I was so relieved that I didn't think about anything else, I threw myself in Liam's arms and kissed him deeply. I lost all track of time as it was just me and him. I could smell the clean sweat mixed with his musky cologne as I kissed him. “Don't ever scare me like that again,” I whispered against his mouth.
He smiled at me and kissed me back, “you know I can't promise that.”
“My mom? You said she was safe?” Jack asked.
I turned my attention to him, “yeah. Let's call Langley. I'm Danny, by the way. Nice to officially meet you.”
“You're the CIA agent?” he asked.
“Yep.”
“Damn Liam,” Jack said and turned and looked at his friend who was now standing. “You caught yourself a bad-ass spy.”
I smiled at Jack, “you could say I caught myself a bad-ass frogman. He's the one that saved you out there. I just gather intelligence, definitely not Bond-level shit.”
“Could have fooled me, not many people will come running out to disable a bomb when it’s about to go off.”
“Maybe not, but that's not my norm. I blend and observe.”
“You okay, brother?” Liam asked Jack.
“Yeah man, thanks for the save. Sorry I had to almost blow you up.”
Liam pulled Jack into a bro hug, “don't ever apologize for something that wasn't your fault. I would have done the same thing in your shoes.”
Jack looked like he was about to get teary-eyed but he coughed and changed the subject, “Can I talk to my family?”
I turned around and it looked like my dad still had my phone in his hand. He was talking to someone. “That still Langley?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. He handed me my phone and then pulled me into a hug. “I'm so proud of you son,” he whispered into my ear. He had said that before, but this is the first time he meant it about my job as a CIA agent and not as a coffee shop owner or a travel blogger. God, it meant so much to me that he was proud of the kind of work I did.
My birth parents never told me they were proud of me, even when I diligently did and wore exactly what they wanted me too. I thank God every day for Him bringing my mom and dad into my life when he did. I was about to give up everything when he found me.
“Thanks, dad.”
I click the phone off speaker and put it to my ear, “take me off speakerphone Bruce,” I said.
I heard him put it on hold a few minutes later he came back. “We have a leak, I don't know if it’s from us or the Navy but I'm going dark until this guy is dead.”
“Like hell you are,” the man yelled into my ear.
I shook my head even though I knew he couldn't see me. “I don't care what you have to do, but I am going dark. My fucking family could have died. My boyfriend and his teammates could have died because of some damn leak.”
“Yeah, get your ass back here and we'll figure it out.”
“Fuck you!” I hung up and threw the phone across the room. That old man sat in his pretty office and made decisions based on rules. He was a field agent a long long time ago but he had been out of the field for a long time. He also didn't know Eclipse as I did. I saw the damage and destruction he caused every time I chased him.
Liam came up to me and pulled me into a hug effectively stopped me in my tracks. I looked up at him and then around the room, everyone was silent and looking at me. It was then that I remembered Jack's request.
“Sorry, Jack, you can hit redial on my phone and Anne can get you in contact with your family.”
Jack went over and grabbed my phone and walked towards the kitchen. I didn't fail to notice that he was clutching Rebecca's hand with a death grip.
Liam dragged me to the couch and pulled me down in his lap. The rest of the world disappeared for a bit. We didn't kiss or anything, we just clung to each other and ran or fingers across each other’s skin, almost as if we were making sure it was real.
Yeah both of us were still reveling in the fact that we were finally together again. I had waited and prayed for this day since Liam left 6 years ago but I had given up hope when he didn't come back.
Liam whispered non-consequential words in my ear as we sat there. They weren't anything important just meant to soothe both of us. I knew he was still coming to grips with everything that happened in the last 24 hours and the fact that I worked for the CIA. I am sure he never imagined I would ever be in danger, since I never even hinted towards wanting anything like it.
I hadn't known what I wanted to be when I grew up. When I was a kid I wasn't allowed to talk about how I truly felt my birth parents always pushing their agenda on me. I was supposed to be prim and proper. I couldn't be the rough and tumble, play-in-the-dirt little boy that I wanted to be.
I knew I was different from my friends. All they ever wanted to do was play house or play with dolls. I just wanted to go outside and play with the boys. Eventually, I stopped asking if I could go outside and play with the other boys in the neighborhood.
Then I had no idea why she wouldn't let me play with boys it didn't make any sense to me but I knew now and I hated her for her bigoted ways, both her and my father. He was worse than she was. He had my marriage planned out the day I was born to his business partner's kid who was 2 years older than me. We didn't even get along. We hated each other.
A phone brought me out of the moment. I looked up to see my dad answering the phone. After a few minutes, he hung up.
“The shooter's in the wind and the bomb squad has confirmed the bomb has been neutralized. We need to get everyone to a safe house.”
I nodded in agreement, “we should split in case one house is compromised. Also, we need to get intel if we can but I can't get Langley to look until we know more of who and where the leak is coming from.” I trusted our tech ops, ZZ with my life. He wasn't the problem and I knew with 99% certainty that no one would be able to hack his systems without his knowledge, but I couldn't stake my loved ones lives on 99%.
“We need a computer that can't be traced back to Liam or I,” I said to my dad.
“Agreed,” my dad said. “I'll take you and Liam to the station and you can use my office PC.”
Chapter 12
Liam
W e shut down everyone's phones and Darius locked them all in the safe in his office. We put everyone into the larger vehicles. We were able to fit everyone into 3. Rebecca and Jack took one with a burner phone and directions to one of Darius' safe houses. Darius took another burner and went to another safe house.
Andre, Danny, and I were going to head to the police station and do some digging until it was time to get the rest of my team. Once we picked up the rest of my team we would split again. Clint and his guys would go with Andre to meet up with Darius while Liam and I would grab Dante, the last member of my fire team and meet up with Rebecca and Jack.
I messaged Clint before we turned off the phones that I would pick him up. We knew it was a risk but we didn't want Clint going to the house since we didn't know where Eclipse was.
Andre led Danny and me into his office and called one of his officers in. “Sargent Cain,” both Danny and I tensed as he said the name. “You remember my son and Liam O'Neal right.”
I squeezed Danny's hand, I noticed that he turned ghost white. His dad noticed too as a look of concern came over his face. I steeled myself for a confrontation before I turned to face the Sargent. Andre's look of confusion was warranted when he locked eyes with me. I silently plead with him not to ask, I only hoped he understood. He nodded then we both turned to Calvin Cain.
I was quite surprised at what I saw. Cal had tension in his jaw but his eyes conveyed a sorrow that I felt in my bones. He quickly assessed both of us, his eyes lingered on our joined hands before looking quickly back up at me. I still saw the sorrow in them but I also saw something else, longing. The man in front of us was not the same Cal that we went to high school with that's for sure.
Cal held out his hand, “hi Liam, hi Danny, it's been a long time.” It looked like he wan
ted to say more but he glanced at Andre and stopped. When neither Danny nor I shook Cal's hand he dropped it. He continued to watch Danny out of the corner of his eye but he turned back towards Andre. “What can I do for you, boss?”
“So Liam here is a SEAL, Danny is well, he's got clearance that's all you need to know. They need to investigate some stuff on the down-low. There's a leak somewhere so they can't have their cyber guys do it. Can you help out?”
“You got it, boss,” he said as he let out a breath. The man was very tense but plastered on a smile as did Danny and me.
Andre grabbed his coffee cup, “I'm going to get some paperwork done since I won't be here for the foreseeable future. Let me know if you need anything,” he said and headed towards what I remember to be the break room.
As soon as Andre was out of sight, I spun on Cal, “find someone else to help us,” I said through gritted teeth.
Cal held his hands up in submission, he looked around quickly and then under his breath said, “I know you probably want to kick my ass right now, and I deserve it. But, you guys need my help right now so can we save the ass-kicking until later?”
“I don't fucking care,” I was so pissed that I stepped into his personal space and was about to punch his smug face when Danny's rested his arm on mine.
“Don't,” he whispered to me. “He's not worth it, babe.”
God, was I actually going to punch this asshole in the middle of a police station? Danny was right he so wasn't worth it. I realized that my hand was still in the air so I quickly dropped it to my sides.
Cal looked away, he looked nervous as hell but to his credit, he didn't walk away. The tension in the air was thick as fuck, but no one said anything or moved for a few minutes.
“So um, Call started, diverting his eyes, “I would totally get um,” he looked around again, then back at us, “I would get Bob, to um help but, he doesn't know shit about computers, and well, uh. You need, you need... my help,” he practically gulped the last word.
I was about to say that he could go shove a stick where the sun doesn't shine, when started to reach for my arm then thought better of it but his spine did get rigid and he said the next part without stuttering as he had before, “please, let me help you.”
He looked right in my eyes when he said that. His eyes showed that of someone haunted not a psychopath.
I looked at Danny and saw compassion in his eyes? Which had my hands relaxing at my side. “Fine, lead the way.”
Cal shifted nervously, “um, first, can I um, can I talk to you guys real quick, to clear the air?” Cal asked.
“Lead the way,” Danny responded.
Cal sucked in a breath, “I wanted to apologize to you. I know what I did that night is unforgivable so I'm not expecting you to forgive me. I did and said horrible things to you both of you all throughout high school and I regret every one. I'm not sure why you didn't tell anyone what happened that night, Danny. I know it had nothing to do with protecting me. There is no excuse for what I did that night, I could blame it on a lot of things but I won't justify it with a lame-ass excuse.”
I saw Danny relax a little but he didn't say anything for a long while, “Cal, you are right. It will take a lot more than words for me to ever consider forgiving you. But we were teenagers,” he looked at me, “I made mistakes I regretted too. I can't tell you if I will ever forgive you because there are some things that are unforgivable but we can be civil.
“You are right, I didn't tell anyone what happened not for your sake but for mine. I just recently told Liam what happened. When I heard that you went into the police academy I was shocked. But I hear from the coffee shop gossip that you are a decent cop. So I understand that you are sincerely trying to be a better man.”
Danny turned to leave, but Cal put his hand on Danny's shoulder, “Thank you for listening, even if you never forgive me I said my peace. Now let's go get that information you need.”
Danny and I headed into the hallway without another word with Cal following behind after he plugged the cameras back in. Cal led us down the hallway to the bull-pin. It was empty except for the desk Sergeant. Cal led us to the desk in the farthest corner. On the desk was a picture of Cal with his arms wrapped around a few guys. Not the guys that he hung out in high school that's for sure. The picture was probably from a few years ago and he didn't seem to have as much bulk on his person as he does now.
He caught me looking at the picture. “Those are my friends from college, Sam and George. I'm not friends with any of the guys from school anymore. They dropped me like a rock when I finally embraced my sexuality.” He shook his head and continued, “You wouldn't believe the beating I got from both them and then my dad when I came out. It was definitely karma getting me back for all the shit I did.”
“So what do you guys need?” he said sitting down at his computer.
Danny blinked out of whatever he thought he was lost in, probably the same thoughts I was about Cal. He was a completely different person from the one I had known in high school. But then again I never took the time to get to know him. Then he seemed to be the ringleader of his gang but he just told us that they kicked his ass.
It was true that he usually stayed out of the physical torture that we went through in high school but he participated in the physiological all the same. Thinking back I do remember seeing bruises from time to time on him but I always figured they were warranted or some shit.
Fuck what if I missed something, all his teasing and bullshit were him trying to hide what was happening to him? Damn it, I couldn't... wouldn't feel sorry for the guy who rapped Danny on the bathroom floor.
“I need to access my email so I can get you a picture,” Danny said. Bringing me out of my revive.
“Won't that possibly give away our location to this guy?” I asked.
Danny waggled his eyebrows, “only if Langley knew about.” When I gave him a questioning look he continued, “I'm a fucking spy, baby. I can go dark even from Langley if needed. I keep all my stuff backed up on a private server in my basement and an email account that NOBODY but me knows about not even ZZ knows it. Call me paranoid but sometimes it's best if Langley doesn't know what I'm doing.”
“God you're sexy when you talk like that,” I said as I pecked his lips. “But who the fuck is this ZZ, should I be jealous.”
Danny's face split into a smile, “hmm, maybe,” he said running his fingers up my arms. “He is just my type after all.”
I saw red, I literally saw red, “baby, I'm just messing with you, you should know I don't have eyes for anyone but you. ZZ is just a friend.
I may or may not have growled and pulled him into a kiss. “Mine.”
He rolled his eyes then looked at Cal, “May I?” Danny asked pointing to the keyboard.
“Sure,” Cal said getting out of the chair, “you guys want coffee or anything?”
“Sure,” we both said at the same time.
“Creamer? Sugar?”
“Spoon of sugar and no cream for me and black for Danny,” I said.
Danny went about getting into his accounts on the PC. I went ahead and checked out the rest of the police station looking for things that we could use if needed. The station was small. There was only a handful of desks probably only 2 detectives worked for the entire city. I don't remember the last time there was a death in the city. At least the bull-pin area was clean. There were 2 offices along the back wall before it led down to a hallway where the interrogation rooms were.
Andre's office was on the left, the farthest from us I noticed that he was back in his office behind his desk.
“Here we go,” Danny said bringing me out of my musing.
I looked over his shoulder and saw a picture of Eclipse, it was the best picture that I have seen of him I could make out his features. I hadn't ever seen a close up before. He looked the part of Middle Eastern but there was something off about his features that I couldn't quite pinpoint. I shrugged off the thought, did it really matter.
“That's good. Let's see what Cal can find on the cameras.”
Yeah,” Danny looked around and saw that Cal still hadn't returned from getting the coffee. “I don't know if we can trust him.”
I leaned against the desk and spread my legs. I pulled him into my arms. “Neither do I, but we can't rely on our people right now until we find the leak. We'll have to trust that he has changed. He seemed sincere. If he hadn't said and done what he did when we got here I would already be out that door. I still want to kick his ass for what he did to you.”
Danny smiled, “I can kick his ass myself now, thank you.”
“I know you can, but that doesn't make me not want to do it myself.”
“I love you,” he whispered and then kissed me. I immediately gave in to the kiss and opened my lips when he ran his tongue across my lips. The kiss was slow and tentative, exploring every corner of my mouth. He tasted like coffee and syrup, the perfect combination of bitter and sweet.
“So good,” I whispered against his mouth before diving back into the kiss. He lifted his hands and ran them both through my hair as we depended on the kiss. I heard him moan a few seconds before someone cleared their throat.
When we pulled apart we saw Cal standing there watching us with lust in his eyes? Hmm, that was interesting. I brushed the thought aside. “Sorry,” I said before turning to the topic at hand. “Can you run this through facial recognition and see if we get any pings around town and the airport. See if we can track this guy at all.”
“Sure thing,” Cal said with a smirk.
“Need to keep it on the down-low to don't share it with anyone. Don't mention Danny, Andre, or my name in any of the searches either.”
“No problem, do I want to know why you can't have the Navy and apparently the CIA get this information,” he said looking at Danny. Danny froze, how the hell did he figure that out, “don't worry I won't tell anyone,” he added. “Not like I have any friends anyways, he mumbled under his breath.
“Why do you think? Trust me, you're the last person I would come to for help,” Danny said.
A Spy and His SEAL Page 7