Die for You

Chapter 34

"You need to report these letters to the police, Rob, you can't just hide them, they're evidence."

"They know, Freen, they just don't seem very interested in it all right now."

"But after that attack on Miss Armstrong..."

"They believe it was a one off and that the individuals concerned have gone to ground now that you people have been employed. They think this is all copycat stuff." He turned from the window to look at me and grimaced, his face twisting as he fought back a comment. Finally, he got himself under control.

"The police are a waste of time Freen, that's why I'm telling you. I've called your boss over this morning to discuss things, but I wanted to let you know first. How serious do you think this is?"

"Serious, Rob. Serious enough for me to be worried about Miss Armstrong's safety, and that of all of you," I added quickly, hoping that he hadn't spotted my slip. "The guys at the office ran a threat assessment the other day and the opinion is that that a credible threat exists still. This adds fuel to that fire, this scares me a little bit more with those photographs that arrived the other week."

"What about this weekend?" Rob asked staring at me as if I would have all the answers for him.

"Do you think this will have an effect on Jenna's little family gathering?"

"I don't know Rob," I replied truthfully. "I really don't know."

----

"Well, I think, with some extra, added precautions, there's not a problem having you all at the house, Mr Armstrong." JJ said softly as he placed down the letters on the conference table. "I think we just need to be a little more vigilant and perhaps put a few more people around, alert the police, things like that. This shouldn't be any reason for your family not to get together."

We were sat in the conference room, my request to Rob to discuss this with his daughter finally being accepted. Becky was fidgeting in a seat next to her father looking uncomfortably at the letters that JJ had put down.

"What about the photos LT?" I asked, "They were taken pretty close to the grounds. Did the police find anything useful there?"

"They didn't, Sarge, and they think, like we do, that if they had wanted Becky or Jenna dead, they would have shot one of them then while it was easy. Probably Becky as she seems to be the main target after you Mr Armstrong, and you weren't there."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, JJ." Becky said smiling, but knotting her fingers in a way I'd discovered meant she was nervous. "It's so nice to know that they want to kill me after daddy here."

"That's not what I meant, Becky. What I meant was Mr Armstrong here is the main target for their attentions, but that you would..."

"I think Miss Armstrong gets the message, LT," I interrupted. "Basically, the whole family are still in danger and we need to step up security when they're all together. What about when we get to the States, LT?"

JJ paused for a second and rifled through his briefcase, finally extracting a document and handing it to me. As I read, I heard him giving the Armstrong's a quick précis of what it said.

"On behalf of Armstrong Industries, James has been in contact with some friends at the Department of Homeland Security. They believe the threat level is very low, they have no reports of 'The Protectors' operating in the United States and the security for the Arms Expo will be very high anyway as it's considered to be a sensitive target."