Chapter 2

"I'll find out," Nick protested when Jarrod said he'd find out about Askin.

"Nick, let Jarrod do it," Heath said even before Jarrod could answer.

Now Nick glared at Heath.

Heath said, "Jarrod's better at this sort of thing, and you know he's got the connections we don't have."

Nick looked back at Jarrod. "Can you guarantee you'll let us know what you find out?"

Now Jarrod hesitated.

His hesitation meant everything to Nick. Nick turned and started away.

"Yes!" Jarrod said, and Nick stopped and turned. "Yes, I can guarantee I'll let you know what I find out. Macklin's got nothing over me now. I've done all I'm gonna do for him or the federals."

Nick heard the guarantee but pointed his finger. "I'll let you ask the questions for a day or two, but if I find out you're keeping things from us again, I'll have your head on a plate."

Heath, however, heard something else. He heard Jarrod say Macklin's got nothing over me now. Did that mean Macklin had something over him before? Something that explained his behavior the night Alderson was taken? Something that made him keep that secret that had nearly turned dreadful?

The three of them had gotten together in the kitchen very late the night after Alderson was taken. Oddly enough, they had all had nightmares about things that had happened to them during the war. They used those nightmares to talk. Like Jarrod, Heath had thought they might have ironed some things out, but he had continued to sense that unease in Nick, that feeling that he couldn't trust his older brother. Mistrust to a relationship as close as Jarrod's and Nick's was like poison to a rose. Nick had felt, and was still feeling, poisoned.

Heath kept all these thoughts to himself for now. Nick was upset enough, and he had been drinking and wasn't entirely there. Heath knew he still had a buzz too. "It's time to head to bed, Nick," Heath said. "We can deal with this tomorrow. Come on."

Nick gave one last glare to his older brother before he and Heath headed upstairs. Jarrod watched them go, uneasy and unhappy about the lack of trust that still hovered over them – but curious about this Askin fellow too. He quickly finished up the work he was doing tonight and headed to bed, planning in his mind what he wanted to do about it tomorrow. Maybe if he came up with some truth about this Askin, he might win back some of his brothers' trust.

He didn't realize Heath had caught onto what he had said either. Jarrod didn't even realize he'd said it the way he did, but upstairs, Heath was still thinking about it.

XXXXXXX

In the morning, Jarrod was up first and down at the breakfast table. Nick and Heath were lagging a little after the night out, so Victoria wasn't surprised they weren't there when she came down. "Good morning, Jarrod," she said to her oldest, noticing he was wearing a white shirt, his tan suit coat and a tie. "You're going into town today."

"I was going into the office anyway, but yes, but something happened last night after you went to bed," Jarrod said, the look of thinking very hard on his face. "Nick and Heath ran into somebody Nick thought he knew, some fellow named Askin. Somebody who was with General Alderson at Mayville."

Victoria was sitting down as Jarrod spoke, but now she nearly jumped up again. "Mayville? Someone else from Mayville?"

Jarrod nodded. "I need to look into it. Despite the fact that contact with Agent Macklin is the last thing I want, I'm going to wire him, and let him know this Askin fellow is here. Maybe he knows something he never told me, or he's found out something. The government might want to know that Askin is here."

Victoria said, "Nick won't go with you."

"No, he needs to stay away from it and he said he would let me try to handle for a day or two, but he's about to blow up. He's never forgiven me, Mother, even though I thought he had – or maybe I didn't think so, I don't know."

Victoria was hesitant to say what she thought she had to say next, but she said it anyway. "You two still don't know where you stand with each other – and you still wonder where you stand with the rest of us."

Jarrod gave a small smile. "I don't doubt your love, Mother, but I know what I did shook everyone's faith in me. I don't expect to have it back yet. Even if you actually do forgive me, I know trust is something else. Not one of you isn't wondering if I would do it all again."

"Would you?" Victoria asked. "If the government came to you again and wanted you to do what you did – would you do it again?"

It was Jarrod's turn to hesitate. "I don't know. So I suppose it's right you all keep at least a little distrust about me. It's all right. I understand."

"This may sound like a platitude under the circumstances," Victoria said, "but you are my son, and I do love you."

Jarrod smiled a little again. "I know you do, Mother, and I think even Nick still loves me in his way. But I have to earn your trust again. Finding out why this Askin is around might help me do that. We'll have to see how well I manage it."

"Nick and Heath aren't down yet," Victoria said.

Jarrod had already finished eating and stood up. "No, and I wanted to get out before we had a replay of what happened when they came in last night. Nick's ready to put my head on a plate if I don't come up with the right answers in this thing."

Jarrod kissed his mother, bid her a good day and headed out the door. He grabbed his gunbelt as he passed through the hall, buckling it on, hoping he wouldn't need it but wanting to be prepared if he did. As he went through the foyer, he didn't notice Heath was upstairs, on his way down. Heath saw him leave and it flashed through his mind again, what Jarrod had said the night before. Macklin's got nothing over me now.

Heath went into the dining room and was relieved only Victoria was there. "Good morning, Mother," he said. "Jarrod's off early this morning."

"He told me what happened with you and Nick last night," Victoria said as Heath sat down. "He's anxious to get to town and telegraph Agent Macklin to try to find out something about this Askin fellow you ran into last night."

Heath looked interested when Macklin's name was mentioned. "He's gonna get Macklin into this, is he?"

"I don't know if he's going to get Macklin into it but he intends to ask him about Askin." Victoria noticed Heath's expression – curious, uneasy. "I can understand how you and Nick might feel about opening up this can of worms again."

"Nick's fit to be tied about it," Heath said. He looked up to see that no one was coming into the dining room. "Jarrod's hoping he can put it to rest before Nick goes on a rampage. Mother – " Heath hesitated. "Mother, I know you don't want this all to come back up again. I don't think any of us do, but – " He got stuck again.

"But what?" Victoria asked.

"It's not just that something new might come up and open it all up," Heath said. "I don't think it was ever really closed."

"No, of course it wasn't," Victoria said. "Nick and Jarrod have always been very close but sometimes the differences between them have caused problems, and Nick is like a dog with a bone sometimes when he feels he's been – " She had a hard time saying the word.

"Betrayed," Heath said it for her. "And he feels like Jarrod betrayed him."

"Jarrod did betray him," Victoria said. "That's what's making this situation so difficult."

"For all of us, not just Nick, and Nick is ready to explode and this Askin fellow has just lit the fuse when we thought it had gone out," Heath said. "But that's not all, Mother. Something else has been missing, something we haven't asked ourselves, but Jarrod said something accidentally last night when Nick and I came in. Something that's been pulling at me, even though I don't think Nick noticed it and I'm not sure Jarrod even realized he said it. Why did Jarrod do what he did, playing along with Macklin and not saying a word to any of us about it?"

"They wouldn't let him say anything," Victoria said.

"He could have just turned down being part of the trick," Heath said. "But he didn't. And something he said last night is pulling at me."

"What?" Victoria asked.

"When he talked about getting in touch with Macklin about Askin, he said Macklin didn't have anything over him now," Heath said. "Nick didn't hear that, or at least he didn't seem to, but I heard it. Mother, Jarrod seemed to let it slip that he was part of this whole plan that came down on us because Macklin and the government had something on him, something they used to force him into cooperating."

Now Victoria straightened like she'd been hit between the eyes. Then she frowned. "I don't understand. What could Macklin have had over Jarrod that he could use that way?"

"I don't know," Heath said. "Something from the war, most likely. Something part of when he was doing intelligence work maybe. But you don't have any idea what it could be?"

"Jarrod never talked about his intelligence work," Victoria said. "He couldn't, and he wouldn't. It was secret, and Jarrod keeps secrets."

"Better than anybody I know," Heath said.

"What do you want to do about this?" Victoria asked.

"Not tell Nick, that's for sure," Heath said. "And not bother Jarrod with it just now either, not while he's trying to track down this Askin guy."

Victoria nodded. "I agree with you. If there's another chapter on this ugly story about to open, we'd better not rip it open just yet. When Jarrod gets home, maybe I'll talk to him."

"Why don't you let me do it?" Heath said. "I'm the one who heard what he said, and if Macklin does have something on him, it might not be something he'd tell you about. He might tell me, if I go to him and tell him I heard what I heard."

"If he doesn't, it sounds like just something else we'll have to get by and live with."

"And hope Askin isn't one more thing like that."

"There's no guarantee Jarrod will find him or find out anything about him," Victoria said.

"No, no guarantees, except that Jarrod guaranteed he would tell us if he found out something."

"That surprises me," Victoria said. "Maybe most of all, that surprises me – especially if Agent Macklin has something he was hanging over Jarrod."