Page 19 of Exposed

Paco momentarily repositioned himself on the sofa, trying to get comfortable—bracing for the building discomfort. “So, there we were, the three of us in a ruggedized jeep, late at night, not far from BFE, when Alex’s spidey sense kicked in. He’s felt something wasn’t right and insisted on taking a look around. Jack just ribbed him and told him to stay in the jeep. Alex didn’t care. He didn’t work for Jack, and he sure as hell didn’t work for me. So, he hopped out. And Jack and I, well, we were ...” He trailed off, choosing his words carefully, then started again. “Jack and I always had each other’s backs, and loyalty was big with Jack. Just like you, I hear.” He looked over at Madison, and then pointed his chin to the window ledge, where a handful of pennies were neatly rowed. A family pact she thought nobody knew about. “I knew the consequence of not backing Jack, the rift it might cause, but I just couldn’t shake it. I’d been in enough street fights to sense what was coming.” He glanced at her with an apologetic look, then hung his head.” I wanted Jack to be right.”

Nervous at what might come next, Madison hugged her knees into her chest, and urged him to continue. “What was it?” Paco lifted his head and turned, locking his sad eyes on hers.

“An ambush.” Paco’s voice gave a little, but he cleared it to steady his tone. “And Jack, well, he asked me to stay,” Paco smiled slightly, recalling the memory more accurately, “ordered me to stay. But I just couldn’t. As much as I hated it, I knew Alex was right, just as strongly as I knew Jack wouldn’t leave that damn jeep. So, I got out, intent on seeing if we had some tactical advantage.” Paco’s voice waivered. “Jack remained behind, and Alex and I both left the jeep to look around, each veering in a different direction from Jack’s position. That’s when Alex noticed something. Something neither Jack nor I did.”

“What?”

Paco moved his eyes away again, as if seeing the tragedy projecting before him. “Signaling. Small white lights in the distance. Something was about to go down. Alex ran towards the jeep, screaming for Jack to get out. I raced back, but Alex and I were too late. The RPG hit. Jack tried to get out, but couldn’t clear the blast. The force of the explosion threw him, propelling him and pelleting him with shrapnel at the same time. The bumper, white hot, flew into Alex, knocking him to his back, and burning clear through his clothes to his skin. I was the luckiest, if anyone can say that after an attack. I got hit in the head with something,” he motions to the side of his head, revealing a scar, “but never knew what. It knocked me out cold. It was Yasmin who discovered me. She and I both thought Jack and Alex were dead, so she led me to a makeshift cave in a small hill and brought me a little food and water. Probably her own meal for that day. Within twenty hours, a cleanup team arrived, and picked up my tracker. That’s when I learned Jack and Alex had been MEDEVACed to Germany. They were both alive. At least, for the moment.”

Madison scooted closer to Paco, weaving the fingers of his free hand into hers, and resting her head on his shoulder. His head, heavy from the booze, fell willingly on hers. He squeezed her hand and started rubbing the outside of her thumb with his. “By the time I got to Germany, Jack was barely holding on. Alex, though stable, was unconscious most of the time from the pain meds. He only woke for moments here and there, but just enough to see one of my last moments with Jack.” He took another gulp from the bottle. He had no idea how Madison would react to the final shoe dropping, but he had to get the rest of it out there. She needed the whole truth.

Madison pulled away enough to look at him, seeing tears lightly streaming down his cheeks before falling into his lap. “I kissed Jack one last time before he passed.” Madison never considered that her brother might be gay, but hadn’t really considered any differently either, or at all. But it explained why despite numerous invitations to homecomings and proms, he never went. And now, it clicked. Madison could see pieces of a great puzzle pulling together. The picture of events was sharpening as her mind skimmed over dates and places. Overheard conversations. Letters. With it, she had her own revelation to share in return.

Bringing her hands to his face, she wiped his tears with her thumbs, and cupped his jaw for a warm moment in her hands. She kissed him ever so softly on the lips for just a second, then hugged him tightly. “It was you.” Paco pulled back, uncertain what she meant. She smiled as she began to explain. “Jack mentioned you.” She took both of his hands. “He wanted to introduce you to us when he got back. But we didn’t know who you were. Not even your name.” She squeezed his hands a little tighter. “All he said was that you were the love of his life,” she said, teary again. Paco lowered his head, and her forehead slowly met his. He shivered, pulling up a nearby throw and wrapping himself before continuing.

“In his last hours in the hospital, I was saying my goodbyes, and gave him one final kiss. But a nurse walked in. I guess she saw. She said that unless I was family, I’d have to leave. What I didn’t know was that Alex had seen the whole thing. Even in his weakened state, after having a wrecking ball slam against his chest, nothing pissed him off more than bigotry and small-mindedness. I don’t know how, but he had the strength to muster, ‘They’re related. Cousins. Now leave them the fuck alone.’” He snickered under his breath. “She was righteously pissed off, but it worked. She just stormed out without a word.” Another tear streamed down. “Jack passed within the hour, and I just held his hand the entire time,” he interlocked his fingers with Madison’s as the words poured out.

“Alex had a much longer recovery, and they were about to send me back to the States. A day after Jack’s passing, I visited Alex. I wanted to see him before I left. I gave him the book. That way, he’d have something to pass the time. And to remember Jack by.”

Madison was puzzled. “The book?”

Paco just looked back, a keep up expression overtaking him. “No, not the book. The book. You know ...”

Madison couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it in front of her the whole time. She hopped to her feet and headed to the bedroom. She opened her dresser. Revealed right on top, The Count of Monte Cristo, was exactly where she’d left it. She took it back to Paco, who was now sprawled across the length of the couch. She returned, popping his feet on her lap as she sat in the spot beneath them. She opened it, and there it was, the identical inscription: Love you always. Grandpa Mike. She shook her head. “Jack had a copy too. I guess I should have known. Grandpa Mike always made sure we each had the same gifts. Mostly to keep me from having a freak out, because I always had to have what Jack had.” Her fingers skimmed the inscription. “But why didn’t Alex just say so?”

Paco chuckled lightly. “Oh, that.” Paco pulled his hands behind his head, enjoying the memory. “That was because Jack insisted.” Madison contemplated his statement, convinced the alcohol was clouding his memory. But he proceeded to explain.

“One night, we were all playing five-card-stud, and just, you know, shooting the breeze. As usual, Jack starts telling Frankie stories, which, by the way, were always adorable. From his words, we knew he doted on you. Alex, being the cocky bastard he was, said that when you grew up, he’d marry you just to piss Jack off. Brothers-in-law and all that crap.

“Jack said he doubted that, and though his sister might be sweet and naïve, she’d never fall for a slick-talking womanizer like him. Well, that’s when Alex shared a story about some Italian twins, and—” Paco quickly cut himself off, realizing to whom he was speaking. “But that’s not the point. The point is that Jack threw Alex a challenge. If by some fluke Alex ever met you, once you were of legal age, of course, Jack was sure Alex wouldn’t last thirty days with you, and that you’d never want to be with such a money-hungry, skirt-chasing son of a bitch. Oh—,” Paco furled his brow noticeably, despite the Botox. He smacked his hand to his lips, realizing his faux pas. “Sorry, that’s sort of a direct quote. For whatever reason, I guess, Alex took it literally. Some of the last words Jack ever said to him. Like a last commitment to him.”

Paco looked at her somberly, fearful of her response. “Jack wasn’t right, was he?” Paco looked dubious and sad, an exaggerated side-effect of his over-indulgence.

Madison laid both hands on top of Paco’s. “No. Well, at least not as long as he only womanizes me.” She reassured, then paused for a moment. “But that doesn’t explain the photo.”

“Oh, why I’m torn out of it? Where was I? Yes, I was visiting Alex, giving him the book. He was in rough shape, but he clued me in on a cover-up underway. He’d caught wind that they were gonna make Jack the fall guy for an operation gone bad, idiotically thinking dead men wouldn’t talk. Well, I sure as hell would. But if I was going to take this battle to the five-sided-streets, I needed to protect everyone else from the backlash. I just kept thinking if those bureaucratic assholes would pin this on a dead veteran, nothing was below the belt, and a smear campaign would be way too easy for them. And I didn’t know you—or your family. I had no idea what you’d think of me and Jack. So, I figured I’d take on the fight, but did all I could to shield everyone else from becoming collateral damage. I tore myself out of the photo but left the Jack-and-Alex half in the book. I knew Alex would like some memory of Jack. And I burned my side.” He thought for a minute. “You know, the saddest part is, it was the only photo of Jack and me together.” Paco wiped his eyes again.

“Anyway, I got an audience with my superiors and told them I’d sing like a fucking canary, take out billboards, call newspapers, all kinds of All the President’s Men shit. So, they cut a deal, and I agreed to not be the biggest mother fucking whistle-blower they’d ever seen. In exchange, they wouldn’t mark him a traitor. But they didn’t do much more. The sons of bitches doctored his record, showing he separated from the service months before the operation. That meant no life insurance to pass on. No combat casualty. Any benefits he would have left you all evaporated to nothing. Nothing but his name. Jackson Daniel Taylor.”

Madison submerged in the murky insanity of it all. “I can’t believe everything you did. I wish I could have been there for you ... we could have been there for you.”

Paco shook his hanging head. “All he talked about was his family. About you.” He sat up a little and touched her chin, moving his hand up to caress her face. “I knew you’d need closure. You’d need to know Jack died with honor, even if you didn’t know all the details. So, the veteran funeral was arranged, and I scraped together whatever money I could to make sure he had a beautiful service.”

Madison looked at him perplexed. “Wait, I thought the military paid for his service.”

“If the record said he died on active duty, they would have. Close to one-hundred percent. But they screwed him, so he got a veteran service instead. Still beautiful, and they covered some, but not all of it. They got him from Germany to Dover, but I needed to get him home. The casket and several other things still had to be covered. And I knew Jack had been sending money home, so it wasn’t like you were swimming in dough.” He slumped back. “But I didn’t realize Jack had mentioned me to you. I wasn’t even sure he was out, or if you all knew. And I didn’t want to intrude on your family’s privacy, so I did what I do best.” He clumsily sipped again. “I became invisible. I worked behind the scenes with the funeral director, making sure that whatever your family needed, it was covered, but no money was ever discussed. And I didn’t have much on a staff sergeant’s pay, but I had some gold chains, and a few things I pawned. At one point I almost thought I’d have to give up this,” he held up his pinky, highlighting the ring, “but it’s just some cheap pot metal. Jack found it at a market in Italy. Worthless to pawnshops, but priceless to me.”

He kissed the ring, set the bottle down, and showed Madison that as he moved it off its well-worn area, the skin beneath was slightly green. “See?” She burst out with the slightest laugh as she admired it, gently caressing the area with her fingers.

He beamed at her, his head slowly tilting askew, his eyes glistening with a lazy but steady pooling of tears. “You really were so young. When I saw you, it reminded me of what Jack would have looked like at your age. Well, probably with shorter hair.” He joked, ringing her hair around his finger, and slumping back a little further. She stayed attentively postured next to him, questioning him as he stared off.

“You were at the funeral?”

“Yes. It was raining. Like the heavens and Earth felt our pain and cried out too.” His eyes tracked back to Madison, and he brushed the slightest strand of hair from her face. “I stepped in and held an umbrella behind you to keep you dry. You were so hurt, and all I wanted to do was hold you and tell you everything would be okay. Even if I didn’t believe it myself.” He held the palm of his hand to her cheek and tried to re-focus.

“After you and your family left, all I could think about was Yasmin. She was just a few years older than you, so young, yet so brave. She’d risked her life saving me. It was too late for Jack, but maybe not for Yasmin. I needed to do something. To get her out of there. Raping and torturing women were national pastimes in that godforsaken country. But I was broke. I’d left the service, not that it would have done me any good to stay, making staff sergeant’s pay. And the skills I had were, well, not exactly in overwhelming demand. Especially since I’d burned that bridge to the fucking ground. I was relegated to a life of, oh, I don’t know, being a blackjack dealer, or grocery store bagger, or maybe a backup dancer.”

As his train of thought steadily derailed, he reached for the booze again, but Madison gently took the bottle and walked it to the kitchenette. Paco heaved a deep sigh. “But I ended up a bouncer. A great way to stay alert and pump my adrenaline every now and then, but the money was still shit. Just trickled in. And I didn’t have any way to track Yasmin down. All I had was hope.” He stood up, stumbling slightly. “And that’s when Alex Drake blew back into my life, and together ...” he began dramatically counting on his fingers while listing off, “... we found the girl, rescued the girl, I married the girl, we thwarted one, no, two Yasmin kidnapping attempts, and we built a multi-billion dollar empire, and ...” Paco looked around. “... and ... where’s ... uh, where’s your bathroom?”

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