Everyone quieted down. Emily bit back a sob. And Ryan surprised them both by hugging her. “My doc says I need to learn to do hugs,” he whispered. “Since I’m going to be faithful to one woman from now on.”
She wrapped her arms around him and leaned against him. “You give great hugs,” she said.
Ben just nodded. “That going to be a more academic version of what Bianca’s doing? She’s running another piece tonight. A Dreamer called her. Professor Cooper is helping her with the whole silhouette thing.”
“See? You all are running this show just fine. Just make sure Cage’s got quarters for the jail pay phone, and it’s good,” Ryan teased.
Cage rolled his eyes.
“I’ll do the work, if Em will,” he said gruffly. “But your name stays on the masthead. We’re interim. Then, if Em wants, she can run for EIC next year.”
“If that’s what you want,” Ryan said. He looked around the room. “Don’t you all have something to do?”
The staff all filed out except Will and Emily.
“You serious about this plagiarism story?” Will asked.
“Ask her,” Ryan said.
Emily blinked. Then a smile spread across her face.
And the three of them chorused: “When in doubt, print.”
Chapter 24
9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, Eyewitness News newsroom — The Media Board convened a special session in the first-floor conference room and had approved Emily and Cage as acting EIC. They thanked Ryan for his service and didn’t question his explanation of family emergency and his recent custody of his 3-year-old son.
Cooper lingered. “You know about the story Bianca is doing?”
He nodded. “Thanks for helping her.”
“My pleasure. Truly. You go through withdrawal when you leave the newsroom,” the retired Oregonian writer said. “You might want to give that some thought. I could put a word in at the Oregonian when you’re ready.”
Ryan hadn’t thought that far ahead. Hard to do so even now. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He smiled at the older man. More connections, he thought. “And thank you.”
“It’s been my pleasure,” he said, and then he smiled. “And I have a date I don’t want to be late for.”
“The attorney?” Ryan asked.
“You picked up on that? I thought you might,” he said. “You go get Teresa Valdez and keep her safe. She’s good people.”
“Yes, she is.”
The two of them left the building together. Cooper walked toward downtown where he had a condo; Ryan watched him go. Then he turned to cross the street to his parked car. He wondered if he should tell someone about the hack he’d inherited from the previous EIC that allowed him to park there without tickets. Maybe later, he thought. When the next EIC took permanent office.
“I got a call from the Provost this afternoon,” Black said from the shadows. “I’m being relieved of my duties next term pending an allegation of plagiarism.” He didn’t show himself. Ryan stilled. He pressed the emergency code for Cage’s number. Cage would hear what was going on when he picked up. Whether he could get campus cops here fast enough was unlikely. Well, if this went wrong, Vic might have to step up and take care of Teresa after all.
“A couple of things. ICE agents know where your novia is. They’ll be picking her up in Twin Falls, Idaho, in the morning,” he said. “What is she doing there, for heaven’s sake?”
Ryan didn’t blink. Teresa wasn’t in Twin Falls. He wondered where Black had gotten the information. But it was out of date. From what Vic had said, she had gone to Twin Falls with the intention of staying there, but she was back in Nampa.
“And then they’ll go for her son,” he continued.
“My son,” Ryan said. “He’s my son. And that makes him a U.S. citizen, they can’t touch him.”
Black laughed. “But you won’t be around to make that claim on his behalf, and a woman here illegally? She’d lie through her teeth, wouldn’t she?”
Draw him out, Ryan told himself. Give Cage time to call campus security.
“The documents are legal,” he assured the man. “And should something happen to me? His guardian is impeccable.” He’d talked to the Washingtons about that last night after he thought about how dangerous this all could become. He wasn’t going to allow his bright, bubbly son go into the custody of his family. And it looked like the Valdezes had a ways to go before they’d be able to take him in. If something happened.
“We’ll see if that stands,” Black said. “I have friends in high places these days, and there’s a cage waiting. Don’t worry, for a pretty little boy like that, I’m sure there is some private adoption agency just waiting to get their hands on him.”
Ryan refused to give into the rage inside him.
“Won’t matter to you,” Ryan observed. “You’ll be lucky to get an adjunct position teaching intro U.S. history at a community college. Hell, you’ll need food stamps to make ends meet.”
Black laughed. It was an ugly sound. That vision of the future had made him flinch. Ryan knew it would. “They’ve promised me a permanent consulting gig. Less prestige, more money.”
Ryan shook his head. “You’re delusional,” he observed. “In what? Ten days? We’ll have a new president elect. And then the rats will be scrambling to get off that ship. No one’s going to remember a promise made to you. That’s not your ticket out of this mess, Ian.”
“It’s Professor Black to you,” he snapped.
Ryan just waited. He didn’t think the man had it in him to shoot him now, not to his face. Run him down from behind? Sure. Lurk in the shadows and shoot him in the back when he got in the car? Maybe. But now?
“You’ve got one of the cushiest jobs in the world,” Ryan said, shaking his head. “And you got your feefees hurt. And for
