Betrayal
Chapter Eighteen
As a worried and angry Chris was getting into his truck, his cell phone rang. He
flipped it open and growled, "Larabee."
"Chris, get the rest of your team and get down to the ATF offices and come to my
conference room. Now," Orrin said.
"Where's Ezra?" Chris demanded.
"You will soon find out what I can tell you. So, get here." With that said,
Chris was greeted with a dial tone.
Sighing, he punched in Buck's number, doing what Orrin had told him to.
A little while later, six members of Team Seven walked into Judge Travis'
conference room. He was sitting at the head of the long table, "Take a seat,
gentlemen."
After everyone was seated, Chris demanded, "Where's Ezra? Doctor Han told Josiah
that you insisted they release him. Why?"
Orrin looked at each of them, and started to explain, "He called me from the
hospital. I tried to persuade him to stay there. But, he informed me that he was
leaving, either with my help or without it. So, I picked him up and brought him
back here. We had come up with a plan, or rather Ezra had, on how to get Mary to
confess. I took him down to the holding cells and he was able to get Mary's
confession recorded." Orrin held up the tape recorder for them to see.
"He still here?" questioned the soft, raspy voice of Vin. Chris was already
starting to rise from his chair.
"Sit back down, Chris. Ezra is gone," said Orrin.
As Chris sat back down, Buck asked, "Gone? What do you mean, gone?"
"He left, flew to a safe-house that he has. He had one on hand, just in case
something like this happened. He plans to stay there, I hope, until this Mounds
case is wrapped up. And, then, whether or not he comes back to the team, I can't
say."
"Where's the safe-house?" demanded Chris.
"I can't tell you that," answered Orrin, causing Chris to glare at him. Orrin
just glared right back. "He made me promise." Orrin paused and sighed, "Look,
gentlemen, he just needs some time. Some space. Please respect his wishes."
Orrin stood, laying six envelopes in the middle of the table. "He asked me to
give these to you. Let yourselves out when you are through. Good-night,
gentlemen."