Chapter 56: Negotiation
There was a slight pause as whoever was on the other end in Communications verified Hawk's personal command code, then a slightly longer pause—he figured the duty Communications officer was trying to locate Flint, the ranking officer on base after Hawk himself, then the laptop screen flickered and came on, and Christ, his heart stopped when he saw Flint and his people in full dress uniform, in the briefing room, he saw Clancy in handcuffs, and Lieutenant General Johnson, and oh shit, the Secretary of Defense!But the man moved almost as soon as Clayton saw him, moved off camera, presumably to observe without being seen.
Before Clayton could speak Velez stepped into view of the laptop's camera. "Let me introduce myself, for those of you who don't know who I am. I'm Cesar Velez, and you have something I want." He peered closely at the screen. "Ah. So nice to see you again, Ms. Cabot. You look rather better than you did in the last photo I saw you in. No matter; I can fix that when I see you again." He looked again. "Ah. General Clancy. I assume from the handcuffs that you have been discovered. That is fine, I have no further use for you anymore. I have what I need in order to get Ms. Cabot here."
"We do not negotiate with terrorists and criminals." Flint spoke for everyone in the room; the Secretary stepped further back from the briefing room webcam's pickup, apparently content to let Flint take the lead; a smart move, since they didn't want Velez knowing just how close to the President he was.
"I realize that is the official position you have to take. But this is somewhat different, isn't it? I have a highly-classified American General here at the moment, as well as a civilian who, I believe, is rather important to Ms. Cabot personally." He turned the laptop so that the webcam could pick up Olivia, slumped limply in the chair, barely conscious from his assault on her with the tazer. Sandra had finished reattaching all the wires Clayton had pulled off, and Clayton could see the sudden pallor of Flint's face.
There was a commotion in the briefing room, and two female voices rang out simultaneously; Scarlett's, in a tone of disbelief and rage; "Sandra!" and Alex's, in grief and anguish and fury, crying Olivia's name.
"Olivia! You son of a bitch, Velez, you let her go! It's me you want, not her! Leave her alone, she's innocent in all of this!"
Velez's slow smirk infuriated Clayton. "Then come find me, Ms. Cabot. Come and find me, and get your lover back."
"And bring that redhead with you, she and I have a score to settle," Sandra snapped to Scarlett, who'd taken a few involuntary steps forward and was now standing close to the briefing room screen. Clayton wondered if she realized she'd unconsciously taken an offensive posture; standing lightly on the balls of her feet, feet shoulder width apart, ready to launch into attack at a moment's notice.
"You name the place, I'll be there. Don't you dare touch her!" the last was said in tone of helpless rage; Alex could see Olivia was already in pain.
"Like this?" Sandra turned the crank, and Olivia went rigid in her bonds again, screaming as electric current tore through her. Sandra didn't let up, this time, until Olivia was unconscious; the current locked her muscles until she ran out of air and Sandra didn't allow her to get her breath back. As Velez turned the laptop screen back to himself, Clayton saw Alex was crying. I'll do my best, he swore to her silently, but even he knew there wasn't much he could do at the moment.
"Wherever you want. Name the place." There was so much fury in Alex's voice you could cut it with a knife.
"Not here. Not in your country. In mine, in Colombia, in Medellin. Let's say, two weeks, that will give you enough time to figure out travel arrangements since, at the moment, you have nothing. I have your wallet, your identification—I took the liberty of emptying your personal bank account into mine. Consider it the price you paid for dealing a blow to my organization's finances five years ago." He looked at the other people on the screen. "I will allow a small force of you only and it must include that redhead who went undercover at the ICC; her co-conspirator, who posed as Sandra's driver; and Ms. Cabot herself. If I see more than six of you in Medellin I will kill your General and Ms. Benson myself. I have contacts at the airports, and on the ground; I will know when you have arrived. I will contact your headquarters once I know Ms. Cabot has arrived and give you a meeting location." And the screen went dark.
Alex wasn't sure what she expected when the briefing room vidphone link came up. Seeing Clayton nude, bruised, one eye swelling shut, lip split and bleeding, was one thing—but when the laptop turned and she saw Sandra and Olivia, all rational thought fled her mind. Olivia…there were wires everywhere…and then Sandra turned the crank, and Alex saw Olivia arch and scream as the electric current tore her apart…
You son of a bitch. That's it. This ends now. One way or another. She didn't do anything to you, your argument was with me, oh God, Olivia…and Clayton, and Flint, and everyone else who had been suckered into this deadly chess game between Cesar Velez's black king and Alex's white queen and had paid the ultimate price. No more. No more."NO MORE!"
She didn't realize she'd spoken aloud until the Secretary of Defense cleared his throat. "I agree with you, Private Cabot, but at the moment meeting him in Colombia is not an option. You have testimony that has not been given, testimony that could convict someone guilty of far more deaths than those of Ms. Benson and General Abernathy."
"You're just going to hang them out to dry." Alex stared at him in disbelief. "What about protecting civilians? What about not leaving anyone behind?"
"At the moment, Private Cabot, their lives are insignificant in light of the greater picture. Your testimony is more important than anything else."
"I am not testifying unless rescue of Olivia Benson and Clayton Abernathy is considered." Alex folded her arms. "Damn it, it wouldn't even be a consideration if the damned chip the ICC put in my head was still here."
"The chip?" Lady Jaye froze as Cover Girl stared at Alex. "But…we have the chip. We just couldn't decode it, it's encrypted. Our techs have been working on it for weeks."
Alex sucked in a harsh breath. "You have it? But—he ripped it out of my head—damaged my auditory nerve, broke one of the bones, that's why I can't hear now—"
"He dropped it in the mud under the tree," Flint spoke, looking chagrinned. "When the rest of the team came to rescue us, Lady Jaye's boots caught up clods of that mud. We found it later when we got you on the medical chopper. We decided not to give it to the UN." He finished grimly, "I'm glad now that we didn't. Who knows how far they've been compromised."
"But…if you have the chip…I have the encryption codes. You can decrypt it and get it to the ICC. You don't need me. We can go get Olivia and Clayton—"
"No," Flint and the Secretary said together.
Flint exploded. "Jesus, Alex! He's setting you up! Going in with just five of us—Scarlett and Snake Eyes and you and three others—he's planning on capturing you! And once he gets you—damn it, Alex, you know what he's going to do!"
"Yes. I know." Her face was pale but composed.
"Then you know you're not coming back. He'll kill you on sight."
"No, he won't. Didn't you hear him? He wants to savor it, savor his victory. He wants to enjoy it. He's a large, dangerous, predatory cat, and he sees me as the mouse. He's going to play with his prey before he eats it." Flint winced at that imagery. "And while he plays with me, you can get Olivia and Clayton out. It's the same scenario that was originally planned for Zimurinda; let Velez capture me, use my location to track him down, and wipe him out."
"Alex…no. I can see all kinds of ways this could go wrong. We can't give you to him. We can't let him win."
Alex blew up. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes turned into blue flame. "He has already won. He won five years of my life. He won my peace of mind, my sense of safety and security, and it's only thanks to you that he didn't get my life. But now he has Olivia and is doing…God-knows-what…to her. He has already won the battle. All I can do is make sure he doesn't win the war. And if I have to sacrifice myself in order to do that…then that's what I'll do. Don't forget the trees make up the forest, isn't that what you said? Life isn't that different from the chess game, Flint. And the bishop and the knight are worth the queen's sacrifice."
"No! It's not! Nothing is worth what you went through, Alex. Nothing!"
"You're all forgetting something." They all turned. The Secretary was standing there; he'd been so quiet that they'd forgotten he was even there. "Any operation you even consider has to be vetted by the US Military."
He looked tired. "I wasn't here for Ms. Cabot's recovery, Warrant Officer. I don't know what you felt when you and she were prisoners in that militia camp. God help me, but I don't want to know. I don't think I could handle it, and I don't know how you could. I don't know what you felt watching her recover. But what I do know is that she has every right to feel as she does. This man has taken more away from her that anyone has a right to. Her desire to, as she puts it, 'not let him win' stems from that, and I believe, having been through this unimaginable experience once, she knows exactly what awaits her if she steps into it again." Alex nodded. "I also know that a very basic part of our job is to protect civilians. Even civilians like Ms. Cabot, who seem determined to go and get themselves killed. Even though I know that Ms. Cabot isn't actually a part of the American military, she has behaved like on every step of the way. She has put the safety, life, and feelings of her fellow human beings ahead of her own, even when it meant she took more pain, more degradation, more humiliation. There is no finer example of the American fighting spirit than Ms. Cabot has shown, and I am proud to call her Private Cabot.
"We pride ourselves on never leaving anyone behind. We will not now leave General Abernathy in enemy hands, nor can we leave another civilian, Private Cabot's friend, in enemy hands. That much I also know. So with all of that in mind, let me speak with those who make the decisions, see what they recommend. I am ordering all of you, including Private Cabot, to take no further action until you hear from me. Is that clear?"
Everyone nodded. Even Alex.
"Alex?"
The soft tap on her door startled her out of her reverie, and she looked up. Flint, Lady Jaye and Ettienne all stood there. Flint held up a hand. "We just happened to get here at the same time Ettienne did. We're not going to get on your case and we're not going to be here long. I just want to know one thing, Alex; when I found you and the girls in Allie's room, earlier—this was why you asked, isn't it?"
"Yes," Alex said, sitting up from where she'd been lying on the bed reading. "Yes, it is. But I didn't know that Liv had…Liv had been kidnapped. I asked because Cesar Velez will never stop until he has me and I am so sick of fighting him that I would rather just find him, face him, and have it over with. Even if it means I'll die, and die horribly—at least there will finally be peace after that death." Her eyes begged him to understand.
He understood. He understood that she was tired. She'd been on her guard every day for two years in witness protection; then every day since Cesar Velez saw her in the ICC jail and plotted to bring her down. She was tired of being on her guard, tired of watching the pawns around her on the chessboard being slaughtered to protect the queen. She had felt some kind of duty to protect them, had been forced to watch as they fell, one by one. "The white queen has been watching too many of her pieces fall to the black king. It's been one long agonizing game after another and the queen has decided to end the tournament with a sudden-death endgame."
"Yes," she said. "Dash…I need you to understand. Whether the Secretary of Defense okays the mission or not, I will go out there and I will buy Olivia and Clayton's life with mine. I have no choice, I have to do this."
"Yes," Allie spoke now, her voice soft. "Yes, we know. That's why I came to give you this." She handed Alex a book. "Just promise me you'll wait until we hear something. Once we know whether they say yes or no, then decide. Please, Alex."
Alex took the book. Saw the title. Looked up at Allie. "Allie…" Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape.
"Just…just take it. Don't say anything. Please." And Allie turned away, tears spilling down her cheeks. Flint followed her wordlessly.
Ettienne was left standing by the door, looking at her. She looked up at him, mute pleading in her eyes. "Please understand."
He crossed the room in a rush, dropping to the bed beside her, and crushed her in a tight hug. "I do understand, Alex," he said, his Cajun accent thick with emotion. "I swear I do understand. But, Alex, I can't pretend dat it's not bot'ering me. I love you, I really do, and watching you do dis…make dese hard decisions—it's hard for me too." He pulled back, looked into her watering blue ones. "I don't like it, but I understand. And Alex, if de Secretary don' say dis mission is okay, if you decide to go out dere an' trade your life for t'eirs, please…let me know, so I can go wit' you. At least…" he choked on the words, his voice breaking. "At least I can say goodbye."
"If you go with me, you'll get in trouble. Court martial, military prison."
"I don't care. I don't care. It would be worth it just to be able to say goodbye, to see you one last time."
Alex drew in a deep breath. "Okay. Ettienne, I promise that I'll let you know when I leave, all right?" he nodded and stood, turning away.
"Wait…" she rose from the bed, hand held out. He turned and looked at her, and the pain and anguish in his eyes tore at her heart. She reached out to fold him in her arms, her own heart aching. "I'm sorry, Ettienne. This is…just something I have to do. Thank you for understanding."
"I love you, Alex. For however long you're going to be here. I fell in love with you on the trip to Nzoka, and it hasn't changed. I'm always going to. I've never known anyone like you."
"Even with what I look like now?" she stepped away from him. "Even knowing what I looked like after Zimurinda got done with me, seeing what I looked like on the helicopter from the DRC, can you still say you love me knowing what I look like now?"
"I don't care what you look like," and even as he said it he knew it was true. He didn't care what she looked like; didn't care that, according to Clancy, she would never be able to have a fulfilling physical relationship because of the physical damage done to her body. He hadn't fallen in love with her beauty, although he had to admit to himself honestly that he'd first become interested in her when he'd seen her photo in the paperwork that Clancy had sent over with their initial mission orders. But in the time since he'd first seen that photo, he'd come to know the woman behind the pretty face, and there was so much more there. He didn't care about the packaging now; it was what was inside that counted.
"You don't care what I look like? Really?" Her fatigues hit the floor.
The last time he had seen her nude she'd been screaming in pain in the back of the helicopter and she'd had yards of blood-stained bandages wadded all around her body trying to keep her from bleeding her life out on Lifeline's stretcher. Now he forced himself to put that mental picture aside, to look at her objectively. And in comparison with what he'd imagined she'd look like under the fatigues, she was actually not that bad. The majority of the cuts she'd sustained across her breasts, torso, stomach and thighs had faded to thin red lines; here and there a few healing bruises still clung to her skin, but she really didn't look that different.
"Alex, I don't know what you're paranoid about. You're gorgeous." And, desperate to erase that look of wounded uncertainty from her eyes, he took her in his arms and kissed her.
He didn't mean for it to go any further, but all thought vanished as her lips softened, parted under his tentatively.