THIRTY-SIX
Cooper
I headed straight to her apartment, still hoping I could talk her out of doing the story. If the feds tried to stop me, they could talk to my attorney.
During my trip to her place, I kept replaying things in my head. I had thought it best for her to trash the story, but maybe I was wrong. I started to understand her point of view.
Once I admitted to myself she was right, it all made sense. The story going public would direct a lot of attention toward us providing some level of protection. It would at least keep us from disappearing into a holding cell in some bunker unnoticed.
By the time I reached her building, I had my mind made up. The feds could fuck themselves for all I cared. I had served my country, and I deserved to be allowed my freedom of speech.
Doing so would likely end up with me prosecuted or perhaps losing my military pension, but as long as I had Jade by my side, nothing else mattered.
I walked straight up to the front door of her building and pressed the buzzer for her apartment.
“Yes?”
“It’s me,” I said.
“What are you doing here?”
The door buzzed and clicked. I opened it and went inside. On the way up to her floor in the elevator, I thought again about my decision to be honest with her about what I’d been a part of during my time while serving in Afghanistan.
My mind and my heart battled the whole way up. When I stepped out of the elevator, doubts hit me hard. Was I making yet another mistake?
I pushed the self-doubt aside and made my way to her apartment. She stood in the doorway, waiting as I approached. I saw a look of concern on her face.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, stepping back into her apartment.
“We’ve got to talk. I don’t like the way our last conversation ended,” I said, walking in and closing her door.
“Me either.”
“Wow, you’ve really been working,” I said, glancing at all the papers scattered around her living room.
“You don’t know the half of it. It’s been crazy, but it’s all coming together.”
I took a deep breath.
“I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’ll allow you to use me as a named source.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I put a hand on her waist. “If we’re serious about our relationship moving forward, we need to work together.”
“You’re sure, you’re sure?”
I nodded.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Answer some questions and let me connect the dots. You need to read what I’ve written so far.”
She pointed to her laptop on coffee table in her living room. I walked over and sat down. After scrolling up to the top of the long article, I read what she had compiled so far.
The words on the screen moved me emotionally, something I wasn’t accustomed to happening. As I read, she sat down on the couch next to me, our legs touching.
“Damn…” I muttered.
“It gets worse. I told you it went high up.”
“They made tens of billions of dollars.”
“You can kind of see why they’ve kept the war going for over ten years now, huh?”
I shook my head, furious at myself for having been involved at the lower levels.
“How could I have been involved in this? The money was good, but we’re talking a couple hundred thousand dollars in return for risking my life over there…and these guys walk away with billions?”
I felt her hand rubbing my back. It helped me remain relatively collected.
“That day I saved you in Afghanistan…”
She moved her hand away.
“Yeah?”
“It wasn’t just me who saved you.”
I frowned as the truth got ready to surface.
“What do you mean?”
“There was this old Afghan guy who helped me.”
“Go on.”
“He hid me and you while the Taliban searched for us. If it wasn’t for him, neither of us would have walked out that day. I didn’t tell you because I really wanted to impress you… to fuck you.”
I stared into her eyes, searching for forgiveness.
“Yeah, I could tell you had one thing on your mind, but I’m an adult. I made a decision, the right one. I think I know the old man you’re talking about. Before they dragged me away, he offered to help, but I didn’t trust him.”
“I should have gotten his name.”
“You and me both,” she said then sighed. “Let’s get back to work. Who knows how much time we have”
Over the next two hours, she questioned me about the smuggling operation, including all the people I knew were involved. She got into the zone afterwards, typing away on her laptop.
I went into her bedroom to lie down and rest my eyes. Minutes later, I was fast asleep.