LOST AND FOUND - PART 1

CONFRONTED

CHAPTER 9

When Adam returned to the house, he had the four Pinkerton detectives with him as ordered. He led them into the house and to his office, where the rest of the family, except the children, was gathered.

Thea jumped up and ran to Adam, throwing her arms around him. He staggered back a bit, but then hugged her tight. "I told you not to worry, the roundup went without a hitch. Didn't it boys?" he said to the four Pinks.

"You better believe it." Jerry said.

"Damn straight," Mike said then flushed a bit as he glanced at Thea who only smiled at him, then winced at the pain in her jaw. She let go of her husband and went to answer the knock at the back door to the office.

John just laughed and Nate came to slap Adam on the back as a server entered the room with a cart holding champagne and glasses.

"Thank you Seth," Thea said, "that will be all." The young man gave her a shy smile and left the room.

Adam opened the champagne and poured while Thea distributed the glasses.

After everyone was served Adam raised his glass to make a toast to his four friends, "Here is to the best team of detectives to ever walk the earth, and thank the Lord you are all on the side of the law!" The four detectives laughed and drank the toast to themselves as Adam came to shake the hand of each one.

Then Nate raised his glass, "And here is to the most stubborn, brilliant, devious, royal pain of a Federal Marshall to ever wear the badge."

Thea and the Pinks had to laugh when they saw the astonished look Joe and Hoss exchanged.

"YOU?" Joe sputtered.

"Yes Joseph. Would seeing my badge convince you?"

Wide-eyed, Joe nodded.

Adam pulled a leather wallet out of an inside pocket of his suit coat and tossed it to Joe. As his brother opened it, Thea glanced at her husband and caught him giving his father a strange, dark look. But when he turned back the look was gone. She frowned slightly, puzzled.

Hoss came up to Joe to look at the badge and he whistled. "That thing is solid gold, ain't it, Adam?"

"Yes it is Hoss."

"Why didn't you tell us any of this?" Joe said, bewildered.

"Because if I had, and you had told anyone, I would have had to throw you in jail for obstruction of justice," his older brother said as everyone took a seat. "And we all know how good you are at keeping secrets." Joe frowned, but didn't comment.

"Anyway," Adam continued looking at Joe, "did you know the Marshals office was created in 1789?"

Joe shook his head.

"The duties of a Marshall haven't really changed all that much since then, but there is a little known division that handles special assignments on a national scale. That is what I do."

"In his 'spare' time," Thea laughed and Adam grinned at her. "I guess I should be more accurate and say that is what I used to do. I'm mainly retired from the division now. I only get involved when I'm needed."

"Two years we've been working to bring that monster down and now it's finished," Jerry said with deep satisfaction.

Adam nodded, "Jackson's people weren't particularly bright, but they more than made up for that with viciousness."

"Two years?" Hoss asked, "Why'd it take so long?"

Adam smiled at Hoss as he answered, "We wanted to round up everyone involved, not just Jackson's people. There were more than a few corrupt officials, both high and low, who were brought in today and we had to take our time to gather the evidence...to make our case."

Adam then turned to Joe again, "And you have no idea how much you put everything in danger by finding me. You could not have had worse timing."

"Dear God, did we have to scramble and bang our heads on the wall to think up new angles," John laughed.

Nate smiled, "We were having a terrible time trying to figure out how to keep you three out of danger, but not do anything that might tip our hand and make Jackson suspicious. Then Adam came up with that brilliant idea of me talking Jackson into letting us kidnap you."

Joe gave his oldest brother a disgruntled look and Adam held up his hands, "Sorry, but it was the only way I could be sure you would all be safe," he said in his own defense.

"Well, why couldn't you have just told us?" Joe objected.

"It had to look real to everyone but us, Joe," Thea said. "Everything had to be above suspicion to keep Jackson in the dark."

Hoss looked at Thea, "Us? You too?"

"Of course, who do you think knocked you out? But you never saw me, now did you? The only one you saw was Marie, the turncoat that lured you in," she said and grinned.

Hoss and Joe started to laugh, hard, but when Thea turned back to Adam she caught that same darkness in his eyes as he glanced at his father who had remained strangely quiet.

"So what do you think of all this, Pa?" Joe asked as Hoss continued to chuckle.

"I'm stunned," his father said. Thea watched Adam's face tighten as he looked away.

Hoss looked to Adam, "So what now?"

"Well now, that's a good question. I have also been working on a project that involves opening a regional office of the special division as a test. I have been offered the position of being the first regional director," he paused, "And I'm hoping if I do accept the position that John, Mike, Jerry, and Nate will come with me."

"So you haven't made up your mind, yet?" Ben asked. Adam answered without looking at him. "No, I haven't. I need a chance to clear up one more problem before I can commit."

Joe asked anxiously, "So where will this office be?"

Adam looked right at his father as he answered, "It was supposed to be in San Francisco, but strangely enough the location has changed overnight to Virginia City."

Hoss and Joe exchanged excited looks. "So you'd be movin' to Virginia City if you took that job?" Hoss asked.

"Yes...yes we would." Adam said quietly, still staring at his father.

When Ben finally met Adam's eyes, his eldest son nodded toward the door to the hall, stood and went out.

His father followed and no one noticed except Thea.

Adam led the way to a small parlor off the hall, opened the door, ushered his father in then followed, closing the door behind them. "Have a seat, please," he said to his father, but remained standing as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, a letter he hadn't opened until an hour before.

He stood looking down at the letter in his hand for a moment then turned his deep, dark eyes to his father. "How did you find out? Who do you know? And how did you get to them so fast?" Ben looked away from his son's intense gaze.

"Don't get me wrong, I do understand your motives; I'm a father too so I can understand what prompted you to want to do this. What I can't understand is your giving in to that impulse," Adam said as he began to pace.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" He shook his head and stopped pacing. As he turned to his father both hurt and anger looked out of his eyes for a second, but were quickly veiled.

"I gave two-and-a-half years of my life to this project; two-and-a-half years of planning, decision making, and worst of all, dealing with bureaucrats. Then you make a few suggestions to someone and all of it is gone, overnight." Adam cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders, two signs his father now knew meant his son was furious.

"HOW did you find out? WHO do you know? And HOW did you get to them so fast?" His son repeated and began to pace again.

Without looking at him Ben said, "I had lunch with and old friend of mine who just happened to be in town."

Adam stopped pacing in front of his father, "An old friend who just happened to be...oh no, please don't tell me you mean the division director?"

His father nodded as his son put a hand to his forehead.

"That man has the biggest mouth in Washington and no brains to back it up. He just told you everything, didn't he?"

Ben nodded again.

Adam stopped pacing and wearily dropped into the chair opposite his father. "I've got to say that I just can't believe you did this to me. Not only have you rendered all that work useless, you have seriously undermined my authority."

He put his head down to rub the back of his neck. "I was dealing with these people on an equal basis until now. By tomorrow it will be all through the organization that my father pulled some strings so I could be assigned near home. The whole time I've been working on this I have emphasized to people that there would be no favoritism, no politics, and no influence would be tolerated in my office."

His father started to speak, but Adam held up a hand to stop him, "Don't. Let me finish," he said in a tightly controlled voice. "Believe me, I don't mean any disrespect and I don't want to hurt you. You took a calculated risk, because you knew how much this project meant to me, but I think it's about to blow up in your face."

He raised his head saying, "Look at me," and Ben did.

"My hair is starting to turn gray. I have a family, numerous businesses, and a huge load of responsibility. I am not a child, or even a young man anymore. I have managed my life quite well without you for six years and I am just about as grown up as any man can be." Adam's voice had become rougher with suppressed emotion.

"But we have to come to an understanding, Pa. Either you swear to me, with God as your witness that you will never meddle in my life like this again, or I will walk away from this project and I will no longer be a part of your life."

Adam pushed himself up and stood, head down. He went to the door, opened it then stopped as he raised his head and his shoulders stiffened. "You have a decision to make; let me know when you've made it," he said quietly and closed the door behind him as he left.

When he entered the office again he went directly to Thea, sat next to her on the sofa and took her hand. The detectives were entertaining Joe and Hoss with stories from their assignments.

Thea put her head on Adam's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Did you give him an ultimatum?" She had figured out what happened.

Adam nodded and she squeezed his hand, "He'll do the right thing, I know it."

"I certainly hope so, but he's awfully proud."

"I know, that's another thing you two have in common. But he's also not stupid."

Mike broke into their conversation. "Hey Adam, do you remember the name of that strange little man? You know, the expert pickpocket in New York?"

Adam laughed, "His name was Tony Gettaboney." The others laughed. "He was the best I've ever seen. He could take everything you've had while looking you right in the eye. And you would never know until it was too late."

"Except for you," Jerry said.

"He was only ever caught once, which happened to be by me, and that impressed him so much he decided he was going to teach me everything he knew, from picking locks to spotting confidence men."

"Adam," Joe said, "can you teach me how to pick a lock?"

"Yes Joseph, I can, but I'm not so sure I should..." his older brother was saying when the office door opened and Ben came in.

Adam stood as his father walked right up to him. Looking his son in the eye he said, "You were absolutely right, I shouldn't have interfered. Please accept my apology and my word I will never do anything like that again."

Ben held out his hand and Adam blinked, taken aback at first. He slowly took his father's hand and said, "You really mean that don't you?"

His father nodded, so instead of shaking his hand Adam pulled him into his arms for a backslapping hug and said low, "Believe me Pa, you will never regret this."

"I know I won't," Ben said, "but is there anything that can be done to restore your original plan?"

"No, I know these people and it wouldn't be any use. Besides, my original choice of location was Virginia City" When he saw the look on his father's face Adam grinned.

"I didn't say your suggestions weren't good - it was your motive for making them I objected to."

Ben shook his head in disbelief and Thea said to him, "Nate wasn't kidding when he called Adam devious."

He looked carefully at his eldest son, taking in the hooded eyes and raised eyebrows then realized there was so much more to him now than he had even suspected. He began to chuckle, appreciating Adam's masterful handling of the situation.

"We told you he's devious," Mike agreed.

"I don't lie," Adam objected.

"No, but somehow you usually manage to leave a few major details out," Jerry said.

"I prefer to call that being circumspect. If you want the right answers you have to learn to ask the right questions, and the first thing you learn in dealing with the criminal element is to never give any information not necessary."

Nate changed the subject to what was on everyone else's mind, "So what's it going to be boss? Are we all going to Virginia City or not?"

Adam looked at Thea and she gave him a look that said it was up to him, "'Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay,'" she quoted from scripture.

He looked at his smiling wife and again thought about how lucky he was. Then he shot a look at his father out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, Pa, it looks like you'll be getting your way after all. Yes, we are moving to Virginia City and God help those poor, unsuspecting people. They have no idea what's coming."