“Look what the cat dragged in,” JoJo mumbles behind a piece of paper without looking up at me. “Glad you could manage to show up once in a while.”
“Fuck you; I’m here. Put me to work.” I walk past JoJo feigning a scowl but the look in his eyes scream relief. A look that hits me straight in my heart. I’ve let him down. I’ve let Cameron down. But I’m here now, and that’s what counts. I hope.
I woke up this morning and thanks to Lindsay and her week-long plea to finally get out of the house, I gave in to her less-than-charming ways. It was either another week of listening to her cheer me up or come to work and finally do something. A few minutes shy of seven, and here I am, bright eyed and fucking bushy tailed.
Not that it didn’t take some convincing on my part but once I showered, got some coffee in me that wasn’t vodka or whiskey flavored, and took a long hard look in the mirror, I finally faced the fact that I will eventually have to go to the office and gladly dig through the piles of evidence. I’ll sift through hours and hours of debris and proof clothes and I’ll follow up with the leads until I finally find something that will tell me where that fucker is hiding. Because I’ll be damned if I let another day pass feeling miserable, hating myself for something out of my control.
“Logan?” I turn around and JoJo engulfs me in a hug. I keep still, my arms pinned to my side as his gruff voice passes over my ears. “Please stop pushing us away, dammit. We’re here help you, not let that fucker get away with anything else.”
I pull back and fold my arms across my chest. I don’t break the eye contact burning between us. “I know. Everyone keeps telling me that but until he gets caught, I can’t be the old me. I can’t pretend to be happy that my sister gets her husband and baby, I can’t pretend that I enjoy seeing everyone bounce around here like they’re walking on cloud nine. Even if this guy gets caught, I can’t be the same Logan you all know. I can’t go back to any of that. I need that guy, Jo. I need to see him face to face. I want to see his eyes begging me to not strangle the life out of him. I want him to beg me that his family is at home waiting on him to return and to not take his life like he’s taken so many others. Especially before he gets to anyone else.”
“That’s going to be hard, Mr. DeLuca.”
JoJo and I whip our heads to Assistant Director Wilkerson as the doors to the office building slam open against the walls. Hordes of agency workers file into the building. Walking and working. Walking and talking. Walking and trying to hide the pained looks on their faces.
JoJo glances around, his face cold and still. “Please tell me that there wasn’t another –”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Mr. Rodriguez,” Wilkerson replies with a sigh.
“What?” I storm over to the Assistant Director, my insides shaking from fear, my outsides from rage.
“Can we meet in the conference room in five minutes? Gather your men and we will talk.” Wilkerson looks between us before settling on Jo.
JoJo turns his focus to me. “I need you in there, Logan. Do whatever it takes, but call Cameron. We need him here, now.” He walks away, leading Wilkerson and his men to the conference room while I stand here trying not to lose my shit.
I stand in the middle of the first floor, trying to gather my wits, trying to find my voice. I finally pull my phone out, noticing that it’s still only six-fifty. I’ve been here five minutes and it’s already turned into another horrible, never-ending day.
“Hey, you call him yet?”
I look up at JoJo standing in the doorway of the conference room. I open my mouth to talk but I can’t speak. My eyes go back to my phone and with a shaky hand, I unlock it and find Cameron’s number. It rings until it goes to voicemail.
“Call me, ASAP.” I shake my head at JoJo. He closes his eyes and breathes in. His browns furrow when he mouths at me to try again.
Except the phone keeps ringing until I hear the voicemail. I hang up before the voice rattles off his number and dial again. I start to worry when he doesn’t pick up. My skin prickles, the hairs standing straight until I hear the familiar gruff voice bark back at me.
“The fuck you want, Logan?” I let out a breath of air, but my nerves don’t calm down. And they won’t. At least, not anytime soon.
“We need you to come into the office. I need you. Please.” I speak as calmly as possible but Cameron picks up on something because his voice is suddenly awake and alert.
“Be there in fifteen.” I hear a click and put my phone back in my pocket. I turn around and JoJo and Suzie are looking at me, her eyes red-rimmed and shining, his lined and glaring.
I walk to Suzie and her head falls to my chest as a fresh wave of tears spill from her eyes. I hold her tight but don’t let her see the single tear that falls from my eye.
“We’ll catch him, Zanie. I promise you that what we lost won’t be in vain.” I hear a sound come from her and I look down. She peers up at me with a hint of a smile.
“You can call me that nickname once, that’s it.” Her eyes crinkle as she begins to smile but it falters. “Once Cameron gets here, I know you’ll be busy. But you’re my brother, Logan. In every way that it counts. I need you to promise me that no matter what happens, that man is caught.”
It almost pains me to look into her eyes. Not because of the tears. Not because of the hurt and rage playing back and forth inside them. But because they look identical to the ones I stared into for the last decade. The same flecks of browns and golds swirling with a hint of green. Looking up at me like I’m her last hope.
“Get in there and help those men catch my brothers killer.” She nods toward the conference room where JoJo is already headed and I follow him in, but not before giving her hand a squeeze and a nod.
I don’t know what it was about Logan’s voice but that one phone call had me running to my truck while simultaneously dressing. Maybe it was the eerie calmness to his voice. Maybe it was the way he said he needed me. Or, perhaps it was the please. But those twelve words put me on edge.
I didn’t turn the television on. I don’t dare turn the radio on. The goosebumps standing on edge don’t help the already queasy and unsettling feelings inside me.
As promised, I make it to the D-One offices in fifteen minutes, speeding through the city to get to the office that usually takes me almost thirty minutes to get to. I barely have the ignition cut before I’m barreling through the double glass doors and into the conference room.
Wilkerson stops talking for a second and nods at me. He turns back to the laptop in front of him and suddenly a picture is projected onto the wall in front of me.
“What the fuck?” I slowly walk past a few of the officers, my gaze never leaving the image on the wall.
“Our words exactly, Mr. Gable. As I was getting ready to explain to the teams, this happened only a few hours ago in Denver. Ladies and gentlemen, this wasn’t the usual attack. This was something else entirely. Same MO? Yes. Same pattern as the rest? Yes. But this time, two places were bombed and the usual message left on the unharmed part of the buildings. He’s never hit two at once, folks. This bastard is getting ballsy and I don’t like that.”
“What’s our next step?” This is the first time that I see JoJo, and he looks as bad as I feel as the information sinks in.
Wilkerson is right. As the images play over the wall, I can see just how ballsy this bastard is. There’s nothing pretty about the pictures flashing before me. Maim, gore, and destruction cover the walls of the conference room as the images play. I feel someone next to me, and it’s not until I hear the barely audible, “Holy shit,” that I realize it’s Logan.
“We send two teams to Denver as soon as possible. We want your men and ours on both sites as quickly as possible so we can grab fresh evidence. We got lucky and only have two reported deaths.”
Something in me snaps. Fuming, I walk to Wilkerson with blood in my eyes as and I grab him by the collar and slam him into the wall behind him.
“Fresh evidence? Lucked out? Are you fucking kidding me? That’s not evidence, that’s people’s lives being destroyed right before your eyes. Those are lives ending and people’s happy stories coming to an abrupt halt. There’s nothing lucky about any of this.”
“Cameron! That’s enough. Let him go now and I’ll make sure the ass kicking you get doesn’t fucking feel good. Sit your ass down.” JoJo yanks me away from the man in my fists and pins me against the same wall. “Calm your tits before you think of speaking up again. If he presses charges, I won’t stand in his way.”
“It’s alright, Rodriguez, stand down. My team, show’s over. You all know what to do. B team is headed to Denver with me later this morning. You guys go pack a bag and meet back here in two hours.” Wilkerson rubs his throat and turns his attention back to me with slanted eyes. “I misspoke. My bad. But the idea remains the same. Considering that there were two big events being held last night, there could have been a larger number of casualties. I don’t wish this upon anyone but we have to think logically and rationally here. Look at this. Neither club specifically caters to the LGBT community. But see the people? How did he know what events were taking place? If he’s jetting off to different parts of the country at the drop of a hat, the man clearly has money.”
I swerve my head to watch the pictures once more. Two things stand out. One, a night club with people pouring out wearing obnoxiously bright colored clothes adorned with rainbows. A hint of a smile plays at my lips when I think of Josh and his club wear that I have yet to take down from my closet. More pictures show same-sex couples holding hands, crying, hugging, and looking lost. The second location is of a wedding party. People stand around bawling, bloody, and scared. But a face shows up and I walk to the wall to get a closer look.
“Wait, pause that, please!” The picture pauses on a man’s face and I reach up to trace the outline of the man most of the world is so familiar with. “Is that Holden McNeil?”
“Another reason we need to get this case wrapped up. The President’s son got married last night. We’re lucky the President and his wife left early, as did the VP. Most of the remaining guests were Holden’s friends and younger family.”
I turn around and fold my arms across my chest. I can’t believe the stupidity I’m hearing right now. A brow raises and I can’t help but fuel my words with sarcasm. “Did secret service not sweep the fucking place before they went in? Or have men walking the perimeter?”
“Because he’s of age, Holden hasn’t had secret service on him for years per his request. He’s adamant about the people not paying for security when he doesn’t need it. They did a sweep of the perimeter to prepare for the President but came up empty. They left when he did.”
“So, it was someone who came in afterward?” I give him a questioning look. “Because it was either someone who planned this ahead of time or it was someone who showed up after the President left. My guess is the later. Why not do anything while the leader of the country is on hand?”
Wilkerson looks between JoJo, Logan and I and shrugs. “No clue.”
“Because killing the gay son of the President is going to cause more grief and stress for the leader than the leader himself dying. We can replace the President. He can’t replace his son.” Logan stares at the still of Holden for a few breaths before looking at us. “Or else, this really was just a random attack.”
“Which is why you need to get a team in place, Rodriguez.” Wilkerson pins his gaze to JoJo who nods in return.
“Look, you’ve given your orders to your team, let me handle mine. I’ve got a team in mind and –”
“I want to go.” Logan and I both speak at the same time.
“No. Not after what happened the day y’all went back to Purple Reign. I’m not letting you two in the field until you’ve had proper clearance from Dr. Locke.”
“What?”
“Excuse me?” I glare at JoJo, holding my tongue as Logan and I show our disgust at the idea. I’m already in an ass load of trouble for biting off Wilkerson’s head but I don’t care about doing the same thing to JoJo right now.
“I mean it. Both of you. I can’t have you two losing your shit every time you walk onto a crime scene. I need you to have a clear head and that means a few sessions with Locke.”
“You’d rather us see a shrink than helping catch that bastard?” I spit out the words like they’re poison in my mouth. No fucking way am I going there.
“I need you two to talk to someone. If not for me then for them,” JoJo pushes back. I shrink back when he emphasizes them. “I’m barely keeping my shit together for this company. I can’t even imagine how you two are even here right now. I need you to talk before this bastard targets anyone else or before Cameron takes another man’s head off. For real, next time.” He stares Logan down, but Logan stands there unmoving.
“Look,” I reply, sheepishly to JoJo, “I didn’t mean it. But Wilkerson has to watch what he says.”
“Better you than me. I was two seconds behind you,” Logan mumbles.
“See? This is exactly what I mean. It’s always one or the other with you two. I can’t risk y’all’s tempers fucking up our operation no matter how much I need you two on hand. I spoke with Locke yesterday. He’s at his office all day waiting for you. I had to book the entire day and pay him double so unless you want to be out thousands of dollars, go see him. And don’t forget the sketch artist is coming back for you, Cameron. Please try to help him out this time.”
We watch JoJo storm out of the room until we’re left alone. Not being in the mood to deal with Logan today, I follow hot on Jo’s heels while ignoring Logan calling my name. If talking to Locke will get me to Denver today, then I’m sure as fuck going to be in that office the second he opens up shop.