Matt and Dan walked quickly up to the man who stood at the gate. He looked up at them and smiled.

"Who are you," Matt asked.

"I'm a reporter for the Houston Star-Ledger and I'm here to ask you about how you feel about the release of Scott Prescow's book."

Matt clenched his jaw.

"We're busy here trying to forget about that for a little while."

"It's Halloween right, well this won't take long, is your wife here?"

Dan stepped forward.

"Like he said, he's not interested in talking to you right now."

The reporter tilted his head.

"It might be of interest if you were to know that Prescow received death threats against him not long after he went to the halfway house. They just moved him an hour ago to another more secured facility."

Matt rubbed the back of his neck.

"Couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

The reporter leaned forward.

"Is that a quote on what your opinion is on his book?"

Matt just shot him a look.

"No comment…"

"Do you know who's trying to kill him?"

Matt folded his arms.

"No…I don't and even if I did, I'd tell the feds not a local reporter."

The man seemed to digest that and nodded.

"Okay Mr. Houston I can tell you're not going to be easy…but what about your wife?"

"What about me?"

The three men looked behind them to see C.J. approach along with Chris.

"What's going on here Houston?"

Matt looked over at her.

"He's just a reporter writing about Scott's new book isn't that right?"

The reporter nodded.

"And about the threats to his life," he said, "but your husband won't tell me what he knows."

C.J.'s eyes narrowed at her husband.

"What's this about…someone tried to kill him?"

Matt's eyes moved to the reporter.

"Well he got very specific threats and they have to move him," the reporter said, "They won't say who from so I thought I'd ask Matt here."

C.J. looked at her husband but didn't say anything. Matt just looked at him weighing his response.

"I'm not going to tell you anything for your article so you'd best leave now okay?"

The reporter just looked at him and then nodded.

"I'll do that but if you have anything information I'll just give you my card…"

Before the reporter could reach for it, Matt shook his head.

"I've got nothing to say," he said, "now we've got a party to get back to now."

The reporter left to go back to his car and C.J. turned back to face Matt and Dan. She folded her arms which told Matt he wasn't going to get away easily.

"What was that about Houston," she said, "Who's trying to kill Scott?"

Matt looked over at Dan.

"We don't know…but someone left something in the mailbox about it."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"When were you going to tell me about that Houston?"

"After the party…I did leave a message for Jonathan about it."

C.J. didn't look too happy with that answer. She just closed her eyes for a moment.

"Houston I can handle this…I've handled a lot that's been going on in our lives since…I don't think I need to be kept in the dark do you?"

He shook his head.

"Honey that wasn't what I was trying to do," he said, "I just wanted you to enjoy and have a good time at the party for a little while. This person isn't after you or us."'

"No, he wants to get at Scott and what does he want, our blessing?"

Matt considered what the mysterious messenger might have wanted when he left that information in the mailbox.

"I don't know C.J. Without knowing who delivered it…"

She rubbed her forehead.

"It has to be the other guy."

Matt wondered about that two…the third partner in the human trafficking operation that they had helped break up over a decade ago.

"The spider was the symbol that he left…"

C.J.'s eyes widened.

"Yes… I remember him. He's the one who got away by going underground…he must think that Scott's going to write about him in his book."

Matt nodded.

"And maybe give off clues to where he might be holed up," he said, "I imagine if he wanted to be found, he would have left a calling card during the past 10 years."

They began to walk with Dan back to the party where the others ate and laughed as if they hadn't left. Matt and C.J. went back to the table where Chris sat with Stephanie on her lap while Dan went to round up the kids to go trick or treating.

"I think I'm going to help out Dan," Matt said, "You staying here?"

C.J. nodded.

"We'll get things set up for the ghost stories while you guys take the kids."

Matt smiled.

"I'll get Gracie to come with me," he said, "Might give us some time to talk."

"Yeah…good idea."

Matt got up after scooping up his youngest daughter and C.J. watched him head towards Gracie and ask her to go with him. C.J. knew that her oldest daughter loved spending time with her father and she watched her say something to Danny and they all started to gather the kids to gather their bags and take off.

Chris watched them too as Dan corralled their kids.

"I remember when I was that age," she said, "Growing up on a farm, it was always my favorite holiday especially when they built mazes in the corn fields and used to scare us when we walked through them…well maybe not that part of it."

"Houston and I used to go out to parties too…when we were growing up."

Chris leaned forward.

"So what was that all about…at the gate."

C.J. shrugged.

"A reporter wanting to know what we thought about Scott's new book," she said, "You know someone threatened to kill him."

Chris' eyes widened.

"Really…though that's to be expected considering the people that he burned….in the trafficking industry."

C.J. rubbed her forehead.

"I thought about it so many times. What it'd be like to just kill him. I thought of the different ways to do it…"

"You did…"

C.J. nodded.

"Yeah I did….but that was back before I had even begun to deal with what happened to me."

"Yeah well I don't think anyone would blame you for that."

"I guess not, but it took a long time to move past that."

Chris looked at her with a grim smile.

"But you did…and he did get locked up for a while."

C.J. sighed trying to divorce herself from that part of it. She'd been told in the very beginning years ago that there would be little controlling Scott's ultimate fate including his prison sentence.

"Yeah and now he gets out, wants to promote his book and someone else wants to kill him now."

"So who is it?"

C.J. brushed a tendril of her hair back.

"It must be someone else in the trafficking business," she said, "Maybe the third partner, Lucian. After all, there was a spider and that's was his brand."

Chris looked unnerved and C.J. couldn't blame her. Lucian had been just as amoral and merciless as his partners even if he'd never been located in all these years.

"Do you think he'll kill Scott?"

C.J. sighed again.

"He could…if he's like the others and had help inside our federal agencies."

She remembered how long it had taken to rid the U.S. Marshal's office and FBI of moles in their midst. Successfully planted inside the highest levels of both organizations by the other traffickers, the ones who had been partnered with Lucian. Still…nothing would surprise her anymore.

"Would it be so bad if he did?"

C.J. had struggled with her feelings on that issue for a long time but as evil as Scott had proven to be, if they succeeded in wiping him out, it would be a sign that the trafficking ring they had struggled to bring down was reemerging from the shadows.

"I don't want any of them to be powerful again."


Gracie looked at her father carrying her sister, her head moving around to catch all the activity around her. She might be too young to understand what was going on but it wouldn't always be that way. And someday she would have to learn the truth about their parents just like Gracie.

How quickly the world could change from what you thought you knew.

"Dad…"

Matt looked at her and saw her face lined with concern, though it reminded him of someone else at her age.

"Why didn't you or mom tell me what happened?"

Matt didn't answer right away because all his life he had wanted to protect his daughter, all his children and he'd realized by now that he could only do so much, but how to tell his children beginning with the eldest; he still struggled with the information. But he knew that Gracie wanted the truth.

"Gracie…we wanted to wait until you were a bit older."

Her eyes flashed at him.

"I'm old enough…besides I know most of it…from reading online."

Matt sighed, because he knew that left her knowing hardly any of it because while the factual narrative built over the years might be there, so much of the experience that had shaped both of their lives remained missing.

"I wanted to hear from you….and mom….my parents."

They both kept an eye on the group of kids and other adults as they walked down the dirt road leading to a couple other ranches. A chill filled the air and Gracie shivered as she saw the shadows dance off road.

"Your mother and I…we knew that you'd have questions," Matt said, "but though it's been a while, it's still not easy for your mom to talk about."

Gracie brushed a tendril of hair off of her face.

"Because of what that man did," she said, "The one who's dead."

Matt knew that the truth was even more complicated than what Gracie knew but he had to start somewhere. The rest…it could wait.

"Yes…he's dead and he can't hurt anyone else."

Gracie nodded; hearing the seriousness in her father's voice but it reassured her rather than brought her fear. Matt looked at her.

"Gracie you know your mother and I…we'd never let anything happen to you," he said, "Everything's fine now."

Gracie pursed her lips in thought.

"So is it true," she said, "Did you really kidnap mom?"

Matt paused a while remembering back to those desperate months during very different times.

"No…I didn't."

"I saw the warrant online…they accused you of kidnapping."

"Your mother was in hiding….at Aunt Thea's ranch and the bad men…they found her at the same time I did."

"You found her?"

Matt nodded.

"I never stopped looking for her once I knew she disappeared," he said, "but when I found her, the bad men did too but we escaped."

Gracie furrowed her brow processing that information.

"Okay but why did you run away from the good men," she said, "You know the police."

Matt paused again.

"Because some of them weren't good Gracie," he said, "Some of the police were bad men set up there to get your mom and I wasn't about to let that happen."

"So you ran away so even the good men couldn't find you."

Matt nodded.

"Yes…we had friends help us," he said, "I had lost your mom…I wasn't about to lose her again…not ever."

Gracie bit her lip as they watched the group of kids walk up to a nearby house decorated with jack o lanterns.

"Was she safe with you?"

Matt nodded again.

"Yeah….but it was hard for her to feel safe with everything that she'd been through," he said, "It took a long time for her to feel that way again…even afterward."

Gracie tilted her face at him.

"Even after you came back home?"

Matt didn't know how to sum up everything that happened in few words. The journey they thought might end with the death of Andre had only really begun its most difficult part.

"Yeah…but I love your mom so much she was never going to be alone."

Gracie smiled, because she knew that her parents loved and were in love no matter what had happened. Before she knew what had happened, she knew that about them.

Matt settled his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"You know bad things did happen…and I'd do anything to have stopped them," he said, "but the years we've spent since then have been the best part of my life that I wouldn't trade for anything."

Gracie felt her eyes sting though she'd never admit it. She absently brushed some hair out of her face.

"Family's the most important thing Gracie…"

She nodded knowing that because her parents had spent her life showing her that in every way possible. Even when she'd clashed with them for some reason that seemed important at the time, she knew they loved her and her siblings.

Images of her life from the time she'd been a small child had been filled with that love and protectiveness. She looked away from her father and saw Danny heading towards her holding the hand of his younger brother and she smiled as she went to meet him.

Matt watched her and then looked at the younger daughter he held in his embrace as her eyes took in the world around her. Soon enough, she'd be walking and then running. In a couple years, he'd be holding her hand taking her out on Halloween too….just like he'd done with Gracie not so long ago.

He watched Danny and Gracie interact in the easy going way that seemed so familiar to him with a smile remembering way back when.