The Fey (25 page)

“
Yes sir,” the Sergeant
said. “Sir, Captain Jakkman is here with pizza, a keg of beer and
three kids. The men are wondering if you might
authorize…”

“
Of course,” Alex said.
“Can you ask one of the soldiers to watch the kids?”

“
Sir, Captain Jakkman has
already done that.”

“
Great. Thank you. Would
you mind…” Alex saw Zack walking down the stairs. “Never
mind.”

“
Oh Alex,” Zack
said.

He walked into the secure office and hugged
Alex.

“
I’m so sorry.”

“
Me too,” Alex
said.

“
What can I
do?”

“
We’re almost done,
actually. I was wondering if you might keep a couple things for
me.”

“
Of course,” he
said.

Alex reached into a cubby and pulled out
twenty folded maps and a small wooden backed rubber stamp. She held
the stack out to Zack. Their eyes held for a moment. Alex gave him
the last remaining original Fey maps and the Fey rubber stamp.

“
Would you mind locking
these in the car then get Max and John to help move the
armoire?”

Zack leaned forward and kissed her
cheek.

“
Thank you for trusting
me.”

She nodded.

“
Hey Alex,” Max called
from the landing of the stairs. He moved aside so Zack could get
by. “Maria is here.”

“
Can you bring her
down?”

Alex stepped aside as a soldier came to
remove the weapons from the weapon safe. He picked up five handguns
and walked up the stairs. Another soldier picked up two rifles in
each hand and went up the stairs.

Maria and Max pushed past the soldiers.
Maria Abreu’s eyes were luminous at the wreckage. She held Max’s
elbow as he helped her with the stairs. Seeing Alex, Maria ran down
the stairs. Max raised a hand to Alex then returned to packing the
truck.

Speaking in a flood of Spanish, Maria
clutched Alex to her. Hearing Jesse Jr. scream, they turned to see
him chase Zack’s oldest son, Teddy, in a game of freeze tag. The
boys screamed and laughed at the same time.

“
I need a huge favor,”
Alex said in Spanish.

“
Anything,” Maria said
continuing in Spanish.

“
Jesse told me that you
have a special secret place where you keep important
things.”

Alex pulled the address book from her back
pocket. Her eyes held Raz’s for a moment then she turned back to
Maria.

“
Would you put this in
that place?”

“
Of course,” Maria said.
“I will keep it until you ask for it. Does this put us at
risk?”

“
No one knows that this
book exists except for Mr. Rasmussen here.”

Maria looked over at Raz. He winked at
her.

“
He’s very cute. Can he be
trusted, Alexandra?”

Alex turned to look at him. Raz opened his
mouth to say something then laughed.

“
I hope so,” Alex
replied.

“
I will take care of this
for you.”

Alex hugged Maria and kissed her cheek.

“
We need to talk about the
President’s circus next month,” Maria said. “I would invite you to
lunch but my boss is in town.”

Alex laughed. Out of kindness, when Jesse
died, Patrick gave Maria a receptionist position in his office.
Within six months, she had reorganized his office and his life.
Patrick called her his ‘life manager’, swearing he could not
survive without her.

“
I have an in with the
boss man,” Alex said.

“
Let’s have lunch then,”
Maria said.

Alex walked Maria up the stairs. Standing in
the night air, Alex’s eyes followed the activity: the children
chased each other in delight; a group of five or six soldiers drank
beer and laughed; a soldier moved past her to remove the last of
the weapons; John, sitting in the green overstuffed chair, laughed
at Zack; Troy and Colin argued over the Henry rifle; Matthew tried
to make space for the last of the boxes and the armoire inside the
truck; and this woman, Jesse’s soul mate, stood beside her.

“
This is crazier than that
New Year’s Day party you have,” Maria said.

“
Had.”

Maria laughed. “I don’t believe for one
minute that you won’t have that crazy party this year.” She kissed
Alex’s cheek. “I’m going to take care of this.”

“
Thanks Maria.”

Alex watched Maria thread her way through
the chaos and call to Jesse Jr. and Gabriella. The children ran to
their mother. Pleading and begging, Jesse Jr. and Gabriella worked
on Maria until she relented. All five children cheered. After a
quick conversation with Zack, the children scooted into Maria’s
car. They waved to Alex when they drove by.

Alex jogged back to the office to find Raz
closing the last box. He gave the box to the soldier checking to
make sure the gun locker was empty. Zack, Max and John came to get
the armoire. With care, the four men carried the oak furniture to
the truck.

Alex stood in the office by herself. She
touched one spot then the next. She looked in the map cubby holes.
She touched the broken gas fireplace. Closing the empty weapon
vault, she removed the antique map that hung over its opening. She
bent down to pick up a shred of paper which she crumpled and
stuffed into her pocket.

“
Sir, the engineer says
that the building is coming down. NOW. You need to get out of
here.”

Alex turned to her Sergeant. She gave a
slight nod. Looking at the walls that had been her sanctuary for
almost two years, she didn’t notice John when he entered the space.
He touched her shoulder, then pulled her to him. They held each
other in the crumbling office.

“
Sir, that crack wasn’t
there a minute ago,” her Sergeant said.

“
Yes,” Alex said. “We’ll
follow you.”

The Sergeant ran up the stairs with Alex and
John close on his heels. They reached the last step when the
basement fell into itself. The Sergeant jumped forward to avoid
being pulled into the basement. Alex threw the antique map onto the
grass and lunged for solid ground. John and Alex slid backward into
the basement. Soldiers grabbed at their arms and legs to keep them
on solid ground.

With a deafening noise, the earth swallowed
what was left of the house.

F

CHAPTER NINETEEN

A week later

September 16 – 8 A.M.

Denver, Colorado

“
I call to order the
meeting of JAM properties,” Max said.

“
Do you have to say that
every time?” Alex whined.

Max laughed at Alex’s distress. They sat
together in a chair in the hotel suite’s sitting area. John looked
up from a stack of papers to watch the twins make faces at each
other. He sat in the middle of the couch.

“
Let the notes reflect
that we have guests. Cian Kelly and Eoin Mac Kinney are here to
discuss a project,” Max said.

“
Who keeps these notes?”
Alex asked.

“
We tape the meetings,
love. We have for the last three years,” John said. He had to work
to keep the exasperation from this voice. Alex attended their
monthly financial meetings but never paid attention.

“
He’s not a guest then?”
Cian asked. He pointed to Raz, who sat down in a chair across from
John.

“
He’s a member of the
corporation,” John said. “He joined a couple years ago.”

“
There’s no ‘R’,” Eoin
said. “John, Alex and Max, I get that.”

“
They call him Art,” Cian
said to Eoin. “Do you share our Alex’s ‘A’?”

“
Something like that,” Raz
said.

“
Ew, Rasmussen is not his
real name,” Eoin said.

He and Cian shared a look.

“
What was that?” John
asked.

“
We’re just with the big
boys…” Cian started.

“…
and girl…” Eoin
added

“
Now,” Cian finished.
“Cloak and dagger.”

“
Spooks.”

Alex furrowed her brow at Cian and Eoin,
then laughed.

“
Are you going to pay
attention this time?” John asked Alex.

She nodded setting her eyes to her most
sincere look. Raz and Max handed John five dollar bills.

“
Betting?” Alex asked. She
gauged her voice for offended rather than amused.

“
It would be a first,
love,” John said.

Alex rolled her eyes at the men.

“
Will you two sit down?”
John asked.

“
We’re a bit nervous,
Johnny,” Cian said. “Do you want to try our cookies
now?”

“
Sure,” John
said.

“
You said, Johnny, that if
we came up with five recipes we could talk about a bakery. We have
ten different kinds of cookies here.”

“
We made them at an
industrial bakery,” Eoin said. “No explosions. Very safe. Very
sanitary.”

“
I made some special
coffee for my favorite sister-in-law,” Cian said. “We think that
coffee and pastries in the morning could be a good thing for us.
Lots of people around the building in the mornings… Foot traffic
it’s called.”

Alex smacked her lips like a child when Eoin
handed her a cup of coffee. Alex took away the cup Eoin gave to
Max.

“
You can’t have coffee,”
Alex said. “It’s hard on your heart.”

“
You put your God damn
finger in my heart so you could drink all the coffee.” Max
laughed.

When the surgeon came to talk to the family
after Max’s heart surgery, he told Patrick that the hole in Max’s
heart was the size of a small child’s finger. Of course, the entire
family assumed that it was Alex’s finger made the hole in Max’s
heart.

“
Give me that.” Max
snatched the cup back from her.

Alex lifted her index finger and pointed it
devilishly at his chest. Max put a hand on his chest to protect his
heart.

“
How long does this go
on?” Eoin asked under his breath to John.

John looked from Alex to Max.

“
A lifetime, if I’m
lucky,” John replied. “Alex. Max. Our Irish friends would like you
to settle down.”

Alex and Max, with matching looks on their
faces, turned to Cian and Eoin and stuck their tongues out at them.
Raz started laughing so hard that he had to stand up to keep from
choking.

“
You better give us your
proposal,” John said laughing.

“
We’d like to open a
bakery in Denver,” Eoin said. “We…” He looked at Cian then stopped
talking. “I…”

“
We need some financial
help getting started. We also don’t know how to…”

“
We need help with the
forms,” Eoin said. “We got confused and fucked them up.”

“
The truth is that we
don’t know anything, but we’ll work hard and we can learn.” Cian’s
face blushed bright red and he looked away.

John’s cobalt eyes searched Cian’s face then
Eoin’s face.

“
We have already decided
to help you,” John said. “Raz?”

“
I completed the start of
business forms,” he said. He handed Eoin a couple of forms then sat
down in his chair. “When you pick a name for the bakery, we’ll file
for trademark and create the corporation.”

“
The point is this,” Max
said. “If you are willing to do the work, we are willing to invest
in your bakery, teach you how to run it and, when or if the time is
right, sell it back to you.”

Cian’s mouth fell open. He looked at Eoin
and the men shared an awkward hug.

“
I’ve reviewed the
property you selected. It has an apartment over the store front.
Who will live there?” John asked.

“
Eoin,” Cian said. “I like
being with family. If it’s all right, that is.”

“
Of course,” Max and Alex
said in unison.

“
Eoin’s already…
well…”

“
I’m going to find myself
a wife,” Eoin said. “A bakery and a wife. That’s my dream. Well,
kids too.”

Alex took in his bright face, bright red
hair and sparkling eyes. She laughed and everyone followed.

“
I put an offer in on the
building,” John said. “We are waiting to hear from the owner. I
believe, with the renovations, the space will be ready before the
end of the year. Will you be ready?”

“
Yes, Johnny,” Cian said.
His smile seemed to emanate from the very center of his
being.

“
We’ll meet every week–you
and me–to take care of paperwork and financing. My schedule is
tight but I’ll make time,” John said. “You’ll also need to meet
with Max to learn about employment laws. I set an appointment with
the Small Business Administration for you and I
tomorrow.”

“
Yes, Johnny,” Cian said.
“Thank you.”

John looked up at his older brother and
smiled.

“
It’s our pleasure. Now
sit down while we figure out what to do about the
house.”

“
He’s is very aggressive,”
Eoin said to Cian.

“
And smart. Mum was
right,” Cian replied.

John moved over and Cian and Eoin sat
down.

“
I have received three
offers on our houses,” John said. He passed pieces of paper to Raz
and Max. “A developer offered us three times what the homes are
worth for the property. He has some in with the city and wants to
build six walk ups… What do you call them here?”