Kell

 

So much for his new Zen-like mentality. Everything had happened so fast, he wasn’t sure he could retell exactly where things had gone haywire. All he remembered was feeling embarrassed that he’d been so smitten with someone so self-righteous, who thought he was above all things… especially homosexuals. When Ty had said the word ‘interesting’ as if gay men were unique experiments, he’d lost it. Lately, he’d been able to rein in his temper and breathe through his disappointments, but Ty made him feel so very strongly. The man made all kinds of overwhelming feelings arise inside him, feelings that confused him and left him stunned. Next thing he knew, he was telling Ty just how he felt. He’d wanted Ty to be the man he’d built up in his mind. Magnificent. Wanted him to be as wonderful as Brian painted him to be.

Maybe he is… and I’m still a hotheaded idiot.

The whole time he’d been reading Ty the riot act, he’d been quiet and patient as if he was too decent a man to interrupt. Even if Kell was ranting from his own personal soapbox. He’d had thrown some terrible insults at him and Ty had never reacted. Because he didn’t have to, since none of its true. Damn, how did he fix this mess? If Duke felt they weren’t getting along, he’d send them packing. There was no tension amongst his hunters. They had no beef between each other. No bad blood. They were best friends… no, brothers. Kell needed this brotherhood more than ever. Needed to be a part of something huge. Kell kept his body turned toward the window—away from Ty—while Quick read off their skips rap sheet. He then went on about the protocol for violent and nonviolent offenders.

“When you’re fully certified, these are the types of busts the two of you will be doing for a while, so pay attention. Close attention. You are on observation only. You are to stay in the SUV at all times. Under no circumstances are you to get out. If something goes down, you dial 911. Do not think you can provide backup. Don’t get out!”

Duke was looking at them in the rearview, his smoky gaze bouncing back and forth between the two of them, scrutinizing their body language. Kell made eye contact with his boss then turned away from the window. He couldn’t close Ty out. Not if they were going to be good at this job. They’d started out with amazing chemistry, they needed to get that back. Platonic chemistry. It wasn’t Ty’s fault that Kell had made a fool of himself. His partner had never given him one indication that he was feeling Kell the same way he was feeling him.

Why did he call me ‘shorty’ like that? He’d heard it. Kell fingered a piece of fringe on his scarf. Maybe Ty meant it in the literal sense. I am considerably shorter than him. Kell hadn’t taken offense to the word because he’d wanted it mean something else. He’d wanted it to mean what it did to the other guys. To his fellow high school students who’d bragged in the locker room about how sexy their ‘shortys’ were.    

Kell turned in Ty’s direction to find he was already looking at him. His penetrating gaze unwavering. He wasn’t afraid about it. At first glance he thought Ty was watching him out of concern and maybe a little guilt, but then it all morphed into a look of captivating confusion. Ty’s almond eyes narrowed then widened suddenly as if a lightbulb switched on in his head. A realization dawning on him. Only Kell’s eyes were visible. They didn’t lie. He knew Ty could see the concealed desire blazing in them. A soft smile began to form on Ty’s gorgeous face and once again Kell couldn’t turn away. Damnit.

“You two ready?” Duke said, still watching them in the mirror. His voice was softer, as if he understood the silent communication he and Ty were having. Kell hadn’t realized they’d pulled onto a side street across from a row of duplexes.

“Yes,” Ty and Kell said in unison.

“Our skip’s name is…” Duke waited for one of them to answer. If they’d been paying close attention like his bosses expected, then they should know this. Quick had been reading the file the entire ride over. It was a test. Kell didn’t fail tests.

“Jacob T. McNamara,” Kell answered.

Duke nodded then continued, glancing in Ty’s direction this time. “His bond is…”

Ty didn’t miss a beat. “Fifteen thousand.”

“How much do we recover of that if we get him back into custody?” Quick chimed in.

“Your fee is twenty percent. So, three ’gs,” Ty answered.

“We charge on the higher end because we retrieve violent offenders and skips that other bond companies don’t have the manpower to handle,” Duke said.

Their bosses asked a few more basic questions until they were content that they’d paid attention. Neither he nor Ty missed any answers, or got any wrong. Kell was prepared to do this and it looked like his partner was too.

“All right. Brian’s in position.” Quick pushed some buttons on his hi-tech communications watch that all the hunters wore. Quick briefly described their plan while Duke pulled out the necessary paperwork. “No one moves until everyone is in position. We usually don’t need three men to retrieve nonviolent, but we’re in training. And no matter what, we always wear vest on a retrieval.”

Duke folded the bench warrant, with the judge’s signature revoking the bond for nonappearance in court, and shoved it into his back pocket. He powered down the tinted windows in the Suburban, so he and Ty could hear, then got out. Quick came around the front and waited for Duke to take lead. Neither one of them had their weapons out as they approached the duplex on the left. Quick stood just a few feet to the right of the porch, under a cracked window.

It was silent inside the large interior of the SUV. Kell breathed evenly though his heart was beating fast. He wasn’t scared, he was excited. Ready to see his sensei in action. Duke’s knock on the front door was loud, authoritative.

“Recovery agents! We have a warrant. Open the door.”

It wasn’t a request. Kell’s gaze moved all over the house. He watched the upstairs blinds, the downstairs ones. He even watched the house next door, which appeared empty, but that didn’t mean it was. He saw a man peek out of the front door, squinting at the sunlight, as if he hadn’t left his house in days. “What? What do you want?” The man twisted his face, his thin body blocking the entrance.

“John McNamara, we have a warrant for your arrest. Come out now! Don’t make me come get you!” Duke bellowed past the man who’d opened the door. From the mugshot, he wasn’t their skipper.

Kell glanced at Ty, his partner’s body was relaxed but his eyes were lasered in on the situation. His brow creased in concentration as if he was documenting each word their bosses said, every move they made. Kell had overheard Brian telling the team yesterday that Ty’s mind moved faster than a rocket… like his father. He could calculate and react with little time. Kell turned his thoughts away from that line of thinking. It turned him on too much.

Brian eased from around the side of the house next door. He was in the position of watchman. His responsibility was to make sure no one tried to sneak up on them when the bosses were securing the jumper. None of them were hesitant or unsure. Duke’s voice was deep and frightening, carrying clear across the small yard to where he and Ty sat.

Kell sucked in a sharp breath when the front door suddenly lurched open. He recognized their skipper, even though his shaggy hair had been shaved off. He appeared panicked and sickly, as if he hadn’t been resting well. Quick was already in motion when their skipper barreled past Duke and leapt off the front porch. He didn’t get another two feet before Quick had his thick arms around his midsection. The man squirmed and wiggled weakly. His sensei took him to the ground with no challenge, placing his knee firmly in the center of the man’s back.

The thin man who’d opened the door gave their skipper a sorrowful look before he closed himself back inside his house. Quick secured a set of wired cuffs around his wrists while Duke demonstrated proper protocol and showed McNamara the warrant. The man was mumbling something to Duke that Kell couldn’t make out, then he turned his cries to Quick. The bosses ignored the pleas and shuffled the man toward Brian’s truck.

The back cab had been converted to accommodate their bounties, equipped with a touchpad lock and bars on the insides of the windows. McNamara didn’t want to get inside. He shook his head sadly, his chin tucked into his chest. Brian’s expression was classic. One of complete indifference. When the man still hadn’t climbed in, Brian frowned and took a threatening step toward him that had McNamara scrambling to climb onto the tailgate.

Ty’s chuckle was light and musical. He seemed to be enjoying this as much as Kell. Could he see them working together to accomplish what they’d just witnessed? Kell sure could. He wanted it so badly now he could taste it.

“That went smooth.” Quick smiled, climbing back into the passenger seat. “He was nonviolent, but always expect a little struggle and lots of blubbering.”

Kell smiled at his master. MacNamara back in jail was justice. He was a car-stealing, petty piece of scum. The last car he’d stolen and sold to a chop shop had belonged to a college student, working two jobs, who now had to resort to taking an hour and half bus ride to campus.

Unacceptable.

He hoped Ty felt the vindication as well.

Duke was back in the truck. They hadn’t even broken a sweat and they’d secured three thousand dollars for their company in a matter of minutes. Oh yes. Kell liked this business.

“May I ask a question, Sensei,” Kell said respectfully.

“Speak freely,” Quick answered.

“Why did you only cuff his wrist? I understood it was protocol to secure wrist and ankles for maximum protection.”

“Good observation. It’s a good habit to secure them both, but we use our discretion with the ankle cuffs. If they are bucking and kicking then of course we’ll use them, otherwise we let them walk to the transport instead of having to carry them and load them face-first.” Quick shrugged. “Leaves them with a little of their dignity intact.”

“You two should be completely knowledgeable of the Georgia fugitive recovery manual. Tell me why we knocked on that door instead of just entering and securing our skipper?” Duke folded his arms over his chest like his question was tough.

“You wanna answer?” Kell asked Ty.

“You can answer,” Ty politely gave him the opportunity.

“Of course, I know why, so you go ahead and answer, Ty.”

“Hell! One of you just answer,” Duke fussed.

Kell started. “Your bond contract gives you power over the jumper only so you can enter the fugitive’s residence without warning. In Georgia the contract doesn’t extend to third parties. You have to knock on their friends’, or relatives’ door or else you’d be breaking and entering.”

“This is not the jumper’s house. The address he listed on the contract is in Brookhaven. Duke, your tip came from McNamara’s girlfriend that he was staying here… at his cousin’s house. The man who answered the door,” Ty finished.

“Good. I’m glad you got that. None of us stepped foot in that house no matter what we threatened. That’s one of the most important details to always keep in your mind. A question every bounty hunter has to ask his or herself. ‘Do I have the right to be here?’” Duke gave them a serious expression. “And as long as you’re working for me, that answer better always be ‘yes’.”