Chapter 25 – Outrage

Playing house quickly became my new favorite thing. I had taken Sookie to that house that no one else knew about, not even my child or my maker. They could, of course, track me through our bonds if they wanted to, but they left me alone – at least in that regard. I still got phone calls from them occasionally, but otherwise they didn't just show up.

After we'd stocked the house with groceries and other Sookie necessities, we'd pretty much stayed put for the last three days. Francois was due to arrive from Paris later this week, so I'd need to go to Fangtasia to greet him and orient him to his duties, but as far as I knew, that wretched throne had remained empty in the interim. I'd left to go retrieve some things from Fangtasia very briefly on Tuesday night, but I had left before I'd run into anyone. Thankfully, Pam understood that these were extraordinary circumstances, and she didn't hassle me about the empty throne. Maybe she was making Rasul sit on it. He certainly was handsome enough, although I had trouble picturing him looking at all menacing, and she could probably get him to do just about anything she wanted at this point.

Again I thought … playing house was GREAT! Sookie and I had christened nearly every surface, vertical, horizontal, and otherwise, of my house. But we weren't just having sex. On the way to the house, we'd stopped at Walmart, apparently a store Sookie was very familiar with, to get her necessities. That included food, something called a coffeemaker, and for reasons I didn't understand at the time – some items she called board games. I had a feeling those board games would be trouble by the way she was giggling when she put them in our shopping cart. I'd looked at her questioningly at the time, and she merely shrugged and said, "in case we get bored." As if…

However, they turned out to be quite fun; who knew that just about any board game could be turned into some kind of stripping game? At first we had just played them the regular way, but with some creative thinking and a lot of convincing, Sookie learned to adapt to what I began to call 'house rules'. I lost count of how many times Sookie called me her 'pervy frat-boy', a name I was learning to wear with a certain amount of pride and a waggle of my eyebrows.

We had decided that Sookie needed to truly be in hiding, with no way for FBI and Homeland Security to track her down. Therefore, we had arranged for Adele to call her once a day from various locations: Merlotte's, her church, the library. Her calls would also include any communication that Lafayette may have needed to keep The Enchanted Forest up and running. Since we'd seen how easily FBI had tracked down Jason's call, I felt these precautions were necessary, or else FBI and Homeland Security would be knocking on the door to this house. Likewise, Pam and Godric had called me, when necessary, on burn phones that I kept in large supply.

When choosing this particular house to hide out in, I hadn't thought about the fact that I had the entire collection of all the DVD seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer stored here. Sookie was still a child when that show went off the air and had never seen it, and at first she thought that it was hilarious that I had the series. I told her that the show was one of my favorites, and she began binge watching. Thank the gods that she found the cleverness in the show that I had found. She was particularly glad that actual vampires didn't go, as she said, 'butt-ugly' when they were about to attack or bite. She also went to great lengths to assure me that I most definitely had a soul; something that seemed important to her for me to know.

Often Sookie and I would just talk. We'd talk about things both meaningful and meaningless. I'd asked her about Jason's fireballs. It turns out that they were really lightballs that happened to be flammable when they'd connect with their targets. Sookie could manifest them as well but not a strongly as Jason could, but she had been told that her lightballs would grow with age, since the fae generally came into the fullness of their gifts at around age 25. However, since Sookie and Jason were hybrids, there was less certainty about that age rule, but Jason had received his light powers then. The effects of those lightballs had been what she had recognized with the burnt bush at Jason's house and with the burned cars in New Mexico. We both had wondered what had happened to any of the Weres that Jason's fireballs or Batanya's weapons had managed to bring down. However, we learned from the news that one of the vans in the caravan had carried several dead bodies apparently left behind when the living Weres had scattered.

We discovered as did the rest of the world that law enforcement authorities had not only discovered those bodies, but also a plethora of fingerprints all over the vans in spite of their burned condition. Many of those fingerprints had led to arrests in and around the Las Vegas area. In addition, the blood discovered at Jason's house and in one of the vans had apparently raised quite a few scientific eyebrows as they couldn't positively identify a blood type. It would have been more surprising if they could have.

Holy Odin, the news coverage was off the charts. The reporting was nearly constant on the news channels, and also very heavy on the regular networks. The journalistic world had gone crazy with the fact that not only had Jason been kidnapped and disappeared, but also Sookie had gone into hiding and couldn't be found. There was even coverage of the fact that I hadn't been seen at Fangtasia for days. Both Pam and Godric had been approached by reporters who wanted to know where I was, and both of them answered with a simple 'no comment' which whipped them into an even bigger frenzy.

At one point, Nan Flanagan had called both of them and refused to believe that neither of them knew where I was. Apparently The Authority was looking for me. Godric told them that I was protecting Sookie, so that no one knew how to find me. Godric told them that I would appear when I appeared, and that was to be the end of that. The Authority accepted Godric's demand, but they told him that they wanted to speak with me as soon as I resurfaced.

All of this had happened before the article in Time magazine had come out. I had made a run to a convenience store for toilet paper, something Sookie hadn't thought to buy at Walmart, when she had run out of what I had on hand (which I only had on hand for appearance sake), she insisted that I had to get some more pronto. I made the mistake of asking how essential this was, and I was lectured in no uncertain terms that toilet paper was something humans never, ever went without. Who knew?

While I was in the corner Grabbit Quik buying every roll of toilet paper they had in stock (apparently there were many different thicknesses and softnesses, whatever that meant), I noticed the new issue of Time on the magazine rack and threw it in with my purchase. It was hard to miss since the picture on the cover was one of Sookie and me from the ballet. The headline read: "In the Midst of Supernatural Turmoil – The Case for Good Vampires". Well, so far, that was promising. The teen-aged clerk in store chuckled and asked me whose house I was rolling. His words made no sense to me so I just paid and left.

By the time I had gotten back to the house and unloaded the trunk-full of toilet paper, which for some reason had Sookie laughing her ass off, I wanted to show her the article and read it with her.

"You think you got enough toilet paper there, Eric?" she asked.

"I didn't know what kind you liked, or how much you needed, so I just bought all of it," I replied, and this inexplicably made her laugh even more. "The new issue of Time magazine just came out; I was thinking we could read it together."

Her chuckles were starting to subside when she said, "Great! But first we have to put away this mountain-o-tissue." And she started giggling again.

Whatever.

She carried different piles of the toilet paper to all three of the bathrooms in the house, which I guess made sense. When she was finally done, she joined me on the sofa in the den, and I showed her the cover of the magazine.

"Wow, cool title, that sounds nice," she said.

"Those were my thoughts as well. You look very pretty, my Sookie."

"And you look very handsome, my Eric. Wow… I can't believe I'm on the cover of Time magazine!" she practically squealed.

I had my legs stretched out in front of me, and she burrowed into my side. I reached my arm around her to hold up the magazine so that we could both read it at the same time. I opened to the table of contents, and on that page there was a picture of me standing next to my car, taken by the army of photographers behind Fangtasia.

"Wow," Sookie exclaimed, "have you ever once taken a bad picture? You look gorgeous."

I chuckled, "let's see, there's a story about the terrorist vampires on page 34, and it looks like the story about us is on page 42." I flipped to page 42 first. There was a picture of me on the stupid throne inside Fangtasia, and the caption read, "With all of the fake, poser monarchs recently unveiled in America, it is ironic that one truly good vampire interviewed for this article was actual royalty in his human life."

"What does that mean, Eric?" Sookie asked.

I looked at her for a moment, then answered, "my father was the king of our people. I grew up a prince, and when my father died, I became king."

"You were an actual king?" she seemed awed.

"Well, yeah, until I was mortally wounded in battle and Godric turned me." I looked at her again, "why is this so shocking to you, your royal highness, Princess Brigant?"

She kind of snorted, "yeah, but that's not real." I raised my eyebrows to her. "Well, I guess it's real, but only in an entirely different realm. You were royalty right here in this realm, Eric."

"Over a thousand years ago, Sookie. It's not like we're about to be invited to dine with Queen Elizabeth."

She laughed at that. And then we read the article. Mr. Baker had done his research. He had all the information from our interview-including a few more details about my being royalty, and he also had information about my businesses, or as he referred to it – my business empire. He had apparently interviewed some of my employees who all sang my praises as a boss – how fair I was, how I rewarded individual accomplishments, how I provided excellent employee benefits including matching education funds for their children. He had somehow gotten copies of my tax returns that had my approximate income per year and listed the various charities that I'd donated to in the recent past, as well as more specifics about this past weekend's charity ball. And then there was a really interesting paragraph about a young man named Cody Blanchett who had been in the employ of Queen Sophie Ann in her palace and whom she sorely mistreated, or allowed mistreatment of him by others, both physical and sexual, until I witnessed his abuse and gave him money to get away from the palace. I wondered how on earth they were able to find this guy as I never even knew his name.

I had to admit, I sounded pretty fucking good! I looked over at Sookie as she finished reading the page.

"Wow, Eric. Is all of this true?" Her question surprised me, so I just looked at her and nodded. "I didn't think it was possible, but I'm even more impressed with you than I was before."

I chuckled, "yeah, well there's lots of stuff in my past that would not look so good if it were typed up into neat little paragraphs in this magazine."

"It doesn't change the fact that you look pretty darn good in this article. I love how they even included the throne duty, calling you the star attraction at Fangtasia."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at that. "Let's see what else they have," I said as I turned the page. There were pictures of both Sookie and me as we went into the charity ball and then dancing the waltz together, as well as a picture of Sookie from the press conference she held with Jason. There was even a small insert picture of Sookie in an evening gown walking the runway in the Miss Louisiana pageant. The story went on to talk about how we'd been seeing each other for a while, but we only decided to go public with our relationship when it had gotten exclusive and more serious. There was a whole paragraph dedicated to the idea that I was the first vampire of record to publicly admit that he loved a human. Sure, there was a bedrock movement within the VRA for vampire/human marriage rights, but there had been no specific vampires publically claiming to love a human before me.

Right after that was the paragraph I had been really nervous about: the one that covered the 'would you marry her if you could?' question. I watched as Sookie read my answer, monitoring her emotions while she read. When she got to the end of that section, she seemed really happy, she smiled really big, and put her face in her hands, but she didn't say anything. After an extended period of silence, we finished reading the rest of the article.

Once we'd finished reading the Eric portion of the magazine, we flipped back and read the eight pages dedicated to the details on terrorist Queen Sophie Ann, speculations about Nevada's Felipe de Castro, and a breakdown of the vampire monarch system in all of its glorious illegalities. There were quotes from the departments of the FBI, Homeland Security, and the Office of the Attorney General about bringing an end to this illegal system. There were also a lot of details about the various kidnapping attempts, and the security I had put in place to protect Sookie and Jason. Oddly, there was no mention of Nan Flanagan or the AVL anywhere in the magazine.

I had no idea how The Authority would react to this magazine. They would either love me or hate me. Even though in human eyes I made at least some vampires look good, they could still be pissed that I somehow upstaged them or whatever agenda du jour they were following.

When we'd finished the entire article, both articles, we just looked at each other. "Well, what do you think?" I asked her.

"It's a lot to take in," was all Sookie mysteriously said.

I was puzzled by that statement. She'd known most of the information before she read the articles. Perhaps there was a little about me that she hadn't known. "Is everything OK, Sookie?" I asked.

She stood and crossed to the window and looked out. She remained silent for a moment, "did you mean that about the marriage stuff?"

Ahhh, OK. Now I could see what was on her mind. "Every word. I would marry you tonight if we could. How do you feel about the idea, my Sookie?"

She shook her head, "I can feel that you really, really mean that, Eric." I could feel a sense of true amazement coming from her.

"Hold on, one second, I'll be right back," I said as I went into the bedroom at vamp speed and returned.

"Sookie," I said, but she was still looking out the window. "Sookie, look at me." She slowly turned around. "Sookie, I have been walking this earth for over one thousand years, as you know. I have never loved anyone in all that time, as I love you. You would make me the happiest vampire… man… on the planet if you would agree to be my wife," she gaped at me. I opened my hand and revealed the ring box and opened it, "will you marry me Sookie Stackhouse?"

She gasped. "Eric, when…?"

I smiled at her, "right after the reporter asked me the question. I realized how much I meant what I said to him." I took her hand, "Sookie, I know that we haven't known each other for very long."

"Eric, two weeks ago tonight was the first time I even talked to you on the phone."

"I know. But you are it for me, Sookie. I've told you this before, but I don't think you truly believed me. I've never asked someone to marry me before because I've never wanted to be married before because I've never loved anyone before. Sookie… I promise you that I will always be faithful to you, that I will always protect you, that I will always cherish you. Please say yes to my proposal." I felt like my heart was in my throat. I've never wanted anything as much as I wanted her to say yes right in this moment.

Her eyes were clear as she looked deeply into my eyes. "You know we can't get married yet, legally that is?"

"I know. But someday I hope the laws change. There is a vampire marriage ceremony called 'pledging' that we could do if you wanted. However, if you wish to wait for the human laws to change, I'll wait with you."

She continued to stare at me; gods but I wished I was a telepath in this moment. Then I saw a big, wet tear form in one of her eyes. Did that mean she was about to say yes? Or was she about to tell me that it was still too soon and say no? I looked into her eyes, and I could've sworn I could see her brain churning. The silence between us was becoming deafening. She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it without saying anything. I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin! I realized that I had been holding my breath long enough that if I were human, I would've asphyxiated.

And then, she simply nodded her head. Was that a yes? "You need to say it, Sookie, so I'll know what you are thinking," I told her.

Then a brilliant smile spread across her face to accompany the tears that were now falling in abundance from her eyes. "Yes, Eric, I'll marry you."

I was stunned; I was elated. All I could manage to say was, "Really?"

She laughed through her tears, "Yes, Eric, really. You are it for me too. I could never love anyone more than I love you right now."

I hugged her to me, "Oh, Sookie. You've made me so happy!"

We held the embrace for a long, long time before she spoke into my shoulder, "So, Eric… do I get the ring now?"

We both laughed as I backed up and slid the ring onto her finger. She held her hand out to look at it. "Wow, this is really beautiful. I love the rubies on the sides."

I couldn't help preening, "that was my idea. Originally, there were diamonds on the side, but I requested them changed to rubies. I think it turned out well."

"It turned out beautifully. Thank you, my Eric." She seemed to hesitate for a moment, "would you be very upset if I didn't wear this when I worked?"

That question threw me, "why?" I failed at not sounding a little hurt. Did she not want the public to know we were engaged?

She just tilted her head to the side, "Eric, you big doofas, I work with my hands often buried in soil. I don't want to do that to this beautiful work of art."

I just stared at her for a minute and then I burst out laughing. "How about I buy you a chain to wear around your neck so that you have a place to put your ring when you're up to your elbows in dirt."

She continued laughing, "I think that could work." She held out her hand and looked at the ring again. "This is really the most beautiful ring I've ever seen; I can't bear the thought of ever taking it off really." She looked up at me, "Oh Eric, I love you… now and forever."

I just stared at her; did she mean what I hoped she meant? I knew now was not the time to push, "as I love you, my Sookie." I swooped down to capture the lips of … my fiancé. That was a word that would take some getting used to. I was just about to take the kiss up a notch when the burn phone I'd been using lately started ringing. I desperately wanted to ignore it, but the only people who had that number were Pam and Godric.

Sookie and I groaned in unison, which made us both laugh. I answered the phone, "yes?"

Godric was on the other end of the line, "Eric, Rasul has just been arrested. That agent from Homeland Security took him since he was a member of Sophie Ann's court. I think he really did it to get you and Sookie to come out of hiding. He had been questioning Pam and Rasul repeatedly, and he would get really mad when they said they didn't know where you were. As he was arresting Rasul, he also told Pam that if she didn't tell him where you were the next time he asked, that he would arrest her as well."

"Is she all right?" I asked.

"She's here with me now; we are at your house. She looks rather stoic, but I think that she's actually quite upset about Rasul."

I could hear Pam's voice in the background, "I'm not upset, I'm pissed. They are using Rasul just to smoke out Eric and Sookie."

"Don't worry any more, Pam. I'll take care of this," I said into the phone to Godric, but I knew she would be able to hear. Homeland Security had crossed the line for the last time, if I had anything to say or do about it. It was time to go on the offensive. "Godric, you and Pam should meet me in the Bonne Chance ballroom in two hours. We're about to declare war on that agent."

I could hear the smile in his voice, "we'll see you there, Eric." And we hung up.

I turned to Sookie, "well, I had hoped to celebrate our engagement in a much more enjoyable fashion, but it looks like Homeland Security has arrested Rasul to try and get you and me to come out of hiding. Do you have the number for Miss Peveto on your phone?"

"Oh no! Actually, I do. Hold on, while I get it." I knew it was a risk to turn on her phone, but hopefully she would find the number quickly, and we could turn it right back off.

Using a burn phone, I also called the mayor, and as many news outlets as I could reach in a short amount of time. I also called Adele, and asked her to tell any news vans parked outside her home that there would be an important press conference in the ballroom of the Bonne Chance in a little less than two hours. I told her to tell the reporters that both Sookie and I would be there. Finally, I called the Bonne Chance and gave them explicit instructions for the upcoming press conference in the ballroom.

Sookie had turned on the television to see what coverage was there, and lo and behold, they were all featuring the information from the Time magazine article. Excellent. I would be going into this press conference with a definite advantage. The channel we were on had even more pictures of us dancing at the ball. She looked like she was having such a good time.

"Wow, Eric. You really look like you are having a good time in these pictures," she exclaimed. I chuckled. I guess we were both having a good time.

I took her into my arms, "oh, my Sookie, you and I have so many good times ahead of us." I thought for a moment, "where is somewhere that you've never been, but you've always wanted to go?"

She thought for a moment, "so many places, but I guess I'd really like to go somewhere in the Amazon."

That surprised me, "why?"

"I think it would be a real adventure, and there are so many one-of-a-kind plants, I guess. Most people don't know this, but they are always discovering plants that have never been catalogued anywhere. I'd love to find one of those myself, and then I'd get to name it."

"OK… I've never actually been there. How would you like to go there for our honeymoon?" I asked. I had something more European in mind, but this could be fun. Who was I kidding, anywhere with my Sookie would be fun.

"Really?" I nodded, and she squealed and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Eric, that would be awesome! Now all we have to do is get that pesky VRA passed," she giggled.

I laughed with her, "yes, there is that. Now, I've set up this press conference for nine o'clock. We are going to be taking down Agent Pettigrew. I need you to organize your thoughts for all the reasons he needs to be dismissed from this case; do you think you can do that?"

"Absolutely. That man needs to be long gone. Just let me get a pen and paper; I want to make sure I don't leave anything out." She headed off in search of those items, and I began mentally organizing my own thoughts.

While she was thinking, she also changed clothes and put on a little makeup. I caught up with her in the master bathroom as she was finishing up her makeup. She started to pull her hair up.

"Don't. Leave it down. All the pictures and video of you have been with your hair up in some way. You are always beautiful, of course, but I think you are loveliest when it is down. I want the world to see what a truly lucky man I am," I smiled at her, and she rewarded my words with a brilliant smile of her own. She then proceeded to brush out her long golden hair, and I just leaned on the door jamb and watched.

When it was time we got into the 1971 Dodge Charger I kept here. I loved this car. Starting the following year, automobile regulations were imposed which called for, among other things, a decline in engine power. 1971 was the last year that all makes and models of true muscle cars were made, even though they stayed in production through 1974. I'd bought this car when it was fresh off the assembly line, and it still looked brand new. Like my Corvette, it was red but with a black roof and black detailing; she was gorgeous.

As we got into the car, Sookie asked, "do you have cars from every era?"

I chuckled, "only the cool ones. You like this car?"

"I do. It's very you. What is it?"

"1971 Dodge Charger. I have it serviced regularly to keep it running like new," I paused. "I have a lot of memories with this car. 1971 was quite the unusual year. The student protest movement from the 60's was slowing down, and yet some of the biggest events happened around that time. The Kent State shooting had just happened the year before; one of the last violent protests of the Viet Nam era."

"I don't think I know about that one, what happened?"

"The president had won election in 1968 because he told everyone he had a 'secret way' to end the Viet Nam War. He didn't do much about it at first, and it looked like the war was winding down, but in April of 1970 he announced the Cambodian Campaign. The students at Kent State were marching to voice their disapproval of that initiative. They had begun the protest on May 1st, but dispersed in time to make their one o'clock classes, with a vow to continue on May 4th. About two thousand students amassed on a knoll on campus. What they didn't know, was the governor of Ohio had activated the National Guard to combat the protest. At some point during the protest, the National Guard threw canisters of tear gas at the students who picked up the canisters and threw them back at the soldiers, then the National Guardsmen got into formation, knelt on the ground and opened fire on the unarmed students. Four students died almost immediately, and several more were wounded."

Sookie sat in silence for a few moments. "That happened here in America?" she asked.

I nodded. "Something that came out after the shootings, is that every single person at the protest was a student in good standing at the university. There had been protests at other colleges with outside agitators stirring things up, but these were just students."

"That is really tragic. What made you think of that?"

"I don't know. Maybe the way Homeland Security is going after us. Though not at all as tragic, but with the arrest of Rasul it feels like the government is out to get us somehow. Plus, I bought this car shortly after the incident, in the fall of 1970. And I bought it in Cleveland, about thirty miles from Kent. America was outraged after Kent State. I hope to create just a small fraction of that outrage tonight."

I pulled up to the employee entrance to the Bonne Chance after seeing the platoon of news vans out front. So far, so good. Sookie and I walked into the building and made our way to the management office where I was able to confirm that all of my instructions had been followed. I sent the concierge to check on the ballroom, and when he returned he informed me that the media had set up a bank of microphones on the orchestra stage for the press conference, and there were over one hundred reporters/photographers/camera crew people waiting for us. Godric and Pamela walked into the office to join us. After assuring that everything was in place, I turned to Sookie, Godric, and Pam and said, "showtime."

The four of us walked through a side entrance into the ballroom and onto the stage with the microphones. As soon as we broke through the doorway we were greeted by the strobe light effect of many flashing cameras. I held Sookie's hand as we walked onto the stage, followed by Godric and Pam who stood behind us once we reached the bank of microphones. After only a few moments, there was complete silence in the ballroom.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. My name is Eric Northman, and this is Sookie Stackhouse. We have a few things to say, and then we will entertain questions from you all. We are here because we have some information to share with you regarding the ongoing threats to Sookie from both kidnappers and the office of Homeland Security." There was a gasp among the reporters. "Perhaps I can be a little more specific. The threats may not be coming from the office of Homeland Security itself, but they are definitely coming from Homeland Security Agent Tom Pettigrew." There was more hubbub from the crowd of reporters."

I continued, "three days ago, Sookie's brother Jason Stackhouse was kidnapped by a large group of kidnappers traced to the state of Nevada. This happened in spite of repeated warnings to Agent Pettigrew that there was a definite threat from that area. In fact, there was a kidnap attempt on Sookie from Nevada only a few days before, and the assailant was arrested by the Sheriff's department in Bon Temps. Since the beginning of this whole sordid nightmare, Agent Pettigrew has tried to find guilt among both the victims of these kidnap attempts and their protectors. No matter how much information he was given about the kidnappers, he kept coming back again and again asking Sookie and Jason questions about themselves. I'm here to set that record straight. Sookie and Jason do not know why they have been targeted, only that they have been.

"Last Saturday night Sookie and I attended a charity ball in this very ballroom. We were accompanied by my brother Rasul al Basir and my business partner Pamela Ravenscroft who is standing behind me tonight beside Godric who has been instrumental in protecting the Stackhouses. I had invited Rasul and Pam to join us because I thought they would not only be good company for the evening, but also they would provide an extra level of protection for Sookie. Rasul would be here tonight too, but he, unfortunately, is currently in the custody of Homeland Security. Why you may ask? Because during the ball where we'd made several sizable donations to the Caddo Parish Children's Hospital, Agent Pettigrew decided to have an impromptu interrogation session. This after several interrogation sessions he'd held previously with us all. He interrupted us and began asking us questions. My brother Rasul, had held a very innocuous position in the employ of Sophie Ann LeClerq until he learned what was going on. When her learned what she was up to, he left his position. The night of the ball, Agent Pettigrew asked him where he was from. When he learned that Rasul was born in Damascus, he tried to imply that Rasul was somehow tied to the current terrorists from that area, in spite of Rasul telling him he was from a family of silk merchants in Damascus almost eight hundred years ago.

"When Sookie and I were notified of Jason's kidnapping, we went straight to Jason's house. There was a large amount of blood on the scene. Understandably, this was very upsetting to Sookie. And when she was at her most emotionally vulnerable, Agent Pettigrew attacked her again with questions as to why these vampire monarchs wanted her and her brother. He basically called her a liar for not knowing this mysterious reason. I would also like to add that previously to the kidnapping of Jason, Sookie and I both had reached the point of telling Agent Pettigrew that because of his antagonistic questioning, neither of us wanted to ever be questioned by him outside of the presence or our attorneys. A constitutional fact that Agent Pettigrew blatantly disregarded.

"All of this just begs the question: when did victims of crimes become answerable to the authorities? When did victims of multiple kidnap attempts become suspects that the United States government needs to investigate? When does an ACTUAL kidnap victim, as Jason Stackhouse undeniably is, be declared a fugitive by a rogue, unrestrained officer of law enforcement? When did those who help the victims of crime, as Rasul al Basir has done, start getting arrested? When did the American constitution fly out the window?"

AN: Review, review, review. It's my only paycheck.

A note about Kent State. I have the utmost respect for the events that happened there. I was looking for an event in fairly recent American history that had inspired outrage that could in some small way parallel the outrage I wanted America to feel in my story. If you have friends or family who were involved in the Kent State event, please realize that no offense was meant.

A special thank you to all who reviewed since the last chapter posting, as of 6-4-17: Asami's clown, tanseynz, Casey8686, ciasteczko, princessspot5, VampMad50, 2 Guests, elsie bailey, hummingbirdgrrl, suzymeinen, Hucki, Duckbutt, KitKat2739, jackie69, lhjhelm49, KatyAtAll, MsNorthman, bwtawny, The Vikings Succubus, Nicolle1977, ashmo 2000, Perfecta999, fanfictionfan4444

Special thanks to elsie bailey who posted review number 400 for this story!