Chapter 9 #3
“But seriously, it sucked always being the new kid in school. I never really had any close friends because by the time I got there, they’d already formed their cliques.
I was always an outsider, which wasn’t so bad once I got used to it.
Midas was super popular, and everyone knew he was joining the Navy when he graduated.
I’m lucky to have even graduated at all,” Lexie said.
“Really? Why? Or…was that rude? Sorry. I’m not very good at this girl-talk thing,” Elodie said, seeming a little self-conscious.
“No, it’s not rude at all. I brought it up. And I’m loving getting to know you. Most of the time when I get a new assignment in a new city, I’m on my own. It was nice to be invited today. Anyway, I have dyslexia, and it was undiagnosed when I was in school.”
“What? Why? That makes no sense,” Elodie said, obviously irritated on her behalf.
It felt good to have someone else on her side. “Like I said, we moved around a lot, and I guess I just slipped through the cracks. It didn’t help that my dad always told me I was just stupid. I think some of that seeped into my psyche and I believed him.”
“What a jerk,” Elodie exclaimed.
“Yeah, he definitely wasn’t going to win dad of the year,” Lexie said. “But he did the best he could.”
“He still around?” Elodie asked.
“No. He died a few years ago.”
“Hmmmm.”
Lexie couldn’t help but snort a laugh.
“What?” Elodie asked.
“Your reaction was much more…subdued than Midas’s.”
“I can imagine,” Elodie said. “He’s a lot like Scott. Protective and with a nasty temper when it comes to people messing with me.”
“You guys haven’t been together all that long, right?” Lexie asked, hoping she wasn’t being too nosey.
“Not really. But because of everything that happened, we clicked really quickly. I guess danger has a way of doing that.”
“Yeah,” Lexie agreed.
Elodie smiled at her. “That’s right, you would know all about that, huh?
Are you really okay after what happened to you?
I read some news articles about what happened, and it sounds awful.
I mean, it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park to be on a ship that was taken over by pirates, but everything was over really fast compared to your ordeal. ”
“It wasn’t fun,” Lexie said. “But mostly it was boring.”
“Boring?” Elodie echoed in surprise.
“Yeah, besides the actual kidnapping part.
That was scary as hell, I can admit. But once we got into the desert, we pretty much just sat around, being ignored most of the time.
And after Dagmar had the stroke, we did even less.
Before that, we tried to at least walk around and get some exercise…
watched at all times, of course. But afterward, I sat with him in the shade and tried to keep his spirits up.
“The worst part was not knowing what was coming. We could’ve been there for months to come, or negotiations might’ve wrapped up and we could’ve been released. I didn’t honestly think anyone would come in like Midas and his team did, though. That was completely unexpected.”
“So, the kidnappers just ignored you?”
“Well, not exactly. They liked to taunt us and tell us that no one was going to pay the ransom and we’d end up dead…things like that.”
“Wow, I’m sorry. That sounds horrible.”
Lexie shrugged. She’d worked really hard over the last month to put the ordeal behind her. She didn’t mind talking about it with Elodie because she was honestly trying to understand, not pump her for juicy info she could put in a news article to get more clicks.
“Can I ask something without sounding like I’m judging?” Elodie asked.
“Of course.”
“So, after you were rescued, you guys all went back to the town you were taken from, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? I mean, that makes no sense. Why didn’t you get the hell out of the country and go straight to the US ship?”
Lexie sighed. “Of course, hindsight being what it is, we should’ve.
But Dagmar’s brother has a lot of power in Denmark, and he pulled some strings and probably threw a bunch of money around, and he flew Dagmar’s personal physician to Galkayo.
The Danish special forces were pretty much ordered to bring him to town to be looked over before being transported to the ship. ”
“Oh.”
Yeah. It sucked that Dagmar had survived three months in the desert, and a stroke, only to die because of an ambush at the hospital when sympathizers—and maybe even some of the kidnappers who hadn’t been in the desert when the camp was raided—had tried to retrieve him so they could get the ransom money.
“I’ve been emailing back and forth with Magnus, and he feels horrible about what happened. ”
“You have?” Midas asked from behind them.
Lexie turned around and saw Midas, Mustang, and Aleck standing at the door to the balcony. She hadn’t even heard it open. “Yeah.”
“I didn’t know that,” Midas returned as he came toward her. “Scoot forward,” he said, and without thought, Lexie did just that.
He sat behind her on the lounge chair, then pulled her back against him, so she was essentially using him as a backrest. He handed her a cup of coffee, and with one look, she could tell he’d made it just how she liked it. With a ton of sugar and milk and a dash of actual coffee.
Relaxing against him, Lexie continued, “I sent him a note right after I got to Germany, as well as the day after Dagmar’s funeral.
I wanted him to know how sorry I was about what happened.
It took him a while, but I finally did hear back.
He’s hurting, and desperate for any scrap of information he can get about his brother’s last moments and about our time in the desert. ”
“Hmmm.”
“What does that mean?” Lexie asked, craning her neck to look at the man behind her.
“Easy, Lex. Nothing. It’s just interesting, that’s all.”
“Do you guys believe in the twin connection thing?” Elodie asked Mustang and Aleck. Her husband had lifted her and plopped her on his lap in her chair, and Aleck was in a third chair, leaning back against the wall as he stared out at the ocean and the quickly passing rain storm.
“I’m not a twin, but if someone said they could feel what their brother or sister felt, I’d have to believe them,” Mustang said.
“Same,” Aleck agreed. “Although it would be weird. I mean, can you imagine being Magnus and feeling his brother have a stroke, or his fear when he was kidnapped, or when his heart finally gave out in the hospital from stress?”
“I think that’s why Magnus wants to talk to me,” Lexie said. “He wants to understand what happened.”
“I have to say it,” Midas added quietly. “If he hadn’t insisted on us stopping in Galkayo, Dagmar may not have died.”
Silence met his statement.
Lexie couldn’t argue or disagree, because he was probably right.
“It still sucks,” she said after a minute.
“It’s not fair to judge on what we should or shouldn’t have done after we know the ending.
I mean, we could go back and say that we shouldn’t have walked out of the Food For All building at the exact time we did.
If we’d only stayed an extra ten minutes, maybe we wouldn’t have been taken. ”
“Not true,” Slate said, joining them on the balcony. Jag and Pid were at his heels, as well. “I think they’d targeted Dagmar for sure. He was a bigwig in the organization. And having a woman always helps the cause. Makes people more desperate to rescue her.”
“Seriously? That’s stupid,” Lexie fumed.
“Stupid or not, it’s a fact,” Jag said with a shrug, leaning against the wall next to Aleck. “If they’d been able to nab a kid, it would’ve been even better.”
Lexie sighed. “Why are people so cruel? I just don’t get it.”
Midas stroked her arm as she took a sip of her coffee. “Good versus evil,” he said softly. “It’s the way of the world.”
“Well, it sucks,” Lexie said with a pout.
“Agreed. But you’re doing your part to help those less fortunate,” Pid said. “How’s that going?”
It was the right thing to ask. Lexie loved talking about the men, women, and children she worked with.
“It’s interesting how every city I’ve worked in has different needs.
I mean, hunger and needing shelter is always a constant, but here in Hawaii, there are fewer entire families that are homeless, and more mentally ill men and women than I’ve seen in other places. ”
“Yeah, it’s a problem,” Aleck agreed.
“You’re being careful though, right?” Midas asked.
“Of course. And they’re not as scary as you think,” Lexie told him.
“Um…okay, if you say so,” Midas replied, obviously not believing her in the least.
“They aren’t,” she insisted.
“Holy crap, look!” Elodie cut in, the awe easy to hear in her voice.
Looking to where she was pointing, Lexie gasped. There were two perfect rainbows arching over the ocean right in front of them. “Oh my God, it’s beautiful,” she whispered.
“Eh. Wait two minutes and the tourists will be back on the beach, screaming their fool heads off and ruining it,” Aleck said cynically.
“Seriously?” Lexie said.
“Yup.”
“No, I mean, you’re seriously going to sit there and not admit those rainbows are freaking amazing?” Lexie asked.
“Yup,” Aleck said with a smile.
“You’re spoiled,” Elodie declared.
“Totally,” Lexie agreed.
“Hate to not be on my bro’s side, but they’re kind of right,” Slate said with a smirk.
“Maybe we should switch apartments,” Lexie mused. “Let him look at my naked neighbor for a while, that should make him appreciate this amazing view more.”
“Is she female and naked?” Aleck asked. “I might take you up on that, if she is.”
“No. Think Homer Simpson in his underwear, scratching his butt, then picking up whatever he’s eating for dinner.”
“Ewwwww,” Elodie drawled.
“Disgusting,” Pid agreed.
“Yup.” Lexie laughed.
“Oh, wow, look how stupendous those rainbows are,” Aleck drawled.
Everyone laughed.
Lexie felt Midas rest his chin on her shoulder, and she glanced over at him. “Comfy?” she asked.
“Extremely,” he agreed.