15
The three of them had driven until late the night before, found a place to crash in a mom and pop motel on the outskirts of the city, with Jake checking in using cash, and then immediately went to sleep — Congresswoman Lori Freeman in her own bed, Professor James Tramil in the other, and Jake sleeping in a tattered old chair against the wall, his gun ready in case someone came through the door unannounced.
At the break of dawn Jake had checked them out and they found a Perkins for breakfast. Jake would use nothing but cash until he could get a few items from a storage unit.
By seven in the morning Jake had gotten them to a nice house in the southern part of Missoula on the hill overlooking town.
Now he stood at the thick wooden door of the two-story house and reluctantly rang the doorbell. As he waited, he looked into the driveway at the Ford Explorer. Lori was turned around and talking with the professor. And something was funny.
The door opened and Jake turned to see someone he hadn’t visited for quite some time. Dressed in a pair of sweats and a Montana Grizzlies T-Shirt, was his younger brother Victor. Vic was an attorney with the largest and most prestigious law firm in Montana, with offices in all the major cities in this state.
“My God,” his brother said. “It’s the hero of YouTube who told that Congressman from California to screw off.”
Jake shook his head and smiled.
The two shook hands and turned that into an embrace.
“I was polite,” Jake said. “To a point. He tried my patience.”
“Well come on in out of the cold,” Vic said. “I’ve got some fresh Montana cowboy coffee brewing.”
Jake gazed back at the rental SUV in the driveway. “Got a couple friends with me.”
His brother looked around Jake and said, “Is that Lori Freeman in your vehicle?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know you two were friends.”
“She was a few years behind me in high school and one year behind you,” Jake said. “But you know that, since the two of you worked together for a number of years.”
Vic smiled. “She told you that? Was that before or after your famous testimony before her committee?” He hesitated and looked at the SUV again. “Who’s the other guy?”
“It’s better you don’t know.”
“Thought you were retired.”
“So did I.” Jake waved at the two in the Ford Explorer and they got out and headed toward the house.
Lori smiled as she got to the front door. “Well, Vic, they must be paying you a lot more than when I worked at the firm.”
“You’re welcome back any time you get sick of Washington,” Vic said and then he and the congresswoman hugged briefly.
They all went inside and sat around the dining room table, Vic pouring thick, black coffee for Lori and Jake and a glass of water for the professor. Jake had determined early on that he could use his brother’s help but he also wanted to insulate him against any potential danger. He told Vic a quick story about the professor witnessing a murder in Oregon, which was true, and how the killer was now trying to hunt him down to make sure he didn’t testify against them. Jake didn’t mention the fact that he had killed the killer himself the night before outside of Whitefish. He had called that incident in to the Whitefish Police on the drive down to Missoula a few hours ago at one of the last public phone booths in America. There was no way Jake would let Lori get wrapped up in a shooting incident in rural Montana. She didn’t need that scrutiny.
“What can I do for you, Jake?” his brother asked him. “Sounds like he needs police protection.”
Jake considered that. He could give his brother a little more information. Put out a feeler. “They tried that in Whitefish.”
Vic cast his gaze upon Professor Tramil. “You were part of that?”
Tramil nodded his head. “The cops were shot right in front of me.”
Shifting back toward his brother, Vic said, “They haven’t reported this in the media, but I understand a man was kidnapped during that shooting. That was this man?”
“Yeah, little brother. That was him. And if they’ll shoot a couple of cops, they’ll do just about anything to make him dead.”
Vic sat with his mouth open, speechless for a moment as he thought about the situation. “Okay, I’m confused. How in the hell did you and Lori get involved with this?”
Jake said nothing.
“And maybe more importantly, how did you find this man when the local police, the Flathead County Sheriff’s department, the FBI, and the Montana Highway Patrol failed to do so?”
Jake shrugged. “You know what I used to do, Vic.”
His brother leaned across the table. “Are you back with them?”
“No. But just because I’m retired doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten everything I learned.”
Vic’s mind was reeling. Jake remembered his brother’s little tells. When he did math in his head, or considered a complex problem, his eyes would gaze upward and his lips would move, as if he were speaking the thoughts to himself. He was a terrible poker player.
“But,” Vic started and cocked his head to the right, “what do you two have to do with a man in Oregon witnessing a murder?”
Okay, Jake’s brother had a damn good point. “Let’s just say I was hired by a concerned interest. I can’t say who did so. You understand. Just like you have attorney client privilege, I have similar respect with my private consulting firm.”
“The law doesn’t see it that way, Jake.”
They would get nowhere if he tried to argue the law with his brother, a subject he knew intimately and which had no real basis of understanding for Jake. When he worked for the Agency overseas, he rarely had to worry about what was legal. Ethics were debated from time to time, but the mission was everything. He let the lawyers worry about the details. He just tried to stay alive.
“I hear you, brother,” Jake said. “But when bullets start flying, I don’t have the option to look through a law book for precedence. I have to react. Better yet, I have to be proactive. Which is why I’m here.” He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill, which he handed to his brother.
“What’s this for?” Vic asked.
“A retainer.”
“Really? A twenty? That won’t buy me a box of pens.”
Jake shrugged. “Call it the family discount.” He looked around the room at all the nice things his brother owned, from the high end dining room oak table they sat at to the original artwork on the walls. “I’ll get you more when I need you. But right now I need my cash. Speaking of which…”
“Seriously? You came here for money? I thought you made a crap-load of cash on your last case in Europe.”
“Well, a few cases ago,” Jake corrected. “I didn’t really make anything off my last two cases, except to stay alive. I’ll pay you back, brother. You know I’m good for it. It’s just that America has screwed up laws on cash. You can only pull so much each day, and then you can only travel with a certain amount.” In reality Jake didn’t need anything from his brother, but he wanted his brother to feel needed by his big brother. “Never mind, Vic. I’ll get the cash. And that’s not why I came here. I need to stash our friend in a safe location.”