The Uvalde Raider by Ben English (great books for teens TXT) 📕

The head of the Department continued the introductions. “And this is Mr. Eggers.” From off to the side the third man rose from his chair and walked agilely toward the others. Of average height and an athletic build, Eggers was dark headed with facial features and a skin tone that would allow him to blend in most anyplace. When he grasped Micah’s hand it was in a firm, no nonsense manner. He looked the highway patrolman in the eyes intently, as if he was searching for something of a read himself.

“How are you, trooper?” Eggers asked, and meant it.

“Doing all right, sir,” responded Templar.

Micah found himself slightly taken aback. There was something truly remarkable about this man and it started with his eyes. They were just as dark as his hair, almost black, and penetrating in their gaze. Behind them Micah could sense the presence of a highly intelligent and capable human being, someone with a warrior’s heart. Someone who, given the right circumstances, had the capacity of being a very dangerous man.

Yet it was not only those eyes but the man himself that caused Micah to do a double take. It was as if he had met him before, somewhere else a long time ago. Even his name tugged at Micah Templar’s memory. Eggers…where had he heard that before?

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“Sit down, gentlemen.” The director gestured at the chairs placed around the large office.

Humboldt and Wadley sat back in their previous seats directly positioned in front of the director’s sizeable wooden desk. Micah picked a chair over to the side, where he could watch the two in front of the desk as well as his boss who seated himself behind it. He was getting a vague impression that the head of the DPS was not exactly happy with either of these two. It was as if there had been some sort of difference of opinion before his arrival.

Micah Templar glanced over at Eggers, who had selected a chair near the rear of the office that allowed him to watch everyone else. Micah found himself studying the man more as another little fact popped into his head. The colonel never said who Eggers actually worked for. The man met his studious gaze, nodded and smiled a bit.

‘Who are you, Mr. Eggers?’ Micah questioned himself. ‘And why do I keep thinking I know you from someplace else?’

“Micah,” the colonel started speaking and Templar looked back at him. “We called you in today to visit about what happened last month and what is going to be happening in the near future. These gentlemen are asking for the Department’s cooperation in this matter, but we as an agency can’t fully give it unless you do too.

“As a member of this Department, you were placed in a situation that really has no precedent in the history of the DPS, or the Texas Highway Patrol. At least, not in the modern era of our existence.” His colonel paused a moment and looked straight at him.

“I have read your report as well as the statements of those locals you came into contact with that morning. I have also spoke at length with the rangers who did the investigation at the Albright airstrip. What you went through was more like some sort of military combat action, than anything having to do with civilian law enforcement.

“Personally, I want to take this opportunity to tell you in man-to-man fashion that what you did was simply exemplary, and in the highest traditions of our Department. More so, the citizens of the state of Texas owe your uncle and Mister Grephardt a debt of gratitude that can never be adequately repaid.”

Micah cut his eye over to the two men sitting in front of the desk. Humboldt looked a little too earnest as he listened in, while Wadley appeared to be impatient and perhaps even a little agitated. Then again, Wadley hit the trooper as one of those types who was always a little agitated about one thing or another.

Intertwining his fingers and placing his hands on his desk, the director leaned forward. “But now you are going to be told something entirely different about all this and these gentlemen are going to be doing the telling.” The head of the DPS looked hard at Wadley and added a shade icily “After all, that is the very least they can do.”

‘Uh oh,’ thought Micah to himself, ‘so much for the halo routine. Now comes the hammer.’

Humboldt shifted his hefty weight uneasily in the overstuffed chair and took his glasses off to clean them with a handkerchief. “Firstly Trooper Templar, the Federal Government also wants to commend you and your companions for your courage and bravery. Unfortunately, the three of you were working under some altogether mistaken assumptions.”

The partially bald man stopped polishing his eyewear and looked up. “We need for you to understand something that may come as an absolute shock. After thoroughly investigating the crash scene, it is our determination there was no sort of chemical agents whatsoever on that aircraft.”

Micah stared at the government official with incredulity as the oversized bureaucrat continued on. “Furthermore, and in regard to this group that tried to take your uncle’s aircraft: We have found no evidence of any of them being from the Middle East, or of belonging to any sort of terrorist organization. As far as we can tell those involved were actually members of a South American drug cartel, though we are not at liberty to say much more than that.”

Humboldt paused, looking up through his glasses at the overhead florescent lights. Evidently satisfied he placed the horn rims back on his fat, ruddy face. “The reason they wanted your