Vaill helped Lou to his feet and put handcuffs on him once more.

“What now?” Lou asked.

“Now, you get to take a nap in a bedroom with bars at the U.S. Marshal’s place, and we get to do what we do.”

“I told you what you wanted to know. Aren’t you letting me go?”

“Um, let me see.… No.”

The word echoed like a judge’s gavel.

Vaill escorted Lou out the door and past McCall, who was already on his phone, presumably talking to their supervisor.

Lou knew that he had made a mistake caving in. The government was famous for messing up situations like this one. There was no chance they would ever step back and let Humphrey do his work. No chance for Cap.

Vaill guided him out of the building and into the cool, early morning air. Overhead, the sky was drenched with stars.

“What time is it?” Lou asked.

“Two thirty in the morning,” Vaill said, checking his watch.

Lou took a deep breath, no longer sure if he’d ever breathe fresh air as a free man again.

Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36

A Neighbor often needs a community to reach his goal. Therefore, if deemed reliable, others may be hired or enlisted into the order for specific purposes, but they shall not be offered a number unless there is an opening and they are acceptable to the director.

—LANCASTER R. HILL, 100 Neighbors, SAWYER RIVER BOOKS, 1939, P. 57–8

Vaill rarely felt sorry for criminals, but he made an exception for Lou Welcome. From his read, Welcome seemed like a decent guy, a caring father, and a devoted physician who got caught up at the wrong time in a deadly set of circumstances. But the laws were the laws, and more than a few men and women were trudging around in orange jumpsuits with numbers on their backs because they made bad choices.

Putting his feelings aside, Vaill had done what had to be done. As an agent for the FBI, it was his duty to conduct sensitive national security investigations and to enforce hundreds of federal statutes. Regardless of what Lou Welcome was holding back, he was involved in a case the government considered priority one, and Vaill had done his job and done it well. Next it was up to the federal prosecutors to build a case and officially charge him with a crime. Meanwhile, Vaill would do his best to support those efforts, while in this case secretly rooting against them.