A Sweet Man

by Jaime Reese

  “Bull’s tough. You know that. And Aidan’s too hardheaded to give up on finding him.”

  Ben nodded again, fighting the burn in his eyes. A tear finally escaped when Cal slid his arm around Ben’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

  Cal’s arms were big and strong. His embrace was solid and unyielding.

  But they weren’t Gabriel’s arms. And they didn’t give him the same peace.

  Ben sat on one of the kitchen barstools, out of the way from the chaos around him. Less than an hour had passed since he had walked through the door, but the physical exhaustion of the long day couldn’t hold a candle to the tiredness seeping through his brain.

  Standing across the room, arms crossed and giving him the space he needed was Julian. He had obviously pulled the short straw to determine who would be at Ben’s side while the other stayed behind at the house with the new residents. Ben was thankful. He appreciated Matt but was certain he couldn’t handle his coddling. He would take Julian’s quiet guardianship instead.

  Ben had read more than a dozen different lips in the group—Aidan, other team members on his task force, and a mix of people wearing forensics and crime scene investigation badges. He had even tried deciphering the one-sided phone call Aidan had with someone who was a hacker. Or maybe he was a sharpshooter. Or were they a musician? Ben closed his eyes and ducked his head. Everything started jumbling together. How hacker, shooter, musician, horses, and dogs merged together in a single, short conversation didn’t make much sense. His brain was obviously too mixed up to read lips.

  He glanced up, refusing to withdraw from his surroundings. If he let his mind pull away, he would shut down. And that wouldn’t help Gabriel.

  Cal had become his surrogate. Listening to all conversations and then relaying updates back to him. That he could handle.

  Barely.

  People took photographs of every inch of the living room, choosing that area as the focal point since Ben had found Gabriel’s phone there. Men dusted for prints, leaving that black powder everywhere. All over the kitchen, Gabriel’s worktable, the living room.

  He sighed.

  Gabriel would hate the mess.

  He swallowed heavily, fighting back the tears. Again. He closed his eyes and counted, just as Cal had told him to do. It helped settle him a little, but he needed to do…something. Opening his eyes, Ben stared off at a random spot on the wall, willing his mind to go through everything he recalled reading from anyone who had spoken since they arrived. Someone had gotten in without destroying the place, so they had access or Gabriel knew them and had opened the door. The moment the hotel team heard about the break-in and Gabriel’s absence, everyone jumped into action. All demanded instant meetings with staff to gather information. Interviews, unfamiliar faces, anything suspicious.

  Rachel had called the moment Calvin had alerted her, offering any and all resources—including her plane and an endless budget to pay for anything or anyone who could help in the search. She and Anthony were on their way. Definitely not the circumstances Ben had hoped to encounter for their first face-to-face meeting, but he was grateful for her friendship and help.

  He wanted Gabriel home.

  He couldn’t lose him.

  He wouldn’t.

  He closed his eyes and channeled Matt’s spirit of positivity, willing the negative thoughts to vanish so his mind would clear. He imagined Gabriel standing before him, telling him that he was stronger than he thought, reminding him that Ben had a warrior inside.

  In his mind’s eye, he saw Gabriel’s teasing smile and that magical dimple.

  Peace soothed the nervous jitter in his stomach with the love in Gabriel’s brown eyes and the promise they held. The panic and fear slowly receded, replaced with the strength of commitment to that promise.

  Gabriel would do everything in his power to come back to him.

  It wasn’t a wish.

  It wasn’t a guess.

  It was a fact as firm and as strong as the man himself.

  Ben’s eyes shot open as a memory flashed in his mind.

  He bolted up from his seat, nearly tipping over the kitchen barstool. Cal, Julian, and Aidan immediately followed as he raced to the living room. Every second counted…and he had wasted almost an hour. He yanked the coffee table closer, needing the few extra inches, cursing himself for not having remembered sooner. His eyes welled with emotion as he mentally reprimanded himself. Maybe it was the shock or the fear clouding his thoughts.

  He jerked himself out of the grip of the tech trying to stop him.

  Fuck them.

  No one was stopping him.

  He reached the top of the entertainment wall unit, feeling his way behind the front lip of the furniture until his fingers grazed what he sought. With the small square panel remote finally in his hand, he stepped off the table and pushed it back to its spot.

  He startled at the tap on his shoulder.

  “What’s going on?” Aidan asked, finally mouthing words slower than he had in the last hour.

  Ben grabbed the television remote and turned on the TV, switching it to the video feed channel. He turned the panel toward Aidan, pointed at the TV, and then pointed to the small, hidden camera on the bookshelf.

  Aidan huffed. “Fuck. Why didn’t I think of that! Of course he’d have a camera.” He nodded at Ben as the first hint of a smile cracked through Aidan’s facade. He motioned with his hand, urging Ben to hurry it up.

  Tapping at the buttons, Ben quickly rewound the feed. Using the image displayed on the large living room screen as a guide, he continued tracking back time, watching a replay of everything that had happened in the last hour. Backwards, at triple speed.

  He took a deep breath as he watched an image of himself racing through the living room, turning off lights until finally finding Gabriel’s phone. He had to trace the video back to when Gabriel had been home. Aidan tried to take the remote from his hand, but Ben twisted his shoulders, pulling the remote away from his grasp.

  He had to be the one to do this. He needed to feel as if he were doing something to help find Gabriel.

  He gasped, pausing the video when Gabriel filled the screen with three masked men standing in front of him.

  A tap to his shoulder stopped him. “If you don’t want me to work the video remote, then you need to go back to the point when they first came in. We need to see the whole thing and what happened. We might have to see it a few times. If you need to walk away, you walk away. Okay?”

  Ben nodded and backtracked the video. He could do this. He had to do this.

  Everyone stilled as the scene replayed. Gabriel napping on the couch, turning to find three men in the living room. The hidden camera didn’t record audio and the masks made it impossible for Ben to read their lips.

  His breath froze in his lungs when the man shot Gabriel.

  Twice.

  The techs had found one of the darts on the ground and had sent it off to the lab. Ben’s lip quivered when Gabriel stumbled, clutching at his chest. Gabriel was in pain, fighting to hang on. One punch. A few more words, then one last punch before they all dragged him out and away from the living room camera.

  Ben exhaled a slow, shaky breath, seeking that inner fighter Gabriel claimed lay dormant inside him. He took a deep breath and straightened, rewinding the video again for another replay.

  He watched.

  Again.

  And again.

  There had to be something.

  His hands shook as he replayed the video a half dozen more times, numbing himself from the emotion and forcing his mind to see every detail. He pretended he was watching a movie with some actor he didn’t know.

  Anything to desensitize himself to the images and spiraling thoughts.

  After two more replays, he gasped, quickly pausing the video. He pointed at the screen.

  “What?” Aidan asked, swinging him around to face him. “What did you see?” Ben raced away and grabbed Gabriel’s tablet, pulling up the writing a
pp. There wasn’t a chance in hell he could steady his hands enough to type on the small phone keyboard.

  He resumed the video and typed each letter Gabriel had signed when he had moved his hands behind him.

  A string of letters. V-i-p-e-r-s-o-n.

  He continued watching. He flinched with each viewing, but kept his eyes trained on Gabriel’s hands, refusing to miss the tiniest detail. The second set of signs seemed random, more like a series of letters strung together. C-h-i-c-a-g-o…m-a-n…b-r-o-w-n-s-h-i-r-t…l-o-v-e-u-b-e-n.

  He sharply inhaled as tears burned in his eyes and finally broke free. A comforting hand on his back settled him. He glanced over his shoulder. Julian had obviously interpreted the signs as well. He returned his attention to the television feed. Gabriel knew. He knew Ben would remember the camera and find the clue.

  He quickly double-checked the video and confirmed the other random words Gabriel had signed—saving the end for himself—and handed the tablet to Aidan.

  Aidan read the tablet, the color draining from his face as he pointed to the first thing Gabriel had signed that made the least amount of sense.

  “Are you sure that’s what he signed?”

  Ben stared at Julian, but the man didn’t respond. Almost as if he sensed this was something Ben had to do on his own. Ben nodded at Aidan and pointed to the tablet again.

  Aidan quieted. His lips weren’t moving but his mind was obviously racing. “Guys, you can all leave. You’ve dusted enough and we saw in the video they all had gloves. You won’t find anything more if you haven’t found it by now.” Something was different about the way Aidan spoke. His mouth was more controlled, and the words seemed to leave him more sharply, likely because of the tension and rage screaming from his body and that pulsating vein at his temple.

  He was pissed. Angry as all hell.

  But he was obviously shaken.

  As if waiting for the command, the techs collected their things, sealed up their equipment and left. Aidan turned and said something to the other two task members who had stayed behind. They both glanced at Ben, nodded at Aidan, then left, leaving him, Cal, Julian, and Aidan alone in the room.

  Ben pulled his phone from his back pocket and typed out a quick note on his app. Funny how the anger rolling through him steadied his fingers enough to type on the tiny keyboard. What are you doing! We need to find him!

  “I know,” Aidan said, raising his hands, trying to calm Ben down. “But we need a different pool of resources.”

  Ben frowned as Aidan placed a call. He stared at Aidan’s mouth, ready to read every single word he mouthed even though it would be a one-sided conversation. He inwardly cursed when Aidan turned away, pacing as he spoke on the phone.

  Julian placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder, drawing his attention. “He’s talking to a general,” Julian signed as he listened to Aidan. “…a mission he and Bull were on.”

  Aidan finished the call and stood in front of Ben. “I’m going to need access to Bull’s laptop and printer.” Ben curtly nodded but refused to move. Aidan’s lips thinned. The man was stubborn, but so was he. That vein in Aidan’s temple pulsed but Ben refused to give in.

  With a sigh that seemed to draw the energy from his entire body, Aidan glanced to the others. “What is said here stays here. No exceptions. And it’s not me you would have to deal with. Got it?”

  Everyone nodded.

  He looked to Ben. “If I talk too fast or you don’t understand something, you stop me. Okay?”

  “I’ll interpret so you don’t miss anything,” Julian signed.

  Ben nodded to Julian and then motioned with his hand for Aidan to continue.

  “We had several missions where our goal was finding key players on a short list. We had code names for each of them. Viper was one. He was the target we secured on Bull’s last mission.”

  Aidan waited for a few moments while Julian signed.

  “Viper was careful. It took years and two different teams. We didn’t have much intel at the time, but the mission report listed Viper had a son and wife. I believe that’s what Bull was trying to tell us. That the man with the gun was Viper’s son.”

  Ben thought back to the other random words. What about the other signs? He turned the phone to show Aidan his typed question.

  “If it’s what I think it is, then this is a bigger problem.” Aidan glanced over at Julian, waiting for him to finish signing before he continued. “I think he was referring to that protection detail assignment before coming back home. The one in Chicago. When he told me about the roof takedown, he referred to the last man standing as Brown Shirt Guy. If that’s the case, then it means they’ve been trying to get to him for a while.”

  Something wasn’t adding up. If Gabriel was part of a team, the same team Aidan had been on, why the hell was this such a surprise to Aidan, Gabriel’s team leader at the time.

  Ben shook his head as he typed another note. Why him?

  Aidan swallowed heavily as he read the note, something odd flashed in his hazel eyes. “That…I don’t know.”

  Cal touched Ben’s shoulder but kept his attention on Aidan as he spoke. “You know who the guy is. Can’t you just find him?”

  Aidan shook his head. “It’s not that easy. I need a face. Name. Something to get me going other than a father-son connection. I can find out about the guy from Chicago, but I need information if I’m going to tie that back to Viper’s son. If this guy learned anything from his father, he’ll know how to bury his tracks. The general I spoke to is trying to get me clearance, but I only know one guy who can get me whatever I need if it’s not in some government file.”

  Julian stopped interpreting and frowned, looking at Aidan. “Dylan?” he asked, then fingerspelled the name so Ben could follow.

  Aidan nodded. “He’s the only guy I know who can get through anything. But he’s going to be livid if I need him to do something that isn’t legit, especially if it risks his current job. He’s already pissed I asked Wall to come down. But I need Wall here in case I need a sharpshooter. I’m not going to trust anyone else to take a shot if Bull’s at risk. The team is on their way to pick up Jessie. As soon as I get clearance, I’m going to sic my Jess on that fucker like a tick. Between him and Dylan, they will find him.”

  Ben’s head spun. It was too much information. Between lipreading and Julian’s interpretation, Ben felt he hadn’t missed anything, but he still didn’t feel as if he had all the missing pieces.

  A touch to his shoulder stilled him. Aidan’s piercing hazel eyes stared back at him. There was understanding in that gaze and patience he didn’t often extend to others. “You’ve already met Jessie, my partner.”

  Ben nodded as he tried to settle his nerves.

  “His specialty is research. He can find the tiniest of details about people, but he needs more than a father’s old code name. And Dylan is a hacker. He used to be a resident of Halfway House. He’s officially a government employee now. Follow me so far?”

  Ben nodded, thankful for Aidan’s and Julian’s patience.

  “He and his partner, Wall, live on a horse ranch upstate. Wall is a former task force teammate of mine and the best marksman I know. It’s why I need him here.”

  Ben cocked his head, the pieces of the earlier conversation suddenly falling into place. “Dogs and music?” he signed, then looked over at Julian who interpreted for Aidan.

  With a chuckle, Aidan nodded. “You’re a little dangerous with that lipreading skill.” He shook his head and stared at him, almost in awe. “Dylan likes to threaten me by giving me stray dogs. I mentioned him before. He’s the guy who gave us King and Luna. Wall carries his rifle in a guitar case.”

  “But they can help?” Ben signed, glancing over again at Julian to interpret.

  Aidan nodded. “I know they can.” Aidan glanced down at his phone. “That’s the general. We’ve got clearance.” He quieted as he scrolled through a message. “It seems they kept monitoring Viper’s connections over the years. They have
a screen grab of his son’s face. It’s a few years old, but Jess should be able to use it to find something.”

  Aidan turned the phone’s display toward Ben, the blood instantly running cold in Ben’s veins and leaving him lightheaded. He glanced up from the screen, his gaze skipping across to each face, stopping to read Julian’s lips as he spoke. “He looks familiar…but I can’t place the face.”

  Ben tapped Julian’s shoulder, holding back the rising worry, signing as his hands shook. “The guy from the home improvement store.”

  Julian’s expression hardened. He took a step closer to Ben as if his proximity would provide some sort of protection from the memory.

  “Aidan…” Julian said.

  “Yeah?”

  “That guy approached Ben months ago.”

  “Fuck.”

  Aidan grabbed his phone and immediately launched into one call, then another, pacing as he spoke, making it impossible to read his lips. With Cal on one side and Julian on the other, Ben remained standing. Their presence the only thing keeping him steady when the entire world around him was falling apart.

  Ben absently glanced around, wondering what Gabriel would think of the last-minute change. Aidan had asked Cal and Julian to swap the small couch from the guest room with the treadmill, placing the sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, setting it next to Gabriel’s worktable which Aidan had commandeered.

  Gabriel’s peaceful workspace had become a command center. Aidan spoke on his cell, the hotel phone, and video calls as he simultaneously touched base with both his team and Jessie at the police station, and Dylan at his ranch home. Aidan was determined to find Gabriel, and Ben refused to stand in his way or interfere with his progress.

  After raising hell with his government and agency contacts, Aidan had gained access to a lengthy stack of confidential files. The file hadn’t contained much personal information on Viper’s son but had included information on a string of deaths linking back to Viper nearly a decade after his death. It was why the government had kept monitoring his contacts. With Viper’s death confirmed, they knew it couldn’t have been Viper. With years of careful satellite monitoring, they had gained the visual confirmation they needed: the man was a spitting image of Viper, only younger and most likely the son on record. The son who had followed in his father’s footsteps and had a list of crimes that rivaled those of his father. Viper’s son had officially earned his spot on the very same list that had held his father’s name for two decades.