The temperature had dropped significantly since we’d arrived. I had lost track of what time it was and how long we had been there. I was still in my work clothes, but my adrenaline kept me from being cold. I paced next to Kael as he still sat there, his legs extended in front of him.

The other guy involved in the fight had already left without being questioned; it was only Kael’s identification they had collected and scanned. Their awareness of Austin’s name triggered a connection to our dad, so they didn’t even bother to look for my brother. Nor did they seem to care who Austin’s assailant was, and they didn’t go after him either.

When I quietly told Kael it wasn’t fair, that this was all completely wrong and had to be against regulations, he explained that if I wanted to survive here next to an Army post my whole life, I shouldn’t question authority, that it wasn’t safe. Things were the way they were, and I wasn’t going to change it.

“If you want to fix things, go for something that’s possible. Smaller. You’re not going to change what’s ingrained into American culture.”

“And that’s it. You’re just going to take it?”

“You know you’re lucky that after putting your hands on an officer you don’t have a bullet in your head. If I had done that it wouldn’t be the case.” Kael’s eyes darted from my face to the night sky, but when the men looked back at us, he was composed again.

The questions continued and Kruger rolled his eyes at me when I got choked up talking about the situation with my brother—his getting mixed up with the wrong girl again, drinking too much, getting jumped by the not-ex ex-boyfriend. He was scribbling down everything I was saying while holding a recording device between his middle and index fingers. It felt like hours had passed. My brother was lucky to have slid off.

We were close to being able to leave the scene when the MPs put away their notepads and got back into their patrol cars. Kael stood up when they reversed and pulled away. I felt like crying as they left, and my chest heaved as their cars got smaller and smaller in the distance. I couldn’t believe the way they behaved and the way they’d treated Kael. It made me shiver thinking about the way their American flag patches glowed under the bright streetlights. My throat was dry and on fire when we climbed back into Kael’s truck. The empty street seemed spooky now, eerily still, as if nothing had happened at all. Everyone was gone, except us.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

“Are you sure you’re not hurt anywhere?” I asked Kael again.

“I’m sure.”