Chapter Thirteen
Jarrett was nearly climbing the walls by the time Thayne and Sarah returned.
He’d gone in for his repeat MRI and found out that they weren’t going to have results from radiology until later that day.
He was chomping at the bit and trying hard to concentrate on a shitty poker hand Tim Darcy had just dealt him when they walked into his room.
He glanced up at the door when they came in, relieved to see them both.
“Hey, Jarrett, how you feelin’? We brought you and Darcy some food,”
Sarah said, putting a box of In-N-Out down on the table.
The burgers and fries were one of Jarrett’s favorites and he could have kissed her.
He grabbed the bed control and put the bed up as he looked her over.
“Damn I lurve you,”
he drawled, opening the box to reveal two double doubles, animal style.
The smell was amazing.
“I’m fine.”
He picked up his burger and pushed the box over to Tim who grabbed the other.
He switched his gaze to Thayne, putting on his best hangdog look.
“Please… free me…”
Thayne smiled and walked around to his side as Sarah and Tim laughed.
He put his hand on Jarrett’s forearm.
“Behave or I’ll ask Vera to catheterize you.”
Jarrett instantly lost all humor.
“No fair.
No one touches Big Jim and the twins.”
He could hear the growl in his own voice but it ended as soon as he bit into his burger.
It tasted amazing.
He chewed, savoring the delicious burger with grilled onions and extra Thousand Island dressing.
Thayne chuckled.
“Did they repeat the MRI?”
Jarrett nodded enthusiastically as he swallowed his food.
“Yeah, and the tech said if the doc looks at it this afternoon, they may release me.”
Thayne smiled.
“That’s good news.”
“Yeah.
Darcy cheats at poker and I’ve had all I can take of this place.”
He took another bite of the burger, wolfing it down.
He’d been starving.
“Do you want us to hang around and give you both a ride back so you don’t have to rent another car if they do release you today?”
Sarah asked.
“That would be awesome, Sarah,”
Thayne said, reaching to steal one of Jarrett’s fries.
“You eat?”
Jarrett asked, frowning at his partner.
Thayne nodded.
“Yeah, we stopped for salads.
Brought the bad stuff for you two.”
Jarrett held up the last bite of his burger, toasting Tim with it.
“Thank you.
This is perfect, tofu-eater.”
Sarah laughed.
“It wasn’t tofu.
It was Chinese chicken salad and it was fantastic.
How else do you think I can keep my girlish figure?”
“I ain’t gonna touch that one with a ten-foot pole,”
Jarrett said.
He stuffed some fries in his mouth and chewed.
“So what did you guys learn from Revilla and Quinn today?”
Darcy asked.
Thayne and Sarah told them what they’d learned as Jarrett and Tim finished up their food.
“So you think these two are members of the militia?”
“My gut feeling is that she is, for sure,”
Thayne said.
“I’m not certain he is, but they live together like a couple and she admitted to knowing about Reverend James and the Freedom Brigade.
She said they are ‘true Americans’ whatever the hell that means.”
“They have a massive Confederate flag on the wall,”
Sarah added.
“I’m with Thayne.
If they’re not members, I’d be shocked.”
“So they said they were talking to the trucker going over the manifest when the fireworks exploded, right?”
Jarrett asked.
“That’s what they said, and it tracks with Mary Mason’s statement as well,”
Thayne replied.
“So it should be easy enough to find out if that’s true.
All we need to do is ask the driver to confirm their location during the blast, though I don’t know if that means we can rule them out as suspects in the sabotage,”
Jarrett added.
“I agree,”
Sarah said.
The door suddenly opened and Jarrett looked up to see Doctor Nelson enter.
He smiled at the group.
“I thought I smelled In-N-Out.
Now I’m hungry,” he said.
Jarrett sat up straighter.
“Good news, Doc?”
The doctor nodded.
“Yes, actually.
I just got a chance to look at your latest MRI.
It looks like the bleeding has ceased.
The accumulated fluid in your belly has lessened.
If you feel like going home, I’m willing to sign you out, but you have to promise not to do anything strenuous for the next week or so.
If you start bleeding internally, you will need surgery and I know you want to avoid that.
I know you don’t live in this area but you have to promise to follow up with your own physician in a week and stay off your feet.”
Jarrett blew out a relieved breath.
Anything was better than staying in the hospital another night.
“Thanks, Doc.
I promise.”
He looked over at Thayne who pinned him with a serious gaze.
He grinned.
“Hey, get me my clothes, Thayne.
I’d appreciate it.”
He winked at Thayne who just nodded.
“And if y’all don’t want to see my naked ass, you’d better leave the room.”
He swung his long legs over the side of the bed.
He was still filthy and desperately needed a shower, but at least Sarah had brought some of Thayne’s clothes for him to wear.
The group chuckled and walked out while the doctor went to do the paperwork.
They had to wait about half an hour for the nurse to come in with discharge instructions.
Jarrett wasn’t thrilled to have to be wheeled out of the hospital, but he was happy to see the sunshine by the time they left around three o’clock.
****
Jarrett felt much more like himself as he got out of Thayne’s shower and toweled off.
He was tired as hell and feeling bruised and achy, but by the time Thayne helped him wrap his ribs and get into a pair of sleeping pants, he’d pretty much run out of steam.
He eased his sore body onto Thayne’s couch and took the cup of hot green tea his partner offered, blowing on it before trying to take a sip.
“Do you feel like food again or you just want to rest? If you’re gonna take pain meds, you should eat.
I can make something unhealthy for you if it makes you happy,”
Thayne said.
He was sitting on the couch beside Jarrett and running his fingers through Jarrett’s damp hair.
The scalp massage felt so good, Jarrett just closed his eyes and leaned in to Thayne’s large hand.
“Thanks, Thayne.
I’m not really hungry.
That burger you brought really hit the spot, though.
And I’m gonna get fat if I can’t work out.
Damn, I feel like it’s been too long since we hit the gym.”
“Well, neither one of us is going to be hitting the gym with cracked ribs, Jarrett.
And you’re on bedrest for a week.”
Jarrett stared at Thayne.
He was just so goddamned beautiful.
Those blue eyes of his were heart-stopping and the thing about Thayne was, he didn’t even realize how nice he treated him all the time.
He spoiled Jarrett rotten and made him feel like a king.
If it didn’t make their situation feel more domestic than it should, Jarrett might even love it.
He’d never settled down with someone before, and the thought of it scared the crap out of him because good things like having Thayne Wolfe around never lasted long in Jarrett’s world.
He sighed.
“We’ll just see how long I can handle being confined to bed,”
he admitted.
There was still so much to do to finish this case and try to figure out who had it out for them.
“How you feelin’, darlin’? I never even asked you.”
He felt like a total heel.
Thayne groaned as he lifted his hand to his side.
“Like I rolled down a fucking mountain.
I have my own pain pills to take.”
Jarrett leaned in and kissed him softly.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t stay on the road.”
Thayne frowned.
“It wasn’t your fault someone was trying to kill us, Jarrett.”
Jarrett frowned again.
“I gotta call my daddy.
I’ll take some pills after the call and then we can both crash.”
Jarrett replied.
Thayne touched his chin and lifted it so Jarrett was looking directly into his eyes.
“I’m sorry, but if that’s the only way to get a message to your friend, I think you have to.”
Jarrett nodded.
“Can you hand me my phone?”
Thayne leaned in and gave Jarrett a gentle kiss before letting go of his chin. “Okay.”
Jarrett watched Thayne get off the couch and walk into the bedroom.
He came back with Jarrett’s phone, which had miraculously survived the crash, handing it to him.
“I’m going to go into the bedroom and give you some privacy.”
With one last glance, he turned and walked out of the room.
Jarrett was grateful he had such an amazing partner.
The last thing he wanted to do was to have Thayne witness the exchange he knew was coming with his father.
He waited for Thayne to shut the door and then dialed his father’s number.
He heard it go through the switching stations, similar to when he called Declan.
When his father answered, Jarrett swallowed hard.
“Daddy?”
“Jarrett? That you, boy?”
“It’s me.
Long time no talk,”
Jarrett said.
The butterflies in his stomach swarmed as he heard the deep voice he hadn’t spoken to in a very long time.
“Is this a secure line?”
“You know it is, boy.
I gotta say, I’m surprised to hear from you.”
“I wouldn’t have called, but I need you to get a message to Declan Jensen and I’m worried someone is listening in on him.”
For all Jarrett knew, by making this call, he was signing Declan’s death warrant right along with his own.
If his father was the one listening in and the one behind the attempts on his life, this could be the last call Jarrett ever made.
Whoever was trying to kill them had been attempting to make it look like they were in the wrong place at the wrong time or that it was an accident until now.
Even the bomb in his Jeep could have been blamed on the Freedom Brigade’s revenge attempt.
Jarrett knew the next time the wet works team went after him, it might be the last time.
“How’s Jensen involved with you?”
his father asked quietly.
“You probably know I’m an ATF agent now,”
Jarrett said flatly.
“I know a lot about you, Jarrett.
I know you’re tangled up with some very bad folks out there and I know you nearly got yourself killed down at the border.”
Jarrett didn’t know why he was surprised.
The CIA had been involved in the raid outside of Tecate, so of course his father would be aware that he was there even if he didn’t have eyes and ears on him already.
“I asked Fox to look into who gave the kill order on me.
I’m hesitant to call him back in case he’s being watched, but I have to make sure I warn him that someone tried again.
It’s all I can do since I might have endangered him by calling him to begin with.”
“Why didn’t you call me directly?”
his father asked.
Jarrett didn’t really know how to answer that.
He could be honest with him or he could lie, but then again, if he was marked for death, it didn’t make a difference whether his father knew he suspected him or not.
“I think you should know why,”
he said quietly.
His father paused for a moment.
“You think I ordered a wet team to take care of my own son? Is that what you think of me, Jarrett?”
His words were tinged with disgust.
Jarrett swallowed hard.
“It crossed my mind a time or ten.”
“Listen hard, Jarrett, because I’m only gonna say this once,”
his father began.
“For the last year, I’ve been working like hell to keep you alive.
Someone wants you dead, boy, but it ain’t me.
This goes higher up than this office and I’ve been working my ass off to figure out who it is and why anyone thinks that killing my son is worth the hell that’s gonna rain down on them if they succeed.”
His father’s voice vibrated with rage.
“Declan came to me as soon as you talked to him.
I immediately put a protective detail on him, Jarrett.
He’ll be fine.
Next time you want to find something out, you come directly to me, you understand?”
Jarrett sniffed.
“We’re not on speaking terms or did you forget that?”
“That was your choice, Jarrett, not mine.”
Jarrett could hear the growl in his father’s voice.
“You told me that I had to be a man and I knew what you meant by that.
You were always clear on how you felt about me being gay.”
“I never pretended to understand that, Jarrett.
It doesn’t mean I ordered your murder.
When I told you to be a man, it was because of what you chose to do after getting out of the Corps, not because you’re gay, Jarrett.
I raised an honorable man.
I didn’t raise a mercenary.”
Jarrett swallowed hard, thinking back on the last time he’d seen his father and his brothers.
The fight they’d had really had nothing to do with him being gay.
He’d just come back from the Mid-East where he’d been part of a paramilitary mission and his father had confronted him about his involvement, telling him that if he was going to put his life on the line, he’d be much better off serving his country in the Marine Corps than taking jobs with dubious partners.
Jarrett’s heart had been blackened by the time he left the Marines.
The truth was, after the mission in Gaza City, the last thing he could do was to take orders from the same men who’d wiped out that little girl, knowing she and her infant brother would be in that compound, only to later go on television and denounce the tragedy when they’d been the ones to order it in the first place.
Jarrett hated hypocrites worse than anyone.
He’d been washed out and sick of following the orders of leaders with no soul so he’d thrown in with sociopaths instead.
At least they were honest about who and what they were.
“I was proud to serve my country all those years.
Gaza City changed all that,”
Jarrett said bitterly.
His father was silent for several beats.
“I’m sorry about that, boy.
I thought that was poorly done but it wasn’t me that ordered the air strike.”
“Same thing.
It was the IDF and Mossad.
The CIA was in bed with the Israelis on that mission and you know they could have stopped the strike and waited for me and my spotter to finish the job.”
“I don’t want to argue with you, boy.
That decision came from the higher-ups and things go wrong on missions all the time.
You of all people should know that.”
“Look, if you say it wasn’t you, fine.
I just wanted to get a message to Declan and I didn’t want to call him.
If he’s being watched, the last thing I wanted to do is to put him in even more danger, especially after yesterday.”
“I just got word on that.
You went over a mountain with your partner… Wolfe?”
“We were pushed off the shoulder of the road by an SUV with government plates.
Your briefing left that out?”
Jarrett was agitated.
He knew that his father tracked him and would know about the accident but to pretend he didn’t know the team who’d tried to kill him and the man he loved was ridiculous.
His father stayed silent for quite a while.
“How do you know they were government, Jarrett?”
His voice was thick with an emotion Jarrett rarely heard.
“It had to be CIA or at the very least a rogue faction.
Someone’s been tracking my movements and no one would have a reason to have me under surveillance but them.
Nothing else makes sense.”
He stopped for a second, wondering if it could even be possible that his father didn’t know.
“You really didn’t hear about it?”
Jarrett asked, incredulously.
“I heard you and your partner had an accident—that someone ran you off the road.
There was no mention of government plates in my briefing which is a pretty stupid move when you think of it.
There’s no official order of surveillance on you, so whoever is watching you has to be operating outside my purview and that’s hard to believe.
If it’s true, then whoever ordered it must be very highly placed.”
“My partner didn’t remember the fact that they were government plates until afterward.
We both ended up getting knocked around pretty good.”
His father let out an audible sigh.
“I swear on your brothers’ lives, I knew nothing of it, Jarrett.
I swear it wasn’t sanctioned by the Company.
Someone’s gone rogue here and I intend on getting to the bottom of it.”
Jarrett’s stomach did a flip-flop.
If his father hadn’t ordered the hit on Thayne and him yesterday, whoever it was had certainly known Jarrett would be involved in the raid down at the border.
He’d recognized the man who tried to shoot him in the head inside the Fernandez barn as involved in a past CIA-run operation.
He’d thought he was an operative he’d known from running the missions in Afghanistan, though he didn’t know his name.
That’s why he’d followed him into the barn to begin with.
Unfortunately, the guy had turned and fired at him as soon as he ran into the barn, and if the asshole’s aim had been any better, Jarrett would have been dead.
Now he was even more confused.
Who the hell was trying to kill him and why? Whoever it was must have a hell of a lot of power to have the kind of reach they needed to find out that Jarrett and Thayne were going to be involved in the raid.
It was highly unlikely a rogue operative had randomly spotted him that night and decided to take a shot when he did.
Who would want to kill a lowly ATF rookie? What purpose could it serve?
“Someone gave a kill order on me. Why?”
he asked, hating how his voice trembled when he asked.
“Like I said, Jarrett, that’s what I’ve been trying to figure out ever since you were shot in Turlock, months ago.
The first I learned of someone coming after you was when Roberto Virgil Romero decided to take you out along with Wolfe who he’d been paid to kill.
Before that, I had no idea.
I’ve been working leads on that end too,”
his father said.
“The only connection I can find between you and Virgil are the missions you did while you served together.
He went dark after the Marine Corps the same way you did.
Did you work with him after the Corps?”
A shiver went through Jarrett.
Of course his father would know about Turlock and his past missions with Virgil too.
“I worked with Virgil a couple of times in the Corps but those were two-man jobs.
You know about those.”
“So nothing after you left the Corps?”
“Nothing after.”
“Okay.
I’ll keep looking into it.”
“Thanks,”
Jarrett said.
He had to admit, he was glad he’d made the call.
He was actually beginning to believe that maybe he’d misjudged his father after all.
“Son?”
It felt weird to be called that by a man he’d thought hated him. “Yeah?”
“Your partner? Is he a good man?”
Jarrett swallowed against the lump that formed in his throat.
“Yeah.
Thayne’s brave and honorable.
He’s a better man than me.”
“I doubt that, Jarrett.
You may be a lot of things, boy, but I never doubted your bravery or your love for this country, though I questioned your sense when I heard you were taking mercenary jobs.
I think I’d like to meet Wolfe someday,”
he said quietly.
Jarrett felt a tinge of relief, something he hadn’t felt when speaking to his father for a very long time.
“I’d like that,”
he choked out.
“Jarrett—you take good care, boy—and call your brothers.
They miss you like hell. Jarrett…”
“Yeah?”
“Keep your head down, son.”
“Will do, sir.”
Jarrett heard the line disconnect and he pulled the phone away from his ear.
He stared at the blank screen as it suddenly turned blurry.
He closed his eyes against the sharp sting of tears, feeling as though a massive weight had just been lifted from his shoulders.
****
Jarrett and Thayne were both going stir-crazy after a few days’ rest.
Even though Thayne had bitched at him to stay in bed the full week, Jarrett had stubbornly refused him and they went back to the office right before the Fourth of July holiday.
Stanger hadn’t let them come back until they both got cleared by their doctors—again.
Having to get a note just so they could go back to work was getting a little old actually.
As it turned out, Connor and Darcy had made some progress in the investigation while they’d been absent, so the case was moving forward and the forced time off for recuperation hadn’t been a complete and total waste.
They greeted Sarah and Tim and immediately sat down with them to talk about what they’d been able to find out.
Tim had spoken to the Mexican satellite office of the ATF and the agent down there reported that they’d been able to find evidence of a much smaller shipment of illegal fireworks that had come up through the country from Chile prior to the one Thayne and Jarrett had been able to help the FBI stop.
As far as they were able to tell, the fireworks had been off-loaded over the border at the Fernandez farm almost six months before, and though they weren’t certain who the recipients had been, they could only assume they’d gone to the Freedom Brigade as well.
“That means there’s a possibility that they were used in the Chinatown explosion,”
Sarah said, looking hopeful.
“Yeah, the problem is, we can’t possibly test them since none of the debris from the scene was collected as evidence,”
Thayne said.
“I’m almost sure those were Revilla’s field strips in Chinatown.
He admitted to us that he strips his cigs that way and his girlfriend’s knowledge of the militia is just too coincidental for them not to be the ones who sent up the lantern.
They have experience handling fireworks.
The question remains as to why both scenes had notes with scripture verses about fire and brimstone.
This is some kind of religious nut and neither Revilla nor Quinn struck me as being particularly religious.”
Jarrett leaned forward in his chair, speaking low.
“I can’t shake the notion that Suki Chang is somehow involved in that incident right along with them.
Revilla and Quinn aren’t exactly members of Mensa but Chang does have the intelligence to pull something like this off.
She has a background in chemistry and with her ATF training, and the smarts she obviously displays from her grades in school, she might also have the knowhow to do something like that.”
“You think the Chinatown explosion was a test of some sort,”
Darcy stated.
“To what end? I mean, no one was seriously injured in the incident and if they wanted to hurt a lot of people the way they did down in Miramar, wouldn’t they have packed a lot more punch in the basket of that lantern?”
Jarrett nodded.
“I don’t think they wanted to hurt anyone seriously.
They may have just been testing the explosive impact of the fireworks they bought to see if the black powder in them worked the way they needed it to.
This may be a total stretch of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she planned and carried out the entire event with Revilla and Quinn.
Then she made sure she was the one to investigate the incident so she could manage the ATF’s involvement by declaring it an accident, then convincing the LAPD officer, Deukmejian, of the same.
She didn’t want us to take the investigation any further than she did.
Another thing… she said she conversed with the maker of the lantern yet she didn’t keep any of the woman’s contact information or put it in the report for follow-up? Right.
There’s something inherently wrong with that whole story.”
“I totally agree.
There was something wonky about that chick and I felt it the minute we sat down with her.
She was most definitely hiding something,”
Thayne added.
“If she’s involved with the militia, that would make sense.
Jarrett had a feeling that English wasn’t her native language and he has a feel for languages, right?”
He turned to Jarrett who just nodded, pursing his lips thoughtfully as Thayne went on.
“Her background check says she was born here, but what if she’s got ties to China which would facilitate the smuggling of fireworks to the States from Chile that wouldn’t have to go through channels,”
he said, warming to his topic.
“The Chinese would be only too willing to do it provided they upped the price and the Freedom Brigade would pay whatever they needed for their righteous cause—hitting soft targets and starting a war with the US government.
They call themselves Libertarians, but they’re nothing but fucking domestic terrorists.”
“What’s the point?”
Sarah asked.
“Pyrotechnics experts order their fireworks from China most of the time anyway.
Why bring them in illegally?”
“Because the operators of large shows have to be licensed by the ATF and shipments of fireworks have to go through US Customs where they’re inspected by us,”
Jarrett said.
“Cargo containers of fireworks can’t leave the docks unless they have a Department of Transportation approved route to their final destination,”
Thayne said.
“And they are required to be placarded as HAZMAT, but not if they smuggle them through Chile and across the Mexican border instead of a US port,”
Sarah added, nodding her head.
“Now I get it.
Great plan.”
Thayne nodded and continued.
“Say I’m a Chinese smuggler and I want to sell to the highest bidder—aren’t I going to look to buyers like the militia who can’t buy them legally because they don’t have a license from us? No way would the ATF issue a pyrotechnic license to someone that can’t pass a background check.
If I’m one of the Freedom Brigade or another militia who can’t buy large quantities of black powder to accomplish my domestic terror campaign, I’m going to hook up with a seller who is willing to supply to me.
The supplier—China—partners with the Mexican and South American drug cartels who provide security and help smuggle them across the border to the militia.”
“Then, as the final piece to the puzzle, someone with the knowledge of chemicals to build the bombs needed to carry out their mission—Chang—is ready, willing, and able to assist, at least here in LA,”
Jarrett said.
“We really need to check to see if there have been similar explosions in other jurisdictions that match these.
There might be several bomb builders.
It would make sense that there would be more for the biggest impact.
We need to bring Suki Chang in and question her.”
The other three nodded.
“So there’s a large domestic terrorism incident being planned, maybe across multiple jurisdictions. Jesus,”
Sarah said.
“But when is this going to happen?”
She looked between her coworkers.
“The Fourth of July,”
Jarrett and Thayne said in tandem.
“That only gives us about thirty-six hours.”
“It totally makes sense,”
Tim said.
“We need to brief Stanger and have Chang picked up immediately.”
“And call in Homeland and the FBI,”
Jarrett said, standing up.
“Come on, Thayne.
Let’s go talk to the boss and run it by him.”
Thayne looked grim but he stood up to follow Jarrett.
“Tim and I are going to call the other field offices right now.
If something like this has been planned for the Fourth, we’re out of time.”
****
“What is it you don’t understand about us needing Evans dead, now?”
“I’m sorry, sir.
He rolled three hundred feet down a mountainside on a motorcycle.
No one could have thought he’d survive the accident.”
“Like you said before, the man has nine lives but he should have used those up tenfold by now.
By God, man, he’s not invincible.
He’s flesh and blood like you and I.”
“I’ll make sure I get him this time, sir.
Just give me one more chance.”
“No! You’re attracting too much interest.
The boss is aware of your fumbling attempts and so is Evans.
I sent you in after Virgil failed, but you missed him down at the Mexican border and now this amateur attempt… and blowing up his Jeep was just stupid.”
“The bomb wasn’t me, sir.
Sorry to interrupt.”
“What do you mean it wasn’t you?”
“It wasn’t me, sir.”
“So you’re trying to tell me that someone else is trying to punch Jarrett Evans’s ticket? Do you expect me to believe that?”
“It’s absolutely true, sir.”
The man paused a moment.
“Okay.
You are to stand down.
Those are your orders.
Is that clear?”
“But I can make this happen, sir.”
“Until we figure out who else wants Evans dead, we’re suspending your mission.
Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.
Perfectly.”