Read Online Against All Enemies by John Gilstrap - Free Book Online Page A

Suppose Dylan never did anything remotely like the things he says he did, and this is just some kind a witch hunt they’re wanting us to take point on?”
    In all candor, Jonathan had not considered that possibility, at least not at that scale. He expected some of the details to be incomplete or misrepresented, but not the entire incident. “Why would he do that?” he asked.
    “I don’t know. It wouldn’t be the first time Stanley’s lied to us.”
    Without question Stanley Rollins’s association with the truth was tenuous—perhaps even adversarial. But a lie of this magnitude—involving a fellow operator—would be of a scale that Jonathan could barely comprehend. “No,” Jonathan said. “Rollins is an ass, but he’s an ass who saved our lives. He came to us on this. I don’t buy that he would be that dismissive of our safety.”
    Boxers raised his eyebrows and leaned back further into his seat. “I’m just sayin’ . . .”
    “And I’m just saying we made a commitment.”
    “Trust, but verify,” Big Guy said.
    “Always,” Jonathan conceded. “And Ven, if it helps, I’ll plan my visit to Christyne to make sure that Ryan is nowhere to be found. I’ll do it during school hours.”
    Venice said nothing, but he saw the smile. It disappeared as her computer dinged, and her attention was diverted to another screen. “Huh,” she said. “Don’t you know Senator Haynes Moncrief?”
    Jonathan nodded. They went way back. They were in Ranger school together, but Haynes hadn’t made the cut for the Unit. Now he was a bigwig in the United States Senate. “Yeah, why?”
    “I got an alert from ICIS,” she said. Pronounced EYE-sis, the Interstate Crime Information System was a largely unknown post-9/11 system that was put in place through funds distributed by the Department of Homeland Security to keep various jurisdictions informed of criminal investigations real-time. “He was arrested last night for discharging an illegal firearm in DC.”
    Jonathan recoiled. “Discharging . . . What, was he shooting at streetlights or something?”
    Venice read a little more. “No, he was defending himself against an alleged attack.”
    “What’s an alleged attack? ” Boxers asked, leaning on the words. “Seems to me somebody is attacked or they’re not.”
    “I’m just reading you what I see,” Venice said. “It says here that the man he killed had a sawed-off shotgun on him, but that it hadn’t been discharged. The senator shot him twice in the chest and killed him.”
    “Haynes always was a good shot,” Boxers said.
    “Who attacked him?” Jonathan asked. “Was it an assassination attempt like that other congressman, or a random street crime?”
    Venice read some more. “The record is still new, so it may be too early to know much for sure, but it seems to be leaning toward the senator as the aggressor.”
    “That’s ridiculous,” Jonathan said. “He’s the Senate minority leader. Not exactly the profile of an active street shooter.”
    “Do you want to know what ICIS says or not?” Venice snapped.
    Jonathan and Boxers exchanged looks. Whoa.
    “So far, the investigation is focused on the fact that Senator Moncrief had a heated exchange over dinner with some White House official—”
    “How could he even digest anything after breaking bread with one of those assholes?” Boxers said.
    Venice continued as if uninterrupted. “—and he had had a few drinks.” She looked up. “That’s not the best set of circumstances after you shoot someone.”
    “Didn’t you say that someone tried to shoot him first?” Jonathan asked.
    “Some witnesses say that the senator drew his gun first—a gun that he was breaking the law just to have on his person.”
    “So, he should have shown the courtesy of letting himself be killed,” Boxers said.
    “Witnesses say that he made no effort to run away.”
    “From a gun? ” Jonathan said. His voice had spiked an octave. “How fast a sprinter do they think