His Reluctant Savior (The District #3)

3. Chapter 3

Two days earlier .

I stared at the message on my phone, blinking a few times as my brain tried to process what I saw. My heart rate and breathing kicked up as my primitive brain went into fight-or-flight mode. Only my training and experience kept me relatively rational.

Unknown: They know. Run. Get out.

Me: Who is this?

Unknown: The friend who sent you that gift.

Get out.

For months, I’d been compiling evidence against the Speaker of the House, Jonathan Rush, after anonymously receiving a tip and a video, which must have come from the person who just texted me.

The absolute horror of what I’d witnessed on that video would forever live in my nightmares. I’d seen some shit in my twenty years as an analyst for the FBI, specializing in political corruption. Someone had to keep our public servants in check. Usually, I only had to deal with ethics issues and illegal trading or bribes. But this? I’d never witnessed such a thing.

I wasn’t na?ve. There was a lot of cruelty in this world. Humans are the worst of all animals on the planet because we hurt, kill, and commit crimes even knowing it’s wrong. But seeing this from a politician, someone meant to protect this country… Jesus. It angered me, and I wanted to do all it took to bring him to justice.

At first, I had to make sure the video was authentic before I dove into my investigation. It took all my will to watch it over and over to catch any details I’d missed the first time, taking copious notes only on paper. My trained and experienced brain told me to keep this to myself until I had irrefutable data to build a solid case against Speaker Rush.

The hours were long, working this case, among others. I’d barely seen my son because this job was too important to ignore. Our country hung in the balance with someone who stood third in line to the Presidency .

The deeper I dug into the dark web, the deeper I sank. I found a long list of anonymous people who were supporting and protecting Speaker Rush with a lot of money exchanging hands. I needed to find out who these people were, and also bring them to justice, but I wasn’t sure how. I needed to dig even deeper, but I was running out of time.

But something like this? There were too many witnesses. You couldn’t hide it forever. You couldn’t pay everyone off. Receiving the video in secret proved that. There were always opportunists. If this got into the wrong hands, there could be a massive power play that tipped the balance of power, which wasn’t always a good thing. The problem is politicians have way too much power these days as ethics become muddled or altogether dismissed.

I recently gathered all my evidence, confident we could nail the Speaker to the wall, along with a few others involved I had discovered. So, I wrapped all of it in a pretty red bow and gave it to Wesley Mardsen, the Deputy Chief and Director of the Election Crimes Branch at the Department of Justice.

He’d been the only one I told, so if the text I just received was to run, then he’d betrayed me and was a person involved with Rush. I guess my bow wasn’t as neat as I’d thought. Someone could have caught me snooping around, which was a possibility. Most likely, Mardsen was involved. Regardless, whoever it was that betrayed me came from the inside. Now, I couldn’t trust anyone within my own organization or the DOJ.

Maybe it was a false alarm or someone playing tricks on me, but I wouldn’t take any chances. It was too big to risk my life and that of my son. My instincts told me this was the real deal and to run .

I quickly packed up my office, grabbing the essentials and all the evidence I’d gathered. Once I got home, I would wipe out the hard drive on my laptop.

Next, I had to figure out where to go and who to trust.

“Are you going out of town again, Daddy?” Owen asked when he walked into my bedroom as I packed our suitcase.

My five-year-old son was the epitome of my deceased husband, with his strawberry-blond hair, hazel-brown eyes, and freckles across his nose. Owen didn’t remember his father, being only two years old when Matt died in that pileup on the Beltway, which involved nine cars and a semi-truck, leaving three dead.

I turned to face my son, holding his favorite Spider-Man action figure, and lifted him into my arms. “Nope, we are going on a trip together.”

His hazel eyes lit up, and he smiled. “Are we going to the beach?”

Instead of answering him, I kissed his head and set him back on his feet. “Why don’t you go to your room and pick out five of your favorite toys, okay?”

I watched in sadness as he ran off. I had no answers for him since I didn’t know where we planned to go yet. First, we had to get out of the house. I also needed to stash the evidence somewhere safe. Then, I had to find a place for Owen to stay so no one would find him, hurt him, or use him against me.

The hardest part was finding someone I trusted and a way to release the evidence without putting others at risk. For now, I couldn’t trust the FBI, the very people who’d been my family for two decades.

“I’m going to bring Captain America , my LEGO guys, Danny the Dino, and some books.”

Owen dumped everything on my bed, and I shoved them into his backpack. “You’ll have to carry Danny since he’s a little big.” The dino Plushie was Owen’s favorite, and he couldn’t sleep without it.

“What about school? Bobby’s mommy is bringing cake to school for his birthday tomorrow.”

When I’d pulled him out of school during lunch, I told the administration there’d been a sudden death in the family, and Owen would be back the following week. God, I hoped I’d have everything wrapped up by then, but I doubted it. The case was too huge.

I squatted in front of my sweet, intelligent son, combing back his reddish-blond bangs from his face. “Tell you what, we can get some cupcakes tomorrow and celebrate together, but you’ll be missing school for a few days, okay?”

I did my best not to show my apprehension, not wanting to make Owen nervous. Kids are highly sensitive and in tune with their parents' emotions.

“Yay!”

“Now, go grab your tablet and headphones. We need to bring those, too.”

After packing my suitcase full of clothes for Owen and myself, I made two separate copies of the evidence on my laptop before removing my hard drive and destroying it. I would dump the hard drive while on the road .

I could literally feel each second tick as I packed some food, water, and Owen’s tablet he’d just brought to me to keep him occupied. Last went my firearms. My Glock 23 went into the holster tucked under my arm, and I stashed my secondary Glock with extra ammo in a gun case Owen couldn’t get into.

I loaded up the car and got Owen buckled up in his car seat.

“Daddy, this is too tight and small. I want my booster.”

“It’s ah… broken. I’ll have to get you another. This will have to do for now.”

If we had to run or drive too fast, the booster wouldn’t hold him as well as his seat with the five-point harness could.

Owen was a good boy. He rarely complained and usually accepted my answers at face value, which was a huge relief and helped me keep my head clear.

I hopped into the car, buckled up, and drove out of my garage. When I pulled out onto the street, I stopped and looked back at the four-bedroom colonial brick home with black shutters that Matt and I had scrimped and saved for. Memories of gardening together, making meals together, planning our family and future, and making love lived in that home. My entire relationship and years of happiness with him were tied to that house.

My eyes watered as I drove off, hoping I’d see it again.

I didn’t drive too far, stopping by Walmart near Leesburg to buy a couple of pre-paid phones, which I paid for in cash. I’d get more later if I needed them.

Owen and I needed a safe place to stay the night so I could make plans and calls. I cut down South toward Shenandoah National Park, which was a favorite place Matt and I used to love to hike at .

I stopped at a cheap motel off the highway, paying cash for a room to stay in overnight, which allowed me to think freely for a bit.

After unloading the car, I sat Owen at the small table and pulled out his McDonald’s Happy Meal to keep him busy as he ate and watched a movie on his tablet.

I paced the room, eating a hamburger and making a mental list of all I had to do. I couldn’t drive my car for much longer, so I would have to ditch it somewhere. Owen also needed a place to stay, because I was not about to haul him with me while I was running and finding ways to get my life back to normal.

A name suddenly popped into my mind. Savannah. She’d been my girlfriend during my freshman year while we attended the University of Virginia before I ever came out as gay. It had been a secret throughout high school. When I finally got the guts to open up, she kind of already knew, but she’d been so cool about it. We remained friends throughout the years, and she even attended my wedding to Matt. But Savannah and I had sort of drifted apart as we had separate lives and families to raise. The last time I’d seen her was at Matt’s funeral three years ago. We kept in touch here and there, but not enough to draw attention to anyone.

The most important thing was that I could trust her.

I used one of my pre-paid phones to call her, hoping she’d answer an unknown number. If not, I would leave a text message.

“Hello?” she answered. “This better not be a damn sales call.”

My heart rate calmed as relief settled deep within me.

“Hi, Savvy.”

“Dalt? Is that you?” she asked, her voice filled with warmth and kindness. “Did you lose your phone? ”

“Hey, I’m sorry to bother you, but…”

“What’s wrong? You sound stressed.”

“I… I need help. I’m so damn sorry to be calling you out of the blue, but I’m desperate.”

God, was I putting her and her family at risk? No, I was confident no one knew about her. If they dug deep enough, they could find her, but there had been too many people in and out of my life. It would be hard to pinpoint one person I’d go to for help.

With a glance, I checked on Owen to make sure he couldn’t hear me, but he was busy dunking a chicken nugget into his barbecue sauce and watching a video with his headphones on.

“What can I do?” she asked.

Fuck, if I’d been straight, I would’ve married her instead. She was an amazing woman. Then again, I would’ve missed out on my happy life with Matt.

“I’m in trouble. I can’t go into details right now, but… Honestly, it’s better that you don’t know. Owen needs a place to stay while I sort through this mess. I’m… not sure for how long.”

She sighed on the phone, thinking about my request because I wasn’t exactly asking for a small favor.

“Dalt… this sounds serious. Are we… would we be in danger?”

“Can I just swing by so we can talk in person? You can decide then, but I’m desperate. Please.”

“Yeah… okay. Come by the farm, and we can talk. Do you remember where it is?”

“I do. Thank you, Savvy. You have no idea how much I appreciate this. I’ll be there, hopefully, no later than tomorrow night. ”

“We’ll see you soon, Dalt.”

As soon as I hung up, a text came through on my other phone.

Unknown: Are you gone?

I picked it up and texted back.

Me: Yes, I’m on the road.

Maybe I shouldn’t have answered and told them I wasn’t home, but my instincts told me they were a friend, and I needed to find this friend. I needed fucking allies, and fast.

Me: Can we meet?

Unknown: That’s not a good idea.

Me: We can work together to sort this out.

Unknown: This will be the last time I reach out

to you.

I texted them several more times, but the messages didn’t reach them. Dammit!

I guess I was still on my own.