Chapter 56

"THOSE BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Brie cried. "DAMN THIS NEW GOVERNMENT TO HELL!!!!" These were the only things that she said during her break down that were half assed intelligible.

David just sat there on the couch and let her scream while he held her. When the kids started trickling down the stairs, David shooed them away. "Tina, can you keep the kids out of here, especially ours. They don't need to see this."

Tina just nodded and ushered the kids back up the stairs.

"Why is my Mommy crying?" Jordan demanded. Now two, she and Jacob had become very demanding. It was part of those terrible twos.

"Don't worry about it, Jordan. Your Daddy's got it under control", Tina said.

Brie clung to David for dear life. He was all she had left to keep her grounded and focused.

Dan's phone rang. "Hello? DON'T YOU FUCKING HEAR IT, GENERAL?! OF COURSE SHE'S CRUSHED!"

David held out his hand for the phone. Brie had quieted enough for him to give the General a proper ass chewing. Dan handed him the phone. "Hello, General."

"David, I'm so sorry."

"I don't think sorry is going to get it, General. My brother- in - law is being held because YOU MOTHER FUCKERS just HAD to have someone on the inside. I hope that the information was valuable enough for him to give his life."

"We're working on getting him out, David, but it's not looking good."

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! GET HIM OUT OR I SWEAR TO YOU I WILL RUIN YOU!"

"I'm doing the best I can, David. It's not like I can just walk into the headquarters and demand his release. 

He's being charged with treason and espionage, as well as the lesser charge of impersonating an officer."

"DOES IT SOUND LIKE I GIVE A RAT'S ASS?"

"No, David, it doesn't, but I assure you, I'm doing my best. We've got men in their prison system keeping an eye on him, making sure that he doesn't break. They've been torturing him, David."

David swallowed and his voice dropped down into a dangerous tone. "Get him out of there or your ass is mine, General." David hung up and handed the phone back to Dan.

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Brie was so stricken that she could barely function. She sat on the couch like a vegetable, her knees curled up to her chest, staring into space. The only person she would respond to when asked a direct question was David, who rarely left her side.

Mike and Tina stepped out to the room to talk. "I've never seen her so catatonic", Tina said.

"She was like this once before", Mike said. "But not to this extent. I didn't see it personally, but David did and he told us all about it."

"What happened?"

Mike took a deep breath. "You do know that Malachai is her biological son, right?"

"Yeah, from when she was Irian."

"Well, the day the house exploded, she was also shot at in her massage clinic. David took her to the house to get a few things so that she and Malachai could go to David's old place in Colorado Springs. When the house exploded, she was reported as dead. Dan was in charge of picking Malachai up from school, but when the news that Irian was dead reached the school, Child Services stepped in and hand him taken to Tennessee to live with Irian's parents. She as only slightly catatonic, other than crying, that day. Now, here it is, exactly three years later, and Matt's been arrested and brought up on charges of espionage and treason."

"That's too much for anyone to have to deal with, especially on the day the supposedly died."

"Every year, Brie makes it a point to stay in bed late, because if she would have done it that day, she wouldn't have had to deal with all this shit. No one would have been able to set that explosion because she would have kicked their ass. Brie is no slouch, as you can tell."

"Yeah, I've seen her and David grapple with each other some mornings. He may have her in weight, but because she's so light and small, she can bob and weave better than he can."

"Well, I'd hate to be the stupid fucker that pisses her off today. She's liable to snap."