The good thing about being the Vice President was that even on Saturday, you could pretty much get a hold of anyone on the phone. Even retired admirals.

"This is Leaf."

It wasn't the most professional way to answer the phone, but Leaf wasn't in the Navy anymore and he didn't have to answer the phone professionally. Besides, it was Saturday, and no one should ever call him on Saturday.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Leaf's eyebrows raised at the fury in the voice of the Vice President – something he'd never heard before. At seventy-one, Leaf was far too old to be intimidated by anyone – including Kinsey – but it was an impressive rage, nonetheless.

"What do you mean, Bob?"

"I mean, I want to know what the hell your men are doing in Colorado right now."

Leaf narrowed his eyes.

"Are you using a secured line, Bob? I don't-"

"Yes! It's a goddamned secured line, you stupid sonofabitch!"

Kinsey was absolutely furious, and the longer he'd waited for his secretary to get hold of Admiral Leaf, the angrier he'd grown. He was in a position that he had no business being in – and he was certain it was Leaf's fault.

"Relax, Bob… what's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What did I tell you about going near that Brooks kid? What did I say about that? I told you not to, didn't I? And what do I hear, now? That Smith and Morgan are both in Colorado Springs – and don't think for a fucking minute I don't know what they're doing there!"

Leaf scowled.

"You gave me full authority in this organization, Kinsey," he said, dangerously. "That means I get to choose who I recruit and who I leave a-"

"Not Ian brooks, you stupid basta-"

"Anyone!" Leaf roared, interrupting, and spilling his orange juice on himself when he lurched to his feet – even though Kinsey wasn't there to intimidate with the move and his Poodle was hardly impressed. "That kid is exactly what this organization needs, and I'm not going to pass that up just because you're afraid of his father!"

Kinsey wasn't afraid of Nathan Brooks. Well, yeah…. He was afraid of Nathan Brooks, but Brooks wasn't the one who terrified him the most. The woman terrified him the most – and right behind her was the boy himself.

"Let me tell you something, Leaf…" Kinsey said, his voice dangerously low and not at all weasel-like as it normally was. "You just tossed a whole pile of shit into the fan on this one, and you're going to get splattered with it, because there's no way I'm going to take the fall for this."

"For what?" Leaf asked, scornfully. "No one knows anything, Kinsey."

"Brooks knows someone's fucking with his kid."

Leaf felt just a stab of worry at that particular statement. Truth be told, Nathan Brooks wasn't someone Leaf knew all that well, but he knew the man was as dangerous as they came – and once he'd retired, when you'd have thought he'd mellow out a bit, Brooks had shown an aptitude for making waves in the political arenas as well – even though he didn't participate in politics, himself.

"How do you know that?"

"Just trust me on this one; I know. You need to call off whatever you've got your people doing and tell them to get the hell away form Colorado Springs."

Leaf hesitated a minute, and then shook his head, scowling once more.

"No. I'm not going to let anyone tell me how to run this organization – not you. Not Nathan Brooks. Not anyone. You have a problem with that, you can come see me, instead of calling."

The retired admiral hung up the phone with a click and sat back down, still fuming. He wasn't used to having anyone challenge his authority, after all, and it had been a long time since anyone had called him a stupid sonofabitch. He thought about calling Morgan to let him know what was going on, but decided against it. Morgan was a professional, and didn't need him looming over his shoulder while he did his job.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Kinsey was still furious when he dropped his phone into the cradle. Any kind of challenge to his authority was enough to anger him – and Leaf was about as good as it came when it came to challenging authority. He steepled his hands in front of him, and glanced down at the napkin on his desk.

"He wants a problem…?" Kinsey murmured to himself, reaching for the phone once more and pulling the napkin close so he could see the neat handwriting on it. "I'll give him a huge one."

OOOOOOOOOO

Just as Ian and Shawn were charging into the back room, Bennett and Morgan were hustling out the back door to that room. At the sight of the two coming at them, Bennett pulled his gun; reacting to the stab of fear he'd felt earlier and not thinking all that clearly. Just as he'd pointed it in the direction of the boys – really, intending to scare them, not really shoot them – Morgan shouted and jerked his hand down. The gun went off with an amazingly loud report, and Morgan snatched it away before Bennett could even thing twice.

"Are you out of your mind?" He screamed. "How am I supposed to recruit him if you're shooting at him?"

He grabbed Bennett by the back of the collar – not a mean feat for someone who was several inches taller than him – and pushed him towards the suburban, where Smith and Pleasant were trying to get River Hayden into the back seat. The Cadet was putting up a struggle, though, and the two men were having a tougher time than they'd have ever believed. Bennett tripped, and fell, but Morgan didn't bother to help him up; he was too disgusted with him.

"Let's go!" Morgan shouted, getting behind the wheel and slamming the door closed.

OOOOOOO

"Fuck!"

As soon as Ian raced through the door, the first thing he saw was a gun pointing at them. And the first thing he did was push Shawn to the floor, protectively. The gun went off as the younger cadet stumbled, and Shawn let out a yelp that Ian assumed was from surprise. He ignored it for the moment, and headed for the door, just in time to hear what the strange man had yelled at the one who'd fired the shot. They were all getting into the suburban when Ian exited the Coffee House, and the big engine was already roaring to life. It was slammed into reverse before Ian could do anything, and he wished he'd had his Glock then, because he could clearly see the face of the man behind the wheel – which meant he could have shot him.

Instead, the suburban was put into drive and Morgan headed it towards the exit of the parking lot, tires squealing and smoking, and a fuming Brooks standing there rooted to the spot for just a second.

"Fuck!"

He turned, looking at Shawn, who had materialized next to him; uncertain what was going on and holding his arm at an odd angle.

"Come on!"

Ian reached out and grabbed Shawn by the collar – imitating without realizing it the way that Morgan had grabbed Bennett – and pulled him along the sidewalk around the building and back to his car.

"Get in!"

Shawn hastened to obey, and Ian got behind the wheel, his dark eyes watching where the speeding SUV was going as he started his car and put it in reverse. A moment later, ignoring the shouts and yells of those who had been in the Coffee House, Ian's convertible tore out after the suburban.