Epilogue
One week later
Thayne and Jarrett spent two days in the hospital after Chang and Revilla’s final attempt at obliterating a crowd of unsuspecting Fourth of July revelers.
Had their plan succeeded, countless numbers of people would have died and been injured.
Across the nation, the Freedom Brigade’s domestic terror campaign was brought down by the ATF, the FBI, and Homeland Security, assisted by local law enforcement.
It was a harrowing week for the nation and everyone was reminded that it could have been so much worse.
In all the individual operations that were coordinated in the twenty-four hours leading up to the militia’s terror campaign, only three law enforcement personnel were killed when a bomb-wearing terrorist was able to set off an explosive vest before they were able to take her out.
The terrorist turned out to be a twenty-year-old college dropout from Peoria, Illinois, who just wanted somewhere to belong and had found friends in an Atlanta, Georgia, militia.
The two FBI agents and one local police officer who died left behind three spouses and seven children between them.
Their funerals were covered by CNN and Fox News and they were given full military honor guards, while the terrorist’s body was left unclaimed by her family.
Her name was intentionally left out of the news while the heroes’ funerals were televised.
Thayne was lauded for saving Jarrett’s life when he picked his partner up and carried him away from Anthony Revilla before the young man could blow himself up in an attempt to meet his maker.
Suki Chang left behind an infant daughter and social services had taken custody of her until Chang’s immediate family could be contacted to take the child in.
As it turned out, Chang was a natural born citizen of the United States but she’d grown up in China and had become a right-wing religious zealot after marrying a member of the Freedom Brigade once she came back to the States.
She’d joined the ATF at the urging of Reverend James Elroy so that she could keep an eye on what the agency knew about them and their plans to obtain bomb-making materials.
After her husband was killed by a Mexican national who’d crossed over the border illegally, Chang had gone completely off the rails and she’d volunteered for Mary Mason’s crazy Fourth of July madness.
Jarrett suffered a goose egg on the back of his head from Revilla’s pistol whipping, but fortunately, after yet one final MRI, it was found that the bleeding in his belly hadn’t begun again even though he’d taken quite a blow from Revilla’s gun.
Thayne came out of the ordeal with little more than a few well-placed bruises and splinters from the exploding announcer’s box.
SAC Stanger ordered Thayne and Jarrett to take a full week off and that hadn’t gone over especially well with the two men who hated downtime.
When they finally came back to the office a week later, they were put on light desk duty which made Jarrett just a little crazier than ever since paperwork was his least favorite thing to do.
When Thayne stopped by his desk at 5:00 p.m.
that first Monday back to tell him it was time to go home, Jarrett glanced up with bloodshot eyes and blew out a long breath.
“If you want to stay, it’s fine, Jarrett.
I’m sure I can find another form for you to fill out,”
Thayne said, his tongue firmly stuck in his cheek.
Jarrett scrambled to shove the paperwork he’d been filling out into a file folder, practically leaping out of his chair to obey.
“Fuck no.
I fuckin’ hate paperwork.”
Thayne smiled as his partner plucked the suit jacket off the back of his chair and threw it over his arm.
“You know, I was thinking,”
Thayne started.
“You know how much I love driving you around, Jarrett, but you really should think about getting a rental car.”
They walked toward the elevator.
“You know,”
Jarrett looked side to side to make sure they were alone before glancing back at Thayne.
“As much as I love waking up in your bed every day, I really think we should probably think about getting me a brand-new car.”
Thayne grinned as they stopped in front of the elevator.
Jarrett punched the down button.
“Yeah? What kind?”
“I was thinking about going vintage,”
Jarrett said.
“Vintage?”
“Yeah, you remember Tate’s Gran Torino?”
Jarrett waggled his eyebrows.
Thayne couldn’t help but grin as the elevator doors whooshed open.
“Oh, that was a sweet ride.
I loved that car.”
“Right?”
Jarrett said excitedly.
“I just thought it might be fun to get something that I can fix up… you know, a classic.”
They stepped into the elevator and Thayne backed Jarrett up against the wall so that their bodies touched.
He dropped his gaze to Jarrett’s lips.
“You mean a rust bucket.”
Jarrett had the audacity to look offended as he smirked.
“You have no faith in me to find something vintage and fun to drive.”
Jarrett leaned forward and kissed Thayne quickly, stealing a kiss just as the elevator stopped at the parking garage level.
Thayne stepped back as the doors whooshed open and they walked out into the garage.
“Why do I feel like ‘vintage and fun to drive’ are code words for hard on gas mileage and bad for the environment?”
“You know, you really need to have more faith in me,”
Jarrett groused.
Thayne laughed.
“Of course I do.
Since you never ever stretch the truth or obfuscate.”
Jarrett laughed.
“Obfuscate? Is that your Scrabble word for the day?”
Thayne stopped at the side of his Mustang and he moved into Jarrett’s personal space.
He watched Jarrett glance around the empty parking garage to make certain they were alone again.
“No.
My Scrabble word for the day is prig.”
Jarrett laughed and leaned forward to kiss Thayne, this time slower and with more feeling.
When he pulled back, Thayne’s bright blue eyes were sparkling.
“Here’s a word for you, Thayne,”
Jarrett said.
“Asswipe.”
“Schmuck.”
“Dickhead.”
“Cocksucker.”
Jarrett snorted and cocked his head to the side.
“Cocksucker? Are you calling me a cocksucker?”
“Yeah.
What are you gonna do about it? Deny it?”
Thayne asked.
Jarrett grinned as he shook his head.
“Nope.
I’m gonna prove it.”
The End