Chapter 7 #3
Popping him on the head, he thought he’d killed him when he fell over backwards.
He didn’t need anyone coming around and finding him, so he shifted into his other self and looked on the men’s clothing for the picture.
It was on the second man he searched, but he continued to look.
Finding a second picture, this one was much better than the first. He put them in his pocket and moved away from the carnage.
Just as he was coming around the first set of buildings, he realized that he wished he had not come on this mission and stayed at home with Emmie.
Going to his hotel that he’d been in last night, he took everything that he’d brought, which wasn’t all that much, and took off.
He knew the exact moment that the bodies were found and kept his distance from the police.
They’d not find anything that would associate him with the killings, but he didn’t want to take the chance.
Walking out of town, he was nearly to the naval base when the sun was coming up.
He’d hitch a ride home with them and then be home before Emmie really missed him.
Thinking about what he’d had to do to come home, he decided that he really had had enough of this job.
He got paid well and didn’t have to work all that hard at it, but he had a family now, and he didn’t want to do this.
He’d had enough. And he’d not let anyone talk him into doing something that he didn’t want to do anymore.
He reached out to Emmie just as he was in the air.
“This is a shitshow here. You should see the poor judge. I think he’s going to have a heart attack, he’s so frustrated with my sister and Bash.” He smiled and told her that he loved her. “I love you too. Did you get hurt? Is that why you’re contacting me this way?”
“No, I’m fine. I’m on my way home. I’ll have a layover in DC, but that won’t take long to get home from there.” She asked him if he’d done what he went there for. “Sort of. But that’s all right too. The job was finished, and that’s all that matters.”
She told him about the hearing and how much stuff they had dug up on Mary Beth and Bash. They’d been using their food card to buy other things other than what it was intended for. Also, they’d been stealing things and not reporting the income when it was sold off to someone else.
“I had no idea that they would have to report all income to them so that they could adjust their income from the government. I mean, it makes sense, but even the money that I was giving them before I got smart should have been reported. They’re going to spend some time in jail for all the things they were getting.
And get this, they’re going to have to pay the government back on the housing that they had for lying to the welfare department on things that they were doing.
” He asked her if she’d testified yet. “I did first thing. But I found that I couldn’t leave because of all the shit that is going on.
It’s like a show of shows here. I’m going to be surprised if they don’t have to spend the next twenty-five years in prison for fraud.
Plus paying the money back that they got.
Mary Beth keeps telling the court that I should pay for it all because I have the money.
I don’t think there is enough money in the world to get me to pay for all the shit that they’ve been up to. ”
“I can’t wait to get to the end of this so you can tell me what happened with them.
I should be home by midnight. I have to be debriefed about what happened, then I can come home.
I’m going to tell Jamie that I’ve had enough.
I don’t want to do this anymore. Not just leaving you, but I’m too old for the kind of shit that’s going on right now.
” She asked him if he was serious. “I am. Not that I’m that old, but the shit that is happening around this part of the world is too much for one man to tolerate.
I’m going to tell him flat out that I’m finished.
I hope he gets it. I really want to spend my time with you and the kids, if we have any, and get to be the best house dad I can be. ”
“I’m so happy to hear that. I didn’t like spending the night in my bed all alone last night. I missed you keeping me warm.” He said that he’d not slept at all, wishing he was with her. “I know what you mean. We’ll have to keep a promise not to be apart at all again.”
“Deal.” When he told her that he’d see her when he got home, she told him she was going to stay at the courthouse until things were over.
He told her to take notes so that he could be right on top of things, and that made her laugh.
He was glad that, after all that had happened, he was able to make her do that and was happy that he was going home.
That word had never sounded so good as it did now.
It took him a bit longer to get to DC and out than he had anticipated.
Once he was in town, he realized that he was going to have to spend the night, as the committee that he had to talk to wasn’t ready for him.
After telling Emmie what was going on, she seemed depressed, but he told her that he wasn’t going to go out anymore.
He was finished with the government and would keep his promise about not going out on missions again.
He just hoped that it would be that easy.