Page 79 of The Fallen Man

Jackson grunted again and burrowed deeper. The next time he poked his nose out, his cousins were occupying the other bed and eating cereal.

“But why is he green?” asked Dominique, in a hushed voice, her eyes glued to the TV.

“Nika, I don’t know why he’s green,” said Aiden. “He’s just green.”

Jackson moved the covers and stared at the strange cartoon on the TV. Dominique noticed he was awake. “How do you ever sleep through us?”

“You’re quieter than prison, and I trust you’re not going to try and kill me.”

“I’m not sure why, but I find that deeply touching,” said Aiden, pointing at Jackson with his spoon.

“Lack of murdering each other is a building block of family love,” said Evan from behind his newspaper, and Dominique laughed. “Also, Beast Boy is green because he received an infusion of an experimental serum from his parents to cure a rare disease. The serum turned him green and gave him the power to transform into any animal.”

“The more you know,” said Jackson, getting up. He was halfway to the bathroom when his phone rang. He turned back, but Evan waved him off and punched in Jackson’s passcode before picking up the phone. Jackson realized he’d underestimated Evan’s memory for numbers. He was going to have to switch back to the thumbprint for security.

“Hi, Grandma,” Evan said. “No, we’re all in Jackson’s room eating breakfast.” Jackson waited. “Because we all like cartoons, and you would make us eat something healthy. Aiden wanted Count Chocula. Yes, I’m aware we’re not twelve.” There was a pause, and Jackson decided that there would not be animmediate need for him and continued to the bathroom. “Well, I expect we’ll be over afterTeen Titans Go. No, you don’t want to know whatTeen Titans Gois. I can only explain Beast Boy so many times in a day, and we don’t have time to cover Starfire and Robin. Also, Jackson still needs to eat. So probably an hour. Yes, see you in a bit.”

When he returned, the TV volume had been turned down, and Aiden and Dominique’s bed had been covered in papers Aiden and Evan were making stacks of the documents while Dominique was noting something on a tablet.

“Phone,” said Evan, waving it at him and then placing it on the table.

“Thanks,” said Jackson, pulling on his sweats and t-shirt. He was about to ask what they were doing when there was a knock on his door.

“That’s your breakfast,” said Aiden. “So don’t shoot them.”

“Hey, I haven’t nearly shot room service since Utah,” Jackson called as he went to the door.

“What?” asked Evan, looking up. “When we’re you in Utah?”

“As your lawyer, I advise you not to answer that,” said Aiden.

Jackson opened the door and saw that the bellhop had clearly been able to hear him through the door.

“We’re joking,” said Jackson.

“This is DC, man,” said the bell hop who looked all of about twenty. He reminded Jackson of Jamal. He was skinny and a little too tall for his pants.

“Point taken,” said Jackson. “But don’t worry, I was sent up for armed robbery, not murder.”

“Ha. Ha.”

Jackson took the tray and handed the kid a fifty.

“On the other hand, who am I to judge?”

Jackson grinned. “Thanks.”

The kid waved and took off. Jackson went back inside and setdown his food tray.

“What are we doing?” he asked, putting the shmear on his bagel.

“Dominique and I pulled all the members of the ethics committee, and we’re comparing them to the list you gave Evan of all the members of the Senate who were there during the Absolex hearings,” said Aiden.

“The problem is,” said Evan, “that Absolex was a publicly traded company, and when I tanked the stock—”

“We,” corrected Jackson. “It was a group effort to set up that run on the stock.”

Evan shrugged. “Whatever. Point is that holding Absolex stock wasn’t illegal, and most members of Congress divested when the hearings were in full swing. No one wanted to be called out for supporting a company that killed veterans. So now we’re an entire election and 4 years away from the hearings, and it’s a little hard to see who would have a vested interest in Absolex. I’m not seeing any names that match up with investors that I knew about.”