I swallowed hard. My father’s symbol and the pattern of new monster appearances were related. “Myers, listen—”

“I’m out of time, Pitt. Just know that things aren’t what they seem. Changes are being made in how the government does things, about how we combat the forces of the unnatural. I did not…agree with some of these new policies. No matter what you think of me, you know everything I’ve done has been to protect America. I took a solemn oath to defend this country. I will continue doing that to the best of my abilities, no matter how dark things become, no matter what, I will fulfill that oath or I will gladly die trying.”

Myers was beginning to scare me. “I’ll tell Earl.”

“Good luck, Mr. Pitt.” The image went black.

Franks snatched his laptop back and immediately began scrubbing files.

I called Julie from the airport. She was glad to hear that I was back safe, but I was afraid to tell her anything specific over the phone.

“That thing my Dad wanted us to watch for? It’s here. And tell everybody that it’s involved in what we figured out earlier.”

There was a long silence. “That’s not good…”

“We’ll make it work.”

“We always do.”

All of this secret squirrel nonsense was making me even more paranoid than usual. I told her I’d catch everyone up when I got back to the hotel, but there was something else that I needed to take care of first. I ended the call with a heavy heart and a nervous stomach.

My greatest worry was what to do about my father. My opportunity for procrastination was over. I needed to learn what he knew. His letter was safe at the Shackleford mansion. I could call him on the phone, but I needed to do this in person. Mom and Dad lived hundreds of miles from here, and the selfish, weak, human part of me was thankful that seeing them right this minute was impossible. I’d faced all manner of evil, but I didn’t know if I had the guts to do this one simple task.

I needed to talk to someone who would understand. I needed to talk to family.

The hazardous materials folks at Dugway had given me a large nylon bag to put my armor and weapons in, which enabled me to make it through the airport to hail a cab without causing any freak-outs or calls to the police. I’d already gotten one tour of the Clark County jail, didn’t particularly want another. I gave the cabbie Mosh’s address and then went back to wondering how I was going to tell my little brother that I had to end our father’s life.