by Scott, R. J.
traumatic events, through vivid daytime memories or
dreams. He couldn't stop them and they would occur
suddenly and without warning. They always came with
really intense emotions like grief and guilt or fear and anger. He couldn't keep them in."
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"And most of the days were like that?" Beckett couldn't keep the horror out of his voice.
"Yeah. Pretty much." Kayden shrugged but this time the movement seemed to convey so much.
"Sometimes when it happened it was like what he had seen overseas was happening again. The same people would die in his waking dreams and the same helplessness he felt then would wash over him. He didn't ever leave the compound; it was the one place he felt safe."
"I bet it was frightening as a kid to see your dad so upset."
"Yeah, as a kid I just wanted to look after him and my mom." Beckett sat forward in his seat. "When my mom died I was nearly eleven. I was this freakishly bright kid who had no maternal influence. That lasted about three years or so before my dad told me he hated me and that I had to go. Then Jake was there, he and his dad took me to their home and that was the end. Well, no, the end was when there was the shit about child abuse and the
authorities raided the compound. Jake and I got there as it was winding down and it was me who held my dad when
he was dying. That was the end of it all."
"Shit," Beckett said quietly. He shook his head at his own stupidity. "Sorry," he said softly. "I didn't mean to poke at old wounds."
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"You would have found out sooner or later. Jake means well but sometimes he is a little free and easy with the old 'my brother was in a commune' shit." Kayden reached a hand out and Beckett immediately grasped it. He felt suffused with warmth at the instinctive grip. "Anyway I don't believe in secrets," Kayden replied. "Not when I plan to have something with someone that lasts longer than one fuck up against a wall".
"Longer?" Beckett had never really had any kind of relationship that lasted past the third date. Why was Kayden talking about relationships? What the hell was going on here?
"Does that scare you? The whole idea of a few
weeks of fun?"
"The idea of longer when I don't have anything to base it on? Yeah, a bit."
"Life's too short to be scared of deciding you want more." Kayden slid closer, as close as his belt and the center console would let him.
Beckett thought back to his mom. She'd only been a
few years older than him when she'd died. Kayden was right. Life was too short. He completed the movement to the middle of the vehicle and suddenly he was up close and personal with Kayden. It was way past nice. This close, and with the blurring in his eyes clearing up, he could
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concentrate fully on the color of Kayden's eyes, the shape of his mouth, the sweep of eyebrows and the soft curls that lay on his forehead.
"We have five minutes left to fill."
Beckett could have whined in frustration at that
statement. Five minutes wasn't long enough for anything serious. The first kiss shook that thought right out of his head. Kayden didn't hurry. There was no force or pressure or anything other than taste. He slid a hand up into Beckett's hair and it was a caress unlike anything Beckett had felt before. Gentle and restrained the touch was grounding in the here and now and promised so much
more. Beckett's hand rested on Kayden's arm then he traced the length of it so his hand entwined with Kayden's in his hair. This feeling of connection and need was something he could get used to.
The Kevlar vest he wore was digging into him and
he wanted it off. He wanted everything off. He just wanted it all. Reluctantly, Kayden moved back but didn't take his hand from Beckett's hair and his loose grip. Beckett pressed his head against the hand.
Kayden smiled at the gesture but with a gentle
squeeze of fingers he released the hold and then checked his watch. "We need to make a move."
Beckett didn't want this interlude to end but he
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knew they had a job to do. That kiss though, he decided, would last him forever.
They hit the city limits. Albany was a maze of
twists and turns once they left the back roads outside of the city and Beckett idly watched the shops and houses as they drove by.
"Yeah." Beckett turned when Kayden spoke but Kayden was clearly listening to a voice in his ear piece. He pressed a single button on the dashboard. "Go ahead, Manny."
"How far out are you?" Manny 's voice echoed into the car and Beckett startled from his musings.
"About twenty-five minutes out," Kayden replied succinctly. The Kayden that had been talking about a relationship a few minutes earlier was replaced by 'stern Kayden' as soon as Manny spoke.
"We're maybe ten from your position but we have a problem. I'm not clean. Austin decided to come with and we've been tailed since we left his house." Kayden pulled the SUV over to the side of the road immediately. They stopped outside of a Mom and Pop restaurant in a no
parking zone but none of this seemed to matter to Kayden.
"Ops are tracking, clean plates and three men in the car.
Could be the bad guys, could be we got ourselves an
alphabet tail."
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"They've been watching Austin?" Beckett jumped to the only available conclusion.
"Spotted them as soon as I arrived. Waited until city limits but I didn't want to try and shake them."
Beckett felt a familiar curl of fear in his belly.
Kayden was silent and clutching the steering wheel tightly.
His expression was impassive and Beckett just stared at him. Manny was silent at his end of this conversation. What the hell was happening now?
"Are we aborting?" Kayden finally said.
"We've led them this far." Manny replied. His voice was calm. The direct opposite of what Beckett was feeling inside.
"Kayden—" he started. Kayden simply lifted a hand to stop him and then turned to him thoughtfully.
"I'm not happy taking Beckett into this."
"Ops is confirming only one vehicle. The two of us could handle this in our sleep." Manny was utterly convinced of what he was saying. What were he and
Kayden talking about? Surely Manny wasn't suggesting they confront the people following him and Austin? "We've scoped a site. I'll set up and you follow."
"Manny—"
"This is our chance to kill two birds, Kayden; get the evidence and catch us some possible bad guys while
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we're at it."
"If they are the bad guys then they'll just be hired help," Kayden said thoughtfully.
"Money trail, K, money trail."
"Is there no one else?"
"Nearest is Adam Brooke and he's still sixty out."
"Shit, Manny—"
"Yes or no. The more I drive round the quicker
they'll catch on."
Beckett waited with bated breath. This wasn't
happening. The whole visit to the bank for the information from his mom was supposed to be a quick pick up and then back to the safety of his temporary home.
"We're in." Kayden finally said and Manny was virtually high fiving over the comms with a whoop of glee.
"I'm calling Ops," Manny said before the comms went dead.
"Shit." Kayden snapped and then turned to face the front of the 4x4. A beep indica
ted something happening on the system integrated into the 4x4 which looked a lot better than the standard off the counter sat nav his small car had.
"Got it," he said.
"What are we doing?" Beckett asked. He wished he didn't sound so damn terrified. Any heroic wish to bring down the Bullen's had been near beaten out of him by his
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father and Uncle.
"It's simple," Kayden explained. "Like Manny said, it's the money trail." He reached over and pressed a finger to a small black mark on the outside of the glove box. The smooth glide of a secondary cover revealed a gun and within seconds Kayden had pulled it out. "It's against my better judgment but we may not get this chance again."
"What about me?" Beckett demanded quickly.
"What are you doing with me?"
"Listen to me, Beck. Stay in the car. Whatever you see or hear you stay in the damn car. It's bullet proof and Ops will have eyes on you at all times." Beckett watched in utter disbelief as Kayden hefted the weight of the gun and checked it was loaded. This was made worse when he
handed it to Beckett and the black heaviness of it lay untouched on his thigh. "Its safety is on. Here." He showed Beckett where the safety was. "Do not get out of the car.
Okay?"
"You've given me a gun." Beckett protested. "I don't know how to use a gun."
"If you need to—if you're compromised and there's no help, all you do is point and shoot."
"This is your gun." Beckett couldn't keep the worry out of his voice. "Don't you need your gun?"
"No. Manny is the gun man. He's the firearms
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expert." Kayden said this so matter of fact like it was something Beckett wouldn't question.
"Manny is the gun man." Beckett repeated weakly.
Kayden restarted the engine and pulled a U-turn to head back the way they came for a short distance before
following the nav's instructions and taking a left. "What are you then?"
"What?" Kayden asked even as he concentrated on merging into the queue of traffic at the lights.
"Manny does guns, you said. If he does guns what do you do?"
Kayden didn't answer at first. He concentrated on
following the snake of cars entering the city and they drove in silence except for the sat nav spitting instructions for another ten minutes. Finally they stopped near the end of an alley that didn't look like the safest place to be. Beckett couldn't see Manny or Austin or any sign of bad guys.
Whatever bad guys looked like.
"I use guns, I'm freaking good with guns, but hell, you don't always need a weapon. My body is a weapon," he laughed as he said this and then raised his eyebrows in a leer. "Just stay here. Lock the doors." Kayden was out before Beckett could even acknowledge he'd heard but when the other man pointedly looked at him he scrambled to lock the doors. Within seconds Kayden was gone.
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Movement from his left made Beckett turn quickly. Over the instant clenching pain in his neck he couldn't help the curse that left his mouth. What he saw was like some kind of choreographed movie scene. Manny had three guys
ranged in front of the car in some kind of weird everyone-has-guns face off. Then Kayden waded in to the group, fists flying, and each one was disarmed before they knew what hit them. One by one they dropped to the ground. All the time Manny stood there with his weapon held loose in his hand. When Kayden said Manny did guns, clearly that
meant being there with a gun in case something went
wrong. One of the guys made to stand but one kick from Kayden in the man's groin and he fell writhing.
Beckett wasn't sure what to think. Apparently his
doctor hadn't been lying when he said he had moves.
Beckett watched as Kayden rifled through the pocket of one of the downed guys and then he and Manny exchanged heated words as they looked at a wallet they had retrieved.
Kayden looked pissed and stalked over to the car. There was a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth and he wiped it away without a second thought.
"Freaking FBI," Kayden muttered.
"They were Federal agents?" Beckett asked
horrified.
"Following Austin." Kayden hit the steering wheel
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with both hands. "Fuck."
The back door opened and Austin climbed in.
Beckett spun in his seat and immediately wished he hadn't as pain wrapped around his arm when he knocked it on the seat.
"I'm taking you both to the bank now," Kayden's tone left no room for argument.
"Did you see what this guy just did?" Austin said with shock in his voice.
"I did," Beckett answered and turned back a lot more slowly to face Kayden. Suddenly there was a whole other layer he could see in the man next to him. Restrained and surgical violence with so much confidence it was inspiring. Damn. "Are you going to get in trouble?"
"For what? Beating on some sorry assed lower level FBI dudes? Nah."
Beckett had so much more to ask but the main thing
was to get Kayden to understand how he was currently feeling. It was important. "Sorry," Beckett finally said as they moved into main traffic again.
"For?"
"Doubting you had moves."
Kayden grinned as they stopped on a red. He was
clearly high on the fight. Leaning over he stole a quick hot and dirty kiss then pulled back. "God, that felt good. I
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needed some one-on-one. Makes it better that it was Feds.
It's been a while."
Evidently, Kayden lived for the adrenaline rush of a good fight and he still had the smile on his face when Ops came on line to confirm the three FBI guys would be
picked up in ten and that the vehicle Beckett, Kayden, and Austin were in was clear.
The smile only went away when they arrived at the
bank and parked. Beckett grabbed a handful of Kayden's shirt and pulled him closer until his nose was inhaling the warm scent of Kayden's skin at his throat. The fluttering pulse was racing. It appeared Kayden wasn't unaffected by what had just happened to him or the fact that Beckett pulled him close. With a sudden inspiration Beckett stole a kiss which Kayden immediately deepened. Beckett was
hard in his pants and every single worry was being pushed under by sheer delight in tasting Kayden.
A cough from the back seat separated them and
Kayden pulled away with a smirk on his face. One that Beckett answered with a smile of his own.
Together the three men entered the bank and
Beckett realized it was now or never with the damn code.
What they didn't appreciate is exactly what they
would be walking into.
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CHAPTER 11
The doors hissed closed behind them and Kayden
walked ahead of Beckett and Austin. He needed to be sure of his surroundings. This wasn't a bank in the truest sense of the word but more a repository of locked boxes with the security of Fort Knox.
"It's quiet in here," Kayden said to no one in particular.
"What is this place?" Beckett asked curiously.
Kayden chanced a look behind him; a confidently
smiling Beckett was taking the steps to the foyer two at a time and had the look of an excited puppy. Those damn brown eyes sparkled with the expectation of what they might find in his mom's box. Kayden hoped it was
something worthwhile and t
hat Beckett's life hadn't been put in danger for something that would never stick to the Bullens.
"It was a bank in the seventies; now it's a secure site for document repository. Safety deposit boxes and the like," Austin answered simply. "It's minimally staffed and run on codes and keys."
"Interesting." Beckett caught up with Kayden and it was all Kayden could do not to snap at his charge to stay
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back. He may well have let some of the built-up stress out with those idiots who had been following Manny and
Austin, but under all that he remained strung tight. He hated that this wasn't a normal bank. Hated that there wasn't the welcoming buzz of people in lines. It was too quiet and so far he had only seen one guard. Not a good start as the man hadn't asked any of the men to sign in, or show ID or anything. This place really was some kind of free for all for the general masses to store their important stuff and Kayden didn't like it.
A trickle of unease skittered down his spine but
impatiently he pushed it to one side. No one outside of Sanctuary knew he was here, or that he had Beckett and Austin with him. The place was quiet.
They stepped into what must have been the main
banking hall in a previous life. Tall ceilings and carved columns separated spaces and more security hovered at each gated door. Several inquiry desks were arranged in a semi-circle at one end of the hall and it was to these that Austin strode. Beckett followed and Kayden took up the rear. Suddenly he wished Manny had made it here with him. He felt a little isolated and that never played well in Kayden's experience.
"Can I help you, sirs?" The young woman at the left hand desk looked up from a screen with an expectant smile
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