Several vehicles with ATF printed on the side are parked outside the shop belonging to Tommy Leeds. Agents have sealed off the area in order to carry out their operation. An agent only identified as Chris and a fellow officer knock on Cassie’s door and she opens it, asking them to keep it down when Chris asks where Tommy is. She tells him he’s still sleeping; his bedroom is left at the top of the stairs. She informs them that he has a .45 under the pillow and a Benelli loaded beneath the bed. She has her own pistol and Chris helps her into her ATF uniform. She is not the innocent shop assistant Tommy thinks she is. Chris asks if there’s anything else they should know. “Yeah, he snores,” replies Cassie.
Carefully, several ATF agents ascend the motel staircase and burst into Tommy’s room, catching him unawares, lying next to his teddy bear. Finding several armed officers at the foot of his bed, his natural instinct is to reach for the .45 but they are on to him quick, ordering him to keep his hands where they can see them. Chris leaps onto his back and informs him that he is under arrest for violation of federal firearms statutes, including interstate trafficking and illegal weapons sales.
As Tommy, bare-chested and angry, is led out of the motel, he passes Cassie in her uniform. “You’re a fed,” he remarks. She says that she is, indeed, a fed. Tommy calls her a tramp as an agent shuffles him out of the door. She warns him to be careful; he doesn’t want to say anything he might regret. She asks somebody to read him his rights as she holsters her weapon. Soon after, Cassie leans against the trunk of a car, sipping a drink and Chris asks her why she’s still here. He figured she’d be halfway to a shower by now. She tells him that she never actually slept with Tommy. He replies that’s good, as they don’t asks UC’s to do that kind of thing; that would be unethical.
Chris still wants an answer to his question but Cassie asks if he got her report on the show in Klamath. He did. She asks if anything’s been dug up on the other guy. Chris is mildly sarcastic. “There was so much to go on, Cass. Let’s see, short, hairy, with an attitude. We’re checking the local zoo.” Cassie tells him that this monkey was on a Harley and asks if he ran the license. He has, but the bike is registered to a dead guy in Topeka. He tells her that the man’s gone, he’s a ghost. Cassie wants to go after him and makes it clear to Chris that she doesn’t need to rest and, despite his protestations, is determined to follow up on the case. She tells him that one man might know where he’s gone; Tommy Leeds.
The rain falls heavily as Wolverine approaches the small town of Westfall, Oregon, population 302. He pulls the bike up next to a café and wanders inside in his own inimitable fashion. He seats himself at the counter next to a large bearded man with his left eye missing and wearing overalls and a baseball cap; looks like a mechanic. He asks what’s good in the pies and the waitress tells him that the loganberry’s fresh. Perfect; and he asks for some coffee too. He pays, telling her to keep the change, and the bearded man strikes up a conversation, saying that he likes his bike; American and asks if it’s his. Logan replies that he just rode it out, it’s a delivery. The man asks who for and Logan replies that it’s for Dennis Terril, asking if he’s a friend of his.
As he tucks into his loganberry pie, the man moves off his seat and stands right behind Logan. He says that Dennis Terril don’t got no friends around here, and anyone looking for him don’t got no friends either. He adds that Logan should move on. Logan tells him that he’ll finish his pie first but the man prods him in the back with his finger; “You’re not listening runt,” he says as he gives Logan a shove. Without even pausing, Logan grabs his wrist and slams it onto the counter, saying that he’s eating. The man cries in pain, but Logan warns the others in the café not to bother getting up. They don’t. He finishes his pie and complements the waitress, leaving her a tip as he heads for the door. The bearded man kneels on the floor nursing his aching wrist and Logan says that they should take it outside.
By the time the man emerges, Logan is already fingering his way through a phone directory outside. He and some of his friends surround Logan but he continues searching the book for a name. The men begin to get a little impatient as he continues to ignore them. The bearded man asks what he wants with Dennis Terril but Logan raises an eyebrow as he spots something of interest in the book. “Look at that,” he says, but the man isn’t interested and asks Logan if it’s a beating he’s after. He reiterates his initial question but Logan replies that he’s not looking for Terril anymore; he’s looking for Joe Braddock whose name he points to in the book. The man asks why and Logan replies that he knew his daughter.
In a flash, the man swings at Logan but his right cross flies over his shoulder. “Kill you; rip your eyes out,” he shouts as Logan grabs him around the waist. As the man’s friends close in, he twists the man’s arm around his back and kicks another in the groin, leaving him helpless on the floor. He uses his dexterity to kick another in the face as the fourth man stands, reluctant to join in. The bearded man utters a stream of words to the effect that he’s going to kill Logan for what he did to his Lucy. Pinning the man to the sidewalk, Logan lets his middle claw inch toward the man’s face and tells him to order his friends to back off, or he gets cut. He still struggles, telling Logan that he’d better kill him. He killed his little girl. “No!” Logan replies, standing up, “Not me, the Brothers. It wasn’t me, Joe.” He tosses the bearded man, who he now knows to be Joe Braddock, his daughter’s journal and confirms that he is Braddock. Joe replies that he is her dad, he was her dad. His words crumble away from his lip as tears begin to spill from his eye.
Meanwhile, over in Medford, Cassie visits the jailhouse and speaks to the guard on duty. He tells her that she’ll only get five minutes with Leeds but she replies that she’ll only need three. He asks if she’d like some company in there as he might get a little rough but Cassie is confident and says she thinks she can handle it. The guard lets her in and, before long, hears a commotion from inside the cell. He gets up and looks inside; asking what the hell’s going on in there. Cassie, standing over Leeds, holding his neck to the table with her fist raised replies, “What? Nothing, nothing at all. We were just talking, isn’t that right Tommy?” She smiles sweetly at the officer as Tommy confirms her story, a trickle of blood seeping from his mouth. Cassie says there’s nothing to worry about and the guard closes the door as another smack is heard.
Sometime later, the weather has cleared and Cassie heads up the winding roads heading for Westfall in her red Jeep Wrangler, a map on the passenger seat showing that she’s in unfamiliar territory. She receives a call over her radio, asking her to respond. “Dammit Cassie, I know you’re listening,” Chris shouts. She picks up, and Chris asks what the hell she did to Leeds. She tells him that he slipped and Chris replies, “Yeah, that’s what the guard said too. What’d you get?” She grins and tells him that, according to Leeds, their little friend never gave a name, but asked a lot of questions about some Mac 10’s Tommy sold back in December. A guy named Dennis Terril made the buy and he’s out in Westfall and she figures that must be where the little guy went. He says that she has nothing on the suspect, no name, nothing, just the fact that he wanted to buy some M16’s. Cassie tells him that isn’t the case; he never wanted the sixteens, he wanted the name; he wanted Dennis Terril. As she passes the sign for the seaside, she says that she wants to know why.
By nightfall, Wolverine has joined Joe at his home, a rather bleak affair, sparsely furnished and lacking in refinements. Joe asks him if he has a name, besides angry man. Logan replies that it was ‘mean man;’ she called him mean man. He checks out a photograph of Joe and Lucy, taken on a fishing trip. They look happy. He places the photograph down and seats himself opposite Joe who says that she always gave people nicknames. Even when she was little, Lucy was giving people nicknames. Logan asks him what happened. He was hoping Logan would tell him. She disappeared fourteen months ago but hadn’t run away. He asks Logan if she was in Portland and he confirms this. Clutching a bottle of liquor, Joe says that she got away then. “From the Brothers, you mean,” Logan asks. “Yeah, thank god,” he replies.
Logan says that he’s a little lost here and needs him to explain this to him. Joe asks why he cares and he says that he read it himself; she asked him to. As Logan swigs some of the liquor, Joe asks him if he lives up to his nickname but Logan doesn’t respond, simply fixing Joe with a stare which confirms that he does. Joe then tells him that, about three years ago, a group calling themselves the Brothers of the New World bought some property about sixty miles from there in the desert. They say they’re going to live off the land. The guy who leads them calls himself Cry and has a thing for young girls. “He took Lucy?” Logan asks. Joe asks him if he thinks he would have allowed it? Does he think he’d have sat here on his butt letting him keep her? No, it’s more complicated than that. Cry doesn’t take anyone, they just disappear.
Logan is a little suspicious of the tale and grabs Joe’s arm, telling him not to lie to him. He insists he isn’t. Logan asks why the law around here didn’t check it out and Joe stands, telling Logan that he really doesn’t know anything. He came here looking for Dennis Terril but doesn’t know who the hell he is. He continues to say that fourteen months ago, Sheriff Terril tells him that he’s picked up Lucy, saying she’s gotten drunk with some kids from the high school. He says he’s keeping her in lock-up overnight to teach her a lesson. He says it was his call and he’s doing it, no matter what Joe says. The next day, Lucy’s gone. Terril says he released her and doesn’t know what happened but sure, he’ll go looking. Couple of days pass and he’s still looking. He also says that he’s notified the state police. “He didn’t?” asks Logan. No, Joe replies, and when he asked them, they told him that they talked to Terril and no report was filed.
He adds that the next morning, the sheriff came out with some of the Brothers, come to give him a warning they say. Logan turns his head, his enhanced senses picking up something outside the shack. Joe doesn’t notice anything, instead pointing to his missing eye. He tells Logan that they take his eye and tell him it’ll go to the collection. They tell him that the collection will include Lucy’s eyes if he causes any more trouble. He’s been waiting a year for word… He doesn’t finish his sentence as Wolverine stands and heads to the window.
Looking through the curtain, he tells Joe to shut up; they have company. Outside, Sheriff Terril and a bunch of gun-toting Brothers surround the front of the shack. Terril gets on the PA and talks to Joe. He tells him that he understands that he has a new friend, who is armed and dangerous. He has three seconds to come out with his hands up. He counts down quickly and turns to the Brothers, saying flatly, “Oh my God, he’s got a gun.” The Brothers don’t hesitate as they open fire on the shack with their machine guns.
