“I’m not supposed to let you have that.” Jacob nodded to the gun.
Jacob looked at Dante, fidgeting with his belt loops and flushing bright red.
“I’m sorry, Dante. But they told us…” Jacob looked away.
“That’s okay.” Dante put up his hand. He took his badge out of the tray. “Just make sure it gets back to Rick and no one else.”
Jacob nodded, as his shoulders relaxed.
Dante gave him a half-hearted smile. He put his hand on the small of Laurie’s back. He led her down the hall to a wooden door. The frosted glass on the door had the Marshals logo emblazoned on it. Dante looked down at Laurie.
“Ready?” He took a deep breath. She nodded, forcing a gulp of air down. Dante turned the handle.
The receptionist was at the right of the door. She looked up as they entered the room. She froze. Her mouth dropped open. She made several inaudible sounds. Her eyes just kept moving from Laurie to Dante and back again.
“Hi, Janice,” Dante said after a few minutes. “Is Rick in?”
Her jaw moved back and forth several times, and then:
“Rick!” she called, not even looking over her shoulder. “Rick, there’s someone here for you!”
“Janice, I’m in a meeting!” Rick exclaimed. “Tell them to come back later.”
“Rick, you really need to come out here!” Janice said.
“What the hell could possibly—” Rick began, yanking open his door, and storming out of his office.
He stopped cold, as he saw Dante and Laurie standing before him. A tall gentleman in a suit appeared behind him. Dante recognized him as the District Attorney, one of the few men that wore a tie on the islands. It occurred to Dante that he and Laurie had probably just interrupted a meeting about themselves.
“Dante?” Rick took a step forward.
“Rick.” He nodded to the DA in the background. “It’s been awhile. I think we need to talk.”
“Yes. Yes, we do.” His eyes finally took in Laurie, who stood clutching Dante’s elbow. “God, I’m glad to see you, son.”
“It’s good to see you too, Rick.” Dante gave him half a smile.
“Come in to my office.” Rick stood aside to let them in. “Danny, I think maybe you’ll want to come back in about an hour or so?”
Danny nodded. He walked around the receptionist’s desk on his way out the door.
“Yeah, I think I do.” Danny said, smiling. “I’m Danny Escobar, by the way. The District Attorney.”
He extended his hand to Laurie. Laurie’s eyes flickered between the DA’s coal black eyes and his hand for a few moments. He was a young DA, maybe ten years older than Laurie. His beaming smile emanated eagerness. Laurie reached out, giving his hand a cautionary shake.
“Hi.” Laurie shifted back, closer to Dante.
“You don’t know how many people are very, very glad to see you, Ms. Shelton. Very glad.” His smile grew brighter.
“Thank you.” Laurie responded with a watery smile.
“Very glad,” Danny said again, as he left the office.
“Janice, can you get them something to drink? What would you like, dear? Water, soda?” Rick gestured to Laurie.
“Just water,” Laurie responded, as they all filed into Rick’s office.
Rick sat down at his desk. The heavy wooden beast took up half the space in the room. Shelves lined both sides of the walls, filled with binder after binder, of all shapes and sizes. Pieces of loose papers poked out from the sides. There was an old, dusty computer at Rick’s side, with a large, bulbous monitor. A coffee mug sat beside it, with several even taller Styrofoam coffee cups lined up behind the mug. Papers, notepads, and folders were scattered all across the desk. At the very corner, a small plastic inbox peeked out from the weight of fifty folders.
Dante and Laurie sat down across from Rick. Dante’s knees bumped against the desk. The heavy, mismatched leather chairs had several tears. The wood creaked as Laurie fidgeted, trying to get comfortable.
Rick sat staring at them in wonder.
Dante broke the awkward silence.
“I owe you an apology, Rick.” Dante leaned forward in his chair. “I know I should have told you what I was going to do. It was clear that someone inside the Marshals Service was feeding Kaimi information. In fact, I suspected it might be you. I had to do what I did to protect Laurie.”
“Me?” Rick shook his head in shock.
“Yes, I overheard a conversation in which Kaimi himself said his mole in the Marshals Service was running the annual training, and of course that means you.” Dante gestured to Rick, watching him intently.
Rick nodded.
“I couldn’t do it this year,” Rick replied with a hint of sorrow. “I had a mild heart attack the week before. I had just gotten out of the hospital. So I asked Cheyn to lead it for me.”
Dante felt relieved as he studied Rick’s expression. There was no hint of deception there. Rick didn’t have a shred of tension around his mouth or eyes. His response was quick and open, with only a hint of embarrassment. Rick also looked worn down—he had bags under his eyes and his complexion was dull and waxy.
“You gave us quite a scare.” Rick looked up at Dante. “I didn’t know quite what to make of it for a long time. Most everyone thought the worst of you. But I just kept hoping it wasn’t true.”
“It wasn’t.” Dante shook his head.
“I know, believe me.” Rick swallowed. “I saw the tape. I guess you sent it to me?”
“Yes.” Dante nodded.
Rick paused for a few minutes, looking away.
“It was hard to watch.” Rick’s eyes slid back to Dante.
Dante nodded. He didn’t want to tell Rick it was even harder to do. Nor did he want to say that the look of terror etched on Cheyn’s face as he lay dying was burned in Dante’s memory. Dante looked away from Rick, staring down at his hands.
“Now, there’s no doubt you had to do what you did.” Rick held up a hand, then both hands. “He went for his gun. I saw it. But still it was, well, tough to watch.”
Dante nodded again, staring at the pile of papers closest to him.
Laurie reached over, squeezing his forearm. The warmth of her fingers brought him a small measure of comfort.
“I just don’t understand why Cheyn would do that.” Rick sat back in his chair. “He loved this job. He was such a damn good Marshal. I just can’t wrap my head around it.”
Rick shook his head in bewilderment.
“I don’t know. I guess he just felt like it was either his job or his family.” Dante looked at the floor. He took a shaky breath.
Laurie squeezed his arm again.
Dante gave her a half-hearted smile as he covered her hand with his. He sat back in his chair to look at Rick again.
“Well, what’s done is done. Danny is more than ready to take on Kaimi. With Ms. Shelton here, we have a case against him for murder. You went above and beyond the call of duty, son. I’m real proud.” Rick smiled.
“Thank you.” Dante gave him a small smile in return.
“There will still be a full investigation, of course. I have a lot of questions about how you found out it was Cheyn, and everything else that’s happened. I won’t be able to reinstate you right away. I’ll have to put you on desk duty or unscheduled leave for a while. But I’m sure we’ll have you back in the ranks in no time.” Rick waved his hand.
“But who will protect me?” Laurie interrupted. “He’ll still be able to protect me, right?”
“All of our agents are highly trained, Ms. Shelton. Your protection is my highest priority. I’ll check-in on you every day if I have to. I will have my best agents assigned to you, but no—Dante will not be able to continue on this assignment.” Rick shook his head.
“But Dante is your best agent. You’ve said that to me before. And how many other agents are in Kaimi’s pocket? I don’t want anyone else protecting me.” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.