The Warlord Returns novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Director

Jack took the phone off the nightstand and read the message once.

Then he sat up, pulled on his jeans, and called the number back with his thumb.

"Thurmond," he said.

I pulled the sheet over my chest and listened.

"No, sir. Not yet. I need ten more days."

A pause.

"I'll brief you Friday, in person. Yes, sir. Goodnight."

He hung up.

The fire popped in the grate.

"Director of what?" I said.

He didn't answer at once.

He pushed his hand back through his hair and looked at the floor.

"The Public Corruption Task Force. It's a federal bureau. Forty agents, subpoena power, the right to make arrests across state lines."

My mouth opened.

"I was sworn in three weeks ago," he said.

"Before that I was eleven years in the army. The last six I led a unit overseas."

"Colonel Thurmond. Carrie said colonel."

"Yes."

"And the war-hero stuff? The medals?"

"The men we fought gave me a name. The Warlord."

His mouth twisted.

"I never liked it. But it stuck, and the press picked it up.

"My face is not in any paper, because I asked them to keep it out."

I stared at him.

"So you aren't a hired guard."

"No."

"And you aren't an out-of-work soldier who drives a fuel truck."

"No."

"And you let me sit through that dinner. You let Margaret call you a nobody."

My voice was climbing.

"You let me think you were broke and alone, and I was scared for you."

"I couldn't tell you."

"You could have said it in your apartment. You could have said it before you kissed me."

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