When Jamie was 17, and he knew he was going to Harvard to become a lawyer, even if he had wanted to go to Idaho State and become a vet, there was a rattlesnake near the barn. He was the only one to see it and he couldn't bring himself to kill it. He had made it a point to learn as much as he could about them, after what had happened with Beth. He had learned that they really were magnificent creatures.
He had lost track of the amount of time he watched it, as he lay belly down in the dirt, so he could get eye to unblinking eye level. It actually startled him slightly when LLoyd called his name.
"What in the hell are you doing Jamie,"
"Watching it. I find them fascinating." he answered, not looking over.
"That thing could kill you," Lloyd sounded indignant.
"Doubtful, c. Viridis venom, while potent, is one of the less potent rattlesnake venoms and they haven't been responsible for a fatality since the introduction of antivenin," he explained.
"They are aggressive and you make one wrong move and it will bite you in the face," he tried to reason with Dutton stubbornness.
"They don't have enough of a brain to form the malice aforethought to be aggressive. They are only reactively defensive," he corrected and could practically hear Lloyd roll his eyes.
"He wants to bite you right in that egg head of yours so move."
"He doesn't want to bite. Venom is a precious resource, why waste it on me?" He said. "Snakes basically live by the principle of mutually assured destruction."
"What are you even talking about and what does it have to do with you trying to get snake bit?"
"Mutually assured destruction, it is a military defense strategy where two opposing powers choose not to make offensive moves because an aggressive move would result in your demise even as it leads to your enemies. Rattlesnakes are like that. If he wants to bite me, he has to expose himself to being killed by me and in order for me to kill him, I have to risk a bite. Neither of us moves because to do so is to assure our own destruction," he explained.
There was a loud bang, making him jump. Lloyd had shot the snake right through the head. Jamie tried to pop his ear, even as he knew the ringing was from the gun fire right by his head. "And I assure my own destruction if John Dutton finds out I let his son play with a rattler," He gave the mustached man a sour look and asked Rip to hand him a shovel to go bury it.
"Hey, Jamie, why do you find them so interesting?" Lloyd asked him.
"Because, of all the creatures on the prairie from the mouse to buffalo, to humans, he is the one creature everyone moves out of the way for."
"You are a weird, fucking kid." Jamie just shrugged.
He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. He hadn't bothered to put gel in it to keep it out of his face this morning. What was the point, he was just going to see his family and potentially end up with a bullet in his head or in a mugshot. At this point, either one was better than what he was living with.
He got out, snow crunching under his boot. He felt like he was going to puke but he ignored it. It was usually how he felt when he had to spend any time around his family lately. He wished he didn't still love them, but goddamnit, he did. He still thought of John as his father, the man that bought him his first horse, made him milkshakes when he was sick, and paid for him to go to Harvard. Beth, for all the shit that happened between them, was still the same little girl that crawled into his bed during thunderstorms, trusted him to catch her so she didn't fall, and had trusted him to help her when she had been so scared. And Kayce , well being around Kayce didn't bother him.
His eyes kicked towards the cemetery where his mother and Lee were. He missed Lee so much sometimes it was like a physical pain. If Lee were still alive, none of this would have been happening. But then again, if Lee were still here, he probably would still live at home, not have his son, not have Christina.
He kicked snow off his boots and opened the door, letting himself in. He found his father in the great room, waiting for him. He swallowed, his anger, his hurt, his fear. He needed to be the person he could be in the courtroom right now, not the weak, pathetic person he normally was.
"You wanted to talk," he dad started, not offering him a drink or a seat. It was a power play, he was used to it. He could almost guess how this would go. Civil but not friendly, snide, then angry, then cold, then physical. He had to be strong. He had to not be afraid, like he had been his entire life of this man.
"Yes," he sat down anyway. He was tired, so fucking tired.
"About what?"
"Mutually assured destruction," he answered, not really meaning to. "I'm not risking my license to threaten a US District Attorney, especially one I have to work closely with, for Beth."
"I think you will," John said coldly. "You don't have a choice."
And now they were getting to the nitty gritty. "Actually I do have a choice and I am exercising it. If you want to help Beth, hire her a good defense team and have her plead guilty."
"God Damnit, Jamie. You will find a way to help her. Get it moved to state court so you can dismiss it. She was just trying to protect the Ranch, the same way you should be doing," The man rose, starting to pace.
"No I won't. I would lose my license, lose my job, and possibly go to jail myself. And as you and Beth are fond of pointing out, I have no stake in the Ranch anymore."
"Then maybe I send you to jail too," John ground out at him, voice full of venom.
"Go ahead and try and but before you do, ask yourself if you are willing to go as well and send Rip, Kayce , Lloyd, and god knows who else up the river too. And have this place be seized by the Government and sold off parcel by parcel to the highest bidder." John turned white at that thought but not of sending his sons to jail.
"What are you talking about?"
"The train station, Dad, if you try to take me down it will expose the Train Station and how careful do you think you, Rip, and everyone else was about getting rid of forensic evidence, or disabling the Lo Jack on the trucks, or the camera's at the gates, or cameras at the weigh stations between here and there, or the GPS on their phones ? And yeah, Lloyd and Rip might be willing to take the fall for you but do you think Ryan or Colby will? Do you think when the DA offers them time serviced or probation if they finger you as calling for the hit that they won't take it? He asked and John grabbed him by his collar, staring him in the eyes. He wanted to drop his, wanted to cower and put something between them like he usually did because taking a beating from the man that was supposed to love you hurt your soul more than your face.
"How dare you!" He shook Jamie, hard.
"You always said it is about protecting your family, well that is what I am doing," he said.
"We're your family, son," John dropped his collar, moving back.
"Only when it is convenient for you or you need something," he said. John didn't deny it, which probably hurt more than any physical blow could. He hated it, hated that this man could still make him simper and cower. Still make him question everything he did. Still make him feel worthless and wrong, not wrong about something but like his very being was wrong, like he didn't deserve to share the same air as John, Lee, Kayce , or Beth. Like he owed him for letting a defective creature like himself sleep by the fire.
"Why are you doing this?" John sounded just as tired as he felt.
"Mutually assured destruction, Dad, mutually assured destruction," he answered and walked away
The next Wednesday, Jamie called Rip and asked to borrow some well broke trail horses and a few ranch hands to help on a trail ride. Rip of course said he wasn't going to help until Jamie pointed out he was taking the US District Attorney that was in charge of Beth's case and his family on a trailride and that he was not supposed to mention it to John or Beth. The man balked and complained but did it. Rip was many things including being good at doing what he was told.
So on Saturday, Jamie pulled up with his horse trailered and met Lloyd, Colby, Ryan, and one of the barrel racing girls, not sure which one because to be honest he hadn't bothered to learn their names. He also greeted Dwayne Ericson, the US Attorney for the District of Montana, who was a bit of an idiot to be willing to come this far out in the country to be surrounded by Federal hating wignuts and not bring a marshall but then again, they had gone to Harvard together. He thought Jamie was his "people." And maybe he was, he wasn't sure what kind of people he was anymore.
Two little girls came running over to the horse trailers, looking in awe at the animals. Rip had made good choices for them. All were well broke, steady, and not too sensitive to leg or reins. The girls chattered and Lloyd answered their questions in that patient way he had with kids. One girl ran over to his horse and he grabbed the bridle, "You can't pet this one sweetheart, he bites," he told her, making sure Rattler didn't take a swing at the kid. He may look and move like his sire, Spider, but he certainly didn't have Spider's kind disposition. He should have brought Widow but she was still at Yellowstone and even though Jamie loved her, it wasn't worth the fight to get her back. Besides, she was happy there, even if he missed her.
Kayce and Monica also met them, to help keep the wife and kids company. He wasn't sure how it was going to work out but Christina could barely ride and her answer had been a stark, "no, I am not going to help you do something stupid." when he had asked her to come.
They soon mounted up and were on their way. Rattler, as usual, was bouncy and fussy because he wanted to run, but Jamie held him back, promising they could go for a nice long gallop later. The horse had not been happy when he pulled him back even further so he and Dwayne could have a private conversation.
"So are we to get down to business now?" The man asked, smiling kindly at him.
"Business?" Jamie asked, side eying the man, his motives had to have been obvious but the fact that the other man had taken up the invitation meant he might be willing to play ball.
"I've been in Montana for 8 months with nothing more than a polite lunch from you but now that your sister has been arrested on multiple charges of securities fraud, corporate espionage, theft of intellectual property, my family and I are invited out to the famous Dutton Ranch for a trail ride?" He cocked one side of his mouth up.
"I can't ask you about Beth's case, or interfere in any way, I could lose my license," Jamie countered, "And this isn't the Dutton ranch, this is my ranch."
"Not officially, anyway, but I am assuming you want to do something unofficially."
"Maybe, but if I did, it would just be to help us both out with some ongoing problems we have," Jamie side passed Rattler as he thought about nipping at the other horse. He was such a stallion, more balls than brains. He missed Spider.
"And what problems are those?"
"Conviction rates, you haven't been having much luck lately and I am sure you see Beth Dutton as a slam dunk case and maybe she would be in California but not here."
"You don't think I have enough to put her away?" Dwayne smirked.
"No, I am quite sure you have enough to lock her up for 20 years but that doesn't mean a Montana jury will convict a Dutton of victimless crimes because most of the jury pool will be 2 degrees of separation or less away from someone that owes a Dutton a favor."
"Victimless? Hedge funds lost millions, investors were nearly ruined."
"And everyone made their money back within a month and kept on trucking. Your harm is that some rich people were not as rich as they wanted to be for a few weeks but now are richer. You really think that is going to fly with people that live paycheck to paycheck in double wides and think people from the coasts are part of the Deep State Elite?"
"But it is illegal, what she did was blatantly illegal."
"One thing you need to learn, my friend, is that Montana is like Texas, only dumber.
"So you are trying to demoralize me into dropping the charges?"
"No, because I have a similar issue, meth heads and white supremist militia," Jamie let that sink in. "I have a bitch of a time getting convictions because I my jurries don't want to convict the white power, gun toting, trailpark dwelling meth dealer because he is their son, brother, cousin, ect. They will tell you they aren't bigots because they have a black friend but believe Obama's birth certificate is fake and the Cheeto in Chief is the Everyman that will raise them from poverty rather than the one keeping them there."
"So what are you suggesting?" The man looked demoralized so he made his move.
Jamie pulled a folded file folder out of his saddle bag and handed it over. "The State police have been tracking a group of heavily armed "freedom fighters ," that fund their gun habits with trafficking and meth," Dwayne raised his eyebrows. "I'm sure some of it leaks over the border to Wyoming but officially your office might not find out about that until after we make our arrests and get our convictions."
"And how can I assure that we officially find out before the arrests?" he closed the file and looked Jamie in the eyes.
"A suspended sentence, some community service, and a hefty fine for a victimless defendant," he said.
"No way, 15 years probation, 20 year SEC ban, and $50k fine," Dwayne countered.
"How about 10 years probation, 10 year SEC ban and she allocutes?" The other man scratched his chin.
"And the fifty thousand dollar fine?"
"Make it a hundred," Jamie smiled.
"You want to raise the fine?"
"She may be my sister but she did break the law and frankly I'm tired of bailing her out," he explained.
"Deal."
"Excellent. Her attorney is going to ask to have the case moved from Judge Gerber to Judge Matson, let it happen, he'll play ball with the light sentence. Then we can have lunch Tuesday to go over the written deal and I'll formally invite the feds in. Once they are arrested, your office will be too busy to worry about a corporate prosecution and plea her out. Make sense?"
"It does, but I wonder why you are willing to give up a career making case?"
"As tired as I am of her shit, she is still my little sister, and I can't let her go to jail, not when she thought she was helping the family," he explained, hating himself that he still, after everything, felt that way.
"You know," Dwayne started after they had nearly reached the spot they would have lunch, "you are wasted as AG of a pissant state like this. You were Valedictorian in undergrad, Summa Cum Laude and Law Review in Law school. We all thought you would be head of BLM or making 9 figures at some law firm by now. Not cleaning up other people's messes in a state with barely a million people in it. Why are you settling for being a big fish in a tiny, tiny pond when you could be a shark in the ocean?"
Jamie sighed, he had heard that from basically everyone that knew him from University. "True but this is my home. This is a place I can give my children the type of generational wealth that you can't do in CA or NY. Here I can give them land that will only ever become more valuable with time vs the whims of the market. This," he swept his arm out to encompass what they were looking at, "this is the West, the place of American dreams. Why would I ever leave it?"
Dwayne looked stunned for a moment and Jamie realized he didn't understand. He couldn't couldn't understand the types of roots he had been taught were planted in this soil, in the spirit of this place. He didn't understand the idea of homes passed from one generation to the next or that the land was what was valuable vs what was on it. He didn't understand Yellowstone and wouldn't the way Jamie did, even if he had no claim on it anymore.
The next two months were a mess of convincing the State Inspectors not to get pissy that he was giving over their work to the FBI, DEA, and ATF, his father bad mouthing him on every radio broadcast you could find. He really wasn't clear on the wisdom of a prospective Governor talking shit about his quite popular AG but whatever. The only thing new was that everyone heard it, instead of just Jamie. It also made him look pretty bad after the raids went down and the joint state and federal taskforce had taken in hundreds of pounds of drugs, hundreds of firearms, and several trafficked Native girls. Jamie got the trafficking cases because the girls never crossed state lines and the feds got the drugs and guns. They would slam dunk convictions, especially as he had tipped off Thomas Rainwater to hit the press junket about violence against Native Women for him. It would only be a week or two till they pled Beth's case out, which should get his Dad to stop dragging him so publicly, which would get Christina off his back, hopefully.
Then there was the good, planning Charlie's 2nd birthday party. His little boy loved trains, as much as he had loved Knights when he was a kid. Trains were better than knights to Charlie and far better than horses or cows but dogs were cool because they could come on trains with you. Tommy the Train was his favorite thing and Jamie was pretty sure he could recite Tommy the Train book by heart after the number of times he had read them to his little boy. Yeah, trains were the best, which was why he had clocked out early on Friday, or at 4:30 after his day starting with 7am meetings, to stop by the Train Museum to pick some tickets then stop by the bakery to pick up a birthday cake. Kayce and his family were going to join them and it felt so familial and easy, like it used to be with Lee that thinking about it gave him a lump in his throat.
By 5:30 he was was on the road home and Christina was already calling on his ETA. Though she would probably never be the "love of his life," like his mom and dad, adopted anyway, he did love her and though she worked 3 day a week at an office and two at home, she was clearly not cut out to be a housewife.
"Did you get the stuff?" She asked
"Yes," he answered trying not to sigh. Why she was perfectly fine pushing him to the Governer and run the entire state but thought he couldn't accomplish simple tasks like picking up tickets, he would never understand.
"What about the C-A-K-E?" He did smile at that because Charlie had recently learned what that word meant so they had to spell it, like you did with a dog when you didn't want to say "walk."
"Yes, got that too and the candles, and the presents. I'll be home in about an hour," he finished. He didn't say, I love you it was still too awkward between them for that. He also didn't think he could face saying it and having her not return the phrase because he had pretty much spent his entire life saying it and having people say, "that's nice," back at him. He also wasn't entirely sure he felt it. Things with her were nice but he always felt like she was one step away from leaving him. Like she wanted to change him, mold him, into something else and if the clay got too slippery through her fingers she was out of there.
When he was about 15 minutes from home, he noticed lights approaching somewhat fast from the distance. Tourists, he figured, only they would not realize the dangers of speeding at dusk and not scanning for deer.
The next thing that he remembered was being cold, and having a hard time dragging his eyelids opened. He felt weird and floaty and like his head was stuffed with cotton. His left leg felt odd too and his mouth and eyes were extremely dry. He tried to swallow, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth as he peeled his eyes open.
Once they were opened, his confusion didn't abate. He was in a hospital and Kayce was beside him, looking tired and worried he tried to say something that Jamie didn't catch. Did something happen to their father, was that why they were at the hospital, no that couldn't be right, he would remember and he wouldn't be the one in bed. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again it was night. He didn't feel as cold but he was still thirsty. His brain felt like there was snow slush clogging it up and he couldn't figure out what was happening. He was alone and he wanted to call for help, when he opened his mouth he vomited. Was that why he was in bed, was he sick? A nurse came in and he tried to ask her but he was too tired. He closed his eyes and hoped the vomit didn't stain the sheets.
The next time he woke, it was dark still, and Kayce was there with him, sleeping in the chair beside his bed. He looked so innocent when he slept, like the little boy Jamie used to read bedtime stories too. They were about trains, he knew them by heart, no that wasn't right, Kayce didn't like trains, he liked pirates and cowboys and Jungle Book. Who was the little boy that liked trains? That's right, his little boy. He needed to pick up tickets to the museum and the C-A-K-E. He must have been thinking too loud because Kayce was beside him, touching his hair, telling him not to worry. Why would he be worried? Did he forget the tickets?
The next time he woke up, it was light out and he actually managed to take stock of his surroundings and self. He still felt weird, floaty, and like his thoughts were moving too slow for the world around him, but he recognized that he was in bed, in a hospital, with his leg in traction with drains hanging out of it. And that his arm was in a sling and Kayce was looking at him with tired, sad eyes.
"What happened?" Jamie croaked, his tongue feeling like a limp slab of pork someone was trying to use in a puppet show.
"Hang on, let me get the nurse," he ducked out of the room and Jamie tried to stay awake, it was hard without anything to concentrate on but he managed, barely.
A doctor and a nurse walked in. "Hello, Mr Dutton, I'm Dr. Warner," the man droned about this and that and Jamie had a hard time following, which was annoying. He gave him four words to remember, "Queen, Yellow, Carbon, and North." He must have a head injury, he had had to do that same stupid test with different words for Lee more times than he could remember when he rodeoed and refused to wear a fucking helmet. But it would explain why his thoughts were so fragmented.
"Ok, queen, yellow, carbon, north, got it," he repeated and the doctor looked pleased and left. The nurse helped him sit up a bit and gave him a small cup of water to sip. It felt like heaven. "So what happened?" He finally turned to Kayce to ask again when they were alone.
"Maybe you should rest a little more before we talk about it," he looked away, whatever it was, it was bad.
"Kayce ," he said, his head starting to pound and his stomach starting to feel a little sick from the pain. "What is going on, please?"
"When you were driving home, Friday, someone sprayed your car, you got hit in the leg twice, one clipped your shoulder. You must have lost control of your car or they ran you off the road because you ended up in a gully about 2 miles off the road. You must have gotten yourself free and made it back to the road but someone driving by found you on Sunday night, laying by the side of the road. You were really banged up." Kayce explained.
Jamie closed his eyes, he remembered the bang, getting rammed, pain, crawling, how cold the asphalt was on his face, and a dog, there was a dog biting him. There had been a snake, a rattlesnake. It was in the car with him, he had to get away from it, that was why he had starting trying to stagger away. He didn't want to get bit.
What a minute Kayce had said Sunday night, he had left his office on Friday, he was gone all weekend at it took them that long to find him. Christina did call the police or Kayce earlier? "Does Christina know I am safe?"
"There's more," Kayce started, looking down at his hands, twisting his wedding band around and around. Jamie closed his eyes because it was making him queasy to watch.
"What?"
"Jamie, I," he started and Jamie opened his eyes again. Everything was a little blurry but he tried to focus on Kayce because if he wouldn't tell him, he was going to get really annoyed. Maybe Christina knew, maybe he could call her.
"Just say it, damnit!"
"Your house, looks like they went there first or right after but they hit your house," Kayce finally spit out. "They burned it. It burned to the ground, with Christina and Charlie in it," he hiccuped on Charlie's name, which was a weird thing for him to notice after hearing that news. But it seemed important or at least it must be because that was what he was concentrating on instead of the facts of what Kayce had said. Unconscious verbal cues they told you if someone was lying, how they felt about what they said, how they felt about the situation, it was how you won cases.
"Jamie, they're gone," Kayce said again, looking at his shoes. Oh that was why he had been concentrating on a verbal tick instead of the actual meat of the sentence, Kayce was telling him his girlfriend and son were dead.
"No," he shook his head, making the pounding worse. "No, that isn't right," he said, hoping Kayce was wrong, that this was a dream. It had to be a dream, he would wake up and she would be in bed beside him and Charlie would be in his nursery under his mobile with the trains on it. "No, no, no, no," he shook his head as he felt tears starting to run down his face. There he was again, being a weakling and crying, Duttons didn't cry. "No, please no," he stuttered and felt Kayce 's hand on his injured shoulder, it didn't hurt but it shook. He barely registered it though, as he turned his head and vomited.
Jamie woke up again because a nurse was prodding him to repeat the four words. "Queen, yellow, carbon, north," he recited, without even having to think hard. His memory was working fine, he wished it weren't. Kayce had left but returned as soon as the nurse left. He asked if he was up to a visitor. He wasn't but he wasn't about to tell the Governor to leave.
She came in, but didn't sit. She wasn't there to give him comfort or companionship, she was checking to see if she needed to find a new AG. "Jamie, I want you to know, how very sorry I am," she started and he closed his eyes before they could fill with tears. He still felt numb and like it was unreal but just the thought made him want to cry. "I also want you to know that we are going to do everything to find out who did this. There are also US Marshals and State Police standing outside of your door. You're safe.
"Thank you," he mumbled, because that was what he was supposed to say. "Do you have any leads yet?" he asked just so she realized he was trying to take an active part in the conversation.
"They have theories but not much else. There are FBI agents here to talk with you, if you feel up to it?" She said, looking for an out to leave. She had sat vigil with his father several times and visited him as he recovered at home, but the guy she worked with every day didn't even warrant 5 whole minutes. No one cared about the sin-eater until there was a sin that needed to be hidden. We're on a sinking ship, Jamie, figure out how to bail it out.
"OK," he answered, sitting up a little straighter but not straight enough to make his head start pounding. He greeted the two agents, a Sung and a Carter. They both looked young, green.
"Hello, Mr. Dutton," the one named Sung said. She was pretty, Asian, Korean maybe. Short and slight but with elegant cheek bones and shrewd eyes. She turned to Kayce , "if you could give us a moment," she included her head towards Kayce , who made to leave.
"That's my brother, I'm fine if he wants to stay," Jamie explained. He chose his words as carefully as his addled brain would allow. He wanted Kayce to stay, he needed someone there with him but he was too afraid to ask. What if he said no, what if now that he had delivered the news he was going to leave and Jamie would be alone with his thoughts because who else would come? His biological father was dead, rotting at the Train Station, his girlfriend was dead, his son was dead, both his mothers were dead, his sister hated him and he half hated her, her husband and he had been friends at one point but no longer, and John, why would John care?
"I'll stay," Kayce settled, but leaned forward as if to listen intentently.
"Very well, Mr. Dutton, what can you tell us about what happened Friday night?"
Jamie ran his unbanged hand through his hair, it was gross and greasy. "Not much I'm afraid. It's just a jumble," he confessed.
"What is the last thing you remember clearly?"
"Talking to Christina on the phone, she wanted to know if I had picked up a few things and when I would be home," he answered.
"Do you know what time that was?"
He had left at 4:30, he had gone to the bakery and back to his office to get the tickets his admin had gotten for him. Then he had headed home. "Five thirty, maybe, I think."
"That matches with the last calls logged from her phone," the other agent added.
"Can you tell us anything about the people that shot at you, make, model, color of their car?" Agent Sung asked.
Jamie closed his eyes and tried to concentrate but it was like trying to find his way in the dark. There was nothing there. He knew that could happen with head injuries, that the patient didn't remember right before or sometime after but it was frustrating as hell.
"I'm sorry, it's a blank," he finally admitted.
"That's alright," Sung again. "Have you received any threats or threatening communications?"
"Yes, but nothing that stands out," he answered honestly.
"Someone has been threatening you?" Kayce asked, looking angry. "Why didn't you say something?"
"I'm the Attorney General of the State, Kayce , of course I get threats all the time, just like most other public officials and prosecutors," he rubbed his temple, somewhat annoyed at how obtuse his brother was being.
"What did you do with the communications?"
"All mail is irradiated then my admin opens it and reads them. If they are threats, she bags them shows them to me and then we send them to the State Police." He explained.
"You said nothing specific, but what about volume, have they increased lately?"
"Yes, since the big joint operation against the militia, they have gone up, but they have mostly profanity filled rants and very vague. As for emails, they are flagged and sent to the police and so are phone calls. No threatening visitors," he finished, clearing his throat. His head was pounding like crazy.
Kayce seemed to notice how bad he was feeling. "Look I think that is enough for now, can you guys come back later?"
"Of course, Mr. Dutton. If you think of anything, they both produced cards and handed them to him. "Don't hesitate to call. As of right now, we are treating this as a domestic terrorist case and you will have federal guards."
"Domestic terrorism?"
"Yes, this administration is taking a no tolerance stance of threatening of judges, prosecutors, or other public officials when they are in their roles as public servants."
"You think this connected to Arian Brotherhood, don't you?" he asked the wheels in his head turning slowly but turning. "What about Dwayne and his family, Are they OK?" He would never forgive himself if they were harmed because he pawned off the harder work on them.
"Mr Ericson and his family are fine and under guard. They were visiting family in New Hampshire last weekend," He felt himself relax slightly at the news.
"That's good to hear," he said because he didn't know what else to say.
"We'll let you get some rest now," Sung snapped her notebook closed and ushered her partner out.
Jamie rubbed his hand over his eyes. They felt gritty and hot. "Are you ok," Kayce asked in a quiet voice.
"No, not really," he answered because it was the truth and he tried not to lie to Kayce .
