With that, the call ended.
“What?” Luke asked, grinning at her.
“It’s a little soon to be telling my brother that you’re going to marry me! In fact, it’s way too soon!”
He shrugged. “I happen to disagree with you on that. I love you, and I plan on following through. You’re not just some random hook up for me. I meant what I said.”
She stared at him openmouthed.
“I meant it.”
“Lucas! I know you felt like a caveman when you caught the rabbits, but this isn't the Stone Age. I do have some say on who I plan on marrying, or if I even have any intention of doing so.”
“You have a say. When I ask, you can answer. In that moment, it’s going to be all on you. What you decide has to be the final answer.”
Maura felt sick to her stomach. There was no doubt what he was saying. If she said no, then what? When had she lost control of her life?
Oh yeah, the night she opted to head to his place to be safe. She’d handed her life over to him.
“Close your mouth. You’re catching flies,” he teased, trying to not let the hurt ebb into his voice.
Maura was still astounded at his declaration. She couldn’t believe that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. No one before ever wanted to do that.
She was married to the military.
Dedicated to her job.
Unable to focus on anything but being a Marine.
Did this man know what a train wreck she was? Lucas Mars was obviously a masochist if he wanted to saddle himself with her for the rest of his life.
Luke was amused by her horror, but he knew that if he backed down, she’d bolt. Pushing forward, he knew Maura’s defenses were down.
Now was the time to wiggle into her life even more.
“When this is over, move in with me.”
“WHAT?”
He was willing to compromise and give her some time to adjust. If he could get her to live with him, see that she could be half of a dedicated couple, then one day he might have a chance of marriage. Like Quinn had said, she was going to be a tough nut to crack.
But he wouldn’t give up.
Never.
“If you move in with me, I won’t bring up marriage again until you do. I’ll meet you halfway. When all this is over, I can’t walk away from you, Maura. I once told Callie that I didn't believe in fate. I was very wrong. There’s no doubt in my mind that fate and love led me right to you, and I won’t let that go. In my life, I know how important it is.”
Maura didn't know what to say.
“Again, I promise that if you say you’ll move in with me, that I won’t bring up marriage again until you do.”
Her heart was pounding in her chest. Here was everything she’d ever dreamed of, waiting for her.
All she had to do was meet him halfway.
Why did that seem so damn hard?
“What if I hurt you?”
He didn't back down. “I run the same chance that I’ll hurt you. I've never lived with anyone before, and as a matter of fact, you’ll be my first serious relationship.”
“What?”
“Ever. You’d be the only one I ever got this far with. Before you, there were random hook ups, but never living with a woman. I never found one I wanted that with before. Until you.”
Maura swallowed. On one hand, she could have a chance at happiness. On the other, she could run like a chicken. Before Luke, Maura believed that her life was complete. Now, she wasn’t quite sure.
Could she live without him?
Staring into his eyes, she saw all the emotion and hope waiting there. He honestly believed that she was going to turn him down. From the tension in his body, he was braced for it.
Hell, this was going to be a huge tactical error.
“Okay. I’ll move in with you if you stop throwing around the marriage word. I’m a planner. I can’t just jump into things. I need time.”
He grinned at his victory.
Step one was to get her to admit that she loved him.
Step two was them living together.
It would only be a matter of time before he would be able to seal the deal and make Maura his wife.
Or so he hoped….
Chapter Twenty
Saturday Morning
T hey decided to go at it with a fresh set of eyes. When returning to Nate’s house, they were tired and starting to second guess everything they were thinking. It was getting frustrating.
Before heading to sleep, they received two text messages from Maura’s team. Redmond Churchill was heading to a safe house that he had set up in case he ever needed to go under. It had once been his grandmother’s.
With Jayson Woods, he didn't have any family, so he was going to head out of the area and lay low at a hotel under another name. It would take a day or so to get his gear ready and get away. From his message, they could tell he was worried about the entire thing.
Who could blame him?
While the man was accustomed to walking around with a bull’s-eye on his back, now he was marked for death. If Maura’s family failed, he was a dead man.
There was no doubt he knew it too.
Once they knew the last of Maura’s team was safe, they headed off to get some sleep. In the morning, they were planning on attacking everything with a different approach.
Now that there was the scrawled message on a dead man’s torso, they had an angle.
Hopefully, that would pan out.
All night, she’d tossed and turned until dawn broke the sky, filtering through Nate’s guest bedroom window. Before long, she’d headed downstairs to get some coffee. For her, it was time to do what they did best as a team. Callie could remember many mornings just like this, where she’d had coffee and talked out a game plan strategy.
When her brother finally wandered down from his room, she handed him a mug of coffee and some breakfast.
“Thanks,” he stated, sitting down beside Quinn to eat the french toast. “Where should we start?” he asked. This was Callie’s area of expertise, and he was willing to trust her to run with it.
After all, he didn't have a clue about profiling.
“I find it fascinating that our killer has finally left us a message,” she stated.
“I think it’s total bullshit,” muttered Quinn. “It’s like he’s taunting us.”
Callie thought about it. “In a way, he might be. He probably isn't privy to the things we know, or he might not have left us that big clue. Until that moment, we were scattered and unfocused. Now, we can direct all energy in one direction. His mistake will help us catch him.”
Nate spoke up, “I’m going to go on record and state that this freaks me out. The last people we dealt with that were flaunting sins and sinners nearly got you killed, Callie.”
Yeah, Quinn vividly recalled. “I’m not thrilled myself. When people are trying to impress God, bad shit happens.”
Callie understood. After all, it had been her tied to that table and stabbed. She’d nearly lost the baby she was carrying and her life to them. “Those three were religious fanatics. So far, there’s no indication that someone is playing toward God’s attention. Let’s think positive.”
Nate was trying. “Honestly, I’ve lost my taste for religion of any kind thanks to it.”
“I’m with you there, bro,” stated Quinn.
“Well, let’s look at what we have,” Callie stated, beginning to let them in on what she was thinking. It had been a long night where she barely slept. When she did, it was filled with dreams of dead Marines and Maura begging for help.
It was very disturbing.
“We’ll start at the beginning as we begin to try and figure out what they all have in common,” she stated. “Our first victim was Marcus Westerly. Anyone have any idea what ‘sin’ he was guilty of?”
Both men flipped through his notes, digging for an answer to her question.
“His roommate said he liked karaoke. D
oes that count as a sin against humanity?” Nate teased. “I know I’d rather die than do it.”
“It should be if it’s not,” Quinn offered back, trying to help lighten the mood.
Callie stared at them both. “Can we be serious?”
It cut off their attempt at humor. If she wasn’t finding it funny, that meant she had a plan of attack.
Quinn gave her all he had, “We don’t have a lot on him yet. Today at some point, we want to head over to the bar that his roommate gave us and ask around. We might find out something there. We do know he was in a fight, but would a killer call that a sin?”
Callie pondered it. “I guess that would depend what the fight was about. When you get that answer, we’ll likely know more.”
She drew a big question mark beside his name on her tablet. For now, they would move on.
“How about our second victim, Bruce Mclead?” she asked.
Nate took this one. “From the outside looking in, he appeared to be squeaky clean. His neighbor was convinced that he was a saint, and when Marcus hung out there with his buddy, they helped her out. Even their military records are relatively clean, minus that one DUI that Marcus picked up prior to enlistment.”
Callie drew another question mark beside his name. “Maybe we’re missing something. If the killer is taking them out because of sins, there has to be something there. Maybe he had a secret. I can dig back through his records and see if something pops up. Now I’ll be looking for anything--including the smallest detail--so it may just pan out.”
It brought them to their third victim.
“How about Christian Bleu?” Callie asked.
“We can only tell you what Cliff told us at the climbing club. He wasn’t liked there. It seems that the man had a propensity to cheat his ass off. If he wasn’t the best, he would get angry and storm away. There were some shouting matches at the club over him not being ‘champion’.”
Quinn sipped his coffee. “Could that be a ‘sin’? I mean, a bad temper doesn’t exactly scream ‘kill me’.”
Callie thought about it. “If this is an inside job, then with Christian being a poor sport, it would be an affront to the killer. Marines leave no man behind, they work as a team, and they’re there for each other. Christian being a dick about it would be a red flag, especially to someone who isn't all there to begin with. We may be dealing with a killer who sees things skewed.”
“Good point.”
“We may not think it’s anything specific but to the person who is doing this, they may.”
Callie marked ‘cheater and unsportsman-like conduct’ by his name on her list. Well, at least they had one person labeled. It was a start. If they could find a sin for all of them, they were likely on the trail.
It might give them the next path to take.
“Okay, how about Thomas Archer?” Nate asked.
“I think that’s an easy one. The man was having an affair,” Quinn stated.
Callie sipped her coffee. “While he may have been, I think that this may go a little deeper than that. It’s possible that he was betraying Maura. If he was sleeping with Bethany Harris and telling her team secrets, then that would be the sin of betrayal. Marines don’t betray each other.”
“We don’t know what he was doing,” stated Quinn.
“Then we’re going to have to put that on our list to find out,” Callie stated. “I’m willing to bet that the woman is going to be rattled. While she wouldn’t admit it before, she might now. After all, she just lost a team member, and we’re going to confront her with sleeping with someone ranked beneath her. She could lose her rank. The military frowns upon superiors fraternizing with lower positioned soldiers. They’re pretty much like the FBI on that account.”
Both men agreed.
“I’ll take that interview. I’ll be able to analyze her and see if there’s something we’re missing. I want to watch her squirm and see what she’ll spill. Besides, Captain Harris is accustomed to dealing with men. I’ll stir her up a little more. She can’t use sexuality to get out of answering. If she is using sex to get secrets, it works for her and she’ll go there again. I’m going to cut off that avenue.”
“I’m almost sorry I won’t see it,” Quinn teased. “I love watching my wife work.”
And he liked knowing she was on a base and safe.
Then again, if this was a Marine killing his fellow soldiers, she may be in even more danger.
“How about Maura?” Quinn asked. “Whoever is doing this missed, and that had to piss them off.”
Callie didn't disagree. “I’m going to go with the obvious sin. I think whoever is doing this has issues with women or more importantly, issues with Maura being in charge of this team. That’s the only thing it could be. You know your sister. She’s married to this job. She plays fair but is really tough. At some point, she likely pissed someone off. Do you agree?”
Both men did.
“My only issue with this is that we’ll never know who she upset. Men will be intimidated, look at Leroy Walker. There’s no doubt he harassed her to show dominance over her. Now, he’s dead, so if he didn't do it, who did?”
“We’ll figure it out,” Nate promised. “Don’t worry. She’s with Luke, and he’ll keep her safe.”
That was easier said than done. His baby sister was a target for this madness, and he wanted to wrap her up and keep her protected.
If he didn't, Quinn believed he would be a failure. After all, he’d promised his mother, before she died, that he would hold the family together. While he wasn’t the oldest, he was the caretaker to their clan.
“I hope you’re right.”
They offered him reassurances before moving on.
“Next, we have Brick Brighton. He seemed to have one hell of a temper and liked to beat on weaker members of the opposite sex,” Callie stated. “Any Marine, or man in general, would see that as offensive.”
“I agree,” Quinn stated. “While I’ve wanted to put you over my knee many times when you get too out of control, I’m disgusted by the idea of hurting you.”
Nate choked on his coffee. “Really? She’s my sister. I don’t want to think about you two going at it in some kinkfest.”
Quinn laughed. “I love busting your ass.”
Well, Nate had news for Quinn. There was one thing that would wipe the grin off his face. “You know, right about now, your sister is waking up naked with Luke. I bet she’s all over him.”
That did it.
Quinn put his fork down. “I may be sick.”
“See? It’s all fun and games when it’s not your baby sister being boinked by some perverted man. Trust me. I’ve heard Luke’s sexcapades first hand.”
“Oh Christ.”
Callie found them both amusing. “Back to the main discussion here, boys. We have a Marine who is sworn to protect, and he has two PFAs for kicking the shit out of his wife. That just screams affront to me, darlin’.”
“That would definitely be a sin to men and women alike. That gives us three definite possibilities,” Nate stated.
“How about Leroy Walker?” Quinn asked. “Other than being a letch who couldn’t keep his eyes off my sister’s assets, that’s a man thing. I don’t think it would be a sin.”
“I agree. Men are going to be men.”
“Yeah, so I noticed,” Callie quipped.
Quinn leaned over and kissed his wife. “Until they get married and get the girl. You’re the only woman I want to sexually harass.”
She snorted. “Thanks, big guy. The feeling is mutual.”
“Uh, what’s his sin then?” Nate asked.
Callie had to think about it. Using everything she knew about the man, she also cross-referenced it with the rest of the team and their ‘sins’.
Then, she had an idea.
“What?” Quinn asked, knowing she had something. “I can tell you’re onto something. The wheels are spinning.”
“While leering at women wouldn’t necessarily be a sin, h
ow about failing to do your job, and then ratting out your team to the competition?”
She had a point.
“But how would the killer know?” Quinn asked.
“I think that we definitely have someone who is watching these teams. Maybe the military wasn’t as stealthy as it thought. Yeah, they hid two super teams in the middle of the Marine base, but what if someone figured it out?”
She had a point.
“Revenge and anger are good motivators for murder,” Callie added. “If medical files were tampered with, it would have to be from the most logical place. The main office.”
Quinn spoke up, “It can’t be that hard. When we were interviewing Stephanie Simpson, she mentioned that her fiancé would pop in unannounced. Why couldn’t anyone do just that?”
Callie thought back to the security. “All it would take is catching the door before it closed, or ‘borrowing’ a badge.”
“Good point.”
“Maura had her missions on her computer. Who’s to say that someone didn't access that?”
“We need to find out,” Nate suggested.
Callie had an idea. “I’m heading to the base, so I’ll handle the colonel too. I might be able to get something from him, or at least clarify who could access the files and Maura’s area.”
“Works for us,” stated Quinn. “While you’re doing that, we’ll shake Stephanie’s tree to find out what she knew. Since all these men’s cell phone records have her number that alone may freak her out enough to spill the beans.”
“I say we tell her that her fiancé was murdered,” Nate suggested. “I’m done pulling punches on this.”
“I agree,” Callie stated. “We’re running out of time and Marines.”
Both men understood the implications behind that. Until the killer struck again, they wouldn’t know if it was strictly members of Bravo Ghost, or now Alpha Phantom too.
“Then, we need to head over to that bar where Marcus and Bruce hung out.”
“We can meet back here after to compare notes,” Nate suggested.
“Keep your ears open for anything related to Jayson Woods and Redmond Churchill. All we really know is that Stephanie Simpson had a little something with him. Again, doesn’t make it a sin.”
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