Page 134 of Strays
Jayme frowns. “What?”
“We have to,” Shane says, flat.
Jayme straightens, his tone shifting. “Look, I get that you’re angry, and you have every right. But Jo’s not a kid. You don’t get to send her anywhere. Her life isn’t over. She has her career, her friends, Alice—”
Jay cuts in, sharper than usual. “Exactly. And it’s because we don’t want to risk her life being over that she can’t stay. She’s going. That’s not up for debate.”
Jayme stares at us like we’ve lost our minds. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Shane and Jay tell him about the Eneas pack’s warning, the photos at the mailbox, the threat nobody else knows about. I don’t say a word. I can’t bring myself to speak another syllable about it.
By the time they finish, Jayme’s face is red. “I can’t believe it,” he mutters. “I just—can’t.”
Yeah, man. Our life turned to shit. You’d better believe it.
When we go back inside, Jo and Alice are crying on the couch. So Jo told her about the threats, too.
My chest starts to hum, Shane’s and Jay’s quickly following.
We’re used to it by now; it happens without control whenever Jo cries, but it’s the first time it happens in front of Jayme, and I see the puzzled way he looks at us, like he’s trying to figure out what the hell we’re doing. But he doesn’t ask, and we don’t explain.
Right before nine, they’re gone.
We cook together. Not the T1P diet, just regular food again. There’s no reason to keep training rules now.
When we finally go to our room, I expect Jo to curl up between us in the nest and sleep, but as we change into shorts, her scent shifts, spiced. So I let her scent and her body take over my mind for a few hours, drowning out everythingthat happened today.
The next day, our heads are a little clearer, so we start doing what we need to do to protect her.
First, we head to the garrison to report the threat against Jo to our chain of command.
I’m still bothered that I touched the photos. It would’ve been better if we’d preserved them properly for forensics, but I wasn’t thinking when I pulled them from the mailbox. From the looks Shane and Jay give at them, they’re just as pissed. But in the end, it probably doesn’t matter. Considering how evasive Aranya is, how good he is at being invisible and slipping past justice, I’m sure even if we’d used gloves, forensics wouldn’t have found a damn thing.
So I just shove them into the Bronco’s glove box and we drive out. We take Jo with us, no way we’re leaving her alone at home.
When we get to the garrison, the Harris pack is there, and Jo stays with them and Jay at the entrance, while Shane and I head to the command room to talk to the Solomons.
When we show them the photos, David let out a curse. “I knew the Eneas were right,” he says, “but I didn’t think it would start this fast.”
They take the photos properly, with gloves, and seal them into a clean evidence bag. I note the handling. “Touched without gloves upon discovery, no attempt to preserve prints.”
“If this were about our Maya, we’d be losing our minds,” Josh says as we’re about to leave. “If you need anything while you're on leave, just say the word.”
We thank him, then get moving. From there, we head to the DEA office. While Shane drives, I call Jayme to see if he has time for a meeting. He’s slammed, but manages to squeeze us in during his lunch break.
This time, Shane stays in the car with Jo, and Jay and I go inside the DEA to file a report tying the threat against her to the Frostbite investigation. Afterwards, we meet Jayme at a restaurant near his firm. We barely sit down before Jo leans in.
“I want your help to protect my career,” she tells him, steady and clear. “I want to make it official that I’m stepping away from my residency for security reasons, not because of incompetence or misconduct. When this is over, and I try to return, either to Joseph Monson’s or through a new selection process, I don’t want to be labeled a non-traditional applicant or have to justify the gap in my training.”
Jayme nods slowly, leaning back in his seat. “All right. That’s doable, but we’ve gotta be smart about it.”
He pulls his phone from inside his jacket pocket. “First thing, we file for a formal Leave of Absence from your residency. You’ll need to give them a reason, so we’ll document it as a security concern tied to an active investigation. I’ll draft a legal affidavit explaining the situation. That puts it on record that youdidn’t quit, and you weren’t removed.”
Jo nods.
Jayme continues. “Second, we’ll need a letter confirming the threat, something official that backs the affidavit. It doesn’t have to identify anyone or expose details, just a simple statement that you are a protected party in an ongoing investigation and that your temporary leave from the residency was recommended by law enforcement.”
He looks at me. “Can you get that from whoever’s in charge of threat assessment on your end?”
