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This Is War: Ben Kweller
I head towards the door with Mac and Patty. I go to open the door, but Mac beats me to it. He opens it for me and I shake my head as I walk past him. Patty follows me and I gently scratch the bandage on my arm before sitting down.
"Hey, Lina." Bozer says.
"Hi, Wilt." I fold my hands.
"How's your arm?"
"It's fine."
"So, does that mean it's over? Murdoc's away for good?"
"We're making sure he stays that way."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah." I merely nod.
"It's okay if you aren't. You know that, right?" Bozer nods back.
"I know. But I'm fine, Wilt. I promise. But you should know this about me: when I was thirteen, I was sent to a foster home. That's how I met Eli. He was fifteen. And our foster father was an alcoholic, and abusive. And Eli was my protector. He shielded me from everything. Every ugly thing you can imagine. And one day, I found out that our foster father was doing things to him every single night." I swallow. "So I stopped it. I stopped him. I killed him."
"How?"
"I lit him on fire in his sleep. Neighbors called the cops. Got sent to juvie. Five years."
"Sounds like you were serving our country to me."
"They may have believed that then." I grin in the corner of my mouth. "But laws and whatnot. Could've been a lot worse."
"I'm sorry that happened to you. And Eli. I was just talking to him over at my house before this went crazy. I had no idea he...he seems so-"
"Put together? Positive? Yeah. That's my brother. Do you have anything to ask me?"
"Not right now."
"Okay." I nod. "But just know I would never harm you. Or do anything to hurt you. Not on purpose. I never meant for you to get mixed up in this." I shake my head.
"Mister Bozer, the purpose of this meeting is to determine if you are a security threat to the United States." Patty sits down and Mac sits on the other side of me.
"Security threat? Me? Security—I'm not even an empty threat. Are you kidding me? Mac, Lina, c'mon, back me up here." Bozer inquires. "What about Evan and McKenna? And Charlotte and Eli?"
"We already went through this with them. McKenna will be joining us as of today and Eli will be working in the infirmary, we could use a good, trained EMT like him, we can only go to the hospital so much here in LA. And because Evan has a son, we offered him a new name and a passport to anywhere in the world, but he chose to stay. So, he will be joining us too. And Charlotte has signed a contract of the Espionage Act before going back to New York, and if she goes against it, she knows very bad things happen. Now that just leaves you."
