Page 49 of Bernadette
“Like if she found out about this, she wouldn’t talk to him until he went to see her, then she wouldn’t let him leave until she knew in her own mind he was completely healed. If I go home and tell her, she may show up at the compound and though she wouldn’t wait on him hand and foot, she will make sure he did whatever exercises any doctor recommended, and made sure he ate right. I remember back in high school when he broke an ankle, she would only allow us to see him if we didn’t horseplay.”
“Well,” John laughed. “He passed that year with an almost 4.0 GPA, Miss Angel, that’s what we called her from a young age, Miss Angel made sure he cracked the books.”
“Look at it this way, guys,” Morgan grinned at them. “If Miss Angel shows up, your office books will be spotless, and everything would be up to date.”
“There is that.” They laughed and explained that Chuck’s mother was a well-organized woman, and couldn’t stand a messy office.
“Give me her address, and I’ll have an agent contact her. It would save you a trip.” Mikel Stokes held out his hand, like he was waiting for them to hand him a piece of paper with the address already written on it.
“I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t.” He held out his hand again, and Justin handed him his phone with the information on it.
“What’s the difference between the address in Fairport, and Sodus Point?”
“About thirty minutes. We all live in Sodus Point, and she works in Fairport.”
“Do you want me to have the agent stop in to talk to your parents?”
“No,” they all said as one. “Let’s tell Chuck’s mom first, she would never forgive us if she wasn’t here if he went through major surgery. She would be the one to encourage him to use his right hand, instead of him sitting there asking one of us to do things for him. She would make him do it.” Morgan looked at her brothers for confirmation, then continued. “I don’t want to upset Mom and Dad until we know more about Wyatt. I don’t know if I can field phone calls all day while wondering if he was going to wake up that day.”
“I understand. I’ll pass this information onto agents out there.” He passed the phone back to Justin, and he did some scrolling then passed it back. “Who’s this?”
“That’s a picture of Miss Angel the day before we left New York to come here to work on the compound. That’s Chuck and his mom.”
“Send it to me so I can let the agent know who to look for.”
Justin did, and no one knew what their friend had in mind.
CHAPTER19
“Miss Dryden,could you come to my office please,” came a voice over the intercom and Angela Dryden sighed, but answered that she would be there in a few minutes. After she hung up, she finished the last three pages to be filed, then cleaned off the desk and left her office. She looked at the receptionist outside Mr. Greene’s office and at her nod, she knocked once, and entered, only to stop short when she saw a man sitting in a seat before Harold’s desk.
“I’m sorry, I can come back if you’re busy.”
“No, no, come in, Angela.” Harold jumped to his feet, and pointed to the chair beside the man. It impressed her when he stood, and actually buttoned the top button of his suit jacket, like she’d seen on several television shows, and looked at her as she approached.
“I’d like to introduce you to Mr. Stokes, he’s an agent with the FBI.”
“FBI? Is someone in trouble?”
“No,” Mikel said, and it took several seconds to get his breath after seeing the beautiful woman before him.
“Oh my god, this isn’t about my ex-husband, is it? I was told he had four strikes against him when he went to jail almost twenty years ago, he’s not getting out, is he?”
“Not that I’m aware of, please, have a seat and let me explain.”
He watched as she reluctantly approached to take the seat next to him. He unbuttoned his jacket before he resumed his seat. This time, he turned to looked directly at her. Because it seemed like the thing to do, he gripped her hands in his, and though they both jerked at the contact, he held on tighter. While looking into her eyes, he shook his head, drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “I’m sorry, there’s no easy way to say this. There has been an accident, and your son was hurt.”
It surprised Mikel that she didn’t freak out. “What aren’t you telling me.” She leaned her head back slightly and looked down her nose at him to give him the stink eye.
“What do you mean?”
“Why would an FBI agent be telling me that my son was hurt. If this were true, then one of the J’s would contact me.” She sucked in her breath when the man smiled. “Do you know the J’s?”
“Yes, as well as the A’s, and all their girlfriends, and Morgan, and her husband, along with his family. I’m from out of the Bismarck, North Dakota office. I got your information from Justin yesterday afternoon. I was going to send one of the local agents here to talk to you, but they don’t know what’s going on, so I decided to come myself.”
“Just what is going on?”
