"Who used my razor?" Bryon yelled from the upstairs bathroom.
"Sorry." Becca blushed as she curled up beside Beau on the couch, trying not to look guilty.
"Damn it, Becca, that was a new blade," Bryon grumbled.
Kasey laughed as he sat back and listened to everything going on around him. It was one of their weekly team meetings and they were waiting on Xander and Matt to bring dinner. It was the usual joking around, but Kasey was restless. He wanted to get home to Noam.
He thought back over the last few weeks since he'd gotten back together with Noam, and slowly, they were adapting to life together. They were practically living together, mostly staying at Noam's, but from time to time, they'd packed Casper up and headed to his house. In time, he wanted to ask Noam to move in, but it was too soon. As good as things were going he didn't want to mess it up.
"So, what's new with you, Kase?" Carter sat down in the chair beside him.
"Not much at all." Which was pretty much true. He hadn't done much more than hang with Noam and go on the occasional run. They hit the gun range a few times a week, but while Noam was looking for a job, they were taking advantage of the time they had together. "Been thinking about taking a short trip with Noam, but not sure where."
Trenton glanced over. "Wait until winter, then get one of those secluded cabins up by Tahoe and spend a week. Get snowed in."
"That's not a bad idea." Kasey would have to talk to Noam about it.
"Who's hungry?" Faith called as she carried several bags into the living room. "It's Italian since I wanted spaghetti." She sat down at the foot of Kasey's chair and started to set containers on the coffee table.
"Smells delicious, Stripes. Did you get my favorite?" Kasey asked Faith.
"Of course." She handed him a foam container. "Grilled Chicken Parmigiana."
"You're the best." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
"Thank Xander. I couldn't remember what it was called." She grinned at him as she passed Becca a container.
Once everyone was sitting down to eat, Bryon cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "So, a few simple things first, happy birthday to Becca. She's twenty-eight today."
"You didn't have to give my age." She tossed a breadstick at him.
Bryon caught it and tore a bite off it with a caveman style grunt. "You and Faith have youth on your side. Don't complain."
"Anyway, she'll be accepting birthday spankings after we eat." Bryon grinned.
"Jerk." Becca laughed.
"Happy birthday, Becca." Faith handed her another container.
"Thanks." Becca leaned over and took the box, opening it and smiling. "Tiramisu. You guys are the best."
"Hey, did we get dessert too?" Dyson pouted.
"It's not your birthday." Becca stuck her tongue out at them.
"You'll share with me, right?" Beau winked at Becca.
"Dream on. This is all for me." She hugged the box to her chest.
"Anyway, I also want to talk about adding a new member to the team," Bryon interrupted the playful fun.
"What?" Dyson's head snapped up as the room fell silent.
Kasey slowly chewed the bite of food he'd just put in his mouth, not sure why they needed another member. Matt had been the last team member they added, and that had only been because of his amazing hacking skills and the fact that he'd managed to already become a trusted member of some of the dark web groups. Adding someone new was a huge risk and wasn't something they took lightly.
"You all are aware we've been trying out a new idea, working social media and targeting the men grooming young children and trying to get them to meet." Bryon looked around at the group. "Well, we've been stunned at the number of men and women seeking to meet children under the age of twelve. We've limited it to twelve and under, because, honestly, it would be too large of a project if we include older children. We figure the men we're looking for as far as our team goes will be the ones looking to meet the younger children."
Faith glanced up at Matt. "Is this why you won't let me get online or have a Facebook account?"
Matt nodded. "It's exactly why."
Kasey gripped Faith's shoulder supportively.
"I'm thinking about hiring another team. This one would be at a different location and spend all their time dealing with the social media aspect of it. I'm sure many of you have seen the teams mostly coming from the UK who set up decoy accounts and act as if they are young children, then go out and have the men arrested after they agree to meet." Bryon glanced around the group.
Several nodded.
Bryon looked relieved he didn't have to explain too much. "It would be much of the same concept. A lot of these men don't fall into the requirements for us to go after them. Many are first-time offenders. Not that I don't think once is too much, but when we formed this group, we laid down rules that we would only go after the repeat offenders or the worst of the worst first-timers, and I won't deviate from those rules. So, what I'm thinking is this team will be just simply people willing to spend a few hours a day acting as if they are eight to ten-year-old boys and girls. They will build a case, including chat logs, information on the perpetrators, and even go as far as setting up meets. Our team will work with them as far as hacking personal information on the men and women, finding out if this is their first time, if they are on a sexual offender's registry already, you get the idea. Once we've made a case file, then the leader of our new team will work with the police—"
"No way." Dyson shook his head. "That puts things too close to us."
"Hear me out." Bryon narrowed his eyes at Dyson. "We can't make arrests. We need the police to do that. So, what I'm hoping is to see if we can bring Noam in to be our go-between."
Kasey nearly choked on his food. After a bit of coughing, he managed to swallow. "Noam quit his job." He wiped his eyes.
"I'm aware of that, but he still has connections. They trust him and will trust any information he gives them. My goal is to get these men and women arrested and on the sex offender's registry for child grooming with intent to meet. It won't stop all of them, but hopefully, it will scare many of them enough not to act on the urges again. We all know there is no cure for pedophilia, but having the cops cuff and arrest you can be a good deterrent for many." Bryon glanced at Kasey. "The first question is, do you want Noam working with us? I don't want it to be an issue for your relationship."
"No, it wouldn't be an issue. I'd welcome him if it's something he'd want to do. Are you guys all okay with him knowing who you are?"
"Do you trust him?" Dyson asked.
Kasey nodded. "Not only with my life, but yours too. He won't do anything to risk the team." He was confident that Noam would never do anything to hurt anyone on the team. He would keep their secrets.
"Noam would be the only person on the team to have contact with us. He would run a small group of men and women from another location. They would have nothing to do with what our team does. It would be two separate entities. He would report to me, but he would also handle the stings, getting the information to the police, setting up a meeting for the perp to meet the child and have the police with him when the meet took place. That way everything is legal. I'm sure there will be a few technicalities to work out, and it might be a trial to get the police to work with us, which is why I'm hoping if we have Noam help, he might have some pull in getting them interested." Bryon looked around the group. "As always, it's a team vote. We don't do anything without everyone having a say. Of course, it will be up to Noam, but I figured there was no point in talking to him unless you all vote yes. So, what say you?"
"Will this be something Noam is interested in?" Trenton asked Kasey.
"I honestly don't know. He has mentioned he could never do what I do, but this is different. This isn't as intense. I know the cases he's worked have gotten to him, and he wants change, but I can't answer if this is what he will want to do."
"Do you want to work that closely with him?" Xander asked.
"I don't mind. It will be like Matt and you. You work together, but not. You're in different departments in a way. You're both involved, but not covering each other's backs. I don't think I could do what we do with him there." He gestured to Dyson and Xander, careful not to say too much with Faith in the room.
"Where will you hire decoys from?" Matt asked.
"That, I haven't worked out yet. I was hoping for some ideas." Bryon sighed. "Whoever we hire won't be aware of our team. They will work together in a call center type setting. We'll figure it out as we go along. It's not something I can just put an ad in the paper about. This will be very trying work. It gets to you mentally. It takes the right kind of person."
"I say bring Noam on." Becca lifted her fork into the air as she spoke. "He's experienced, he's got the mental capacity to deal with this stuff. He's seen what we do. If Kasey trusts him, so do I."
Kasey smiled at Becca. "Thanks. I vote to bring him in also."
"That's two. Who else."
Faith raised her hand. "I know I don't get to vote, but I like Noam. I think he should join."
Xander laughed. "Well, if Faith thinks so, I have to agree."
"Me too." Matt smiled at his daughter.
"I'm with them. I've dealt with Noam at the hospital. He's calm, he doesn't let what he sees get to him. I think he's perfect for this," Beau told them.
"Carter, Trenton, Dys?" Bryon looked at the three of them.
"I'm okay with him." Dyson didn't look up from his food as he answered.
"I say bring him on." Carter shrugged. "He already knows what we do. Sure, it's a risk letting anyone know who we are, but if he was going to turn against us, I think he would have done it by now. He would have arrested Kase."
Trenton nodded. "I agree. If he didn't push it when he had the chance, he's not going to now."
"Then it's unanimous. Kase, don't bring this up with him yet. I'd like to arrange a time to meet with you both. Maybe come over and talk to him and run things by him. That way, I'm the only one he meets should he decide not to join us," Bryon told him.
"Can we do it soon? After everything that went on a while back, I don't like keeping things from him."
"Tomorrow work for you?" Bryon asked.
"I'll talk to Noam and see, but I don't think it will be a problem."
"Then I'll be at your place at eleven in the morning. If he can't meet, then we'll arrange another time. I think it's about time I meet this guy anyway. If he's going to be part of your life, he's going to be part of mine." Bryon smiled at Kasey.
Kasey grinned back. He wanted Bryon and Noam to meet. They were the two most important people in his life, and he hoped they got along.
"Okay, the rest will have to wait until we are done eating." Bryon glanced at Faith.
"You don't have to wait. I'll take my food downstairs." Faith used Kasey's knee to brace herself as she stood. "Someday you're not going to have to hide what you talk about from me."
"Don't grow up too fast," Becca called as Faith headed downstairs.
"I won't, but someday I'm going to join the team," Faith called before she shut the basement door.
"The only thing that keeps me from freaking out at her words is the fact she's determined to follow Beau's footsteps and not Xander's." Matt sighed.
"She'll make a great doctor someday." Beau smiled. "I'm glad she enjoys learning."
"Okay, before we start planning the next generation, let's work on what we have coming up." Bryon passed Xander a folder. "Kasey's all ready for tonight. Xander, tomorrow is yours. We have five stings ready to go."
As Kasey finished eating and listening to the plans for the next few days, he wondered if Noam would accept the job. Having him know what was going on and being able to include him in the team would make things so much easier. It really was the perfect job for him. Now he just needed to get him to accept it.