Heroes Never Die (24 page)

“Wonderful,” Sami sighed.

Stephanie was wheeled to x-ray.  Sami, Nadia, and the guards followed her just like before, and she wondered whether she had misinterpreted Dr. Young’s signal.

“I’ll be quick as a wink,” Dr. Young assured Sami as he closed the steel door.

Stephanie jumped out of her wheelchair, crazed with fear.  “You promised me!”

“Did you really think I was going to let you down?  Quick,” he ordered as he pulled out a man’s suit from underneath the steel table.  “Put this on.”

Stephanie’s eyes filled with horror.  “I’m supposed to walk out of here in a man’s suit?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he countered.  “You’re going to crawl out of here.  Hurry
!  We don’t have much time.”

Dr. Young helped Stephanie dress in the suit.  He slipped the shirt over her broken arm and buttoned it.  He pulled on her pants, tucked in the shirttail, and quickly buckled her belt.  Stephanie could feel his hands trembling as he clipped on a tie.  She pulled her arms through the double-breasted coat and stood straight while he buttoned it.  She nervously glanced at the door, afraid that Sami would barge in suddenly.  Then Dr. Young lifted Stephanie’s hair on top of her head, gave it a quick twist, and pulled a black fedora over her head.  He tied her black shoes, and for a finishing touch, he pressed a thick brown mustache above her lip.

The mustache tickled her skin.  “I feel like Charlie Chaplin,” she panted, her insides shaking with nervousness.

“I was hoping you felt lucky,” he said dryly.  He took her hand and led her to the small dressing room.  The ceiling vent had already been removed.  “I’m going to give you a boost, and then I want you to crawl as quickly as you can until you come to the next vent.  The cover has already been removed.  Carefully slide your body over the vent and then jump feet first.  Here’s a penlight,” he instructed as he flipped it on.  “Hold it in your teeth to light the way.  Once your feet hit the ground, follow the exit signs to the main entrance.  A driver is waiting for you.  He will be standing next to a black BMW with a gift in his hands.  Get into the car, and he will take you to the airport.  He has all of your papers.  Now get going!”

Stephanie hesitated.  “What about you?”

“It’s al
l worked out,” he assured her.

But Stephanie sensed that he didn’t have that part figured out yet.
  Tears of appreciation streamed down her face.  “I’ll never be able to repay you, Dr. Young.”

“Call me Bobby.  Just name that son Brian always talked about having after me.  And remember, men aren’t supposed to cry.”

A faint smile arched the corners of her mouth.  She put her arms around him and hugged him, hoping with all of her might that they would both make it out of there alive.  “Goodbye, Bobby.  I will never forget you.”

Sami began to pound on the door.  Bobby quickly lifted Stephanie up on his bended knee, and then he boosted her body up through the vent.  As she crawled to freedom, he whispered, “God speed, my friend.”  Then the light faded as he locked the dressing room door from the inside and pulled it closed.

Stephanie’s feet hit the floor inside a utility room.  She quickly stepped out into the hallway and headed toward the exit sign, forcing herself not to run.  She suddenly heard the pounding of boots rushing up from behind her and fear gripped her insides.  She held her breath as though she could make herself disappear.  She saw the guards run past her, almost knocking her down.  They were looking for a woman, not a man.

The first thing Stephanie noticed as she walked outside was the brilliant blue sky.  The driver was standing next to a black BMW with a gift in his hand, just as Bobby had described.  She hurried toward him and jumped into the car, too terrified to look back.

***

Stephanie looked out of the small window from her seat on the plane.  She kept looking for the guards, afraid that they would show up at any minute and kill her.  She couldn’t rest until the plane was safely in the air
, and she wondered what was taking so long.  Finally, the jet revved its engine and began to taxi down the runway.  She felt the surge of takeoff and she covered her mouth and began to sob.  She was finally on her way home.

She remembered that she was holding the gift
that Bobby had given her.  She opened the gift card and silently read it.  ‘Dear Stephanie, I wanted to be the first to give you and Brian a present for your baby.  All my love, Bobby.’  Stephanie slowly tore back the pretty paper and opened the box, wondering what was inside.  Her face filled with a warm smile when she saw the cuddly teddy bear.  She lifted it out of the box and pressed it next to her heart, crying.  Then she found a handkerchief inside of her suit pocket and dried her face.  After all, men weren’t supposed to cry.

Chapter Twenty-Five:

Stephanie stood still for a moment and let the warmth of her home consume her.  Everything was just as she had left it.  Brian had not been home, her dad either for that matter, and she wondered why they had not been notified of her death.  She quickly reasoned that their services were needed in Turkey, and given the fact that her own government had set her up to die, refusing to notify her next of kin was completely conceivable.  It was just one more cover-up in their deadly game.  She was finally home, but she wondered whether she would ever feel safe.

Stephanie placed the teddy bear on the dining room table, and then she removed her black fedora and put it on the table beside the bear.  She noticed that all of the mail had been stacked in a neat pile.  She shuffled through it, hoping to find a letter from Brian.  Six weeks and still nothing.  She reached for their wedding picture. A thin layer of dust covered the glossy surface and she wiped the picture on her suit to clean it.  She gazed into Brian’s eyes and remembered the promise the President had made.  ‘If you complete this operation, I will give the order for both your husband and father to return home at once, and they will be safe.  You have my word on it.’  She smiled.  “I finally made it home, Brian.”  She tenderly said out loud, “Now it’s your turn.”

A sudden noise at the front door startled her.  She listened, hoping it was just the wind, but then the doorknob began to twist open.  Someone was breaking in.  There wasn’t time to reach the phone to call for help.  She ran to the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife out of the knife block on the counter, and backed against the wall.  She heard the front door open and close.  The intruder was inside and walking toward the dining room.

From her hiding spot in the kitchen, Stephanie heard a pistol being drawn from its holster and then the click of the safety being released.  The intruder was on the opposite side of the wall, and he had a weapon.

“I know you’re in there,” Kyle said.  “Come out, or I’m coming in after you.”

Confused, Stephanie cocked her ear toward the doorway.  Was Kyle the intruder?  “Kyle,” she whimpered with uncertainty.  “Kyle, is that you?”

“Stephanie?”
he questioned with equal uncertainty.  “Stephanie, is that you?”

Stephanie let out a puff of strangled air.  “Of course it’s me,” she finally announced, her heart still pounding as she stepped into the doorway to face him.  “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

Completely dazed, Kyle grabbed her mustache and ripped it off of her lip.

“Ouch!” she screamed as she reached for her lip to feel whether her skin was still there.  Her eyes filled with rabid anger. 
Kyle had hurt her for the last time.  She raised the knife to slice him open.  He instinctively cuffed her wrist, smacked her arm against the wall, and easily removed the knife from her hand, all while she kicked and thrashed at him.  “Let go of me, you dirty son of a bitch.  You set me up to die.”

“That’s not what happened,” he insisted as he let her loose so she would settle down.  “You have to believe me.”

“Hah!” she scoffed.  “The last time I believed you, you told me nothing could go wrong.  Boy, was I an idiot!  All I want to know now is when you were planning to break the news to Brian and Dad.  Better yet, what were you going to tell them, that I died in a car accident?  Do you have any idea how devastated my dad would have been?”

“We didn’t notify them because we thought there might be a chance that you were still alive.”

“Liar!” she accused.  Then she suddenly realized that all of her doors had been locked.  “Just how did you get in here anyway?”

“You gave me your house key before you left.”  Her brow twisted with agitation, as though she were trying to force herself to remember something that had never occurred.  “You asked me to bring in your mail
, remember?”

Stephanie’s mind sorted through all of the recent chaos.  “No, no I don’t remember.  And if I did, I must have been deranged.  Now give it back,” she demanded.  “Then I want you out of my house, and I want you to stay out.”

“It’s not that simple, Stephanie,” he said as he dropped the key into her open hand.  “We need you back at headquarters.  We’re going to have a lot of questions for you.”

“I’m not going back there,” she declared, outraged by his ridiculous request.  “Not now, not ever.  I did my part.  All I want now is Brian and Dad back home.”

“The President won’t give the order to bring Brian home until he knows for certain that you’re alive.  Unless – you don’t want Brian home?”

He was still using Brian as a weapon against her.  “You know damn well that’s not true,” she seethed.  “I don’t believe anything you say anyway.  I think you’re just trying to set me up again.”

“Listen to me, Stephanie.”

“No!” she screamed.  “I don’t want to listen to you.”

“Listen anyway!  There’s a lot more going on than you realize, and if you want to come out of this alive, you’re going to need my help.”

She sensed danger.  “What are you talking about?”

“You know better than that.  You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“You’re asking the impossible.”

“Really?  I used to be your hero, remember?  Now I’m asking, no, I’m begging.  You have to trust me like you used to.”

Kyle’s grave expression frightened her.  “You’re scaring me,” she whimpered.

“I don’t want you to be scared, Stephanie, but I don’t want you to wind up dead, either.”

“Then tell me what’s going on,” she demanded.  “This is my life you’re playing with.”

“This isn’t a game,” he corrected.  This is for real.  The big boys fight rough, Stephanie.  Either you trust me, or you die.”

Trusting
Kyle was the last thing she wanted to do, but she heard genuine concern in his voice, as though the man she had once loved suddenly appeared out of nowhere.  “All right,” she hesitated, hoping to God that she could trust her own judgment.  “I’ll give you one more chance.  I’ll go to Langley, but I’m going to be the one asking all of the questions.  You got that?”

“Go change out of that ridiculous-looking suit, and I’ll call Barry to let him know we’re coming in.”

“This ‘ridiculous-looking suit’ saved my life,” she retaliated.  “And that’s a lot more than I can say for you.”  Then she ran toward the stairs.

“Stephanie,” he called after her.  She spun around to face him.  “I’m glad you’re alive, and I’m sorry, sorry for everything you had to go through.”

Kyle’s apology only antagonized her.  “Sorry doesn’t excuse what you did to me.  You knew the Saudis would eat me alive, and they almost did.  Tareef suspected me of working for the CIA the moment he laid eyes on me.  And now that he knows I have escaped, he’ll never rest until he puts a bullet through my head.  Try living with that!”

“Tareef will be looking for Mickey Chapman,” he assured her, “and she doesn’t exist.”

“I hope you’re right, Kyle, but don’t underestimate him.  Believe me, he’ll figure it out.”

***

Kyle opened the door to Barry’s office and allowed Stephanie to walk in first.  She was amused by the look of shock on Barry’s face.  That’s right, take a good look because I’m really alive.  Barry jumped to his feet so fast that his chair rolled into the wall behind him.  “Stephanie,” he cried when he could finally speak.  “Thank God you’re alive!”

“Come now, Barry,” she chided.  “I’m the last person you expected to see again.  In fact, you and Kyle set me up to die.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he floundered.

Stephanie shook her head with disgust.  She hated being lied to.  “You never sent a helicopter to rescue me,” she accused.  “You stranded me on the beach to die.”

“Hold on a minute, little lady,” he snapped.  “It’s time to set you straight.  We did send a helicopter after you, but the pilot and crew went down in the Caribbean.  By the time we got the word, it was too late to send in another chopper.  So don’t ever accuse me or this agency of setting you up to die because innocent men died trying to rescue you.”

Stephanie felt tears in her eyes.  She had no idea that men had died trying to rescue her.  Kyle took hold of her right arm and helped her to a chair.  She was ready to collapse.

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Barry apologized.  “But I couldn’t let you go on thinking we had set you up.  Are we clear on that?”

Stephanie shook her head, not clear on anything.  “Why should I believe you?”
she screamed.  “I should have had backup.  There was time to get me off of that beach!”