Page 24 of Hell to Pay

They were in the kitchen, glued to the news on the TV mounted to the wall. I caught a glimpse of the headline — something about the guy running for the Senate — in the moment before Jude spotted me.

“Morning, boss.”

Rafe’s head snapped in my direction and he reached for the remote and turned off the TV.

“Morning,” I said. “What was that? Why did you turn it off?”

Rafe made a grunting sound and stormed out of the room with his laptop.

I lifted my eyebrows. “Something I said?”

Nolan cut a glance at Jude, who shrugged.

“Sandoval’s running for senator,” Nolan said. “Want coffee?”

I blinked in surprise. “Yes, please.SandovalSandoval?YourSandoval?”

Captain Sandoval had been their commanding office in the SEALs, a real dirtbag who’d murdered innocent civilians, then made false accusations against Nolan, Jude, and Rafe when they’d filed a complaint.

It had led to the Bastards’ dishonorable discharge, which was total bullshit.

“We don’t claim him, sweetheart, but yeah,” Nolan said, moving toward the coffee machine, “that’s the one.”

“That must be weird,” I said, sitting next to Jude at the island.

“It’s not great,” Jude said.

“Won’t all the stuff that happened in the military come up?” I asked. “I mean, don’t they do a ton of background on the people who run for office?”

“It’s come up,” Nolan said, sliding a mug with steaming coffee toward me.

“And?” I took a sip of the coffee. “Thank you.”

Nolan nodded.

“It’s all too vague for anyone to care,” Jude said. “The media uses phrases like ‘controversial allegations by former soldiers.'”

I frowned. “Sounds like bullshit.”

“It is,” Nolan said.

I bit my lip. “Can you speak out about him? Should you?”

I felt like I was taking a step into quicksand. I didn’t know the rules — unspoken or otherwise — about a situation like this.

“It wouldn’t do any good,” Jude said. “And there are risks.”

“Why wouldn’t it do any good?” I asked.

“You don’t want to know about the risks?” Jude asked, one corner of his mouth turning up in a wry smile.

“I mean, yeah, but the risks are secondary right? Isn’t the most important thing stopping a guy like Sandoval from getting his hands on more power?”

“Fair,” Jude said. “But it wouldn’t matter because we’re damaged goods.”

“Because of your dishonorable discharge?”

Jude nodded.

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