He wished Carter would have never roped him into all this.

Unfortunately, his father, Daniel Burke, and Sam Carter were old friends, and Daniel had felt that August was wasting his considerable talents on twisting wrenches and changing oil.

It didn’t seem to matter to his dad that his only enjoyment came from being alone with a car, analyzing and repairing it. He never hurt the car’s feelings, and he never felt hatred from a car. Being alone with his thoughts and his work gave him an opportunity to breathe and relax that simply wasn’t possible any other way.

Burke smoked his cigarette in a secluded spot on the backside of the comm center and watched as Carter spoke to the man at the facility’s front door and then returned to the perimeter of officers. He immediately stomped over to intercept the FBI agent.

“What the hell was all that about?” Burke said.

“They’re saying that demands will be made when they’re ready. Still stalling.”

“I don’t give a shit about that. I want to know why the hell you threw me under the bus back there.”

“Where? I don’t know what you mean.”

“In the comm center! What was all that ‘your thoughts, Dr. Burke’ crap. You want to know my thoughts? I wish I wasn’t even here. I wish I was back at the shop tuning up an engine. I’m not cut out for this.”

“You did an excellent job. Your analysis was spot on.”

“I’m not so sure about that, but I do know that I was rude and hurtful toward a lot of hardworking people, who didn’t deserve to be bullied.”

“You’re too hard on yourself, and they needed a slap to the face to wake them up to the reality of this situation,” Carter said.

“If you want someone slapped, you can do it your damn self.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to put you on the spot. I honestly didn’t think you were paying any attention, and I guess I was trying to teach you a lesson.”

Burke ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair and stuck another cigarette in his mouth. “You shouldn’t underestimate me.”

Carter laughed. “Why? All you do is underestimate yourself.”

“That’s not true.”

“You were smart enough to earn three masters and a doctorate online. And while you were still attending high school. But you’re not working in any of those fields.”

“I like to learn. It’s fundamental.”

Carter shook his head. “Then why were you getting Cs on your school reports but straight As in your online courses?”

“They were more interesting. High school was just busy work and a bunch of outdated crap that no one really needs anymore. My high school acted like the Internet and smartphones don’t exist. Why else would they force us to memorize such useless and easily accessible information?”

“Now’s not the time for a debate on the effectiveness of our modern school systems. Don’t stress about what happened in there. You did an excellent job. I wish that I could take credit for giving you such skills, but all the praise should go to God for giving you that masterful brain of yours.”