Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

especially as he was navigating several freeway interchanges. "I noticed Gerald dyed his hair. Looks much better, more mature."
    "He looks like a kid, because he is one. He shouldn't be mixed up in this. He shouldn't have needed to be."
    "Yeah, and what about you? Find a kid on a bathroom floor and now you're half kidnapping FBI agents?"
    "Do you really want to antagonize someone who is driving you to an undisclosed location while you are blindfolded?"
    "Just trying to make conversation." Sebastian didn't reply. They both kept silent for the rest of the drive.
    It was nearly two hours later when he carefully led Agent Kim up the front steps of his house and gave the door a very complicated pre-arranged knock. Rachael opened the door holding a very large rifle. It didn't look quite like the normal Marine-issue M16, but it was close. "Really?" he asked, looking at the weapon.
    Rachael shrugged and helped him guide Agent Kim inside. They sat him down on the couch and pulled off the blindfold. Daren was perched on the edge of the coffee table, watching the proceedings. Except for the splint on his arm, he looked calm and in charge. He didn't say a word.
    Agent Kim shielded his eyes before being able to focus on Daren.
    "Joseph," he greeted in a neutral tone, not a shred of emotion on his face.
    "Gerald. It's good to see you." Agent Kim looked around the room, his eyes quickly falling on Rachael and her weapon. He focused on the weapon.
    Rachael smiled at him. "Legal, licensed, and registered."
    Agent Kim just nodded and turned back to Daren. "How are you doing?"
    "I'm alive."
    "You look… Um… I like the hair. The whole bleach look was very early-90s." Daren actually smiled. "So…" Agent Kim's eyes kept flicking over to Rachael.
    "Could you trade that out for something a little smaller?" Sebastian asked.
    "Intimidated?"
    "By you? Always."
    "I've never shot anything I didn't intend to."
    "That doesn't make me feel better."
    Rachael put the rifle down on the table and just kept her hand on her sidearm. It didn't actually make Sebastian feel much better, but it was an argument he wasn't going to win.
    Agent Kim looked between the two of them for a moment before turning back to Daren. "I read over your letter. A whole new identity is trickier than you think."
    "I'm sure you do it all the time."
    "Look, I can make some calls, get you into Witness Protection."
    Daren's bark of laughter ricocheted around the room as sharp as a gunshot. "I have been under Federal protection before."
    "That was under different circumstances. In Witness Protection…"
    "I'm a sitting duck waiting for another leak."
    "But…"
    Daren turned to Sebastian, "Would you be so kind as to get my chart?"
    "I don't think…"
    "Please." Daren sounded exceedingly proper and well-bred with just that one word.
    Sebastian rushed to the bedroom and returned with Daren's medical notes. Daren took them and handed them to Agent Kim.
    "That is what happened to me the last time I put my safety in the hands of the government. Go ahead, read it."
    Agent Kim opened it and slowly began to read. His face blanched, and his lips pinched together into a thin line. Daren stared at him, his back straight and his head held high. Sebastian knew he must be in pain. Agent Kim was about three pages in and starting to look a little unwell when Daren took the notebook back. "That is what happened when you were supposed to protect me. This," he pointed at Sebastian, "is the stranger who found me, and healed me, and kept me safe when he had a million opportunities to get rid of me, wipe me off his hands and make himself rich. But I'm still here. Now who exactly should I trust?"
    Agent Kim lowered his head under the onslaught of Daren's words. "I can't do a whole new identity overnight, especially off the books."
    "I don't need you to make Gerald Delaware vanish. My family has done that. I need a passport, birth certificate, and social security number. You must do them for undercover agents all the time. And in return for that, I give you a full terabyte of compressed data— all the strings to pull to bring the Delawares to their knees. And probably free up some choice import/export contracts as well." Agent Kim's head snapped up. "I did my research, Agent Kim. I knew I could talk with a fellow rich-spoiled-brat."
    "And what will you do with this new you?"
    "That is not your concern."
    "What if I need you to testify?"
    "No." Daren and Sebastian said in unison. "My family can't be one