“Knox is concerned about you,” Skinner informed him.
“Knox is an asshole who’s trapped inside a house, waiting for something to happen, no different than me.”
“I can see that. Sinacola, I don’t normally worry about you. If you need out of there, just tell me.” Skinner’s voice had changed, not quite to the level of ‘pissed off’ it had held before, but Kreed wouldn’t call it warm and fuzzy either.
“Of course I will. Why’d you call?”
“I’ve got Thomas Hasselbeck, the head of the IT Department at Redemption Apostle Tabernacle, in custody. We’ve been productive on our end. The dots are starting to connect. What Stuart was able to give us put the church in front of several sets of very well-connected eyes. We’re elevating this to a domestic terrorist cell, Sinacola. Bottom line, Hasselbeck comes with a stronger IT background than we realized. There’s concern that if he showed up onsite, he could jeopardize what Stuart’s accomplished. It appears the church searched him out to protect their systems. I’ve got interrogators in with him now. He’s showing signs of breaking, but he’s hanging on longer than I thought. I’d hoped we’d know more before Stuart went back in today,” Skinner explained.
“All right,” Kreed said as he stopped pacing in the middle of the room to take in the new information. That changed everything.
“Explain the threat level change to domestic terrorist cell. That’s a pretty big leap in such a short amount of time. What did you uncover?” Kreed tried to understand the steps Skinner had taken over the last twenty-four hours. His brow furrowed at the implications. All of a sudden this case hit way too close to home for more reasons than just the hate associated with sexual orientation. His eyes closed, and he listened intently to every word Skinner said.
“It’s a cell, Sinacola. It’s organized and there are several. These people use religion to hide behind and single out the victims to prove their point. Your gut’s right. Special Agent Langley didn’t work alone, regardless of his claims in his confession. Now we need to see how far this goes,” Skinner said.
“And you’re following all legalities to make this stick?”
“It’s why you’re staying onsite,” Skinner advised.
“But I’m not alone here, am I?” Of course he wasn’t.
“No, you have backup. They’re close by.”
No way would Skinner leave him alone with that threat. It had to give him hope, even as the dread of the next question filled his soul.
“But Stuart’s alone in there?” The silence that came back said more than anything. Damn it. Aaron wasn’t equipped to handle this kind of situation. Kreed absolutely didn’t fucking want Aaron back inside that church. A terrorist cell? About damn time someone paid attention to those extreme freaks who hid behind the Bible. With his mind racing, Kreed cocked a brow. He was surprised the church had flown under the radar for this long with their vile propaganda and hate-filled picketing.
Think, Sinacola. Stop and think.
What makes this different than any other case? Nothing. Aaron’s green, but solid. Just lay it all out to the kid. He’ll be fine.
But, more than anything, Kreed didn’t want Stuart back inside that church. The church targeted homosexual men and made horrific examples out of them. Fear gripped his heart.
Seriously, he couldn’t lose anyone else right now, especially not Aaron. It would be too much. He wanted a future with him in it. Damn it! What they had would never be just a hookup. Clearly defined emotion was now involved, and he didn’t want his guy walking back into that church this morning.
The minute he’d walked across Colt’s living room and kissed Stuart, everything had changed. This was Mitch-fucking-Knox’s fault. All up in his face, telling him the kid had had eyes for him all night long… Kreed’s jaw clenched as he sneered at the memories in his head. Man, if he hadn’t already thrown Knox off the porch, he’d fucking do it again. This wasn’t even his damn case to worry about. Fucking Mitch Knox! People got hurt every day. That was life.
Kreed steeled his spine and forced all this unwanted sentiment out of his head and his heart. It was harder to do than he’d ever thought possible.
“Sinacola, answer the fucking question,” Skinner said, forcing him to tune into the conversation again.
“Repeat,” he fired back, having no idea what question he’d missed.
“Are you sure you can handle this? There’s no shame in walking away. It might even be for the best,” Skinner added quietly. He was the one person on this planet who knew everything there was to know about Kreed Sinacola. Knox didn’t even know as much as Skinner did.
“If I bail, it’ll derail things. I’m not leaving Aaron without someone to watch his back. The kid and I have things worked out. We don’t have time to get acquainted with new partners. He trusts me, and you need the kid,” Kreed reasoned.
“Aaron needs to trust you, but the kid phrase bothers me. He’s almost thirty. Are you using him to fill the void from the loss of your brother?” Skinner asked boldly, and it took all Kreed had not to bark out a laugh at that one.
“Hell no, not at all.” Fuck no! Aaron was the light in all the darkness that had surrounded his life. Hell, it didn’t just surround him, it had consumed him until Aaron Stuart worked his magic. Kreed’s eyes darted toward the door as he realized the magnitude of that thought. Aaron had come into his life and chased the shadows away. There was silence from Skinner, and he had no idea what to say. His director was savvy enough to put two and two together, and if he did, he’d pull Kreed from this case in a matter of minutes. He had to think of something—anything—to help qualify his statement.
“He looks like a kid. Stuart looks real young. That’s all I’m saying. He’s not a kid, and he’s vested in this case just like I am. It took us a few days to get things right. He’s not overly social. He doesn’t do well with all this, but I think he trusts me now. It’d drag out this case if we brought someone else in.” When Skinner didn’t respond, Kreed changed his tactic. “I truly believed this was small potatoes. I thought at best we’d find someone here that knew what Agent Langley was doing and tie this case up. It’s bigger than that. I want to see this through for Knox. Don’t take it away from me.”
Silence continued until Skinner finally spoke. “All right. Watch your back. I’ll be in touch. If this goes down like I’m thinking, we’ll have minutes to get Stuart out of there. Tell him the procedure if we storm in. I don’t want him hurt.”
“I will. Stay in touch.” Kreed ended the call. His nerves were getting to him. He looked down at the floor, unable to escape the frustration building inside him. He was so unbelievably angry at himself. Why in the world had he crossed the line? Ignored his rules? Just missing Skinner’s call yesterday spoke volumes to his state of mind. All he could think about was Aaron Stuart, and that could get them both killed.
Rage boiled below the surface at the stupidity of his choices. He fisted his hand, trying to hold off the burst of anger that usually followed. Aaron wouldn’t understand if he went out there and laid into him for no reason. It wasn’t Aaron’s fault Kreed had broken his own rules. Even now, as mad at himself as he was, he still wanted the kid on a level he’d never experienced before.
Apprehension settled in. Kreed was working in uncharted territory. He sat on the edge of the sofa and hung his head. Minutes passed before he was able to move his thoughts from something ugly and destructive to finding a common ground in this new turn of events. So what was the bottom line? Kreed lifted a hand to tick off the points with his fingers.
Aaron meant something to him. That was a fact.
He didn’t want to leave this case. That was a fact.
But why didn’t he want to leave this case? Was it a sound reason? That took a little longer to answer. He didn’t want to leave the case because he didn’t want Aaron’s welfare left to anyone else.
Decision made.
He stood at the same moment Aaron knocked on his door and pushed it open to stick h
is head inside. They were now officially past the private boundary stage if the kid was comfortable enough with Kreed to open the door regardless of what he might be doing.
“What’s wrong?” Aaron asked, and Kreed furrowed his brow at the question. Aaron shoved the door open all the way and stepped inside with a wet head and wearing his khakis and a white undershirt. “What happened?”
“What’d you want when you came in here?” Kreed asked, trying to skirt around Aaron’s question.
“You go first.” Aaron stood in front of him with his hands on his hips. Kreed liked Aaron’s height, but resisted the urge to lean in and kiss those upturned lips. He wasn’t sure where to draw the line now, especially after determining he really liked Aaron, but he needed to figure that all out before he made too many more moves forward.
“I’ll tell you over breakfast. I need some coffee.” Kreed extended his hand and began to step forward, but Aaron didn’t move. That concern on his beautiful face twisted Kreed’s stomach. Kreed bent forward, almost as if compelled, and kissed those pouty lips he couldn’t resist. The worry in Aaron’s eyes had been too overpowering. Kreed only wanted to comfort him. Out of all the players in this game, Aaron needed to be the one with the least concern as he went back inside that church today. Kreed reached out, wrapped an arm around Aaron’s shoulder, and began turning him toward the door. “We’re good. The case’s moving forward. It’s gonna be fine. I promise.”
Aaron stayed rooted in his spot, clearly not believing him. Kreed went for the door before turning back, forcing all the emotion from his face and voice. “Food’s in the kitchen. You’ve gotta be starving; it’s been at least eight hours since your last feeding.” He smirked at Aaron before turning and leaving the room on that joke. Hopefully that would reduce Aaron’s unease with whatever expression he’d seen on Kreed’s face when he’d barged in the room. Eventually, he heard Aaron following behind him. Now, he just needed to decide how much to say.
~~~
Aaron sat across the kitchen table, watching Kreed push his breakfast around his plate. Before the last thirty-six or so hours, he would have said that might be usual for the man. Back then, Aaron’s sole focus had been on finding ways to remain aloof and unengaged, but now he knew there were too many sides to Kreed. One telltale sign things weren’t right had to be when Kreed took the seat across the table from him. They’d been eating every meal together side by side since yesterday morning.
Beyond that, Kreed’s face was way too passive, as though he was controlling his movements and his words. The lack of sarcasm and snarky remarks leaving his lips should be enough to concern anyone who’d been in Kreed’s presence more than a few hours. Honestly, it was kind of freaking Aaron out a little bit. At first, he thought the new, aloof attitude was Kreed’s attempt at creating distance. That was fine. Kreed could try, but Aaron wasn’t entirely certain of the reason behind his actions, meaning something may have changed from the time Kreed left the bedroom until Aaron followed. That couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes at the most.
Looking down at his watch, Aaron estimated he had about an hour before he had to be across the street, reporting in for work. That didn’t give them much time, which meant Kreed needed to start talking.
Not quite finished with his food, Aaron laid his fork down on his plate. He picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth before laying that out on the table. He pushed the plate back a little dramatically. “Spill it, Sin.” Relief seemed the most dominant look on Kreed’s face, but he held firm to the quiet. “So you’re just gonna let me go over there blind and not tell me whatever’s eating at you?”
“I texted Connors. He’s checking on a few things. I need an update from him before I know for sure,” Kreed said vaguely.
“Tell me what you know,” Aaron demanded, placing both elbows on the table as he leaned forward, going for the tough-guy routine.
“I only know enough that it sounds dangerous,” Kreed said as he seemed to look over Aaron’s intimidation tactic. Amusement flashed in Kreed’s eyes, but the handsome deputy marshal quickly covered it with a smile. Aaron rolled his eyes. So much for being the tough guy.
“Well, isn’t that what the alphabet boys do best? Make everything way more dire than it really is?” He tried to bait Kreed into telling him what he still wouldn’t say.
“Not this time, Stuart.” Kreed stood, picking up both their plates and taking them to the sink. He rinsed them and wiped down the counter before turning to face him again. Kreed rested back against the sink, crossing those brawny arms over his chest. “They’re escalating the church’s status from hate group to a domestic terrorist cell. That’s significant. Hate group implies verbal spewing. A terror cell indicates desire to harm. That tells me that it’s not only isolated to the single agent and perhaps someone rogue on the inside. And it’s probably not isolated to that building across the street. But while I have thought of them as homegrown terrorists, now everyone’s on the same page, and the intel points to it starting there. From what they’ve been able to glean from the access you were able to grant them, they had enough to take the IT manager into custody. They’ll hold him and his family until this case’s resolved, but it sounds like he’s part of the problem, and they felt, with his background, he could figure out what you’re doing.”
“So Hasselbeck won’t be there today?” Aaron asked, trying to follow all the information given. Once the term terror cell was mentioned, he wasn’t certain he’d heard much else Kreed had said.
“No, he’ll be on medical leave with no access to the church. Those calls have been made to excuse his absence. He’s in federal custody under lock and key. His background reports are shady at best. He knows his shit. Skinner compared him to your skill level. They feel like he was hired for the specific purpose of keeping people out of the church’s shit. Regardless of all that, you’ve been an unexpected asset. They’re afraid he’ll catch what you’ve done, and they want to protect against that for as long as possible,” Kreed explained a little further. Now he got why Kreed had been so weird this morning.
“He wouldn’t,” Aaron said absently, looking down at his hands. A terror cell. Wow. Okay.
“You don’t know that,” Kreed started, and Aaron lifted his head.
“Kind of I do.” He wasn’t being cocky when he said that. There weren’t too many people on this planet that did things like he did.
“That cocky attitude’s my biggest concern.” Kreed sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “At this point, we assume nothing.” Kreed shoved off the sink counter and paced into the living room. Aaron had noticed Kreed’s pent-up energy during the meal and knew the man needed a direction for it. He seemed larger than life right now as Aaron watched the guy walk across the room.
“It’s not arrogance that leads me to say that. In really basic terms, I set it up and masked the hell out of it—actually several times. It appears somewhat simple to remove, kind of basic. So if they search, it just looks like the breach is a little better than an amateur move. If I found it, I wouldn’t look further,” Aaron said, trying to explain while also trying to calm Kreed’s nerves. “I don’t take any of this for granted. Trust me on that. I’m not trying to play hero here.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Kreed spun around and headed back his way. “I assured Skinner we’re solid.”
“We are solid,” Aaron said, confused. Where had that come from out of everything just said?
“But without being in DC, I can’t know for sure what they’re looking at. I only get bits and pieces of information that they feel are important. There’s too much left unsaid, but what they think they’ve found is big. You’re green, and I’m fresh off bereavement leave. We aren’t ideal,” Kreed explained.
Yeah, okay, so he got that. He’d argued that exact point before they threw him into the middle of all this.
“The terrorist thing’s weird to me, but I always had a feeling it was big.” Aaron pushed his fingers through his hair, the weig
ht of the situation starting to take hold. These people killed because they hated another group of people that they saw as an abomination to their God. Those were extremely archaic and barbaric ideals and spoke volumes toward the findings he’d uncovered so far from that church.
“I honestly downplayed it in my head. I’m pretty certain Connors did too. I had a feeling we would find answers here, but I didn’t realize how far this thing actually reached and how organized it truly is. We’ve got backup, but my first thought was that I didn’t want you back in there,” Kreed said quietly, now standing less than a foot away from him.
Kreed extended a hand to touch his face, but stopped mid-reach and dropped his hand to his side. It didn’t matter that Kreed didn’t follow through with the touch, Aaron had caught the flash of intense concern in his eyes before Kreed took a step backward. Aaron realized that was Kreed’s way of putting barriers back between them, and that was okay. He could deal with that. It seemed crazy, but if Kreed had grown attached to him over the last twenty-four hours, Aaron needed to allow him to create distance, at least for the time being. Kreed needed his mind on the case and not on Aaron. It seemed a reasonable coping mechanism.
“So really nothing’s changed on our end. Everything’s different from the bureau standpoint, but we’re in the same place we were. Right?” Aaron asked.
“I guess. You just have to keep your ears open,” Kreed reinforced.
“Exactly what I’ve been doing.”
“Listen to me. If anything feels off, you get your ass out of there. I’ll be tracking you every step of the way, but it’s on you to keep your guard up. You hear the wrong thing and you take off for the closest exit,” Kreed stressed.
“Of course I will.”
Kreed stared at him long and hard, the deputy marshal’s dark eyes searching his.
“I promise I will get out of there, Kreed.” Aaron saw some of the tension ease from Kreed’s face as he made his oath. Kreed didn’t say anything, just nodded once and turned to leave.
Full Domain (A Nice Guys Novel Book 3) Page 25