Part 19 (1/2)
”Yeah, I guess so. The law says a person can use deadly force, but the language is tricky. I'd have to be in 'reasonable fear' of serious bodily harm or death, and the legal definition of reasonable is indecipherable. n.o.body knows what it really means, and I don't have any intention of getting myself into a situation where I might wind up at the mercy of a jury.”
”But you're the district attorney, dad,” Jack said. ”You're not going to prosecute yourself.”
”If I hunt these guys down and kill them, there will be an investigation. I'm not exactly the fair-haired child with the political crowd right now. If the investigation shows that I was on the offensive, they'll get a special prosecutor and charge me with murder. I'm not up for that.”
”If you arrest them, how do you know more won't come?” Bo said.
”I don't. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what Pinzon said will happen.”
”So you're going to have to kill them,” Jack said. ”Them and this Lips...o...b..guy, too. What other choice do you have?”
I looked at him for several seconds. ”I honestly don't know,” I said.
”What a mess,” Bo said.
”Let's go back to the house. I need to say goodbye and get back on the road.”
”You boys go on ahead. I'll be along in a little while.”
Jack and I started walking slowly up the hill. He kept glancing at me, and I knew he had more to say.
”Spit it out,” I said.
”I know you,” he said. ”You're worried about how you'll feel if you have to kill somebody.”
”I can't kill anybody, Jack. It's like you said a few minutes ago. I'm the district attorney. I'm supposed to keep order by enforcing the rule of law through the courts, not by violence. And you're right. I am worried about how I'd feel if I killed someone. I don't see how I could live with myself.”
He was quiet for a little while, but as were drawing close to the house, he said, ”We can't stay here forever. Eventually, we all have to go back. Lips...o...b..knows that. All he has to do is be patient. If he wants to kill us and he has all this money and power, he can do it. So let me ask you one more question. How would you live with yourself if Lips...o...b..or these men he's supposedly hired managed to find us and kill us?”
I looked into his eyes, and at that moment, that miniscule tick in time, I knew what I had to do. He didn't have to say another word.
Chapter Thirty-Four.
Lilly had made use of Bo's library and was reading in the den when Jack and I walked back into the house.
”C'mon,” I said to her, and she closed the book and followed us.
Caroline was in the kitchen with Melinda watching Sarah feed Gracie. I stood looking at them for a couple of minutes, then I looked at Jack and Lilly, both of whom were standing beside me. This group of six was my family. All of it. I had no grandparents, no cousins, no aunts or uncles, no in-laws. Melinda and I weren't particularly close, but she was my wife's mother and I felt the same obligation to her that I felt to the rest.
Would I die for them?
The answer was yes.
Would I kill for them?
If I had to.
”I need to get going,” I said to Caroline.
”I know,” she said without looking up.
Sarah wiped Gracie's face with a napkin, got up from her seat at the table and walked around to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck in a rare show of affection.
”I want my little girl to be just like my brother,” she whispered. ”I want her to be brave and strong.”
”I'm sorry, Sarah,” I said. ”I'm sorry you got dragged into this.”
”It'll be over soon.” She pecked me on the cheek and stepped back.
Caroline was next. She cupped my face in her hands and smiled.
”Come back to me,” she said.
I fought to hold back tears and squeezed her tightly.
”I will.”
Jack and Lilly gathered close to us and draped their arms over our shoulders. I could hear Lilly sniffling. We stayed locked in an embrace for a long time, none of us wanting to let go, none of us wanting to say goodbye.
”I love you,” I said. ”I love all of you with all my heart.”
”Please let me go with you,” Jack said quietly.
”You have to take care of my girls.”
I took the deepest breath I'd ever taken in my life and broke away. I hugged Melinda, leaned over and kissed Gracie on the forehead, and walked out the door.
Bo was lingering next to the van. The back doors were open.
”I gathered a few toys for you,” he said as I approached.
”Toys?”
”I was active duty for twenty years, hillbilly. You don't think I'd walk away empty-handed, do you? Here, let me show you.”
A wooden crate about half the size of a casket was in the back of the van. Bo lifted the lid.
”You remember how to use these, don't you?”
I stared into the crate, wide-eyed. ”Are those what I think they are?”
”Yeah, but they're a little different these days.”
Bo gave me a brief tutorial on the equipment. I knew all of the basics, but there were a couple of modern refinements that took only a few minutes to learn. He'd packed the crate with clothing, too, and I pulled out a pair of camo utility pants.
”Think they'll fit?” I said.