Chapter 3
It was only 6:15 AM in the Bracco house, but infants couldn’t read digital clocks so Nick’s son, Thomas, was up and ready to go. Thomas was on his back kicking his legs in the air with a playful smile. Julie Bracco changed his diaper on one side of their bed while Nick threw underwear into a canvas bag on the other side.
Julie tickled her son’s tummy while she asked Nick, “How long will you be gone?”
“A few days,” Nick said, acting as casual as possible about his treacherous assignment. He tossed some shirts into the bag and caught a reflection from the lake in their backyard.
From their second floor bedroom window, Nick could see the lake glistening in the early morning sunlight, while pine trees cast long shadows across its shoreline. He’d moved his family to Payson, Arizona, to escape the threat and stress of dealing with terrorists, but the move hadn’t changed the landscape. It certainly didn’t dissuade a Kurdish terrorist from tracking him down and attempting to murder him and his wife. It was the final act of the terrorist’s career and prompted Nick to install a high-tech security system just for times like these.
Nick decided to remain in the mountain community hoping his wife and infant son would be safer, while he operated the west coast division of the Bureau’s anti-terrorist task force. Now, he wanted his wife to feel secure while he left and found revenge for a couple of his close FBI teammates.
As if she could sense the tension in Nick’s mind, Julie looked up from the bed with a worried expression. “What’s going on?”
Thomas kicked his tiny legs in the air and giggled while Julie patted his bottom with powder.
Nick grabbed a few shirts from the closet, then sat next to her. “Ricky and Jim are dead.”
Her mouth opened and her face scrunched up into a combination of horror and confusion. “But, how?”
Nick locked eyes on her and kept them there. “They were outed while working undercover.”
Julie glanced down at Thomas and secured his diaper.
“Where?”
“Mexico.”
Julie glanced at the open canvas bag, then back to Nick. “That’s where you’re going, isn’t it?” She scooped up Thomas and clutched him to her chest as if he might need extra security.
“No.”
“Nick.”
He gave his son a soft kiss on his smooth cheek, then brushed back an imaginary hair on Thomas’s head. “I’m not taking any chances,” he said with as much conviction as he could.
Julie looked up at the ceiling with glossy eyes. “It’s been so quiet. Have you been keeping things from me?”
“No,” he lied.
She looked down at Thomas wiggling in her arms. “Are we in danger?”
Nick stood up, folded his shirts and shoved them into his bag. He tried to act casual for this one. “I don’t think so, but I’m going to have Jennifer stay with you just in case.”
Julie examined his demeanor while he opened a dresser drawer and grabbed some socks. Having the lone resident FBI agent from Payson staying at your house would seem like an extreme measure for an average family, but Jennifer Steele was no ordinary FBI agent. She was Matt McColm’s girlfriend. The same Matt McColm who’d been Nick’s partner for the past decade. Jennifer and Matt were regular visitors to the Bracco home and many times had spent the night in the guest bedroom when the beer and wine flowed in abundance.
Thomas became fussy, maybe sensing the anxiety between them. Nick went over and took him from Julie. He smiled at his son and received a smile back.
“Who’s my good boy?” he asked Thomas.
Julie put her head on Nick’s shoulder and seemed to accept her fate. “How long will you be gone?”
“A week, maybe less.”
“You take your pills?”
“They’re packed,” Nick said, referring to the medication to keep his PTSD in check. He’d been diagnosed with the disorder a year back when the stress of battling terrorists had become too much for his brain to handle.
She sighed, the two of them now staring jubilantly at their proudest possession.
“Jule,” Nick said, still looking at Thomas.
“Yeah?”
“He has your eyes.”
He could feel her face smile.
A car pulled up in the front of the house. Nick went over and glanced out a side window to catch a view of the vehicle.
“Hey, check this out,” Nick said, calling Julie to the window. “You’ve never witnessed the good-bye ritual before.”
Julie came over and leaned into the window to get a better view. They could see Jennifer Steele grab a bag from the back seat and move around to the driver’s side and duck in through the window. She gave Matt a kiss, then dropped her bag and wrapped both arms around her boyfriend, while Matt pulled her halfway into the car, the two of them voraciously going at it, time seeming to be no option.
Julie sighed. “Remember when we were like that?”
“C’mon, Jule,” Nick said. “We’re still like that. Only difference is, we aren’t as insecure about our relationship.”
“So that’s what this is,” she said, watching the two lovers keeping the embrace alive. “Insecurity?”
“Of course,” Nick said, grinning now, because the kiss didn’t seem to have a shelf life. “I mean, who needs that long to express their feelings?”
Julie reached her free arm around Nick’s waist and gave him a long kiss. Thomas gurgled up spit on Nick’s neck and the expulsion quickly ended the romantic interlude.
Nick handed Thomas back to her and grabbed a towel from the dresser. He returned with a disgusted expression while wiping his neck. “Maybe, there’s another reason for our lack of romance.”
The front door opened and footsteps came up the stairs.
“Knock, knock,” Jennifer Steele said from the foyer.
“We’re in the bedroom,” Julie called out.
Jennifer came in wearing jeans, a Phoenix Suns T-shirt and a baseball cap with a ponytail hanging from the back. She dropped a heavy duffle bag on the floor and rubbed her shoulder.
Nick lifted the bag, then quickly returned it to the floor. “What kind of protection are you packing, Agent Steele?”
“The usual,” Steele smiled and left it at that.
A car horn honked. Steele pointed a thumb over her shoulder. “He’s waiting.”
Nick quickly threw his shaving kit into the bag, then kissed Julie and Thomas before heading for the door.
“I’ll text you when we get there,” he said.
Steele held his arm, a little longer than necessary. She looked at him with a deadpan stare. “Be careful.”
Nick nodded casually, not wanting to add to the tension he could see in Julie’s eyes. “Of course.”
He left the house and tossed his bag into the back seat of his partner’s Ford Expedition. Matt McColm handed him an apple as he strapped himself into the passenger seat.
“Thanks,” Nick said, taking a bite from the apple.
Matt drove to the end of the driveway and stopped, looking over his left shoulder at the house.
“Julie okay?” Matt said.
“As okay as she’ll ever be.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, she doesn’t want to know where I’m going, but she asks anyway. Then she frets about every possible scenario.” Nick ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, buddy. These days I wonder if a job with the postal service isn’t a good choice.”
“Yeah, well, they’re laying off a lot of postal employees these days,” Matt said. “So you’d probably be out of
