Clear and Present Danger

There was electrician's tape over the muzzle to keep it from being clogged, and more tape was wrapped around the sling swivels to minimize noise. Noise was their enemy. Chavez concentrated on that, and seeing, and a dozen other things. This one was for-real. The mission brief had told them all about that. Their job wasn't reconnaissance anymore.

After six hours, the RON - remain overnight - site was in view. Chavez radioed back - five taps on the transmit key answered by three - for the squad to remain in place while he checked it out. They'd picked a real eyrie - he knew the word for an eagle's nest - from which, in daylight, they could look down on miles of the main road that snaked its way from Manizales to Medell n, and off of which the refining sites were located. Six of them, supposedly, were within a night's march of the RON site. Chavez circled it carefully, looking for footprints, trash, anything that hinted at human activity. It was too good a site for someone not to have used it for something or other, he thought. Maybe a photographer for National Geographic who wanted to take shots of the valley. On the other hand, getting here was a real bitch. They were a good three thousand feet above the road, and this wasn't the sort of country that you could drive a tank across, much less a car. He spiraled in, and still found nothing. Maybe it was too far out of the way. After half an hour he keyed his radio again. The rest of the squad had had ample time to check its rear, and if anyone had been following them, there would have been contact by now. The sun outlined the eastern wall of the valley in red by the time Captain Ramirez appeared. It was just as well that the covert insertion had shortened the night. With only half a night's march behind them they were tired, but not too tired, and would have a day to get used to the altitude all over again. They'd come five linear miles from the LZ - more like seven miles actually walked, and two thousand feet up.

As before, Ramirez spread his men out in pairs. There was a nearby stream, but nobody was dehydrated this time. Chavez and Vega took position over one of the two most likely avenues of approach to their perch, a fairly gentle slope with not too many trees and a good field of fire. Ding hadn't come in this way, of course.

'How you feelin', Oso ?'

'Why can't we ever go to a place with plenty of air and it's cool and flat?' Sergeant Vega slipped out of his web gear, setting it in a place where it would make a comfortable pillow. Chavez did the same.

'People don't fight wars there, man. That's where they build golf courses.'

'Fuckin' A!' Vega set up his Squad Automatic Weapon next to a rocky outcropping. A camouflage cloth was set across the muzzle. He could have torn up a shrub to hide the gun behind, but they didn't want to disturb anything they didn't have to. Ding won the toss this time, and fell off to sleep without a word.

'Mom?' It was after seven o'clock, and she was always up by now, fixing breakfast for her family of early risers. Dave knocked at the door, but heard nothing. That was when he started being afraid. He'd already lost a father, and knew that even parents were not the immortal, unchanging beings that all children need at the center of their growing universe. It was the constant nightmare that each of Moira's children had but never spoke about, even among themselves, lest their talk somehow make it more likely to happen. What if something happens to Mom? Even before his hand felt for the doorknob, Dave's eyes filled with tears at the anticipation of what he might find.

'Mom?' His voice quavered now, and he was ashamed of it, fearful also that his siblings would hear. He turned the knob and opened the door slowly.

The shades were open, flooding the room with morning light. And there she was, lying on the bed, still wearing her black mourning dress. Not moving.

Dave just stood there, the tears streaming down his cheeks as the reality of his personal nightmare struck him with physical force.

'... Mom?'

Dave Wolfe was as courageous as any teenager, and he needed all of it this morning. He summoned what strength he had and walked to the bedside, taking his mother's hand. It was still warm. Next he felt for a pulse. It was there, weak and slow, but there. That galvanized him into action. He lifted the bedside phone and punched 911.

'Police emergency,' a voice answered immediately.

'I need an ambulance. My mom won't wake up.'

'What is your address?' the voice asked. Dave gave it. 'Okay, now describe your mother's condition.'

'She's asleep, and she won't wake up, and -'

'Is your mother a heavy drinker?'

' No! ' he replied in outrage. 'She works for the FBI. She went right to bed last night, right after she got home from work. She -' And there it was, right on the night table. 'Oh, God. There's a pill bottle here...'

'Read the label to me!' the voice said.

'P- l-a-c-i-d-y-l. It's my dad's, and he -' That was all the operator needed to hear.

'Okay - we'll have an ambulance there in five minutes.'

Actually, it was there in just over four minutes. The Wolfe house was only three blocks from a firehouse. The paramedics were in the living room before the rest of the family knew anything was wrong. They ran upstairs to find Dave still holding his mother's hand and shaking like a twig in a heavy wind. The leading fireman pushed him aside, checked the airway first, then her eyes, then the pulse.

'Forty and thready. Respiration is... eight and shallow. It's Placidyl,' he reported.

'Not that shit!' The second one turned to Dave. 'How many were in there?'

'I don't know. It was my dad's, and -'

'Let's go, Charlie.' The first paramedic lifted her by the arms. 'Move it, kid, we gotta roll.' There wasn't time to fool around with the Stokes litter. He was a big, burly man and carried Moira Wolfe out of the room like a baby. 'You can follow us to the hospital.'

'How - '

'She's still breathin', kid. That's the best thing I can tell you right now,' the second one said on the way out the door.

What the hell is going on? Murray wondered. He'd come by to pick Moira up - her car was still in the FBI garage - and maybe help ease the guilt she clearly felt. She'd violated security rules, she'd done something very foolish, but she was also a victim of a man who'd searched and selected her for her vulnerabilities, then exploited them as professionally as anyone could have done. Everybody had vulnerabilities. That was another lesson he'd picked up over his years in the Bureau.

He'd never met Moira's kids, though he did know about them, and it wasn't all that hard to figure out who would be there, following the paramedic out of the house. Murray double-parked his Bureau car and hopped out.

'What gives?' he asked the second paramedic. Murray held up his ID so that he'd get an answer.

'Suicide attempt. Pills. Anything else you need?' the paramedic asked on his way to the driver's seat.

'Get moving.' Murray turned to make sure he wasn't in the ambulance's way.

When he turned back to look at the kids, it was plain that 'suicide' hadn't yet been spoken aloud, and the ugliness of that word made them wilt before his eyes.

That fucker Cortez! You 'd better hope that I never get my hands on you!

'Kids, I'm Dan Murray. I work with your mom. You want me to take you to the hospital?' The case could wait. The dead were dead, and they could afford to be patient. Emil would understand.

He let them off in front of the emergency entrance and went off to find a parking place and use his car phone. 'Get me Shaw,' he told the watch officer. It didn't take long.

'Dan, this is Bill. What gives?'

'Moira tried to kill herself last night. Pills.'

'What are you going to do?'

'Somebody has to sit with the kids. Does she have any friends we can bring out?'

'I'll check.'

'Until then I'm going to hang around, Bill. I mean -'

'I understand. Okay. Let me know what's happening.'

'Right.' Murray replaced the phone and walked over to the hospital. The kids were sitting together in the waiting room. Dan knew about emergency-room waiting. He also knew that the gold badge of an FBI agent could open nearly any door. It did this time, too.