Page 3 of Jason's Justice
“No. My ex-wife is in jail for the next eighteen to twenty years, and my son is living in a different state. I don’t know if I should tell you this now, or wait until we get to my place.”
“What’s that?”
“My son, Caleb, is protecting Katherine as best he can, but there are several other people in this location that have her back also. You know them. If not personally, then you know of them.”
“Who?” Jason asked in confused shock.
“What I’m about to say is all I know, just three words. I know nothing else about it. I’m intrigued, sure, but I know nothing.”
“Now I’m intrigued. What are the three words?”
“Operation Gold Rush.”
“Holy shit, are you telling me the men that did that mission have Miss Miller’s back?”
“Yes.”
“Damn, then I know she’s safe, that’s a relief.”
“Good, because also with them is a former FBI agent, I’ve done a background check on him and he’s the one that reached, indirectly, to Patterson. He said he also talked with you briefly.”
“Who?”
“Duane Manchester.”
“Ah, I remember him, good guy, so he’s wherever the others are now?”
“Yes, and I don’t know how much help he’ll be because he retired almost a year ago. You’ll have to get the entire story from him, but when his director decided to retire, it was the new director that started telling him he would ride a desk, and he would have to give up undercover work.”
“How old was he?”
“Mid-forties. He still had ten years left if he wanted to age out.”
“Had he met the new director before?”
“Only once, that’s why he was confused.”
“About?”
They paused when the door opened and another detective walked in on them. “Oh, sorry.” He nodded to the one-wayglass and Jason and Kevin turned to see two police officers bring a suspect into the room behind the glass and attached his handcuffs to the bar on the table.
“We’re leaving,” Kevin said, and looked at Jason. “Can you stick around while I talk with my boss?”
“Is he a reasonable man?”
“I like to think so, why?”
“Why don’t I go with you and see if you can’t get some time off so you can help with this investigation. I’m not being a hard-ass, but if we need to jump on something, then I wouldn’t want to wait for you to get home from work to do it.”
“I understand. I did tell my Captain that I had something coming up that I might need to take time off for.”
“Good.” They walked to the captain’s office, and Kevin knocked on the doorjamb.
“Got a second, Captain?” Kevin asked when the older man invited him in. He walked in ahead of Jason, then shut the door behind them.
“Okay,” the Captain said. “What’s going on, Lassiter?”
“Sir, I need to request some time off, immediately, and indefinitely.”
