“Thank you, sir,” I replied. “I hope he’s a useful source.”
“Cut this ‘sir’ crap, Jack. I’ve told you before, it’s Eli,” he said. “And are you kidding? The director of the SVR? He’ll be very useful. In ways he can’t even begin to imagine. What now for you?”
“I need to find my team,” I replied.
“Where are they?” he asked.
“In the city somewhere.”
Carver turned to one of the Secret Service agents. “Take Alekseyev for processing. We’re going to give Mr. Morgan and Master Gunnery Sergeant West a ride.”
“Yes, sir,” the agent responded crisply, before heading for the SUV that contained Alekseyev.
We watched it pull away.
“Come on,” Carver said, turning for his Suburban. “Maybe we can finally have that beer together?”
Chapter 106
“Jack?” Justine asked in disbelief.
“Yeah. It’s me. We just landed in New York. At Teterboro.”
I heard sobs of relief down the phone.
“Jack, oh my God,” she said. “Are you OK?”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” She sounded happy beyond reckoning, and I was too.
“I’m fine. Feeling so much better now I’m home. Hearing your voice.”
“Me too, Jack. Me too.” She was crying now, but they were tears of joy.
“Where are you?” I asked, eager to see her.
“Sci, Mo-bot, and I just sat down for a late lunch at the Edition. Near the office.”
“The Edition Hotel,” I told Carver, who was beside me on the back seat of the Suburban.
“You get that?” he asked his Secret Service driver, and the man nodded.
“We’ll be there in twenty minutes,” I said.
I’d waited to make the call until we were on the edge of the city.
“I can’t wait,” Justine replied, her voice alive with excitement.
I hung up and looked across at West, who had coped admirably with his shoulder injury.
“I hope you’ll take my offer seriously,” I said. “If and when you leave the Corps.”
“Are you trying to poach a Marine in front of the Secretary of Defense?” Carver asked jokingly.
“I wouldn’t say poach. I’m just giving him options.”
Carver smiled.
“Thank you,” West replied. “I appreciate it.”
We made it through the gleaming city in record time and reached the hotel in fifteen minutes, where we found Sci, Mo-bot, and Justine with plates of sandwiches.
Justine’s had hardly been touched. She got up, hurried across the room and threw her arms around me the moment we walked in. Carver’s arrival set the busy bar abuzz, but he didn’t pay it any mind and sat down with West, Mo-bot, and Sci while Justine and I kissed.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she said.
“Me too,” I replied.
“I was so worried.”
“It was touch and go at times,” I acknowledged.
“Don’t tell me that,” she said, and took my hand. “Come on. You must be starving.”
I nodded. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten.
I pulled up a seat between Justine and Carver. He was getting prompt attention from the server, a starstruck woman in her early twenties. She kept smiling uncontrollably, much like Justine and me.
“A beer for me, please,” Carver said. He turned to me and asked, “Beer?”
“Yeah. I’ll have a beer,” I replied. “Thanks, Eli.”
Chapter 107
A week later, Justine and I were standing in the garden of Jessie Fleming’s parents’ home with some of the Private New York team. Sam and Ellen Fleming looked small and fragile, diminished by the trauma of the past couple of weeks and the near loss of their daughter. There were some members of her extended family there too, and school and college friends. We were all waiting to welcome her home. She had come out of her coma the day after I’d returned to New York but was only being discharged today.
Justine and I stood apart from the main group and sipped cold lemonade on the warm August afternoon, enjoying the sounds and smells of rural upstate New York. The Flemings clearly spent a great deal of time on their garden, and everything from the magnificent pine trees to the tiny delicate wildflowers looked well cared for.
Justine glanced at me and smiled. We hadn’t been able to get enough of each other since my return from Moscow. I’d visited Jessie every day, grateful to see her strength returning, and Justine had insisted on coming with me. When she had needed to attend to paperwork, I’d sit in the same room and catch up on my own admin. We were happiest being around each other.
I smiled back at her, expressing the warmth and contentment I felt. Maybe one day she would get me to make that promise to stay by her side and let others rush into danger. The draw of being with her was strong enough.
My phone rang and alerted me to a Beijing number I didn’t recognize. My heart skipped a beat. I half expected bad news when I answered.
“Hello?” I said tentatively.
“Jack, it’s Shang Li,” my business partner said, much to my relief.
Across the garden, I saw a community ambulance pull up beyond the gate. The driver jumped out and ran to the back.
“And Zhang Daiyu,” she said. “You’re on speaker.”
“Save this number,” said Li. “This is the new Private Beijing office line. We just wanted to let you know.”
“That’s great,” I replied. “How are things over there?”
“Fortune smiles on us,” Shang Li replied. “David Zhou was released from prison. I don’t know if he spoke to his allies about us, but we’ve been approved for government contracts. We can expand the scope of our work considerably. And my wife says I must thank you again.”
“Thank Zhang Daiyu,” I replied. “I couldn’t have done it without her.”
“Of course,” he said.
I looked across the garden and saw Jessie being pushed toward us in a wheelchair by a nurse.
“Listen, Li, I need to go. Let’s catch up properly at our next monthly Zoom meeting,” I said.
“Look forward to it,” he said.
“Talk soon, Jack,” Zhang Daiyu added.
“Count on it,” I replied, before hanging up.
A crowd had formed around Jessie, with her parents at the heart of it. There were tears in their eyes as they greeted their daughter and welcomed her back to her childhood home. She looked gaunt and exhausted, but her doctors said she’d make a full recovery.
Justine and I edged our way toward her. She looked up at me and smiled.
“Good to see you, Jessie,” I said.
“You too, Jack,” she replied, her eyes brimming over.
Justine took her hand. “We missed you.”
Jessie nodded and we backed away to give others a chance to talk to her.
“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Justine asked when we were some distance from the group.
I knew the toll these things took, often felt most profoundly in the mind. We had been to Lewis Williams’s funeral a few days prior, and I’d seen unending grief in his parents’ eyes. They would never recover from the loss of their son. Jessie at least had a chance.
“With time,” I replied. “With time.”
Justine took my hand and we walked beneath the high trees for a while.
Fifteen minutes later, I saw Sci and Mo-bot enter the garden and greet Jessie. She was so overwhelmed she was crying now. They left her after a minute or so and came to join us.