Coming Back

We came home on a Saturday.Phoenix picked us up from the airport. He was there when we came through the arrivals door with the map wrapped carefully in the luggage and the travel list with twenty destinations and one crossed off.He looked at Reaper first. The way everyone who cared about Reaper looked at him first when they hadn't seen him for a while. Checking. Reading.Whatever he saw satisfied him."Good trip," he said. Not a question."Good trip," Reaper confirmed.Phoenix took the larger bag without being asked. We walked to the car. The drive back was easy conversation. Phoenix updating us on the two weeks without making it a briefing. The Dalton pre-trial hearings had continued on schedule. Cross had submitted an additional supporting document that Forsythe's office had requested. Voss and Cross and Phoenix's working sessions had produced something Phoenix described as genuinely interesting which from Phoenix meant significant."What did you produce," I said."A preliminary f

CHAPTER 221 - MONDAY

The working framework document was forty one pages.Phoenix put it on the table at nine in the morning. Printed. Not digital. He'd learned over the years that I read structural documents better on paper. The annotations were easier and the sense of the whole was clearer when I could lay pages out rather than scroll.Cross and Voss were both present. Cross had driven in from the city. Voss had come from the university. They sat on one side of the table. Phoenix on the other. Eva beside me.Reaper was in the garden. He'd read the document over the weekend when Phoenix sent it through in advance. He'd said what he wanted to say to Phoenix directly and saw no need to be at the table for the presentation.I read the executive summary first. Then the structural sections. Then the implementation proposals at the back.It took forty minutes. Nobody spoke while I read. That was a compound understanding. When someone was reading something important the room was quiet.When I finished I put the

Epilogue

The Dalton verdict came on a Thursday in November.Guilty on seven counts. Unauthorized direction of a classified program beyond its mandated scope. Misappropriation of defense funding. Coercive research practices resulting in harm. Conspiracy to deprive individuals of civil rights. Three additional counts related to the cover-up.Forsythe called me before the public announcement. Professional courtesy. She said the sentencing hearing was scheduled for February and that the verdict was as complete as these things ever were.I thanked her.She said the framework document had been formally submitted to the relevant oversight bodies the previous week. That it had been received seriously. That the conversation it was intended to start had started.I thanked her again and ended the call.Reaper was in the garden.Of course he was.I went out and sat beside him and told him.He listened. Nodded once. Looked at the garden for a long moment.Then he said "Good."Just that.It was enough.---

THE BIKER'S NEW FOUND MATE のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 221 - チャプター 223

Coming Back

CHAPTER 221 - MONDAY

Epilogue