields where you met the evil clown. He burned the fields.”
Gando spoke between coughs.
“It’s not mist or clouds, it’s smoke,” Margaret said. “From the fire.”
He had a coughing fit before gasping out something else.
“He’s almost reached you,” Margaret said.
Gando held their complete attention as he swayed back and forth. He gasped, and tears began rolling down his face. As if he was listening to something, he cocked his head. He moved his mouth as if to speak, but no words came out. Still weaving back and forth, he nodded and wept until his face broke into a smile. He began to laugh. He clapped his hands together and opened his eyes.
He was troubled to find them staring at him.
“Did you follow along?” he asked Steve in a booming voice. Margaret pointed to his earbud headphones. He took them out.
“I saw a lot of smoke,” Steve said.
“The world on fire,” Gando said. “Do those words mean anything to you, Alex?”
Alex nodded.
“You men, you’re drawn to her fight for the world,” Gando said.
“We’re firefighters?” John’s skepticism crept into his voice.
“No,” Gando said. “You’re going to stop the fire before it starts. What about the rest of it? Did any of the rest of it make sense?”
“Max says I was scared by a clown thing when I was a kid at Fort Bragg,” Alex said.
“He turned out to be an axe murderer,” Max said.
“Really?” Raz asked.
“Really,” Alex nodded. “I thought he was horrifying. Sami was so mad that we had to leave the fair; but I was hysterical. He took a kid home from the fair and chopped him up.”
Alex shivered.
“I have nightmares about him,” Alex said.
“Is he the guy from your hallucination in the room?” Raz asked.
“From the LSD in the water?” John nodded. “I bet he is.”
“Probably,” Alex said.
“What about the bees and sunflowers?” Gando asked.
“I don’t remember anything that happened in the last six months or so before everyone was killed,” Alex said. “Anything could have happened.”
“There’s a lot of bee death now,” Max said. “Colony Collapse Disorder. I think that was the year we noticed it happening in our hives. You were working so much that your days off were in other countries. You and Jesse were going to talk to beekeepers around the world.”
“I remember that,” John said.
Raz gave a slight nod.
“I don’t,” Alex said. “Did I?”
“You found that the epidemic was global,” Max nodded. “Of course, now we know it’s the pesticides.”
Alex shrugged and looked at Gando.
“Why did you cry?” Alex asked.
“You were standing in the smoke watching the world burn,” Gando said. “I felt overwhelming sorrow at the world burning. I stood with you to watch for a while. It was horrifying and so . . . heart-breaking to see all life consumed by flame.”
Gando’s eyes filled with tears.
“You don’t seem surprised by the world burning, Alex,” Gando said.
“Is there anything I can do to keep it from burning?” Alex asked.
“That’s what I asked you,” Gando said. “It seems like you’d never thought of it. You’ve been so terrified of it happening that you never thought you could prevent it. The moment the thought occurred to you, your power animal came, and you transformed into her sauntered out of the smoke.”
“My power animal?” Alex asked.
“Grey panther, big and powerful,” Gando smiled. “There was another panther, a male, identical to the female watching with you. I assumed that was you, Max. An eagle overhead – John watching. And a fox at your right hand – you, Raz. Of course, the coyote, Jesse, kept trying to get you moving.”
“And the snake?” Steve asked.
“You saw yourself, my friend,” Gando said. “The very symbol of transformation. The only power animal for you while you adjust to your new world.”
“We’ll have to talk more,” Steve said.
“I’m always available to you, Pershing,” Gando said. He turned to Alex and said, “You said this thing: ‘You can’t save the world and watch it burn at the same time.’ What does it mean?”
“It’s one of the General’s sayings,” Steve said.
“I think it means that you have to choose whether to be an active participant or stand around and watch,” Alex said. “Like me, he’s not a big fan of brass and politicians with clean hands and dead soldiers.”
“So, I know you have much to do today,” Gando said. “And my brother’s daughter and I need to get moving as well. I ask you to think of this – as the dynamic and active people all of you are, why are you watching the world burn?”
“I’m just one girl, what can I do?” Alex shrugged.
Max and Raz nodded.
“It’s too much,” John said.
“One person can change the course of the world,” Gando said. “You taught me that, Alex.”
Gando looked at John and smiled.
“Her spirit body is out of the smoke; she should heal very quickly now,” Gando said. “The rest of you have gone there for her. You are firmly in your bodies now. You will have no trouble getting on your feet. It’s time for you to go home.”
Before they could thank him, he shoved the MP3 player into his backpack and walked to the door. He turned at the last minute.
“I saw myself with you, and many others – living and dead,” Gando said. “There are many who will fight this battle with you.”
He gave a quick nod and left the room. Stunned by his fast exit, Margaret ran after him. The door swung on its hinges. Before they could react, the nurse came in with their discharge papers. Less than an hour later, Max, Raz, and Steve were on their way home, and Alex was in a private room.
She lay back against the bed intent on sleeping when she heard a woman’s voice in the hall.
Now that she was finally alone, her mother had arrived.
She set a smile on her face and waited to be annoyed.
F