S7: Chapter 09: The Price We Pay

“Dad, have you seen my phone?” Yvette asked as she searched through the living room cushions for her cell. “I thought I’d left it in here but now I’m not so sure.” Ethan came around the corner with the device in his hand. He had broken it into pieces and dismantled the gadgetry completely. “What are you doing?”

“Yvette, someone’s bugged you.”

“What?” Holding the pieces up for her to see, Ethan pointed out the small listening device that had been implanted in the back of her cell. “What the hell?”

“I heard interference this morning when I went to check the radio for any news on our mission. Everything is still dark but there was a cross channel coming from the living room. After sweeping it, I found the device inside your phone.” Yvette listened as she continued examining the small microchip listening device; puzzled by the fact that she’d let her guard down enough for it to have happened at all. “Do you have any idea when this could have happened?”

“No. It’s never really out of my possession unless I’m home,” she replied, slowly dropping to the couch as she thought over the last few weeks. “The only time I can remember really being away from it…” she let her words trail off as she thought about the night of Mica’s bachelorette party and jumped up. “Son of a bitch!”

“What? What’s wrong, Sweetheart?”

“I know when this happened. But if that’s the case, the bug has been in my phone since Vegas!” Yvette slumped back to the sofa, tossing the phone parts to the table. “I cannot even begin to imagine what these people may have heard. Ethan, what if I’m responsible for what happened to your team?”

“No, Yvie, you can’t think…”

“You said it yourself, the mission was going great, everything had fallen into place nicely and out of nowhere that second task force came at us! That couldn’t have been just luck! Oh my god, everything with Sycom, with my own missions at the Bureau; and who knows what they were even after? Everything has been compromised!”

Ethan listened for a while before silently exiting the room. He returned a few minutes later with a bag and his personal sidearm strapped to his side. “Come on, we gotta go.”

“Go where?”

“Some place where we can get answers about your phone. Now, grab the pieces and let’s get a move on.”

“Um…” Yvette replied, looking down at her borrowed t-shirt and shorts.

“We’ll stop by your place for a change of clothes.” Ethan drove them through D.C. to McLean, Virginia. They stopped at a gas station a few miles in and Ethan instructed Yvette to wait at the car. She paced the area, going over countless moments where her phone conked out and the possible information that was leaked. 

Numerous cars filtered in and out of the station while she waited for her father to return. Lithe waves of steam caused by the stifling summer heat danced on the hoods of vehicles. Yvette fanned herself debating whether to go in search of Ethan or buy herself a drink to keep cool. Just as she started forward, her father came sprinting from the back of the building. “I bought a car wash,” he replied with a smile, sliding back behind the wheel.

“What? Dad, why are we here? I thought we were getting answers about the phone.”

“Just watch, Yvie.”

Ethan pulled into the tunnel and water squirted out from both sides of the truck. The windshield became covered in soap and the truck slowly slid forward on the gears. Yvette sighed and sat back while the computerized motors went to work, still confused about Ethan’s behavior. A red light flashed in the top left corner of the small building and Ethan opened his car door. “Wait, Dad, you’re not supposed to do that!” Yvette cautioned, sitting upright as Ethan slipped from his seat. “DAD!”

Quickly Yvette followed behind him, narrowly avoiding the rollers as she joined him against the wall. It took a moment before she realized she wasn’t wet and there was a secret door opening up behind them into an elevator. She gasped and glanced at her father whose lip turned up slightly as he led her forward. “This is our new base of operations.”

“A carwash?”

“Hey, don’t knock it. I have the cleanest truck on my block!” The elevator stopped and the doors opened into a large cement room where a small office had been set up. Yvette recognized 2 of the 4 people in the room, one of which rushed towards the father-daughter pair with a scowl on his face.

“No! No way. I’m not working with her!” Ssgt. Vanguard growled, pointing at Yvette.

“Excuse me?” Yvette asked with a genuine look of hurt on her face. “What did I do?”

“I find it highly suspicious that we’ve operated underground for the better part of a decade without issue. And then you came along and all our troubles started. Kimberly Redding and a lot of good agents are all dead because of you!”

“CHECK YOUR TONE!” Ethan roared and moved towards the man in one quick stride. “That’s my daughter you’re accusing and you’d better have some damned good evidence to back up that mouth of yours! She was nearly killed on one of OUR reconnaissance missions or are you so quick to forget! So while you’re busy pointing the finger at her, I’m starting to have my suspicions as to how someone found out she would be in the Senator’s office that night at all! Only four people knew about that operation, one of which is standing in front of me right now. Would you care to explain that one, Sergeant?” Vanguard backed off with a snarl, stomping furiously back to his post. 

“That wasn’t necessary,” Yvette whispered to her father’s back.

“The hell it wasn’t.”

“But he’s right you know?” she sighed, continuing behind Ethan as he led her to his desk. “I brought a bug in here without knowing. I compromised everything!”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“But…”

“No buts. Yvette, I know you and there’s no way any of this is your fault. As careful as you are, there are some things you just would never discuss over the air. You didn’t do this and that’s what we’re here to prove.” Ethan took a seat behind his desk. After a quick scan of the electronic pieces, he attached a USB to the device and began an analysis.

“How long will this take?”

“It could be a few minutes it could be a few hours, I’m not sure. Why? You have someplace you need to be?”

“Brett’s getting back today and I wanted to be home to greet him.”

“Ah. Well, tell ya what,” he replied, standing and retrieving the keys from his pocket. “Take my truck and go home. I’ll call you if anything happens.”

“But what about you? You’ll be stranded in Virginia.”

“I can get a lift from one of these guys, don’t worry.” Ethan leaned in and gave Yvette a peck on the cheek. “I’ll call you.” Yvette smiled and started back to the surface and drove herself home to Bridgeport.

“Hey Babe,” Yvette turned at the sound of his voice with a huge smile on her face. Quickly she ran forward, throwing her arms around his neck before kissing him passionately. “Mmm, with a greeting like that, I should go away more often.”

“Do it and I’ll find someone else to keep me warm at night.”

“Ouch. You really know how to hit below the belt,” he teased and dropped the mail to the sideboard.

“Did you just get in?”

“Oh no, the guys and I got back earlier this morning. I wanted to surprise you but, you weren’t home.”

“I told you I had movie night at Dad’s.”

“And I called Scott’s. He said you’d left before eleven and he assumed you were coming home. Where’d you go?”

“Oh um, Ethan’s. I just got in from his place. I kinda didn’t want to be alone last night and with the kids gone and you on a mission, the next logical place was…”

“Ethan’s, right,” Brett replied, finishing her sentence. “Is that how you got that scratch on your cheek?” Yvette absentmindedly touched the wound and nodded her head. She had completely forgot it existed. “Anything I should know?”

“The run was a success,” she shrugged, leaving out the near death experience for another time. Right now she only wanted to revel in the comfort of her husband’s closeness and wrapped her arms around him once again.

“Babe, is something wrong?” he asked, looking down at her as she clung to him.

“What do you mean?” Yvette asked, taking a deep breath before turning away from him and heading for the kitchen.

“I mean,” he started, following behind her, “Why didn’t you want to be alone last night? That’s not like you. Since the twins you can’t wait for some quiet time. What’s going on?”

“Uh…” she stalled, moving dishes from the sink into the dish rack to dry.

“Babe? Come on, talk to me.”

“Alright,” she sighed, and moved away from the counter. “Last night, I…I learned some really disturbing news about Dad.”

“Well are you going to tell me or just keep me in suspense?”

“He’s dying,” she blurted out, closing her eyes as the news hit her again.

“What?”

“Dad has cancer,” she answered quietly, choking up on tears she’d held back since Scott’s place. “He learned a while back and never said anything to me until it was confirmed. That’s why he’s been so forthcoming with all this information and why he was desperate to make up with me. He’s dying!” she repeated and felt heavy teardrops fall from her eyes and land on her arms as she rushed forward and wrapped herself around her husband.

“Oh, Yvette, baby I’m so sorry.”

“He said he was too far gone for chemo but I think he is just afraid of trying. I practically begged him. Then he told me not to worry. How can I not worry? He’s dying and I’m going to lose him! I can’t lose him, Brett,” she continued sobbing against him as he held her tighter. “I’m not ready to let him go.”

“Babe, everything is going to be alright.”

“How can you say that?”

“Because. If I know Scott, he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure of it. If he said not to worry, then, just…try.”

“You have no idea how hard that is. Scott has been in my life since I was 10! I can’t be ok with him not being around.”

“I know, Babe,” he replied, listening to her cry and wishing he knew the right things to say to make her feel better. “Hey, why don’t you wait here and I’ll go and draw a bath and we can talk some more ok?”

“Ok,” she sniveled softly as he pulled away, gently kissing her forehead. “Hey,” Brett started for the stairs and turned back at her beckoning. “How was your trip?”

“I’ll tell you all about it upstairs.” Brett got a bath started for the both of them and after comforting Yvette a little more, he began recounting his trip to Egypt for her. “We hit a few dead ends but, all-in-all, I’d say the mission was fruitful,” Brett finished, adjusting beneath Yvette in the tub.

“But you never found Mercer?”

“No. Whatever rock that snake crawled under, I don’t anticipate he’s coming out from any time soon. I’m sorry, Babe. I know what it meant to you.”

“Yeah…” she sighed and grabbed the sponge from his hand. “And what about Landry?” Yvette pressed as she soaped up her arms.

“I…did what I had to do.”

“Was it slow?”

“As much as allowable in the window we had. He was tortured for information and finished off with a blade to the throat.” The couple sat silently for a moment and Yvette imagined the horrible things that were done to the man she once trusted with her life.  Their partnership ended in blood; it was a suitable ending for his life as well. 

Water splashed over the side of the tub as she turned in Brett’s arms and he held her against him as she lovingly gazed into his eyes. He knew what she was looking for, some sign of grief or remorse but there was none. Chris Landry had been afforded all the mercy he was going to get when Brett’s Bowie slid across his neck, severing his carotid. Gently she caressed his lips with her thumb before placing a soft kiss on them with a sigh.

Brett smiled up at her and let his hands slip down the soapy mounds of her body. Yvette moaned and her eyes closed slightly while her tongue circled around her lips. She could feel Brett’s intention grow achingly stiff against her belly and reached a hand into the sudsy water to stroke him. He pulled her closer for a kiss and she moaned against his lips, continuously stroking his cock and feeling it grow thicker in her hand. 

Yvette moved forward a little, pushing her breasts into Brett’s face which he eagerly kissed. Leaning forward, he drew her erect nipple into his mouth and felt Yvette’s nails rake his scalp as she moaned with wild abandon. The water stirred around them as she adjusted once more, placing her warm body over his rigid shaft. The two groaned in simultaneous pleasure and she slowly began to rock her hips on top of him. Brett’s eyes locked on hers as she moved and he assisted her body, gripping her ass tightly he pumped her up and down against him. But just as Brett’s head fell back in deep satisfaction, the doorbell rang. “Fuck! You’ve got to be shitting me,” he growled.

“Perfect timing…”

“Mmm maybe if we ignore them, they’ll go away.”

“Doubtful,” Yvette pulled back with a frown. “It’s your Mom.”

“My Mom?”

“Yes, she’s bringing the kids home.”

“Damn!” Yvette’s brow rose at Brett’s expletive and he smiled with a shrug. “I was just hoping for a little personal time with you before they got back. I’m telling you, Austin knows. It’s him every time!”

“Well I could have her circle the block a few times,” Yvette joked and grabbed her robe from the back of the door. 

Brett fixed lunch as Yvette, Austin and Autumn had play time. He watched from the kitchen window as the kids ran from their Mom, laughing as she growled behind them like a dinosaur. After lunch, Autumn selected her favorite Disney movie, The Little Mermaid, and the family settled in the master bedroom to watch. Austin made it halfway through before passing out on Yvette’s chest but Autumn stuck it out until nearly the end.

“I want another baby,” Yvette whispered as she lay in bed cuddled with her family. Autumn had finally fallen asleep with Austin who rested against Brett. Earlier she had watched the two playing on the playset outside, laughing as they took turns pushing each other down the slide. 

Brett looked over at her in surprise. After all it was Yvette who said that with the birth of the twins they had reached their children quota; one boy, one girl. And now hearing she actually wanted to go through it all again made him smile wider than he ever had before. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah I mean the twins are a little older now, they don’t need to be breast fed anymore and are quickly becoming pros at potty time.” Brett’s eyebrow went up and he smirked at his wife’s idea of “pro.” For the last month the twins had learned to sit on the potty when they felt the need to go, but only Autumn took advantage of that time and tinkled. Austin on the other hand felt his diaper was to be used for any and all excrement and would sit on the potty while wearing his diaper and go. “Well the girl is, she’s the thinker of the two, remember; brains and brawn.”

“Yeah she takes after her Mommy.”

“Just as Austin takes after you; I feel he’s going to leave the seat up one of these days and laugh as Mommy drowns. But yeah, I’m serious. I think we should do it again. I want another little girl.”

“And if it’s a boy?”

“I’ll know my precious Autumn was a fluke and stop trying.”

Brett laughed and reached across his babies to stroke Yvette’s face. “I’d love to have another baby with you, Yve.” He glanced down at the two snoring softly between them and smiled, “But I guess we will have to wait until later to start working on that, unless…”

“Brett!” He laughed as he heard the scolding tone in his wife’s voice and waved her off.

“I was only kidding!”

“Good. We can put them down for bed in a bit and then finish what we started in the tub.”

Sometime after the second Disney movie, The Lion King, Austin’s selection, and the twins’ bath time, Yvette and Brett had fallen asleep. Their babies had become more independent which, for them, meant less waking up in the middle of the night for diaper changes or feedings. They’d finally started sleeping through the night. Now, instead, it seemed other things were determined to take the place of crying babies.

A dull buzzing noise clamored near Yvette’s head and was shortly followed by loud ringing. “Phone,” Yvette grumbled shoving Brett in the chest as the ringing continued. “Baby, get the phone.”

Brett peeked through one eye before turning on his side to check the cell phone beside him. “It’s not mine,” he muttered and plopped back to his pillows.

“Ugh!” Yvette growled and reached for the nonstop buzzing on the table by her. “‘Lo?”

“Yvie, sweetie, I got what we were looking for.”

“Ethan?” Yvette replied barely awake. Turning on her bedside lamp, she sat up and threw her feet over the side of the bed while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Ethan, it’s 4:30 in the morning! What’s so important it couldn’t wait until morning?”

“The scan stopped. I know the name of the person where your phone’s data was sent.”

“What?”

“Does the name Darrell McNeer mean anything to you?”

“McNeer? No. Should it?”

“McNeer?” Brett repeated in a half drunken mumble as he rolled onto his side behind her. “Darrell?”

“Yeah. You know him?” Yvette placed the call on speakerphone and had Ethan repeat everything he’d just said. Brett appeared to have sobered up as Ethan restated the name.

“Before you took over head of Intelligence, Darrell was my boss. But more than that, he was a friend.”

“Well, sorry to be the one to tell you this but, it looks like that friend of yours is trying to kill your wife.” 

Chief of Staff Phil Hughes looked out the small, square window of Air Force One, enjoying the view of the ocean below. Green blurs of land blew past in a rush of soft colors as the jet flew along the mountainous planes of Aurora Skies heading to the 40^th Annual G8 Summit. Tara, the flight attendant for the senior staff section of the airliner, smiled brightly at the higher-ranking official as she retrieved his cup. “Can I get you anything else?”

“No, I’m fine for now, thank you.” He watched as she retreated to the galley in the section before them before returning his attention to the agenda in his lap.

Suddenly an unusual shake rattled the large plane. Phil Hughes turned to the Secretary of State, Barbara Nicholson, sleeping in the seat beside him. The small cup of juice sitting on her foldable table shook fiercely as the plane again bucked and took a quick dip down. “Oh!” A unison shout of concern rolled through the other passengers on board. A dull beep indicated the broadcast system had been triggered and the urgent voice of a flight attendant crackled over the speakers. “Attention passengers, your Captain has turned on the seat-belt signs. Please everyone return to your seats. We have hit some unexpected turbulence. As soon as it smoothes out, we will continue our service. Thank you.”

Another violent jolt sent the juice flying to the wall and Barbara Nicholson bolted upright in her seat, tugging at the belt around her waist. She glanced terrifyingly towards Phil Hughes and watched as members of the security staff rushed forward through the cabin before entering the nose and the President’s Suite. “What’s happening?” she asked, concern dripping from her words as another intense bump followed by a powerful explosion jostled the cabin once more. “Are we crashing?”

On cue, oxygen masks fell from the ceiling compartments and the members of the White House staff quickly reached for them. Chaos erupted within the plane as people screamed in high-pitched voices. Sweating anxiously, Phil Hughes shouted over the loud clamor of panicked cries and tried to calm everyone down. “It’s okay, don’t worry. The pilot is an expert at this. We’re going to be okay,” Hughes spoke, trying his damndest to convince himself of his own words. 

But the plane continued rocking furiously, and without warning, Hughes felt his waist belt tear and found himself falling vertically. He tried grabbing the back of a seat as he was lunged forward but he couldn’t get a good grip. Seconds later he was thrown upright and his body collided with the top of the plane before he landed violently on the floor again. No sooner had he touched down than the plane dipped in a forward nose dive and his head bounced off the wall above him. It felt like a rollercoaster ride only in a rollercoaster, people get off safely. 

Hughes felt the landing gear drop beneath him as he struggled to his feet. Quickly, he made it to another seat just as a serving cart plummeted down the aisle straight for him. Something exploded beside him and he looked out his window in time to see one of the engines catch fire. The wing was disintegrating and the plane jerked from the left and then the right. Blood dripped down the side of his face and he ran his fingers through it, dabbing at the drips before they reached his eyes. More screaming erupted from the passengers as the jet began its descent. 

The conditions in the plane were changing rapidly. Fire licked up the sides of the aircraft as thick, billowy smoke reduced visibility of the trapped passengers. Someone screamed and Hughes watched as two more Secret Service agents rushed towards the front of the jumbo jet. There was a loud bang near the tail that sounded like a gun going off in an empty room. It was followed by a second and a large gust of wind blew into his compartment, sucking out anything that wasn’t nailed down. He saw the body of Agent Carl Diamond fly past him and out through the breach in the back of the plane.

In the chaotic moments during the landing, baggage was tumbling from the overhead bins onto passengers and people all around him were screaming, doing their best to avoid being hit. Hughes whimpered a little as the plane drew closer to the ground and heard a deafening crash. He felt the impact of the aircraft as they made contact with the forest below. More smoke wafted up through the aisle and he could feel the heat of the fire just at his neck. Trees broke against the sides of the plane as they slapped the rolling jet liner while it touched down. Hughes turned to look out the gaping hole behind him, hoping the brutal collision was near its end. He saw more forest, a body of water, a steep mountainside and a broken tree branch barreling towards him and then…nothing.

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