by Scott, R. J.
A gentleness. A compassion of sorts. "I'm with Sanctuary,"
he finally said. "Adam Brooke. You want to go check on Doc?"
The last was what swung it for Beckett. He took the
hand and stood. Adam picked up the box which sat next to where Beckett had ended up.
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"Austin shot Kayden." Please. He can't be dead.
"We know." Adam's voice, gruff and deep, suited his look.
Beckett wanted to ask, but terror filled him at the
thought of Kayden being dead all because of him. "Is Kayden…?" No. He couldn't say it. The words choked him and tasted of bile.
"He's alive and pissed. Got caught center chest but the angle of the shot and his Kevlar stopped his ass from leaving us too soon."
Beckett stopped walking. Relief flooded him in
direct opposition to the fear and grief that had been building. In fact suddenly all he wanted to do was sit on the steps to the old bank and get his breath. Seeing Kayden was vital but his body was betraying him and his vision was blurred. His chest was rising and falling far too quickly and panic was edging slowly into the equation.
"I thought he was dead," he managed to force out between labored breaths.
"We need to get you out of here before the fan gets any shittier," Adam said quickly. "A minute and you'll be on every news station on the East coast."
Beckett nodded. Using the wall and Adam's arm for
support he finally made his way inside. He heard Kayden before he saw him. The cursing was colorful and every
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other word included Beckett's name and the demand to see him. Kayden sat upright with his back to the wall in the same room that Beckett had just left and without any hesitation Beckett fell to his knees and just stared at Kayden. At least his bodyguard had stopped swearing.
"Don't do that again," Beckett demanded.
"What?" Kayden forced out with a grimace. He pushed away Manny who had been trying to remove his
vest.
"Get shot, you freaking ass."
"Didn't plan on it this time, kid."
"And," Beckett leaned in even as Adam gestured he wanted to get closer. "Don't call me kid," he whispered.
The response from Kayden was the ghost of a smile and then suddenly the paramedics were back around Kayden and Beckett stood back and watched.
It appeared Adam was either a trained medic or had
seen this kind of thing on many other occasions if his inventory of what had happened to Kayden was anything to go by.
"Stop fucking poking at me," Kayden finally snapped.
Adam rested back on his knees. "He's going to be fine," Adam pronounced. "Maybe a broken rib, but I've seen worse. Get him to hospital, get him X-rayed, find him
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some pain killers so he stops freaking moaning like a pissy girl, and then transport him to eighteen.
"Fuck you very much, Brooke" Kayden forced out.
"Welcome," Adam replied.
Paramedics arrived at that moment and finally
Kayden was wheeled out still cursing the air blue. Beckett launched himself after the man who had stolen a piece of his heart. The paramedics stopped as Beckett became
entangled in the wheels. They looked on impatiently as Beckett leaned over Kayden and kissed his forehead.
"See you at eighteen?" Beckett said simply. Kayden looked sideways at Adam who huffed a response which
sounded suspiciously like 'girls'.
"Get the coffee on," Kayden said firmly. "And, kid?
Stay with Adam, okay?" The paramedics continued around Beckett who stood quietly until realizing what Kayden had called him. He didn't even have the heart to call out after the man. Exhaustion had worn him down.
"And Kayden has left the building," Adam
deadpanned as everyone fell quiet.
Beckett looked at the man and then decided if that
was an example of his humor then he would probably quite like him. Of course that was blown out of the water with the next thing out of Adam's mouth. Words Beckett didn't want to hear.
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"You're my case now, kid. You're coming with me."
"Okay, that's enough," Beckett snapped. This was a step too far. He faced up to six-three of mountain in the best way he could with his five-ten height. "I'm going back to eighteen. I'm waiting for Kayden. I'm working on the contents of the box with Manny. And for fucks sake, the next person that calls me kid I will get a gun and I will shoot them. Got it?"
Adam nodded very seriously. There was a twinkle
in his eye but he evidently wasn't going to argue against the tirade. "Manny, you take the information back to Ops. Send on anything relevant."
"Yep," Manny said succinctly. Beckett passed him the box. He lingered, holding it for a few seconds, but it was just to try and connect with his mom before her
evidence was taken away. Manny didn't rush him—simply stood patiently waiting. Finally Beckett released his hold and with a smile of encouragement and thanks, Manny
turned and began to leave the room.
"Manny, wait." Beckett wanted to ask one thing.
Manny stopped and turned with expectation written across his face.
"If there is anything in there for me… can you not let everyone…" God, this was difficult to say. His mom left this stuff to incriminate the Bullen family somehow, every
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word in there was evidence and he knew that. What chance was there that even a letter from her would remain personal to him?
"Anything Beckett. Anything for you, or that I feel is for your eyes only, it will just be me that sees it and then it will come straight to you."
"Thanks, Manny." It was a relief to hear the other man say it.
"No worries." Manny shrugged. Then he left.
Now it was just Beckett and Adam in the room.
Tiredly Beckett slumped to sit on the nearest of the two chairs. Every ounce of energy had left him in a heated rush.
"What happened?"
"I think you got most of the story first-hand." Adam shook his head. "The FBI have had eyes on Alastair and came to us to say he knew about Austin and his connection to you. That he had threatened Austin's family. Evidently he felt getting you was the only way he could guarantee he could get his hands on everything your mom had."
"How did he know my mom had leverage in a box?
I don't understand. No one knew except Austin and me."
"Alastair approached Austin with the threat, said if you ever contacted Austin that he should tell Alastair what you wanted."
"How do you know this?"
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"Like Adam said, because we had him under
surveillance," a voice inserted from the door.
Beckett looked over to the newcomer. It was the
blond from the foyer with the gun. Adam had a barely disguised look of disgust on his face. The newcomer didn't introduce himself, or go out of his way to smooth the water.
"We knew his every move."
Was it just Beckett's imagination or did the
newcomer near spit that word out? There was definite tension between the two men but that was the least of his worries. As the other guy's words sank in, Beckett couldn't believe what he had heard.
"You knew? Did Sanctuary know? Fuck." Beckett buried his head in his hands. "Kayden could have died," he mumbled.
"No Sanctuary didn't know," Adam defended
<
br /> immediately.
The FBI guy held up a hand. "We had to let it play out, we just never imagined Austin would take it this far."
"And now I'm taking you back to eighteen," Adam interrupted.
"You're not taking him anywhere," blond guy said.
"I have orders to debrief Beckett. He's coming with me."
"Like hell is the FBI getting hold of him," Adam snapped.
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The two men faced off and suddenly Beckett found
himself in the middle of a Sanctuary / FBI pissing match.
"Don't be freaking stupid. We need every sentence of what he's heard and what he knows if we're going to get a case to pin on the Bullens."
"We'll debrief him, Lee. Not the Feds."
"Fucking hell." The blond, evidently someone Adam knew whose first name or surname was Lee,
clenched his fists and stark frustration spread in his expression. "Why are you so damn stubborn?"
"This isn't your man. You know that and until your leak is plugged we're keeping him safe." Adam crossed his arms over his broad chest and stood firm.
Lee wasn't a tall guy but he was clearly way past
pissed and stood up to Adam quite impressively. Both men bristled with fury.
Shit. You know I could just take him now. I have
the jurisdiction," he said.
"Over my dead body," Adam replied instantly.
"That can be arranged," Lee said with no hint of irony.
"Can you, hand on heart, tell me you are one
hundred percent convinced the FBI is watertight and that Beckett would be safe going with you?"
Beckett had enough. This macho bull wasn't getting
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him to where he wanted to be; with Kayden. "I don't give a shit where I go as long as I stay with Kayden," Beckett announced over the dead silence that was as cold as ice between Adam and Lee. And with that he left the room.
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CHAPTER 13
The debriefing was hell. Beckett hated talking at the best of times but going back over the entire six months of his time with Gregory and Alastair was hard. Manny had disappeared back to wherever Sanctuary had their head office, Kayden remained under medical orders. Them both not being there meant more time with Adam who despite being a nice guy wasn't Kayden.
And that was the problem. No Kayden.
Kayden was an hour out of coming back to
Sanctuary eighteen, or so Adam had said on his last pass through the main room with coffee some time back.
Beckett had taken to spending a lot of time in the big room with the sofas. Hearing Kayden was coming here was
possibly the best news he had heard all day. He was clock watching and in a world of imagining what it would be like to see the man who talked of relationships again. He spent a long time wondering if they were going to take any of this any further. The kissing had been way past sexy and the memories of a hand job when he was in pain and trying to relax remained enough to make him hard in seconds.
"He's five minutes out," Adam's voice interrupted his thoughts. Beckett blinked up at his temporary
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bodyguard.
"He is?" Beckett scrambled to stand and moved straight to the kitchen. There was no freaking way Kayden was going to turn up to see Beckett sitting at the window staring out into the dark night like an idiot. He busied himself with coffee, pulled cookies out of the jar and listened as Adam dropped the security to let Kayden in.
The familiar noise of door locks releasing and then re-engaging was enough to set the butterflies flying in his stomach and he couldn't even bring himself to turn around as the noise of footsteps into the large front room meant Kayden really was here.
Finally, when it became stupid to stand with his
back to Kayden and Adam, he turned. Kayden was
shrugging off a jacket and then slid onto the stool on the other side of the counter. Gratefully he fell on the coffee and grinned his appreciation of both it and the cookies.
Two days had passed since the whole bank situation but to Beckett it seemed so much longer. Kayden looked well; not tired or in pain. His green eyes were bright with laughter and Beckett loved that. Loved him? Too much too soon.
But Beckett ached to be intimate with this man.
"So Manny worked with the Feds—there's a
warrant out for Alastair's arrest."
"What did they make stick?" Adam asked quickly.
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"The necklace had traces of DNA that forensics
matched to Alastair's, which was on record from an arrest last year. That same necklace was tied to an unsolved murder of a missing girlfriend eighteen years back. They're including a search of the mansion in the warrant, looking for the body." Adam high-fived Kayden and Beckett just watched. Alastair had killed a woman? The body was on the property where he had been living for the last six months? He felt sick. Nothing had ever had him
contemplating murder. Extortion, protection, prostitution, everything that led to murders certainly; but Alastair actually killing someone in cold blood? No wonder his mom had run away from the evil in that family.
"Look on the mountain. Alastair wanted to kill me and Gregory said to leave my body on the mountain."
Beckett blurted out. The words were filled with the sudden realization that his uncle had said he would finish Beckett, and that Gregory had suggested the body, his body, should be left on the mountain.
Kayden immediately stood up and took the few
steps to join him at the other side of the counter. Beckett had a white-knuckled grip on the work surface and
wouldn't let go despite Kayden attempting to prize his fingers away.
"Beck. Look at me." Kayden was talking. Asking
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him something. Telling him to calm down but Beckett had reached the end of the rope and could only focus on one question. Talking louder over Kayden's reassuring tone he finally looked up and met a concerned gaze.
"Did she see Alastair kill the girlfriend? Is that why she ran? Because she thought my father would do the same to her? Did Gregory or Alastair see her and suspect her?"
His mom. Had she seen so much violence against her
perpetrated by her husband? And then for her brother-in-law to murder? Was she stuck there and counting down the days until Gregory went too far, the same as his brother?
"I don't know." Kayden was using his doctor voice but Beckett could see through the forced patience. Kayden was empathizing with Beckett and without warning all the energy simply fled Beckett's body. The counter and
Kayden's grip held him upright and he leaned forward.
"This is stupid," he repeated over and over. They had the result they wanted. That his mom had wanted. Her evidence hidden away for so long was enough to tie
Alastair Bullen to a murder he had possibly been involved with. She'd been so brave. She had looked after Beckett; got her son to safety.
His world inexplicably turned on its head as Kayden
gripped him hard and lifted him up in a fireman's carry. Ass up and with Kayden's shoulders digging into his stomach
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he wasn't convinced the doctor knew what the fuck he was doing.
"Let me down," he demanded, shouting. He
attempted to twist in the hold but, shit, Kayden was deceptively strong. He couldn't make
sense of where they were going and flailed in the hold as panic began to rise in him. Finally, Kayden laid him flat on a surface that wasn't hard and Beckett scanned the area enough to realize he was in the room Kayden had been using to sleep in. He only knew that because he had watched the other man so
closely. What did that make him? Some kind of lovelorn idiot?
Immediately he curled himself to sit up, leaning
maybe a little too hard on his cast-heavy arm and winced at the twinge of pain that travelled its length. Kayden stopped him. Not with a grip of iron or with strength or some freaky doctor hold but with a few quiet words.
"We don't know, Beck. We may never know unless
Alastair admits to manslaughter and tells us in no uncertain terms that your mom saw the murder." He placed a hand on Beckett's chest and tilted his head in thought. "Your heart is racing. Can you try and breathe slower? Deep breaths, in and out." Kayden leaned over him, every inch the concerned doctor and finally, as he stared into green eyes, Beckett could control his breathing and the panic that
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threatened to tumble over into grief.
"I'm breathing," Beckett commented softly. "Sorry."
Kayden brushed away the apology. "Are you
okay?"
The question was that of a doctor to a patient but
suddenly, with the panic drifting away, Beckett had
enough. He didn't want the doctor, he wanted the man. He wanted selfish, non-thinking, physical, hot and sweaty sex and he wanted to delay thinking on the rest of his life for a few hours. Would he need to give evidence? Did he
actually know anything? Were the DNA test and the
necklace enough proof that it would stand up in court?
What about chain of evidence and all the stuff he had seen on TV?