“I’m just getting started, darlin’, c’mere.”
All is forgotten, only the current moment exists and the exquisite feelings from Kas’ expert touch.
An hour later, they are hurriedly showering to make it to work in time for the 9:00 a.m. meeting with Dexter and the Human Trafficking Task Force. The team meets them at the door to Kas’ office, wanting to check on Raina.
Erik wraps her in a hug, his thumb gingerly brushing back her hair as he examines the thin strips, “I heard you saved him.”
The way the light dims in Raina’s eyes doesn’t go unnoticed by Kas. She simply nods, not knowing what to say.
Conflicting emotions trouble Erik. He doesn’t like the dark thoughts floating around in his head. Pushing them away for the moment, he gives his best friend his patented tilted grin, “No more heart attacks from you, okay?”
“Okay,” she smiles, the jade in her eyes brightening a little.
“I’ll see you later,” he promises before heading upstairs.
“I personally would’ve let his butt die, but then, I’m not nearly as nice as you,” Austin winks, chucking Raina gently under the chin. His expression turns serious, a rarity for him, “I’m glad you’re alright.”
After everyone is reassured that she escaped mostly unscathed, at least physically, they step into the meeting. The conference room is crowded with the various teams and affiliates from outside agencies. Prizrak’s ring is a hot topic of discussion, with his rapidly growing business reaching numerous states and countries. Kas reports how organized crime leaders are reportedly becoming increasingly involved in other countries, most likely in the U.S. as well, strengthening the already formidable ring. The intel gathered is incomplete, nothing more than whispers from rumors heard on the street, but they all fear it’s sound information.
Raina’s headache has returned with a vengeance as she leaves the three hour meeting; her desire to bring down Prizrak is burning through her every pore.
“I want you to go home and rest after we eat lunch,” Kas tells her, knowing her rebuttal will be swift.
Her exasperated glare elicits a smile from her overprotective husband who decides to relent, not forcing the issue, not yet anyway.
Deciding on Italian cuisine, Kas makes sure they have a leisurely lunch. He sets his own team meeting for 3:00 p.m., needing to discuss Jefferson and to begin developing a plan on tracking him down. He calls Chase on the way back to the office, wanting his expert point of view on the important client.
Noticing how quiet Raina was at lunch, Kas watches her closely, knowing good and well that she will not freely offer any information if she is struggling with yesterday’s trauma, which she is. Her smile is forced, her tone warm but worn, the only outward proof of the stress that she is doing a bang up job hiding.
He pulls her in for a long hug, brushing his lips across her forehead when he lets her go. “We’re leaving after the meeting,” he states firmly, making it obvious he’s not asking her opinion.
Raina suppresses a sigh, allowing him to have his way on this one. “Yes, sir,” she playfully barks, winking at Kas when he shoots her a mock warning glare. “Love you,” she calls over her shoulder as she starts up the stairs.
Erik has the Beatles blaring, causing Raina to smile as she enters the geek sheik department. “You must be in a particularly spectacular mood,” she teases.
“I’m a plethora of merriment,” he grumbles.
Raina laughs, knowing that the only time he listens to the Beatles is when he is arguing with Susanna or has a highly complex issue that is thoroughly pissing him off. By the amount of empty coffee cups littered on his desk, she guesses it’s the latter. “You really should reuse and recycle you know.”
“You can lecture me on the environment later, right now, I need your magic with the material I found on the iPad Scott brought me this morning.”
“Is it encrypted?”
“No! That’s just it, there are zero firewalls, zilch password protection, and nada encoding.”
“Sooo . . . what seems to be the problem?” she asks, deciding now wouldn’t be the wisest time to correct his ill use of Spanish.
“There’s information on here that seems juicy, really tempting, too tempting. I’m afraid to touch it.”
“Ahh, the whole, ‘if it’s too good to be true’ dilemma.”
“Exactly.”
“Let me see.” Raina studies the program, seeing the teasers, but like Erik, not falling for them, “Where did this come from?”
“One of the handlers from the motel Lawson’s team raided last night,” Erik replies.
“Any affiliation with Prizrak?”
“Don’t know yet.”
She reads the material, shaking her head as she thinks of how the meaning of innuendo could be clearly defined by the tone of the text in this e-mail. Raina notes that the message came in at 1:13 a.m., after Lawson’s raid. Her heart rate spikes when she discovers Parker has been doing his own homework, “I know. Prizrak is definitely involved, look at this. He’s toying with us.”
Erik peers over her, placing his hands on her stiff shoulders, “What am I supposed to be looking at?”
“This part right here,” Raina points her finger to one line buried among the numerous paragraphs of laced chitchat. “Thou art a scholar; speak to it,” Raina reads.
Erik rubs her shoulders, feeling the tension radiating from her, “Still not following, Rain.”
“That’s part of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where Marcellus is talking with Horatio, referring to the ghost of the dead king.”
Raina backs up the data before carefully studying the text again. You want me to talk to you? Fine, but you won’t like what I have to say. She holds a slightly unsteady finger over the poetic line. Holding her breath, she touches the text, and the screen blinks black before zigzags of gray rapidly races across, looking almost like how static sounds. In the next instant, a large image of a benign depiction of a ghost pops up. Anger surges through Raina as she watches the infantile, smiling ghost waving, an almost comical bubble text leading from its mouth, tauntingly reading ‘Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul But I do love thee! and when I love thee not, Chaos is come again’.
“More Shakespeare?”
Raina nods, her entire body suddenly very cold, “This is from Othello, but I think he’s tweaked the meaning.”
Erik reads the words carefully, his hands wrapping protectively over Raina’s shoulders as the intent of the threat sinks in.
Glancing at her watch, she sees they still have over an hour before the meeting. Grabbing a coffee cup of her own, she pours the strong dose of caffeine in, leaving only a little room for hazelnut creamer as she calls Kas, giving him the slim update. Just as Eleanor Rigby starts to play, Raina begins to painstakingly open the documents, carefully inspecting each one as she begins a trace on the origin of the e-mail.
It’s almost 3:00 p.m. when Raina leans back in her chair, disappointed that nothing damning was found except the handler’s poor choice of movies saved on the device. Erik hands her a couple of aspirin when he sees her rubbing her temples. The trace on the e-mail is bouncing all over the world. Raina groans, popping the pills in her mouth as she watches the infuriating pings shooting rapidly across the screen, “This could take some time.”
Raina sets an alert on her cell to notify her once the trace is complete as Erik bumps her shoulder, “C’mon, girl, that man of yours will put a smile on your face.”
Chase is talking with Kas in hushed tones as they descend the staircase. Chase’s stark blue eyes meet her with worry, and she musters up every ounce of a light, carefree attitude that she can manage as she approaches him, “Before you even start, I’m fi-good, I’m good, really! Please don’t worry.”
“Sara gave me strict instructions to have you call her ASAP,” Chase tells her, scrutinizing her silently.
“I’ll call her right after the meeting. I miss hanging out with her and Seth.”
&nbs
p; Kas’ eyes dart to hers, surprised at her admission, “You should go see Seth then, you and Sara.”
“We should all go out. Soon,” Raina decides, suddenly needing normalcy in her life desperately, pure mundane moments are exactly what I need right now.
Chase throws his arm around her shoulders, a small smile of relief spreading across his lips as they follow Jake into Kas’ office.
Kas sits on the edge of his desk, every file on every raid they have conducted that have ties to Prizrak are in his hands, “I have read these until I practically have them memorized. There is nothing in here that will lead us to where Parker is, only to where he’s been. We have to come up with new information that will lead us to his next move. I have a name, an alias, that’s the only new intel I have. We will work it from every angle possible, but we need more.”
The tension in the room is palpable. Raina inwardly screams when her phone indicates that the trace is still on its intercontinental joyride.
“What’s the name you have, boss?” Frank asks, walking across the room.
Kas’ jaw tightens as he witnesses the limp in Frank’s pace. He shakes his head, an un-amused smirk on his face, “Thomas Jefferson.”
The amusement doesn’t skip Austin, and he lets out a loud chuckle, “The ‘Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness’ Jefferson?”
Kas nods, running his fingers across his tensed brow.
“Other than the obvious that Thomas Jefferson was against slavery, he was also influenced by the Puritan’s. Whoever this man is, he’s making a statement by choosing that particular name.” Erik’s anger is evident as he continues his indignant tirade, “This person is parading around with this name, mocking everything Jefferson believed and fought so hard to eradicate.”
Raina chews on her bottom lip pensively, “Actually, Jefferson was a slave owner, but that isn’t a well-known fact.” She shakes her head, contemplating, “Everyone with Prizrak’s group is extremely intelligent, careful, they rarely make mistakes, and the ones who do, end up dead like El Diablo and Beacher. They do their homework, it doesn’t make sense to choose a name like that.”
“It does if the person is making an actual comparison to Jefferson,” Chase volunteers.
“What do you mean?” Raina questions.
“What if this person does know that little known fact, and that is exactly why he chose this particular alias?” Chase’s face brightens, obviously working on something brilliant with his wealth of psychological knowledge, “Think about it. All the tendencies of this client appear to be similar to Prizrak, extreme intelligence, narcissism, and the need to flaunt his perceived superiority. It would fit his profile to be a leader like Jefferson. Someone who is prominent and outwardly denounces human trafficking, another form of slavery, but secretly participates in it. We are looking for someone known, someone who probably publically opposes trafficking. We need to concentrate on the public figures in or near D.C.”
“Alright, looks like we have our research cut out for us. We’ll divide up the prominent clergy, lawyers, and political figures. It’s going to be a long night.” Kas’ demeanor has completely rebounded with having a tangible task to perform to narrow down the suspects.
Once the research is divided, Kas grabs Raina’s hand, “I’ll work from home. List everyone that has denounced trafficking over the last two years. Call me if you need me.” He catches Erik’s disturbed expression on the way out, “What is it?”
Shaking his head like a child who just saw someone kick his dog, Erik shrugs, “That just sucks! I always held Jefferson in high regard, being a founding father of the Declaration of Independence and everything. He’s a huge national hero. I could’ve went the rest of my life without knowing what I learned tonight.”
“Sorry to burst your iconic bubble,” Raina sympathizes, giving him a quick hug on the way out the door.
The sky is gray, and a moderate drizzle cools the Fall air as they leave the agency. Raina does as she promised and calls Sara. Kas glances at his wife, noting her reaction as she talks with her friend, clearly trying to steer the conversation away from Chris. Reaching over, he squeezes her hand, winking at her when her gaze falls on his. That’s all it takes to make her insides turn into a molten volcano, and the brewing desire burns bright jade.
Kas takes his time loving his wife when they get home, putting the investigation off for a little while. Looking down into Raina’s expectant eyes, he knows she needs him. There’s no way in hell he will not give her anything and everything she needs. The thought of her broken body flashes through his mind, and the back of his eyes and throat feel like acid as he represses the angry tears. Images of her locked in a dark attic, lying on the floor, cold, hurt, and hungry lance his heart. Too many men have harmed her and walked away from her when she needed them the most; he will die before joining their ranks again.
Raina is sound asleep as he gently pulls his arm from underneath her head. The corner of Kas’ lip tilts as he takes a moment to watch her sleep. She had told him that she would help him with the research, but he could barely hear her through her yawn. He knew it wouldn’t be longer than two minutes before she was out, so he nuzzled his chin against the top of her head, pulling her spent, beautiful body flush to his, relishing in how well she sleeps when he is holding her. Pride fills him at that fact, his ego swelling in the knowledge of how he makes her feel safe, sheltered. I must be doing something right, he muses as his heart constricts when his wife softly sighs contentedly, peacefully dreaming.
Thinking of how Raina’s been hinting at not waiting a year to try to get pregnant hits him hard. He would love watching life from him growing inside of her, but he’s not sure he’s ready to share her just yet. Taking a few more minutes to enjoy watching her peacefully sleeping, he makes himself slip out of bed. They have plenty of time to talk about that later, right now, he wants to concentrate on her. Relief floods him at how she can now finally put her demons to rest.
The clock chimes three times and Kas rubs his eyes wearily, pouring another cup of coffee, blinking when his gaze returns to the bright screen in front of him.
“You are in so much trouble, Pierce.”
Kas grins at his wife who is standing in front of their bedroom door, scowling. “I thought what I gave you tonight would knock you out until dawn, at least,” he teases.
Raina subconsciously chews on her bottom lip as her eyes drink in the sight of her husband, so flippin’ sexy and downright irresistible he should be illegal. Her eyes trail down the sight of his broad, bare chest to his muscled torso, lowering to the cotton pajama bottoms that hang torturously low on his strong, masculine hips. Those tan bare feet get her every time, and she has to force herself to look away from the magnificent specimen in front of her before she attacks him on the kitchen table. That thought leaves delicious tingles trickling down her spine. “It’s nearly dawn. Go to bed, I’ll take over from here.”
“I’m almost done, just two more to go.”
Whatever she was going to tell him next is interrupted; the shrill ring of her cell distracts them both. Hope and dread clench her stomach as she pulls the phone from her purse. Kas is behind her as she reads where the trace finally led, “The e-mail came from an e-reader in Mason Jenkin’s home.”
“The handler Lawson’s team arrested?”
“The same handler who owns the iPad Scott gave Erik.”
“Parker must have gone there after the raid. The bastard’s covering his tracks,” Kas pauses, his jaw tightening, recalling the information Raina told him about on the e-mail, his threats becoming more brazen, “or, maybe, he’s studying us.”
Raina doesn’t like the feelings that theory evokes. “Maybe,” she whispers, “I need to see the handler’s home.”
“Lawson will bring you the device.”
“He sent it from there for a reason.”
“You think that I don’t already know that?”
“He may have left something there, something meant for me to see.”
“And that’s exactly why you aren’t going,” Kas tells her, his tone firm, definitive.
“Kas, I-”
“No, Raina!”
She looks at her husband, his jaw rigid, lips tight, and his tone adamant. She knows his reasoning. The horrified look in his eyes the day before humbles her. She won’t do anything to push him right now, not when he’s still reeling from his worry for her safety.
Kas’ expression softens, “I didn’t mean to bark at you like that.” Kissing her forehead, he breathes in the clean, sweet scent of her. “I’ll go with Lawson and take pictures of everything myself and show them to you and Chase.”
“Okay,” she relents. “Give me one of the names you are working on, and we’ll get this done so you can get at least a few hours of sleep.”
Chase sits next to Raina in one of the conference rooms carefully studying the photographs uploaded to the screen covering a large portion of the rear wall. The rooms are surprisingly orderly. The walls are a stark white, all the appliances are stainless steel, the counters are dark granite, and the floors are a dark stained wood. The look of the rooms feel sterile, cold, and empty.
“He lives alone and probably doesn’t have a steady girlfriend. He has no clear emotional ties to family or friends.” Chase’s expert eyes are fixated on the images, “I see signs of OCD.”
“Stop. Go back,” Raina states, sitting up straighter, “right there.”
Chase sees the chessboard sitting on the desk in the corner. The dark pawn is moved two spaces out in front of the queen.
“He’s made his first move,” Raina states dryly.
Chase studies the picture and ponders on how Parker has done his homework on Raina, down to finding out that Shakespeare is her favorite classical author. He is enjoying his game. “Now, he’s just waiting on ours.”
After the Rain Page 3