Chapter Three

Jason Raids woke up to the sound of his daughter's voice. She was calling him to wake up and he reluctantly rolled over, rubbing the sleep off his eyes.

“What is it, hon?”, he grumbled. “Is the hotel on fire?”

“Worse, dad. Look!”

Jason looked. She was pointing at the TV in his room, which she had just turned on. He looked hard and long, trying his best to make sense of what he was seeing. It was just smoke curling out of an ugly wreckage and a reporter talking on the screen. But when he heard the words 'Los Angeles, California', he quickly sat up and focused more. The reporter was talking about the sudden explosion of some cars obviously in a convoy that was believed to be the FBI's. From what he could see on the screen, no red-blooded human could have gotten out alive. Just then, his phone vibrated. It was Tony again.

“Did you see the news?”, he asked just as Jason picked the call.

“I'm watching it now. What's going on, Tony?”

“I thought you weren't curious?”

“Well, now I am. What's going on over there? Who's behind the attack? Cause this is no accident.”

By this time, Chrissie had filled up two glasses with water and handed one to her dad. He mouthed his thanks and put it to his lips just as Tony replied: “Randy Barlough.”

Jason spluttered the few drops of water he had taken in.

“What!”

“You heard me, Jason. That's why we wanted you to come in.”

“Wh.. what's his motive? Why kill FBI agents?!”, Jason shouted.

“The whole thing's still cloudy, but we were hoping you could help.”

Jason was silent. His mind was working furiously. He knew Randy Barlough. A very good and close friend from their Army days. Randy used to work as a cop after leaving the Army, until Jason dragged him over to the FBI. Their friendship since then had remained intact, even though they never saw much of each other because Randy was almost always undercover. He couldn't now think of any reason why a patriot like Randy would become such a barbarian. It was too hard to believe!

“Jason, are you there?”, Tony asked.

“Yeah, yeah. What's uhh... are you really sure it's Randy? He could have been framed or perhaps he's undercover and things went out of his hands or...”

“Intel's solid, Jason. What you're saying... at some point that's what we all thought, but he made us a promise. We wished it to be a joke, but I guess that didn't go according to plan. When are you coming in?”

“Uhh... I don't know," Jason hesitated. "I'm really not convinced. This can't be Randy's doing. Randy is one of the most hardworking patriots I've ever known.”

“But now he's turned,” Tony returned, impatience in his tone.

“Or something funny is in the works. I'll need to see everything you guys have on this.”

“You'll find all you need over here. Just come in.”

Jason glanced at his daughter and she nodded. She had clearly been following his side of the conversation and filling in the necessary blanks in her head.

“Fine,” he sighed. “I'll get there as soon as I can.”

“Great. We'll send..”

"No, Tony. I'm coming there just to see. I'm not a consultant and I'm not interested in doing more than observation for now. If I'm coming in, I'm doing it my way.”

“No problem. We're expecting you.”

“Hey wait! Who's the new assistant director?”, Jason questioned.

“Assistant director's just been canned by one hard nail the big dogs left behind to oversee things. She'll be in charge till the crisis passes. Veronica Roar or Rohn or something.”

“Great. Thanks.”

So Veronica had been overseeing affairs at LA, eh? No wonder she asked for his help personally. He knew what it must have taken her to make the call. She was one proud woman who stood for no nonsense and never was the first to concede. The fact that his refusal didn't annoy her enough not to ask Tony to call him made him see how serious the situation really was.

“When are we leaving, dad?”, Chrissie suddenly asked, diverting him from his thoughts.

“Don't know. I'm in no hurry. But if what they say is true, I wouldn't want you anywhere near Los Angeles.”

She simply nodded. Of course, she wasn't in support of such an idea, but arguing with her father would be like pushing a huge tree with her bare hands. He just would not budge, especially in such a situation where it involved her safety. He'd even become increasingly obstinate to the extent of putting her in a position that would be much less preferable to the one she currently was in. It was better to work slowly from her current position until she could improve it.

*****

When Jason's flight landed in Nevada, he didn't waste time before taking a ride deeper into the city. He had arranged to have a car waiting. He was going to deposit Chrissie at her maternal aunt's. Chrissie didn't like being so far away from Clyde, especially now that her father would be away, but she sat meekly in the car and swallowed her objections. As he drove, Jason glanced at her from time to time. He didn't seem very comfortable with himself. At last, he had no choice but to say what was on his mind.

“Hey hon. I know you don't like this whole vacation coming to an abrupt end, but it's just for your own safety. Hopefully this is all a huge mistake and LA will be safe again.”

“A mistake? More than half a dozen agents dead? Come on, dad,” she huffed.

She should be fighting to stay behind, but she couldn't help being annoyed with her father's careless view of the situation.

“Yeah I know.. I know I sound childish, but I'd have liked all this to be a dream. Like B.o.B, I could really use a wish right now,” he sighed loudly.

Chrissie was silent for a while. She just stared straight ahead at the road, her face set and firm. Jason was worried she was upset. He was about to say something to sooth her, but she beat him to it.

“I'm really sorry your friend's behind the attacks.”

“Well, thanks, but we can't really be sure, you know,” he shrugged.

“But they said it's him, right?”

“Well, they think so.. at least.”

“So what are you gonna do if it's him?”

“Buy a one way ticket to the Caribbeans.”

“What?”, Chrissie was shocked. “Tell me you're kidding, dad.”

“I'm not. It won't be my problem, honey. The FBI would handle it.”

“But he's your friend!”

“And that's why I'm going. If I find he's being framed, I'll perhaps help to clear his name, but if it's really him, then there's nothing I can do.”

“Really, dad? You surprise me!”

“How so, honey?”

“But people could die! A lot of people!”

Jason sighed and shook his head.

“The FBI can do its job without Jason Raids, dear. I'm out.”

Chrissie didn't say a word in reply for a long while. They drove in silence, but as they approached Tracy's house, she suddenly turned to her father.

“You once said those you served with are your brothers and that you'll always stick up for them. The FBI needs you now. If you don't care about the organization, perhaps you should think about your friends and former colleagues back there. They're your brothers too, dad.”

The car had already come to a halt by now. With those words, Chrissie promptly stepped out and walked into the warm embrace of her aunt, leaving her dumbfounded father in the car.

After a while, Jason recovered his composure and crawled out of the car to meet Tracy. She was glad to see him and Chrissie after so long since she never took them up on the offer to visit around the time her niece was kidnapped - something she still had no idea about. A young woman in her early 30s, Tracy was a hardworking single mom of two near feral boys, who always kept her on her toes. Chrissie was one of the few people who could counteract their wildness, so she was always glad to have her around.

“You look glum, Jason,” Tracy observed as they walked into the large parlor where the boys were already welcoming their cousin. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh yeah,” he answered quickly. “Everything's cool. Just.. wanna keep Chrissie here for a while.. while I run some errands.”

“Great,” she beamed. “She's always welcome. In fact, (in a loud voice for Chrissie's benefit) she owes me many arrears of visits and I'll only be too glad to collect.”

Before Chrissie could formulate a reply, Harry, the younger of the boys jumped on her from behind and wrapped his hands tightly around her while his older brother Orville pulled her by the hand to go show her his latest achievements. Chrissie had to focus wholly on disentangling herself, one hand at a time.

“Boys!”, their mother scolded. “I think it's time you leave your cousin alone for a while. She just had quite a journey. She needs to rest. Now, everyone to his room!”

“But she has to see my Spider man,” Orville grumbled.

“You heard me, young man! I said, to your room!”

“Hey Orv,” Chrissie petted him. “I'll see your Spiderman and Batman and everything else later, okay? Just give me some time, okay? Good boy. Now go to your room. And you too, Harry.”

One after the other, she sent them off with kisses and assurances. After they had left, she breathed a sigh of relief and Tracy laughed.

“I'm so sorry about that, Chris. They haven't seen you in a long time is why. Now you see what happens when you fail to visit your favourite aunt for so long!”

“Can't say I don't deserve it. Beats Aunt Summer's though. I'd be a nun there in less than a week.”

Everyone laughed, including Jason.

“How's Summer nowadays anyway?”, Tracy asked.

“Well, she's as fine as ever,” Jason shrugged.

“Still a nurse, huh?”

“Same as always.”

“A nurse like Aunt Summer would make me avoid the hospital all my life. I'm sure she reads the Ten Commandments to all her patients before breakfast and the Golden Rule after dinner.”

“Chrissie!”, Tracy shouted.

“What?”, Chrissie asked, looking innocent.

“That's your aunt, you know.”

“I'd give anything to make her hear you,” Jason chipped in.

“I was only kidding, dad.”

Tracy and Jason could not restrain their laughter. Chrissie's fear of Jason's sister was common knowledge enough. It was often said that Summer was the rain to Chrissie's fire.

Jason stayed for lunch before bidding everyone farewell. There were tears in Chrissie's eyes as she hugged him tight and long.

“Whoa! You don't wanna pulverize me now, do you?”

“Be careful, dad,” she croaked, still holding on to him.

“I will, honey. And you too. Those cousins of yours seem prepared to make you lose twenty pounds in three hours.”

Chrissie chuckled and sniffed.

“I'll be back for you before you know it, dear. Just stay cool, okay?”

“I love you, dad.”

“I love you too, baby doll. And when I get back, I'd like to see that guy you're hiding.”

“I've told you, dad, I'm not hiding anyone!”, she shouted, stamping her feet on the ground and blushing deeply.

“Oh look at your face. Vegas at night.”

Jason quickly hurried out of the house as Chrissie searched for a cushion to hurl at him. He ran to his car and jumped in. Firing up the engine, he looked up to see his daughter standing in the doorway with something in her hand. It looked like a battered old shoe. As he turned the car around, he blew her a kiss from the window and she threw the shoe after him, for luck.

Now that he was done with the task of dropping his daughter off at Tracy's, Jason made straight for Los Angeles. He wanted to be there as quickly as possible. It was imperative he start looking around not too long after the attack occurred, while the trail was still hot.

Making his way through traffic on his way to his former workplace, he still could not believe that his friend Randy was involved in the barbaric attack on the FBI convoy. The Randy he knew would never go that far for any reason. Contrary to what he had told his daughter, he was very determined to get to the bottom of the matter.