CHAPTER 46

   Foster shook his head, in the negative, like doing it slowly would somehow make it more quiet than doing it in a normal fashion. Taylya only rolled her eyes at him just before he made the 'eyes on' hand signal and indicated he saw one. Tay took another sniff and was sure of her original conclusion. She stood up from their cover and then walked out in the open as Gabe protested, "what the Fuck you doing?"
Taylya did not bother to answer as she called out into the forest, "you can come out John. I know you are there."
Gabe watched Snow emerge from his hiding position and, only then, did Gabe join them. He really had to wonder as he walked down and mumbled, "I'd still like to know how she does that shit.”
At the same time, this was not what was on John's mind at the moment. He was quite accusing when he demanded of Tay, "what I really want to know Tay, is why the hell did you bring that motherfucker with you?"
There was only one person he could be talking about and it answered a couple of questions for Taylya. She simply smiled at John and said, "nice to see you again too.”The elf then did her best to mimic human sarcasm as she became as comical as she could while saying, "gee, it's wonderful that you're still alive Taylya. We were all so worried about you, Taylya. I'm glad your arm is healing, Taylya.”
John became confused and winced as he asked, "your arm?"
Taylya dropped her act and became quite hostile, "one of those things you don't learn when you're being a rude ass hole, John. As for the rest, how else did you think I was going to get back up here."
That was still not enough for John, "if Cross is here then that means Ian knows."
Tay had become quite experienced at rolling her eyes when dealing with humans. She did so at John and then motioned for Gabe to follow her. As she walked off she told John, "if you know David is here then you've already been to the village. I am assuming he told you the rest?"
They were leaving John behind but, he still stood there and yelled at her, “we'll get to that stupidity later. We're still not through with this conversation yet."
The elf did not stop walking but, simply called back to him in as pleasant a tone as she could muster, "yes we are. Trust me John, Ian is about the only friend we have right now."
It suddenly occurred to John and he looked around like he expected to see someone else. Then he called out one last time, "where's the rest of you?"
Taylya's reply was short in both duration and tone, "this is it, now will you come on."
John did not like where this was going. He followed them anyway and he grumbled the entire way back to the gnome village but, mostly to himself. Nordhalt was almost deserted at the moment but, Horshen and some of his strikers had remained behind and were on watch. John explained as they walked past the lookouts, "your daddy fucked them."
It was Gabe who responded as they reached the meeting hall, "yeah we heard. I can't say that any of us were surprised, and that includes Horshen.” Gabe had to duck down in order to enter a door that was pretty tall for most gnomes. He had to stay that way for the entire trip down the little tunnel that opened up into a rounded auditorium like room. Cross was sitting up on a high bleacher and doing about what Gabe had expected him to be. The guy had a deck of cards and was playing solitaire. John's other two guys were also here but, obviously wanted little to do with Cross. The surprise came when Gabe saw the unexpected company sitting on the ground level bleachers in front of him. He waited for John to emerge from the tunnel and in an accusing tone he asked, "what the hell are they doing here?”
Before John could even answer, Taylya emerged from the tunnel and saw what Gabe was talking about. Once again, she only rolled her eyes, and then went for a spot to dump her gear. She was quite condescending as she remarked, "well if it isn't Biker Boy and the Reporter.” As she unloaded the extra weight on her body she looked squarely at John and said, "and you had the nerve to complain about my extra guest? At least he is a member of the Caladfwich.”
Mike Green stood up and approached the new arrivals. He kept his eyes locked on Tay but, he was mostly speaking to John as he said, "why am I not goddamn surprised to see her come walking in."
Tay let out a short snorting laugh and then said, "I suppose manners is not the long suit of you humans. Good to see you again too, Dr. Greene."
When Patty joined Mike she was not sure what to make of all this. She actually gripped Mike's arm and then nervously asked, "why Mike? Who is she?"
"She was Katie's counterpart back at Jungle Jim,” Mike replied before continuing, "but that ain't the right question. The right question is who are all of them?” Gabe had never really met the orc guy before but, he knew all about him. He tried to cut the conversation off before Mike got on a roll. Mike only told the guy, "I don't even know who the fuck you are." Then Mike pointed to John and said, "but it wasn't just Angie, was it? All you guys were the werewolf. Little Missy, over there, was feeding you information about our operations wasn't she?”
Now Patty was thoroughly confused as she asked the obvious question and it was one that Mike wanted to know the answer to as well, "I don't understand, why would you guys do stuff like that?"
Now Gabe really put his foot down as he spoke directly to John, "can we please not tell the cable news reporter all about our top-secret operation?"
John was mildly amused as he replied to Gabe, "you mean your top-secret operation. As you recall, I think we all told you it was a bad idea to begin with. I wasn't even in country when you blew it Gabe."
Gabe protested, "we did not blow it!"
John was quick to reply with, "and what about Sayers?"
"That was not blowing it," Gabe replied defensively, "I had standing orders to extract any US personnel I came across. Besides John, I didn't even tell you about that."
"You're right Foster," John replied with a snicker, "that's not blowing it. That was when you really blew it. You also managed to compromise us all along the way."
Patty's jaw dropped and she pointed at Foster, "who are you exactly? You look kind of familiar but...”
It was Mike who responded with a very confident tone, "he's Angie's handler is who he is. That still don't answer my question none, though. It only makes me wonder more, why were you guys fucking with the paratroopers?”
Gabe became angry and demanded of John, "how much have you told this guy?"
John was still amused, "nothing at all." Then John looked to Mike and said, "you're on a roll here Doctor Green. Why don't you enlighten the rest of us?"
Mike looked at Foster again and realized he was the guy that Vega had told him about. The puzzle started to fall into place and he dropped Lolita's name. That shocked Patty even more and she demanded of Mike, "are you telling me that Vega is a spy too?"
"Naw,” Mike replied as he kept his eyes on Foster, "Lolita don't know how to keep her goddamn mouth shut. She was a mule. Elf girl over there would let them know the location of US units, then commando boy here would create a diversion by screwing up some shit, and then your buddy Angie would slip in and plant stuff on Lolita.” Mike then pointed up to David Cross and said, "and if what that guy told me is true, then Melanie would take it off Vega when she got back to base and send it on up the line. Only, she didn't always go back to base, did she?" Mike was looking directly at John when he asked that last question.
At this point, Jamie and Hoop were becoming amused as well. They wandered down out of the bleachers and joined the conversation with Hoop pointing out, “hell, we didn't do nothing but take her out to get drunk. We even paid for it."
And then Jamie filled in with, "and then Foster here would steal his communications while she was busy."
Foster saw the look that he was getting from the two civilians and he was not about to tell them anymore but, he did protest, "hey, this is an important operation. Nobody got hurt, okay?"
"Horseshit," Mike replied with a hint of anger, "you're still pissed about that shit between you and Vega when you two were in school together.”
Melanie had informed Gabe that Vega and Mike were talking. Gabe just never imagined that Lolita would talk about that stuff to anyone, let alone to this guy. Gabe was a bit angry about it and he mumbled under his breath, "that girl could never keep her goddamn mouth shut.”
Mike continued with, "there had to be a lot easier ways for you to pass on your shit. You just wanted to hassle Vega because you thought it was funny." Mike then looked to John and said, "what I don't get is why you went along with it. You knew this guy was full of shit.”
John only shrugged and it was Gabe who said, "it was cover, all right? Look, I'm not going into the specifics of my operation with you, got that?"
Hoop spoke up and said, "he's just being fucking modest. We told him that shit wasn't going to work. Them goddamn fairy godmothers can read fucking minds.”
Gabe snapped at the commando, "and Angie still managed to get in didn't she? Even after our primary plan got screwed. I told you that was all a load of shit."
For Taylya's part, she had been content to stay out of this but, now she found it she could not. She felt her blood boiling and she walked up to Foster and poked him in the chest as she angrily told him, "which is something we have not yet dealt with human. You nearly got us all killed when your operation was compromised. My sister is out there right now, risking her life again, and I have to keep asking myself, why? Just remember what I told you, if something happens to her, then you are getting the same."
"Let it go to Tay–Tay,” Hoop told her. "We already know that was Avery and Chan."
"No it wasn't," Tay replied with fury in her voice. "Avery was a lot of things but, he was not stupid enough to set up a chopper that he was on."
Jamie shrugged as if it was nothing, "so it was Vinny. We all know he couldn't keep his pants zipped.”
Suddenly, Patty realized what they were talking about and she actually felt a knot forming in her stomach, "oh my God. You guys are talking about the chopper that I was supposed to be on. That was the same one that...” Now Patty saw even more of the picture and realized that Angie and Nate were both on that helicopter. Then Patty realized something else. She pointed to the elf and said, "you're the one who pulled me from that. That would mean that Bob knew about all this?"
"Colonel Isaacs?” Taylya thought about it and realized what the human was saying, "no of course not. You're just being paranoid now."
Mike snickered and then commented, "yeah but it wasn't no accident that you pulled her." When Patty looked to Mike he explained, "they didn't want no inconvenient witnesses. Sounds to me like your little girlfriend was supposed to get to where she was going on that trip. Only home boy fell on her and blew the whole plan.” Mike really wanted to laugh now. He made sure he was looking at Gabe when he did.
Gabe sullenly and quietly stated, "shit happens sometimes."
Since Mike seemed to have figured all of this out, Patty looked at him and seriously asked, "where was she going?"
John sounded very serious and was matter of fact as he answered the question for Mike, "the triangle. It was really the only reason we agreed to go along with this insanity. It was the one place that none of us ever really had a good look at."
Tay picked it up from there, "Angie was supposed to meet my sister in the woods that day. Cami was going to take her to the Deg's and sell her." Taylya knew what kind of look she would be getting from John so she faced him and said, "if I had known that back then I would not have let her, all right?"
Patty was a bit alarmed by this and she had to ask, "what do you mean by sell her?”
It was Jamie who explained, "as far as we know, the Deg are an all female outfit. No men and no little Deg, so, the only way they can keep their little cult going is by grabbing women on the outside."
Patty was starting to understand what happened to her now. It was the only thing that made any sense and one look at Mike told her he was thinking the exact same thing. That was in the past now though. What Patty was really angry about was something else entirely and she looked to Foster and, in an accusing tone, she said, "you sent my friend into something like that?"
Gabe grunted in frustration and then remarked, "we had already tried everything else, okay? Look lady, I wasn't the one who dreamed that plan up. I was just following orders. Angie knew the risks she was taking when I first recruited her. Nobody twisted her arm, she volunteered."
That did not sit well with Patty. She was still angry as she replied, "she was a mixed up little girl. I bet you knew that when you asked her.”
Gabe was no less hostile when he replied, "she jumped at the chance lady."
Patty remained extremely hostile as she told him, "I'm sure she did, Dutton or Sutton, or whatever you're real name is. Yeah I remember you now, from Coven Hill. You brought me that letter. Tell me, what was it, guilt? That is if you feel anything like that."
John crossed his arms and realized it was time to put an end to this, "none of which gets us anywhere people. We got other problems at the moment. Angie is a moot point, I doubt very seriously she's coming back out of the triangle this time." John looked directly at Gabe when he said that part.
Again, Gabe was hostile as he defended himself and replied, "it was her idea to go back in. I was against it."
"It doesn't matter anymore Foster," John replied. "We still need to get into the triangle, more than ever now. Angie just went up there and tipped our hand. It was hard enough when they didn't know we were coming."
Jamie actually snickered as he asked John, "are you trying to tell me that you believe all those stories now, John?”
"It don't take no magic to extract information," John said with a sneer. “The fact is, it was near impossible to get in there to begin with. Now it's worse than that.”
Even if Gabe's words were optimistic his tone said otherwise, "we'll figure out a way.”
"I've got us the way," said Angie as she came crawling out of the tunnel with Cami. As the two elves embraced in a hug, Angie gave one to Hoop before she noticed the looks she was getting from John.
He was less than emotional and Angie had come to know that look. It actually made her shiver but, she hid it well enough as he told her point blank, "I'm going to give you one chance to explain why I shouldn't kill you right now."
Angie did not shrink from the challenge. She stomped right up to John and pointed to her head as she said with no small degree of scorn, "look at my face, John."
It was something that Foster had noticed since he saw her enter the room. He had some concern in his voice when he asked about the bruises and the swollen eye, "what the hell happened up there?"
With his arms crossed, John remained unimpressed but still, as he said, "which doesn't mean a damn thing, Angie, and you know that. Those bitches can twist minds and you know I have to be asking myself what they did to yours. They have to know you screwed them over Sayers, by now."
Suddenly, Angie forgot about John, for just a second, when she saw who was standing on the floor of the auditorium. Angie actually had to do a double take and then she realized she really was seeing the person that she thought she was. Angie ran up to Patty and embraced her in a hug. "Oh my God, Patty, what are you doing here?"
It was Mike who answered with a bit of contempt, "looking for you."
Patty was not sure how to take this. Her emotions were very conflicted but, in the end, she realized that she was glad to see her friend. She finally returned the hug and the only thing she could think to say was, "you're in a lot of trouble young lady."
This led John right back to his original point. He was still stoically standing in the same spot and, as Angie noticed, he still had that calculating look in his eyes. Angie backed off from Patty and then addressed John but, was really speaking to everyone when she said, "I didn't find any of the prisoners. I didn't really see anything while I was up there. They kept me blindfolded."
"Why did they let you go Angie,” John said unemotionally and then continued with, "for that matter, why are you even still alive? Falla may have liked you but, to somebody like her that don't really matter in the end.”
A smile formed on Angie's lips as she told John, "the reason I'm still alive is our way in.”