On The Border

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

    Shortly, Reid was seated at a large table in the dining room back at the Respite, meeting the rest of his team while having a truly amazing dinner.  In addition to Martin and his Hawaiian shirt, there were four more agents of various law enforcement organizations on the Task Force.  Alex Florent was a tall blond man, casually dressed as most of them were.  As Martin had mentioned, Florent was a never-ending font of information about all types of music, although it was odd hearing a white blond with a Southern accent debating the merits of various rap groups.  Florent was an agent of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, formerly INS and now usually just called ICE.

    Next to her was Gloria Bennett, a very short black woman with very dark skin.  Gloria was the sole exception to the trend towards casual dress, even more impressive considering she had been the one out in the hills, seeking the coyotes.  Apparently she had changed for dinner, as her gray suit showed no signs of dirt or wear.  She was polite, almost formal, with everyone but Martin.  Reid recalled from her dossier that she was a pistol champion and agent of the Border Patrol, as was the man seated next to her.

    If you called Central Casting and asked for someone to portray “stereotypical New York Jew,” you might well have ended up with Joshua Erlich.  He looked even more out of place here in small town Texas.  Reid didn’t have much of an impression of Erlich as the meal progressed, as the man seemed to be very quiet.  For all that, and despite the odd visual he presented among the group, he seemed a part of the group.  Reid wondered what he’d done to earn this exile, but then, he didn’t really know what anyone of them had done but himself.

    The group was rounded out by a young woman named Arlene Ramsey.  She was short, with long red hair.  Of all of them, she seemed to have the most obvious problem with the current circumstance.  She hadn’t spoken a lot, but when she did, there was bitterness in her voice.  Marcie’s information stated that she was an ATF agent, and had all manner of decorations for firearms excellence and knowledge. 

    Despite offers from everyone, even the somewhat surly Arlene, Julie declined the invitations to join them, bringing them food and withdrawing between servings.  The rest of them had been here long enough the usual line between server and guest had blurred.  The food was amazingly good, and Reid reflected once again that at least this cloud, too, has its silver lining. 

    After dinner, cups of coffee were filled, and everyone seemed to relax a bit.  Julie stuck her head in to say she was retiring for the night, and that they should help ourselves to whatever they needed and just keep track for her.  Finally, Martin leaned back in his chair and said, “Ok, since it’s going to come up anyway, why don’t you tell us what led you to this illustrious company, Reid?”

    Reid shrugged.  “I testified against someone I worked with when I found out she was taking bribes.”  Winces ran around the table and murmurs of sympathy.

    “I think I read something about that,” Joshua said, one of the few statements Reid could remember him making.

    “You’ve read something about everything,” Alex teased back.  He turned to Reid.  “He the reading-est guy I know.”

    “There are worse things,” Reid answered.

    “So, were you sleeping with her?” Arlene asked.  There was a moment of somewhat surprised silence at the table.

    “What?” Reid asked, annoyance growing.

    “The Ranger, this Dalton chick, were you sleeping with her?  I read the newspapers too, don’t look so shocked, Joshua.”  She added the last as Joshua had turned to look at her.