Kim looked across the table. "Come on, Andrew, just eat a little of your sandwich."
"I'm not hungry," he said, pushing away his plate.
Kim sighed and looked at Bo, who shrugged his shoulders. Carly was bringing Shawn Douglas over in a little while. Maybe having his cousin here would help Andrew.
"Go on," Kim said. Andrew picked up his plate, carried it to the sink, and ran out of the room. She watched him leave.
"He'll be okay." Bo sounded so certain. "The gov'nor will be back tomorrow and things will start going back to normal."
She turned to face him. "For how long? Shane wouldn't tell me much, but he said he could go to jail for a long time."
"Hang in there, Kimber." Bo reached out and touched her hand. "It'll be okay."
"I know," she said, wondering if she truly believed it or if she was just trying to convince herself. No, she believed in Shane. He had gotten out of tight scrapes before and he would this time. Kim started to say that, but was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. She grimaced. "I hope it's not another reporter." Weren't the police supposed to be keeping them away? She knew Mike would beat her to the door, but she went anyway.
"Chief Tarrington," she said, shocked to see the head of the ISA in the foyer. There were three other men with him. Two were wearing coveralls.
He looked at her with a solemn expression and simply said, "Kimberly." Then he pointed down the hallway to the other men. "It's that way."
"What are you doing?" Kim asked.
"If you must know, we have a court order authorizing the removal of all files, records and equipment belonging to the ISA." He gave her a cold look that she had never seen before. "We're here to dismantle the ISA communications room. Now, if you'll excuse me." He turned away from her and started down the hallway to Shane's study.
Kim was outraged. She started forward, but someone grabbed her from behind.
"Don't," Bo whispered in her ear. "If they have a court order, let them go. You don't want anything to happen to you."
"Of course not," she said, trying to quell her anger. How dare they? After everything Shane did for them? He had given everything he had for the ISA. She pulled her arm free, stomped her feet, and growled, "How dare they!"
The doorbell rang again and this time Kim did not let Mike reach it first. She jerked it open. "If you're coming for your pound of flesh-"
"Hi, Sis," Roman said.
Abashed, Kim stepped back to let him in. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." He looked at her and Bo. "I gather things haven't been so hot around here?"
Bo answered. "The ISA just showed up and started ripping out Shane's communications room."
"Yeah. They didn't even wait for the body to get cold," Kim muttered, then realized what she had said. "Oh, God, I didn't mean that."
"Hey, it's okay." Roman wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. She needed that and let him hold her for a moment before she pulled away. "So how's Shane?" Then she realized that the ISA was just down the hall. "Let's go into the kitchen." Bo and Roman followed her until they reached the kitchen where she turned and repeated her question. "How's Shane?"
Roman frowned.
"I guess that's my answer," she said.
"He's worried about you and the kids," Roman explained.
That sounded like Shane. Worried about them when he should be focused on his own problems.
Roman glanced at the door. "Tarrington met with Shane last night and offered him a deal. He said-"
Kim cut him off. "I don't want to hear it. For Shane to plead guilty, he'd have to admit that he betrayed his country and the ISA." She shook her head. "He wouldn't be able to live with that." Kim began to pace. "You probably don't remember when Shane was charged with treason-"
"Of course I remember that," Roman said. He glanced at Bo, who looked down at the floor, a guilty expression on his face.
"I mean you remember Shane being charged, but what you don't know is that the ISA offered him a deal back then." Kim could remember being at Shenanigans when the ISA representative made Shane the offer. "They told him he could confess and point the blame at his old boss and he wouldn't be charged at all. Shane couldn't do that. Not even when he could've been executed for giving secrets to the Russians. He wouldn't do it then, and he certainly won't do it now."
Roman took a deep breath. "He might to protect you and Andrew."
"Protect us?" It took Kim a minute to realize what Roman meant. "The guards? The ISA removed the guards to pressure Shane?"
"I told him you're safe," Roman said. "I told him Abe and I put Salem PD units here."
That's not the point, Kim thought. She spun and, before anyone could stop her, she was charging down the hallway to Shane's study. She found Chief Tarrington inside the door, observing as the men in coveralls removed equipment from the communications room.
"How dare you!" she yelled at Tarrington.
He turned and gave her a placid look. "Kimberly, I don't know what you mean."
"Oh, don't give me that. I mean using Andrew to pressure Shane to plead guilty," she shouted angrily. "Don't deny it. It's not enough that you're selling Shane out. You're putting a little boy in danger to force him to go along with it. Is that what the great and mighty ISA is all about?"
She felt someone put a hand on her shoulder. "Kimmie, stop it," Roman said quietly.
"No, I won't!" She spun around and faced him. "After everything Shane's given the ISA. . . . He deserves better." She turned back and glared at Tarrington. "We deserve better."
In a cool voice, Tarrington responded. "Kimberly, Shane knew the risks. He knew what would happen if the public learned of the raid on that compound. Unfortunately, he placed his faith in the wrong man."
He meant Steve, Kim knew. Tarrington was blaming everything on Steve. "That's not the point. Whatever Steve did and whatever Shane knew, you have no right to put Andrew's life in danger to pressure Shane. He's a little boy. He's not a pawn in some ISA game."
Tarrington remained calm. "I understand how you feel, but Shane Donovan is no longer in the ISA. We cannot justify any expenditures for a personal matter."
A personal matter. Kim fell silent and stared at the ISA Chief in disbelief. She had always thought Tarrington was their friend - at least, Shane's friend. Now she was seeing him truly for the first time.
"I thought you were different," Kim said quietly. "I thought you weren't like Nickerson or Vaughn, that you had some loyalty and wouldn't sell out one of your own people. . . ." She shook her head as Roman pulled her toward the door, but kept her eyes fixed on Tarrington. "Now I know the truth. You're just as rotten as the others. The whole ISA. You're all just rotten."
She turned and looked at Roman. Bo was also standing in the doorway. "Let's get out of here," she said bitterly. "I can't take the stench any longer."