started flipping on others. That was to be expected. Loyalty dived out the window when the death penalty for treason entered the room.
Michael looked over at the lawyer. “Mr. O’Boyle, what exactly is your job here?”
His response would tell Michael everything he needed to know. Any response about law, the trial or the case would mean he didn’t know the true contents of the letter.
“I am here to assist in all ways needed.”
So, someone loyal. Good to know, not that they could talk openly about the real content of the message anyway. They were supposed to have a confidential conference room, but Michael was more than aware that Homeland Security was listening. He also knew there were cameras in this room right now surveilling what was written on the letter.
The most brilliant law enforcement minds in the country would be looking for encoded messages in it, starting immediately.
They wouldn’t find any.
“Good to hear that.” Michael held up the letter. “Thanks for the paperwork. Has there been any progress on the case in any other areas?”
“We are continuing to gather evidence for the trial. Things are going as best as can be expected.”
“The cost is high. We have people willing to pay the price?” The security footage Homeland would run of this conversation would lead them to believe Michael was talking about the costs of trial preparation.
He was talking about something much different.
“Yes, sir. There are those who are loyal and look at the bigger picture, willing to sacrifice short term, for the long-term good.”
Michael gave a brief nod. “I’m glad to hear that is still true.”
They had been prepared for this contingency. Perhaps not exactly in the way it had occurred—a young woman back from the dead taking them all down so swiftly and efficiently. That had definitely been unexpected. But from the beginning, the Organization had known there would be enemies, and that drastic methods might be needed to evade those enemies.
It was time for the drastic measures.
“What sort of schedule are we talking about?” he asked O’Boyle.
“The tentative court date is set two months from now. We can certainly push that back to give us more time to—”
Michael shook his head. “No. It’s time to move forward.”
He had plans of his own. Plans that couldn’t be put into play until he was out of this hellhole of boredom.
O’Boyle nodded. “Of course. The trial itself could take weeks, which will give us plenty of time to continue gathering...data and anything else needed.”
“No. I want to move forward now, not during the trial. Call the district attorney.”
“But, sir...”
“Now, Mr. O’Boyle. Prison is inevitable for me. Let’s not pretend it’s not. I’m ready to not be in limbo any longer. I want to know my sentencing and move on with my life.”
O’Boyle nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll start making the necessary calls today. But I must forewarn you, I think this might be a little premature. The closer we are to the end of your trial—”
“That will be all, Counselor.” Michael didn’t know if the man was unaware of law enforcement, who would be poring over their discussion, or if he’d momentarily forgotten. Either was unacceptable. “Make it happen.”
Color leaked out of O’Boyle’s face. “Yes, Mr. Jeter. It will take a little bit of time, but I can get the wheels set in motion immediately.”
Wheels in motion. Good.
He’d been still for too damn long.
“Remember that time when we were kids and Mrs. Ragan found that rattlesnake in her mailbox?”
Tanner Dempsey dragged his eyes up from the diner booth table to his brother, Noah, sitting across from him.
“Yeah, I remember. We were all terrified to get the mail all summer. Why?”
Noah grinned at him. “Because that’s the same look you’ve got right now.”
Tanner muttered a low curse and resisted the urge to flip his brother off like he would’ve done that summer of Mrs. Ragan’s rattler. His eyes dropped back down to the small box on the table.
A ring box.
“I’m just saying what’s in that box is not going to hurt you,” Noah continued. “No snake is going to jump out of it. Or at least not a very big one.”
Cheryl Andrews, owner of the Sunrise Diner with her husband, Dan, was making her way over with their lunch. Tanner quickly grabbed the box on the table. He definitely didn’t want word to get out around Risk Peak that he had a ring box. That would spread like wildfire.
Noah was right. There were no rattlesnakes in the small jewelry case, just their mother’s engagement ring. The one their father had given her when he’d asked her to marry him nearly forty years ago.
It was the ring he planned to present to Bree Daniels when he asked her to marry him.
“Did it bite you?” Noah whispered with a laugh as Tanner slipped it into his pocket.
Now Tanner did raise his middle finger, pretending like he was rubbing a spot on his cheek under his eye. He and Noah had been flipping each other off that way for so long that Noah immediately caught sight of the gesture and laughed.
So did Mrs. Andrews. “I’m going to pretend like I don’t see you making rude gestures at your brother the same way you two have been for the past twenty years. I’d hate to have to call your mother down here to pick you up at your age.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tanner muttered, dropping his hand immediately. He wasn’t completely sure the older woman wouldn’t actually follow through on that threat.
Tanner loved the town of Risk Peak, where he’d been born and raised. He loved it enough that except for the four years when he’d gone to college in Denver, he’d never even been tempted to leave. Loved it enough to have followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Grand County Sheriff’s Department. Might even decide to run for sheriff someday.
This town had given him everything that was important to him, including Bree Daniels, the love of his life and hopefully soon-to-be fiancée.
She hadn’t been born here like so many of the other residents. She’d shown up nearly eight months ago, broke, exhausted and hunted. When he’d caught her shoplifting at the town drugstore, stealing formula and diapers for twin babies who ended up not being her own, he would have never dreamed that she would become the woman he couldn’t live without.
“Enjoy
