The sentence was pointed, and Xander received the message loud and clear.
“I do. I’d also really like it if you would share this character’s last knowns with me. It would go a long way toward smoothing out the situation for us both. I can go to my people with the information and leave you out of it entirely.”
He didn’t flinch when Will shot up out of his seat and took three steps toward him. He was expecting it. Intimidation was one of the things Will had always been good at. When they were kids, Xander may have succumbed to the peer pressure a time or three. But he was a man now, battle tested, and Will Crawford didn’t scare him a lick. Xander knew four ways to kill him without moving from his seat or breaking a sweat.
But he found the move incredibly interesting. Will was covering for someone.
“I thought you left the Army, Xander Moon.”
“I did. But the Army will never leave me. I’m just trying to do the right thing here, Will. A lot of people got hurt. He tries again, maybe a lot of people get dead. I’d like to help make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Silence again. The tension in the room had ratcheted up a notch. Xander had no idea why Will was protecting a stranger, which told him more than he wanted to know.
“Fine,” Will finally said. “I don’t have much. It’s gonna take some serious talent to do anything with it. I hit a dead end, myself, and I’m pretty seriously talented.” He laughed then, and they all joined in, Xander and Roth not quite as heartily as Will and Stu. Five minutes later, their goodbyes said, they left.
Xander had the information he wanted.
Most of it.
*
The drive back was quiet. His father stared out the window, but Xander could tell he wanted to talk. With a sigh, Xander said, “What?”
The invitation extended, Roth didn’t hesitate. “You should have let the police handle this, Moonbeam.”
“I’m not in the habit of uncovering problems and handing them over to others to handle. That’s not what I was trained to do.”
“But, Moon, Will had a point. You aren’t in the Army anymore. This isn’t your responsibility.”
Xander took three breaths so he wouldn’t say anything he’d regret later.
“I know you don’t understand, Roth, nor would I expect you to. We are very different men, you and I, and I respect your beliefs, and love you for them. But I am compelled to serve my country, whether they’re paying me to do so or not. Just because I’m not under command doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do the right thing when I can. If I’d told the police about this, or the FBI, instead of handling it myself, they’d have come in here guns blazing, and you saw how twitchy Crawford was. He’d have managed to get into a standoff, and people would have died. I wasn’t about to let that happen. My responsibility is to both this country and the people who share my convictions, as well as yours. Now I can get the appropriate information to the appropriate people with little to no danger to my friends. Surely that makes sense to you.”
It was a good speech, one of his better arguments, actually. But Roth didn’t say a word.
Well, he’d tried.
The sun was setting behind them, casting a lovely light on the lake. When they reached the turnoff to Dillon, Xander was shocked to feel his father’s hand on his shoulder. Patting the muscle, then squeezing.
“Well said, son. Well said.”
Chapter 23
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Samantha Owens
Sam called Nocek the moment she hung up with Fletcher. She had to wait a minute—he was in the middle of an autopsy—but he came on soon enough.
“Amado, I’ve found something. I think the toxin is abrin.”
He was quiet for a moment, and Sam could practically hear him thinking.
“Abrus precatorius. Samantha, that makes perfect sense, and fits all of the findings we’ve discovered. It would have to be inhaled to cause the exact damage to the organs we witnessed.”
“I agree. Ledbetter, Conlon and Leighton all inhaled it. The question is, why did these three people die almost immediately after they were exposed? From what I remember, abrin poisoning can take hours to manifest, even days. Which also means the people who are still sick aren’t out of the woods, and more could begin to exhibit symptoms. I’ve told Fletcher, he’s warning the CDC and Homeland Security. The hospitals will need to treat specifically for this toxin to save their lives, and a public warning needs to go out so people who might have been exposed can look for symptoms.”