Epilogue

The meal went well, but they were all on their best behavior with Nettie present. Her glances to Vin were reassuring that he had made the right decision. On Saturday he went into the office. He had missed two days of work and did not receive permission from his supervisor to be out. Chris had every right to reprimand him, thankfully guilt and friendship would win out, but Vin did not want to abuse it further.

He started filling out the dates and writing a paragraph on what happened each day. As usual he kept to the facts in short sentences. Report writing was a requirement with the ATF. He didn't excel at it at all. His reports were lackluster in their language, but he was able to be understood and had less to worry about with grammar by keeping it short.

He expected to be in the office for a few hours, leaving the completed paperwork on Chris's desk, then he would review the case materials for Monday. He needed to be prepared. On Sunday he would take Los Lobos out as promised. He wasn't exactly avoiding his friends; he already had plans that provided a convenient excuse. It allowed him to cool down, and think about had happened.

Eli had always been a bastard, but in the field Vin had counted on him and Eli had his back. It made him realize how fragile faith was; having given it to so few people and of those people sometimes he had given his faith because of the situation.

Others had implicit faith in him to watch over them as a sniper, to take care of his friends in Purgatorio, and even Nettie had faith in him. She never questioned his suggestions. But there was this other kind of faith, the one where you just trusted.

That was the sticking point because each of them had different backgrounds and experiences. Vin continued to type away, making decisions with each keystroke.

Monday brought Vin in early as was normal, making his strong coffee to start the day. Chris followed in while he was putting the grounds in, calling out to him before heading into his office. Again, it was a normal occurrence. Josiah came in next, putting his bag down at his desk, greeting Vin, waving to Chris before going into the break room.

Nathan came in carrying his coffee from a local place that he frequented. "How was your weekend? The medic was asking the sharpshooter.

"Took the kids to the zoo," Vin said as he glanced at a file and wrote some notes to prepare for their morning meeting.

"With just you as the chaperone? You should have called. I would have been happy to help wrangle them," Josiah added, lifting his mug. He knew how the kids liked to wander.

Vin shrugged his shoulders. "I managed."

Buck and JD came in with a rumble and JD saying "Shut the fuck up."

"Scout's honor," Buck lifted his hand, but the effect was ruined by the mustached man's laughter.

Chris came out from his office. "Did anyone remind Ezra that we had a meeting this morning?"

Usually, one of them would provide a friendly call to the undercover operative that he needed to be in on time when they were having a meeting. It had fallen to Josiah this time. "I left him a message at home yesterday. Whether he got that message . . ."

"You know he is sitting right there screening his calls," Buck replied as he turned on his computer.

Chris slapped the folder against hand. "JD, give him a call on his cell, and the rest of us will head into the conference room."

It took them a few minutes to file in and JD slipped in taking his seat beside Buck. "He's on his way. Be here in a second, but said if you want then you can start without him."

Chris shook his head. "I hate to repeat myself."

"What?" Buck asked with an innocent expression.

"I said. . ." Chris growled when he caught on. "Pueblo Police found a warehouse full of cigarettes." Chris slid open the file.

"Not, cigarettes. What did one of you do?" Nathan, although a conneseuer of cigars, hated dealing with tobacco part of the ATF. In fact, most of them despised those cases that lacked drama.

JD shrugged his shoulders. "Did they confiscate them?"

"They didn't have the storage room so they contacted us to take care of it for them, and somehow it was our turn to deal with one of these cases," Chris stated. There was an unofficial system whereby the less interesting, grunt work cases were parceled out fairly so that one team would not get more than the others although this was a bone of connection.

The others had already started skimming their files. "So are we doing a pick up run?" Buck asked.

"No, we've been asked to investigate. Two of you want to volunteer?"

Certain areas of Pueblo has a high crime rate with increasing gang activity. It was no wonder that the local police department didn't have the manpower to spare. "I'll go," Vin said.

"I'd like to join Vin," Josiah said with a nod in Vin's direction.

Ezra strode in with his usual confidence. "Did I just miss an awkward moment?"

Chris glared at Ezra instead of providing an answer. Ezra paid no mind and took his seat, reading the file. There was a subtle shift in the room. Vin could sense that Ezra's comment had made them all uncomfortable.

Vin cleared his throat. He figured he had to say something. "In the army and from bounty hunting I tried not to get close to people. Didn't have a good experience with that, but now I expected more from this team." Vin shrugged his shoulders. "I'm still gonna watch your backs like you do for me."

"You taught me something, Brother," Josiah started, but was interrupted by the undercover agent.

"Wonderful, an after school special moment," Ezra groused.

"I've seen your record, all those blank spaces and I'm reminded of what I've seen. Vietnam and then working with kids on the street-the worst of it and what can happen to people." Josiah adjusted his suit jacket. "I got carried away in my perspective."

"I think we all have similar issues," Chris added.

"Tunnel vision," Buck explained further, thinking about how he grew up with his mom who was killed when he was young, about the same age as when JD lost his mom. It made him protective. JD tapped his pen, and Buck silenced it with his hand. "We're having a moment here."

"Moment done. Get back to work." Chris squeezed Vin's shoulder as he passed by. "Come by my office to set up the Pueblo case."

Vin noticed that Ezra was loitering about, and that there was still some hostility between them. "I heard you. The FBI ran you out because of rumors and no one fought for you."

Ezra froze for a moment, then concentrated on his papers. "You should consider yourself lucky, Agent Tanner. And I am on your side."

He didn't want to vocalize that just yet. In time he would feel lucky, or blessed as Josiah liked to put it. "I'll remember that." Vin picked up his papers and headed to Chris's office.

"You settle it with Ezra?" Chris asked as Vin entered the office without looking up from his paperwork."

Vin took a seat in the small couch stuffed into the office. "Enough has been said, I guess."

Chris looked up, relaxing back into his chair with a squeaking noise from the absentminded rocking. "We'll all work on the action part."

Hope. Faith. Courage. Vin thought. Hope for a better tomorrow, faith in yourself and courage to fight your battles. Vin nodded before asking about the Pueblo case.

Really, the end.