Page 42 of No Safe Place

A sad roar from the bar made all of us look over. Back in normal world, the Penguins had just tied up the game with the Hurricanes.

I suddenly wished I was in the Carolinas. Or hell, even Pittsburgh would be fine at this point.

“I have no idea what you’re doing,” Jodi said, sitting up. “This doesn’t seem like a strategy. This is just crazy to sit here. Suicidal. In fact, this is not acceptable.”

I stared at the neatly coiffed Martha Stewart look-alike with a patient smile. Obviously, the lady was very afraid and worked up, forgetting that she had come to me seeking help. I needed yet another tangle with the authorities like I needed a root canal without Novocain.

But her attitude wasn’t exactly growing on me. I wasn’t a presidential dining room waiter back at the campus. And if she kept treating me like one, she was going to find a fly in her soup.

“Relax, Jodi. Mike knows what he’s doing,” Colleen said, picking up on my mood. “He was in the NYPD SWAT and the Special Forces before that. Why do you think I brought us here?”

“Special Forces?” Jodi said, squinting at me.

“He was a SEAL in Iraq, a combat vet. Right, Mike?” Colleen said.

Jodi’s face suddenly changed. There was a sudden far-off look in her eyes.

“My first husband died in Iraq,” she said.

That was the last thing I expected to hear her say.

“I’m sorry, Jodi. What unit?”

“The 984th MP Company out of Fort Carson. In 2004 in the beginning of the spring fighting, he was in charge of a unit helping with the arrest of some Iraqi army people in Najaf when someone in the protesting crowd shot him. His name was Bill. Lieutenant William Dunne.”

“I’m really sorry,” I said again.

“Our daughter was born four months later.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

Luckily, Colleen came to the rescue.

“Jodi, we’re all rattled,” she said, patting her on the shoulder. “But we need to pull together here, okay? Mike knows what he’s doing. Let’s trust him.”

“Of course,” she said, suddenly rubbing at her forehead. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just overwhelmed, I guess. I can’t believe this is happening. That my husband would... I’m sorry I roped you into this, the both of you.”

“No problem at all, Jodi,” I said, tapping her hand. “We’re going to get through this. Let’s all just stay on the same page.”

37

“Okay, quiet down, gentlemen. Listen up, listen up,” Chief Garner said.

The post office staging area was filled with cops now and Garner stood at the front of it.

Shaw, with his big arms folded, stood beside him on the left with his men. Their faces were pure stone.

“Special Agent Thompson,” the chief said with a nod to Shaw.

Now it was Shaw’s turn to speak.

As he stepped up, he stared at the town map and then at all the cops.

To level a shithole Afghani village was one thing, Shaw thought. That he was now being given a small Connecticut town to have his way with was practically making him dizzy.

This is doing wonders for my circulation, he thought.

Better than Viagra.

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