“We can try.”
Michelle had thought about this and then squeezed his hand and smiled. “We can try. At least for a while.”
And with help from the FBI and the White House, Sean and Michelle received emergency temporary custody of Gabriel Macon after it was quickly determined he had no living relatives. There would be future legal hoops for them to jump through, but for now Gabriel had a place to stay and people to look after him.
Sean and Michelle had traveled down to Atlee once more a few days after Gabriel had become their ward. They hadn’t taken the boy with them because there was nothing left for him down there. Gabriel was staying with Michelle and Sean was at a townhouse provided by the Secret Service.
The FBI was still on site, investigating what little remained of the plantation house, and al
so the site where the First Couple had almost died. And where Tippi Quarry had died.
The FBI had privately marveled at the skill and ingenuity with which Sam Quarry had put his murderous plan together. Sean and Michelle had learned that a cavity in the ground near the building where the First
Couple had almost died had been discovered. There was a TV monitor inside this bunker along with a pair of binoculars, a remote control, and other equipment and provisions. If anyone had been inside there, he or she was long gone.
Sean and Michelle suspected it was either Carlos Rivera or Kurt Stevens but had no real proof.
“He built basically a gas chamber for Dan and Jane Cox,” said Sean, as they stared at the little house.
“And he killed his own daughter in there.”
“More like euthanasia,” replied Sean. “After all those years.”
The most important issue remained unresolved for the pair. What to do about what they’d learned in the basement at Atlee.
“Everyone’s dead,” said Sean. “Quarry. Tippi. Ruth Ann.”
“Maybe we should just let it go,” voiced Michelle. “It’ll drag Willa and Gabriel back into all this.”
“And rip the country apart,” added Sean.
“But then Cox gets away with it.”
“I know. But maybe that’s better than the alternative.”
They drove back to the ruins of Atlee. One of the HRT squad members securing the area approached them.
“Read about you in the paper,” he said. “Wanted to thank you for what you did for the president.”
“No problem,” Sean said without much enthusiasm while Michelle said nothing. Both were thinking about the president of the United States in a light far different than the HRT guy was, even if they had decided to do nothing about it.
He nodded at the ruins. “Looked a lot different the first time I was here.”
“You were here when it was still standing?” asked Michelle.
He nodded. “I was riding on a bird with the First Lady when all that shit went down. She made us put down here. Said she wasn’t feeling well. Went inside, met up with some black lady. Think she was the maid. They talked a bit and then the First Lady went down to a room in the basement. Insisted on it, in fact. She was the only one who could go in. She did, and then she came out later and we hightailed it home.”
Sean and Michelle stared over at the rubble.
And then Atlee burned down.
CHAPTER 86
THE INVITATION came two days after they returned from Alabama.
The White House looked beautiful in the soft light of a late summer evening. They had dinner in the First Couple’s private quarters. The president wasn’t there. Jane had invited them. After the meal was done they sat in the living room with their coffees the butler had brought in. For a few minutes no one spoke. Sean and Michelle sat there tensely while Jane did not make eye contact.
Finally, Jane said, “We’ve certainly come a long way.”