Chapter 36: Adjustments

I moved myself to the elevator, switched into my working clothes and then opened the doors for Rod to get on. He was a little taken back to see me in the elevator when the doors opened.

"Wow, didn't expect you here. If everybody else is getting on we're going to need a bigger elevator."

"No, everybody else is already there, I had some last minute things I needed to take care of, so I thought I'd just pick you up on the way."

"Weird way to travel," he said. "Listen. While I've got you here I wanted to thank you for bringing back my memories of my father."

"It was my pleasure, Mr. Rodriquez, and I'd like to thank you for being willing to help with everything the last couple days. If it had been necessary to run, that would have meant that they got Rebecca to talk, and then she would have exposed you as well. I'm glad it didn't come to that, but it could have. You knew that was a risk when we asked and you did it anyway. That means a lot to us, to me. If there is something else I can do for you, please let me know."

The doors opened and we crossed the hall into the office. Everyone else was there and waiting for us. Allison was in her bitch suit laying on the couch but she jumped down as soon as we entered, then lay between Ninety-Nine and me as I sat down and Rebecca started telling us about everything that had really happened in Washington.

"Oh, great," Rod said. "Just what I need is you pulling rank on me."

"Rod, the kind of shit we would have to be in for me to ever actually try that with you, pulling rank would be the least your worries. Nothing is changing, except that you now have an extra weapon in your personal arsenal, I have no idea what kind of doors my new position can actually open but as I find out, I'll let you know. Meanwhile, we pick up an off the books account for emergencies like hiding Roxanne, thanks for the quick work on that by the way. I know you didn't use department resources so let me know what we owe you and I'll figure out a way to pay you back."

"I've got that one," I said. "I'll reimburse him. I can afford it and no one has to worry about ever needing to justify the money. If you tried to do it using your new contacts they would wonder how you got it done in the first place. Let's not give them any more to wonder about than necessary for a while."

"But that's your money, Jimmy. You shouldn't have to spend it on official projects."

"I'm not. Officially, Roxy doesn't exist. It's not like I have other uses for that money, and it's money that was generated by bad things happening to people, so spending it to see those things don't happen to others seems like a pretty good cause to me. If all goes well, I'll be able to replace it solving other problems long before I would ever miss it."

I had a sudden tingling sensation all over and Jamie's voice sounded in my head, "Hi, miss me? What did I miss?"

"Just follow along and I'll fill you in later on anything you don't understand." I returned my attention to the current discussion. "So don't worry about the money, I'm not worried about it."

"Not going to work," Allison said.

Everybody looked at her and she rolled her eyes before going on, "Hello! A teenage girl is going to put a hell of a kink in Susan's budget. If you let Rebecca handle it through channels then she can get her a little help. I'm sure witness protection just doesn't drop a kid in someone's lap and expect them to fend for themselves and make do, but if you don't go through proper channels then they won't budget her. Just tell them you were already started on an ID for her and give them what we already have. Sure, they'll be re-doing some of what we've already done, but they won't know that. When they send theirs out, just pick the copies you like best and feed the rest to a shredder somewhere."

"And if they want to place her with a regular WitSec family?" Rod asked.

Bob was all over that, "Then your resident child psychologist stresses how traumatic the continued emotional upheaval has already been for her and that now that she is settled into something resembling normal life it would be better to let her stay where she is. Also, that based on the cover that is already in place it would draw unnecessary attention to the girl if she were moved again."

"Hampton, where the hell did you find these people? You know the Bureau is always looking for people, and they pay bonuses if you bring them a qualified candidate."

I raised my hand, "Sixteen."

Allison followed with a paw, "Fourteen."

Lizzy just smiled and said, "I'm legal but I don't think you want to know the rest." Rebecca just rolled her eyes and nodded her agreement.

Bob just looked at him and said, "Don't look at me, I'm a tenured teacher. You can't afford me."

"Probably true," Rod said, "but at least if you're with us and someone shoots at you, you can shoot back."

"Hmmm ... hadn't thought of that. I'll let you know if I change my mind."

"You do that. I could hook you up with this hot little agent I know in..."

Rebecca glared as she interrupted him "Go ahead, push your luck. I dare you."

He looked like he was thinking about it until Allison suddenly jumped up and hid behind the desk. Then he just shook his head and let it go.

"Must be why they pay him the big bucks." Lizzy said.

"Certainly not for his looks," Rebecca said. "Rod, did anything I need to know about happen while I was gone?"

"Have to check with your partner on that one. Speaking of which, I'm about a week overdue for an update on that situation."

"Unless something turned up while I was gone we're sitting dead in the water. Even Henslith is out of ideas. I wish we could find a way to flush him into doing something, but he seems to have his situation well in hand. He doesn't need money; he sets his own schedule ... What we need is a way to disrupt his life and push him into doing something. But I have no idea what that would be or how to make it happen."

"Can I help" Jamie asked.

"We'll talk later." Then to the group, "Well if we're done here, I was right in the middle of some serious goofing off, it's been a tough couple of days and I'd like to get back to the beach before the sun comes up."

"Now there's a weird statement if I ever heard one," Rod said.

Rebecca just laughed, "Oh boss, that's nothing. You hang around this group and you'll find out what weird really is."

She and Bob were just turning to leave when Lizzy spoke up, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?" Rebecca asked.

"Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but personally, I'd like to hear about that rock on your finger you've been trying all night to hide."

Bob grew a grin that was so big I thought the top of his face was going to fall off. Rebecca blushed about twenty-seven shades of red and said, "Damn! Rod you can't say anything. If Selena finds out I told you first it'll be a funeral instead of a wedding."

As she was speaking Lizzy was already moving towards her, Allison had the advantage of four legs so she got there first, and suddenly Alice was bouncing up and down hugging Rebecca, ogling the ring and oohing and ahing appropriately. Then she punched Bob in the arm and said, "About time!" Bob rubbed his arm and I'm pretty sure he wasn't faking it, she'd hit me before, and that looked pretty solid.

Allison wasn't even paying attention by now. She was already flooding Rebecca with the usual questions: "Where did he propose? Did he get down on one knee? Have you set a date?" I gave them a break and dropped her in the lagoon.

"Sorry about that, guys. We'll let you get back to whatever you were doing before this came up."

"She's going to make you pay for that," Rebecca said.

"Yeah, I know, but she'll get over it, and we would have been here all night if I hadn't. Congratulations to you both. Bob, are you telling Susan and Mel tomorrow or should I avoid the subject?"

"Not yet. According to Rebecca, Rod's wife has sources the FBI doesn't even know about."

"That's for damn sure," Rod said. "But you wear that rock to work tomorrow and all bets are off and you can face the dragon lady all by yourself. Good night everyone, considering what brought this all up in the first place I hope I don't see you all again soon."

For some reason, Rod's reference to the dragon lady reminded me of something, it was tickling at my brain, but I couldn't pin it down so I let it go. There were a lot unanswered questions about this whole adventure. For now though, I had to go and ingratiate myself with my favorite sister.

"Does that mean it's time for me to come out of the closet?"

My alarm clock chose that particular moment to remind me what a long night it had actually been.

"I guess not."

I was surprised to find her still in my head. I had assumed that it was strictly a dream manifestation. "Well it's nice to know you're still there. I was afraid I'd lose you when I woke up." All I got was silence, and then somehow I knew she was crying. "Jamie?"

"You really meant it last night, didn't you? When I was taking care of Amber, before the meeting, when you told me you loved me. You really meant it? And you really were worried what would happen to me when you woke up."

"Jamie, I don't throw that word around casually. Yes, I meant it, and yes, I was worried about you, I told you I would never shut you out again, never stick you away in the dark alone. I realized later that I might have bitten off more than I could chew with that promise. Now I know I didn't. Just do me a favor and don't talk to me a lot right away. It's going to take me a while to adjust to all this. People are going to think I'm not paying attention to them. Including the one next to us that's wondering if I'm all right because I haven't gotten up yet and she probably felt you crying. It's probably confusing the crap out of her."

I started to sit up but Allison grabbed my arm. "Are you okay? I thought you were doing better but now I'm not so sure."

"I'm great, really. It's just going to take a really long time to explain, maybe after school. I need to go run."

"Okay, but don't forget, Roxy will be here after school."

"Speaking of which, did you tell mom about that?"

"No, I guess I better let her know what's going on. I'll talk to her while you run."

I couldn't remember the last time I felt this good, but I wasn't stupid enough to push it. I knocked out a quick five miles and hit the shower. Mom was waiting for me in the kitchen when I came out for my morning toast and juice.

"Your sister says you had an interesting night, and that you're better now. I'm glad; you really scared me last night. When we got home..." I could hear her voice starting to break and I put my hand on hers.

"I know mom, and I'm sorry. I just couldn't seem to think. I was sort of operating in a fog. I barely remember any of what happened after we got home and I realized what I had to do. Did Allison tell you what was happening?"

"She tried to, I still don't understand any of it, but after last night, the thing at the hospital, after that I'd believe almost anything. That was the most incredible thing I think I will ever experience. And you're sure you're better now?"

"Mom, it would be hard to explain just how much better I am, or even to begin to describe what I went through along the way. I'm still trying to sort it all out."

"You really shouldn't lie to her you know."

I ignored her and moved on, "I still haven't even discussed it with Allison. She told you about Roxy?"

"Another in a long series of unbelievable events that just seem to swirl around your life lately."

"I know, but she's the biggest stroke of luck to fall our way since we first discovered this whole disaster in Vegas. A lot has happened since we found her, things that will make it immeasurably easier for us to work on this. When we first found Roxy, we had to do everything under the radar, no support -- we couldn't even tell anyone what we were doing. Rebecca had to sneak around and try to get us help. If we found her tomorrow all of that would be different now. It boggles my mind to even consider the string of coincidences that led to this. If we hadn't been in the church on Sunday, I never would have met her; if Tom hadn't gotten cancer we wouldn't have prayed for his recovery and needed to be in that church on that day when I would meet a girl that desperately needed my help. All the things that have happened over the last year to shape me into the right person to be there for her and to recognize what I was seeing. And it had to be me, mom, it had to be. Her story would have made no sense to anyone else that she told it to. My brain just runs in circles when I start to think about all the little things that, if any of them had happened differently, we would not be in this position now. If I think about it too much it scares me. Rebecca met a girl a while back, back before Angela was kidnapped, that claimed to be a chosen child of God, claiming that He had given her a special gift. Rebecca blew it off but the girl demonstrated her gift, and let me tell you, she's very convincing. Anyway, she told Rebecca that I was another of God's chosen but that along with my gift God had laid a special burden on me as well. When Rebecca told us all of this we had the same reaction she'd had. But since then I've met this girl. She certainly has a gift, and just like with mine, it would be very dangerous for her if anyone knew about it. Lately I find myself questioning whether she may be right, and it scares me...