The Blue Zone

“No, we can’t fight this, Sharon.” Ben shook his head. “This isn’t securities fraud. They have me dead to rights. I had to cut a deal. I may have to go to jail for a while.”

“Jail!”

He nodded. “Then I’ll have to testify. But that’s not even it. It’s deeper than that. A lot deeper.”

“Deeper?” Sharon stood up. She still had her apron on. “What could be deeper than that, Ben? We were almost killed! My husband just told me he’s going to jail! Deeper …? You plead. You pay a fine. You give back whatever you took unfairly. What the hell do these people want from you, Ben—your life …?”

Raab jumped up. “You’re not seeing it, Sharon.” He went over to the window. “This isn’t a bad stock trade. These are Colombians, Sharon! I can hurt them. You saw what they did last night. These are bad people. Killers! They’re never going to let me go to trial.”

He threw back the curtains. Two agents were leaning on the Jeep at the head of the driveway. A police car blocked the entrance up by the pillars. “These people, Sharon … they’re not here to drive me home. They’re federal agents. They’re here to protect us. That’s exactly what these bastards want from me.” His eyes filled with tears and his voice rose to a harried pitch.

“They want my life!”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#ulink_8bd315a1-c831-53b8-8d88-05a0bd5e14c5)

Sharon sank back into her chair, her glassy gaze remote and uncomprehending. A heavy silence settled over the room.

Kate stared at her dad. He looked different to her suddenly. She saw it now. There was no hiding it anymore. He knew. Every night when he walked through the door. Every wonderful trip they took together. Even when he held her last night, and promised her he would never go to jail …

He was lying.

He knew.

“What are you saying, Dad?” Justin gaped. “These people want to kill you?”

“You saw it, Just! You saw it last night. I can unravel part of their organization. I can expose them in a trial. These are dangerous people, son.” He sat back down. “The FBI … they don’t think we can go back to a regular life.”

“We …?” Emily leaped up, straining to understand. “You mean all of us? We’re all in danger?”

“You saw what happened last night, honey. I don’t see how any of us can take that chance.”

“So by ‘a regular life,’ you’re saying what, Dad? That these guards’ll be with us when we go to school for a while? Or into town? That we’re basically, like, going to be prisoners …?”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” Raab sat, shaking his head. “I’m afraid it’s a whole lot more than that, Em.”

There was a pause, as if an earthquake had shaken the roof and they were sitting there watching it about to collapse. Except it wasn’t the roof but their lives that were suddenly imploding. Everyone stared at him, trying to figure out just what that meant.

“We’re going to have to move away, Ben,” Sharon uttered somberly. “Aren’t we?”

It wasn’t even a question. A glaze of tears filled her eyes. “We’re going to have to hide, like criminals. Those people out there, that’s what they’re here for, isn’t it, Ben? They’re going to take us from our home.”

Kate’s father pressed his lips flat and nodded. “I think so, Shar.”

Tears ran down her face freely now.

“Take us where, Dad?” Emily shouted in frustration. “You mean like somewhere else around here? Another school, nearby?” This was her life that was suddenly being ripped from under her. School, friends. Her squash. Everything she knew.

“I don’t think so, Em. And I’m afraid you won’t be able to let anyone know where you are.”

“Move away!” She turned to her mother, then Kate, waiting for someone to say this was all some kind of joke. “When?”

“Soon.” Her father shrugged. “Tomorrow, the day after …”

“This is fucking crazy!” Emily screamed. “Oh, my God!”

It was as though he’d come home and told them that all the people they knew, all the things they did, had been wiped out in some terrible accident. Except it was more like they were the ones wiped out. Everyone they knew. Their history. Their life up to this point would be blank, dead.

Left behind.

“I’m not going anywhere!” Emily shouted. “I’m staying. You go. You’re the one who did this to us. What the hell have you done, Daddy …?”

She tore out of the dining room, footsteps pounding on the stairs. The door to her room slammed.

“She’s right.” Kate stared at her father. “What have you done, Daddy?”

It was one thing to see him like this. Not the strong, respected person she always thought he was but someone who was weak, beaten. She could deal with that. People cheat on their wife or lose their bearings, steal from their company. Some even go to jail.

But this … That he had put them all at risk. Made them all targets. All the people he supposedly loved. Kate couldn’t believe it. Her family was being torn apart in front of her eyes.

“What about Ruthie, Ben?” Sharon looked at him glassily. Her mother. “We can’t just leave her. She’s not well.”

Raab just shrugged helplessly. “I’m sorry, Shar.…”

“I don’t understand,” Justin said. “Why can’t we just live here? Why can’t they just protect us? This is our house.”

“Our house …” His father blew out a breath. “It won’t belong to us anymore. The government’s going to take it. I may have to go to prison until the trial. They think they can get my sentence commuted to time served. Then, afterward, I’ll join you—”

“Join us …?” Kate’s mother gasped. Her eyes stretched wide, and there was a trembling, unforgiving look in them. “Join us exactly where, Ben?”

He shook his head. His face was blank. “I don’t know, Shar.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#ulink_acb4d670-dfc1-5e0a-a694-7cde018de1cc)

Upstairs, Emily was freaking out. Kate tried her best to calm her. Her sister was lying spread-eagled on her bed, punching the mattress in tears.

She had her tournaments, her coach, her eastern ranking. This was the season all her friends were having their sweet sixteens. She was taking the SATs next Saturday.

“This is our home, Kate. How can we just uproot our lives and leave?”

“I know, Em.…”

Kate lay next to her and gave her sister a hug, like when they were kids and shared their favorite music. Em had her ceiling painted sky blue, with a canopy of Day-Glo stars that illuminated when you turned off the lights.

Kate looked up at them. “You remember when we were at the old house and gold was in the dumps? We didn’t go anywhere that year, and Dad was having a hard time. I was at the high school but you were at Tamblin. He kept you there, Em. Even when it was hard for him. He did it so you could keep playing squash.”

“That doesn’t make it okay, Kate.” Emily glared, wiping away tears. “What he’s done. You’re gone. You’re out of here. What are we supposed to say to people? My daddy’s a drug dealer. He’s in jail. We have to take off now for a few years. See you in college. This is our life, Kate …”

“And it doesn’t erase it, Em.… I know. It just …”