by E. M. Leya
Jeremy wondered if that meant going out and picking up other men too. While they were having a lot of sex together, he didn't dare think it would last. Once D could go out and pick up new playthings, the sex between them would stop, because Jeremy wasn't into being one of many men in D's life. Casual was fine, but he drew the line at being with someone who slept around all the time.
"You should dye your hair or something," Rani said.
Jeremy and D started laughing. "He had his hair dyed blonde when he came here. It wasn't a good look on him. As much as I agree he should do something, dyeing his hair isn't it. I'm not sure what is, but D's not a good blonde and I think red would be just as bad on him."
"I've grown my hair out. Figure long hair will make me look a bit different, but honestly, it's taking forever to grow. I swear when I wanted it short, it would grow several inches a month and I was always getting it cut. I've also grown the beard and mustache a bit, but can't deal with it too long." D ran his fingers through his hair. "I'll dress differently when I go out, hide the tats. It's the best I can do."
"Just be safe. I'm not sure I can pull off a jailbreak. I'm not Carter." Jeremy hated the thought of D locked up again.
"If I get arrested again, they won't be able to get me out. The police will make sure they have some kind of back-up system to keep it from happening another time." D sighed.
"No one is getting arrested. I refuse to even consider the thought." Rani reached for another slice of pizza. "We aren't even going to think about it. We have too much work to do. Speaking of work, Beau said I needed to start storing blood. You two aren't scared of needles, are you?"
Jeremy sat back. "What do you need my blood for?"
"Just in case something happens. It's good to have some stored. Do you know your blood-type?" Rani asked.
Jeremy sighed, he was sure this was going to make them happy. "Yeah, and I get a feeling I'll be giving a lot of blood. I'm O-negative."
"Thank God." Rani smiled. "That will make it much easier. You're right, I will make sure to take more from you, because it is the universal blood type, but I promise not to take a ton. It's just nice to know you're here if we need it."
"Let me know when you want to stab me." Jeremy sighed.
D laughed. "Don't be so dramatic."
"Easy for you to say. You're used to needles." Jeremy ran a finger over one of D's tattoos.
"Not even the same." D shook his head. "I'm going to grab you that info for the lady I'm going to try to talk to. I'm not even sure she'll be home or talk to me, but I want you to at least know where I'm going."
"Be careful." Jeremy hated how worried he was. The more time he spent with D, the more attached he was becoming. He was trying to control his emotions and not feel anything more than friendship for D, but it wasn't easy. He'd never been the kind of guy to do casual dating, but if that was what D wanted, he had to find a way to deal with it or decide to walk away, which he was sure he didn't want to do just yet. Not only was the sex great, but having someone to hold, to talk to, to share his fears with, that all made it so much more.
"I will. I shouldn't be too long. I'll be back before dinner."
"We'll grab some steaks if Rani doesn't mind stopping at the store while we're out." Jeremy glanced at Rani.
"Fine with me. There's a few things I need as well." Rani stood, going to the sink.
"Grab me some shaving cream, would ya?" D asked as he leaned over and brushed a kiss over Jeremy's cheek.
"Sure." Jeremy stared into D's eyes for a moment. "Call if you have problems. Don't take any risks."
"I promise." D stood. "Good luck finding a good vehicle. I say go for a big truck."
"I'm looking at a Dodge." Rani wiped his hands on a towel. "We'll see. I'm not very comfortable driving. I got my license in New York, thinking a car would be good to have, but never got around to buying one."
"Good thing. You would have had to drive across the country to get here." Jeremy closed the pizza box and took the leftovers to the fridge.
"Traffic here is nothing like New York. I'm glad I waited." He looked at Jeremy. "Let me change my shirt and we can go, if you're ready."
"Yep." Jeremy just needed to grab his wallet from his room. He turned to D. "Good luck. I hope she works out for us."
"If she agrees, I'll set up a meeting somewhere with her. I want you and Rani to meet her before we bring her in." D kissed Jeremy softly. "I'll be safe, I promise."
"You better be." Jeremy smiled. "I'll be glad once we have a team and don't have to worry about trusting strangers anymore."
"So will I." D tossed his soda can in the garbage after finishing it off. "See you tonight."
Jeremy watched as he walked out the door. It wasn't as hard as when he'd left for the sting, but almost. He worried that each time D went out in public, he wouldn't see him again.
He needed to get his emotions in check. This wasn't good. Even Beau had called D a sex addict, hell, D had admitted he was. He wasn't the kind of guy to settle down. Determined to keep himself from falling for the wrong man, he vowed he was going to start going home at night. Spending the night in D's arms was only going to make it worse. He'd give D the sex he needed when he wanted it, but beyond that, it was all going to stop. This was starting to feel like a relationship, and Jeremy was enjoying it way too much.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
D glanced at the address on his GPS one last time, confirming he had the right place. He'd spent the morning trying to figure out the best way to contact Jessica, but in the end, he figured just knocking on her door was the easiest way.
He made his way up to the front porch of the modest home and rang the doorbell.
It took several seconds before he heard the lock inside click, and the door opened. He smiled as he recognized Jessica from the background check and news reports he'd read. "Hi, my name is Dallas, and I was hoping I could talk to you for a few minutes." He cringed inwardly as he listened to himself. He sounded like he was there to sell her solar panels or something.
"What's this about?" Her gaze traveled over him as if trying to get a read on him.
"Your work. Stopping the pedophiles." He hoped it would be enough information to get him in the door.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I know who you are."
"You do?"
"Of course. Your face was all over the news a month or two ago. The question I have is what do you want with me?" Jessica leaned against the door, watching him closely.
Something about her demeanor told him that she could fuck him up if she wanted to. She didn't look mean, but there was a confidence in her eyes that most people didn't have with a stranger standing at their door, especially one who had just busted out of jail. "I'd like to discuss some things with you if I could, unless you plan on calling the police on me, of course."
"I'm not calling the police on you. I'm glad you've started working here in Denver. When I heard about the twins being saved and heard you'd attacked the guy first, I was delighted." She smiled. "Your secret is safe with me."
D narrowed his eyes. "How did you know about the attack? It wasn't made public."
Jessica rolled her eyes. "Do you think you are the only one with connections? I've been doing this too long, and made too many enemies for me not to have friends in high places." She stepped aside. "Come on in. How do you take your coffee?"
"Black, please." D followed her inside, shutting the door behind him before going into the kitchen with her. "Nice place."
"It's home. Nothing fancy. Have a seat." She poured them both a cup of coffee, topped one off with cream, then set the black one down in front of him before taking a seat across from him. "So, Dyson, or whatever your name is now. How can I help you?"
His chest tightened at her use of his old name. "It's just D now."
"You know, whoever you work with is impressive. I've hired some of the best people to look into your group, at least I'm assuming it's a group. There is talk of several of you going in at one time
. Pedofucks' statements all are about the same, talking of masked men, but the sizes, the voices, the mannerisms vary."
"You know quite a bit about a team that is operating out of state." D raised a brow, trying to figure out how much to tell her. His gut said he could trust her, but his fear of being caught had him cautious.
"I do my homework, especially on people who have the same goal as I do." She smiled at him.
"Same goal, different means." He nodded. "You want them dead. I like to make them suffer the rest of their lives."
"Both work. Managing to do both together would be even greater. Trials take years. They would suffer on death row if you cut them before the courts condemned them."
D nodded his agreement. "The likelihood of that happening is slim though. With the idiotic movement of people trying to claim pedophilia as a sexual orientation, no one would risk passing a bill killing people right now. I admire your idea, wish it was realistic, but we both know it's a battle that we won't win. At least my way, I'm making sure they never rape another child again."
"At least with their bodies." She sat back, crossing her legs.
"True, but it's better than nothing, and eunuchism tends to weaken them. They aren't the monsters they used to be. Some can hardly get through the basic actions of daily life after being castrated."
"We could argue our cases for hours if we wanted. Something tells me that's not why you dropped by." Jessica's gaze locked with his. "Why are you here?"
He stared at her, taking in her long, light brown hair, her pale skin, perfect complexion. Passing her on the street, he wouldn't look twice. She was pretty enough, but she was also ordinary, looking like the girl-next-door. She didn't draw attention, but didn't turn it away either. He took a deep breath, giving himself a second to make his decision. Did he ask her to join or walk away?
"You trying to figure out if you can honestly trust me with something?" Jessica asked.
"Exactly." D wasn't going to deny it. "As you can guess, we don't just discuss what we do with anyone."
"So, you've done your homework, ran a background check on me, dug into my past. You probably know more about me than any other human alive does. So why the hesitation?"
"Would you want to trust me if I didn't hesitate?" D asked. "You wouldn't partner with someone if they weren't careful, would you?"
"Partner?" Jessica smiled as she sat up straighter. "Now this is getting interesting."
D took a drink of his coffee as he watched her over the rim. Personally, he liked her. She was straightforward and not hesitant to call him on things. She said what she thought, and that was nice. There wouldn't be any games between them. "I want to ask you to join our new Denver team."
Jessica didn't show any reaction. She wrapped her hand around her coffee mug and nodded. "Doing?"
"If you have the stomach for it, we need another cutter." He figured he didn't need to go into graphic details. She knew who he was and what he did.
"Oh, I have the stomach for it. The question is, do I want to take the risk?" She took a sip of coffee, her actions as casual as if he'd asked her to simply have dinner with him, not go around cutting off human parts.
"Until my arrest, the team has successfully managed thousands of stings without getting caught, and even now, when I was caught, I still sit here in front of you a free man. The team is careful, but we also take care of each other. We are family, and we don't leave one of our own in jail." He lifted a hand when she went to say something, stopping her. "That doesn't mean there aren't risks. Our team has been stabbed, shot, beaten, and critically wounded at times. I can't promise you will always be spared injury, but again, we take care of our own when that happens as well."
She rolled her eyes. "What? Did you manage to find a doctor to patch you up without turning you in?"
"Two actually." D smiled.
"You're serious?" Jessica's eyes widened.
"I am. We have a medical clinic on location with fantastic doctors who are willing to work with the teams and not leave any paper trail of our injuries." D wasn't sure why she was so surprised by this.
"You found doctors who will look the other way? Risk their license to help you?" She leaned back. "This surprises me."
"Why? They aren't doing anything more than healing the sick or repairing an injury. They are one part of the team. Not all of us go out and hunt, there are many who work behind the scenes to make it all come together."
"And if I don't want to cut, what would you do with me?" Jessica asked.
"We'd talk and see if you have any other talents that would be an asset to the team. If so, we'd invite you to join. If not, I'd wish you luck and be on my way." D hoped she wouldn't turn him down. They needed people to go on the stings, but if she wouldn't, there were plenty of other areas she could help in, if she was interested.
"Why me?" Jessica asked.
"Because I see that look in your eyes. You've either seen stuff or been through stuff that makes you angry. You're pissed off that no one is paying attention to the abuse that goes on around us every day. Like me, you're mad that these assholes are getting off with a slap on the hand and going out and abusing kids again. I see the passion you have given your cause and think you'd bring that passion to ours." D stared at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking, which way she might be leaning.
"Tell me more about what you do. How you do it." She stood. "Want more coffee?"
"Please." He held his cup out for her. "As you know, due to my arrest in California, I was forced to relocate. We are just starting up a team here. Right now, there are only three of us, but I hope to add a few more. As you can imagine, it's not easy finding people to approach. It's not something I can just post an ad for."
She nodded as she sat back down. "And if you don't find more?"
"We will, but it might take time, but for now, we have enough to get started. We have someone who handles the computers, the hacking, the security end of things, then we have a doctor in case we are injured. Both the computer guy and the doc are active on the dark web, searching out pedophiles and evidence. We don't go after the small offenders, only the worst of the worst. So, the guy next door raping his daughter, we might pass an anonymous tip to the police on him, but the guy who has already been charged, spent time in jail, and got out only to start grooming or raping children again, we go after. We go after the traffickers, the ones making movies and posting them on the web, the ones who are kidnapping, killing." He went on to explain the process, from the moment they found the first post online to the moment they returned back to the STK house to debrief. He left nothing out, wanting her to make an informed decision. The only thing he wouldn't tell her was the names and location. That was something only team members knew.
"How often are we talking?" Jessica asked.
"A couple times a week, probably. It will depend on how many people we find. We will rotate, each taking a night, and working as a team on the bigger stings where there is more than one perpetrator on location."
"And you'll train me how to cut?" She raised a brow at him.
"One of our doctors has created a dummy that we all train on, then I would join you on several stings, letting you watch me the first time, then do them yourself the next few times. Once we are both sure you're comfortable on your own, then you would be put into the normal rotation." D was hopeful she was going to agree to this. Why ask all the questions if she was going to refuse?
"What do you do with the parts you cut off?" She asked.
D smiled. "We leave them there. It depends on the person, but I usually like to set them on their chest before I leave so they can stare at them while still paralyzed, but others have tossed them across the room, or just left them where they fall. There is no right or wrong. Our only really serious rule is we don't kill unless our own or the kids' lives are at risk. The police in California were pretty good about not really looking for us as long as we didn't kill. It was easy for them to quietly support what we do. We'd hope for the sa
me here, but know we can't assume anything. It's too soon to know how the police will react once we start acting on a regular basis in the area."
Jessica smiled. "They won't be hunting you down any time soon. I have it on good authority that they were unofficially celebrating that you'd moved here. They were hoping you weren't just passing through when the first one happened."
D grinned. "And just how do you know this?"
Jessica shrugged. "I may know someone who worked the case."
"If you join the team, you can't let this person know you're working with us. The rules are strict on who we let know about us. It's always put to a vote before we invite someone in. If one person votes no, the person isn't welcome. It's the only way this will work." D prayed she would keep her mouth shut. They had too much to lose if she didn't.
"What makes you think I won't run off and spill all this information now?" Jessica asked.
"My gut says I can trust you, but I also haven't given you anything that can hurt us. You know who I am, but I'm pretty sure the police figured out already it was probably me. The location and others on the team are safe. That's information you won't get until you make your decision and meet with the others for their approval."
"So this is just the first step in the job interview?"
"Unless you are a total bitch to them when you meet them, I have a good feeling you're in. They've trusted me to come talk to you, so that tells me they would welcome you if I feel you're worth an invite."
"Am I?"
"You are."
She nodded as she stood and walked over to the counter, leaning against it as she watched him. "I'm interested. I have no qualms about doing the cutting. Honestly, my fear is I might enjoy it too much. I could see myself becoming obsessed with it." She shrugged. "I'm just being honest."