by Tl Reeve
“Two weeks ago, when my office received this information, it forced us to reexamine the entirety of the case. Agents have been working day and night combing the files along with re-interviewing witnesses to re-piece together the timeline of events. As of today, we have issued an arrest warrant and indictment for Matthias Lincoln on the charges listed:
Two counts of Premeditated Murder with special circumstances.
Fifteen counts of Solicitation to Commit Murder.
Fifteen counts of Aiding and Abetting—Accessory to Murder
Two counts of Conspiracy to Commit Murder.
Ten counts of Money Laundry.
Ten counts of Bank Fraud.
Ten counts of Wire Fraud.
Sixteen counts of Distribution of a Controlled Substance-Cocaine.
Sixteen counts of Interstate Trafficking of a Controlled Substance-Cocaine.
One count of Attempted Domestic Terrorism with an Improvised Explosive Device—Thermobaric Bomb.”
“There will be more indictments as we continue our investigation. We have also moved Hugh Breslow to another facility that will not be named for his security and privacy. Hugh was transported at the instruction of then-Senator Lincoln, unbeknownst to the courts or his family, to Norwalk Metropolitan Hospital in Norwalk, California. This facility is for the criminally insane, not for those who have been tortured into a clinical psychosis. We apologize to the Breslow family for this egregious action, and we hope Hugh will finally receive the medical attention he deserves...”
When the conference was over, reporters began to lob questions at the Special Councilor Beaumont, but none of them were answered.
“Ben, Harvey, are you there?” Carson asked.
“We are,” the first announcer said.
“I’m waiting to receive a hardcopy of the indictment. It shouldn’t be too long,” Carson replied.
“See, I told you over six weeks ago, he should have settled on a plea deal,” the second announcer said. “Matthias Lincoln will go down in history as one of the most corrupt and vile members of Congress. My point has just been made. That man should rot for the rest of his life.”
“You did, but this is different. We’re talking about murder here. The idea that the Senator along with his co-conspirators actively went after this family trying to do the right thing...” The man sighed. “Folks, this is a dark day for the history and democracy of our great country. Carson, have you received the indictment as of yet?” the first announcer asked.
“I have. It’s lengthy. It’ll take me a bit to get through it,” Carson answered.
“Get back to us when you can,” the first announcer stated.
“I will,” Carson replied.
“I find it interesting,” the first announcer said. “The congressional investigation is still ongoing for the atrocities that took place in Colombia. There are two hearings today with another two tomorrow. Won’t they have to add this information?”
“This new information will have to be added to the inquiry; one would think. It can’t not be,” the second announcer agreed.
Asher turned down the radio. “Looks like McNamara is trying to push all of this through.”
Mateo agreed. “Doesn’t seem right not to.” He worried once Asher, Senator McNamara, and Noah explained what would happen next, he’d have to testify as well. However, Asher and Senator McNamara promised he wouldn't be needed. Dario was accepting of the terms of his plea deal, which included a thirty-year sentence for kidnapping Mateo. All Dario wanted, in the end, was his brother cared for and Lincoln brought to justice for killing their parents.
“At least I don’t have to testify anymore,” Rae said, squeezing Mateo’s hand. She decided at the last minute to come for moral support, but he wondered if it was more to keep Asher from saying or doing something stupid while around a bunch of kids.
Asher grunted. “True. Where do I turn?”
“Next street,” Mateo said, pointing to the right. “The faculty parking lot is on the left.”
Two days ago, Asher came to him and gave him the good news, Mateo was free to go and come from the base without worry. No one knew where he was. No one would come looking for him ever again. Noah had told him the same thing, but hearing it from the commander of R.O.O.T eased the worry still eating at his stomach. Unfortunately, due to Dario being able to track Noah and Mateo, they’d have to sell their house. Upside though, Noah promised, when they were ready, they’d buy another one and spend quiet weekends there alone. After everything they’d been through, both of them deserved it.
When Asher pulled into a spot, the vehicle following them, parked next to Asher's SUV. Inside were the two FBI agents along with Callahan, Scotty, and AJ. He couldn't believe they agreed to go with him. He figured they'd come up with some excuse, but here they were. With only Noah and Asher assisting, however, Callahan liked the idea and wanted to come, too, along with the newest members.
After they grabbed their stuff out of the back of the SUVs, Mateo walked back into school with a new sense of appreciation. Since their conversation the other night, he and Noah were on a whole different level in their marriage. Their communication grew stronger and little by little, Mateo began to learn new things about Noah. In a way, he understood why his husband didn’t bring him into R.O.O.T sooner. His job—the missions—were daunting. The majority of the information was classified as well. Even if his husband could unload his fears and worries, it left both of them vulnerable emotionally and physically.
Having Mateo in the mix complicated things. He understood it now. Noah also explained his reluctance in giving a more plausible reason to reassure Mateo, when he left for a week or more at a time. Unfortunately, doing such might have made Mateo an even bigger target. When Noah first said as much, he’d been confused. It didn’t make sense. Of course, it wouldn't, you were thinking about yourself and your relationship, not Noah and his job. Yes, he thought it was all a major conspiracy—a fucked-up excuse his husband used to get out of telling the truth—for a hot minute. However, being the center of an “operation,” gave Mateo a new perspective.
Not only that, but Noah didn't like talking about it because of the specific tasks involved. I’m a sniper, Mattie. His heart broke a little when Noah explain just how solitary it could be when they were out. All the long weeks alone. All the times he'd come back and either smothered Mateo in attention or, in other incidences, needed space to heal.
It made sense.
He pushed aside his own needs and looked at it from Noah’s perspective, as hard as it was, because Mateo wanted to fix it, while Noah needed to get through it. It wasn’t about Mateo. Once he understood the difference, the anger and the sense of betrayal drained from him. Noah, for everything, never stopped protecting him.
“So, what do you want us to do?” AJ asked, coming up beside Mateo.
“You and Scotty will be in the gym with Noah and Asher along with Thomas and Duncan. I made sure to have three tables set up with your names on them.” Mateo leaned in. “Don’t tell the kids you’re hackers. We don’t want them getting into trouble.”
“Can do.” AJ chuckled as she repeated what Mateo said to Scotty. The guy had an infectious laugh. It was loud, uncensored, and full of life.
IT professionals it is.
“I can’t believe you wrangled us into this,” Asher muttered.
“Look at it this way,” Noah said. “Potential recruits for the future of R.O.O.T.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Asher muttered.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to check in with the office, and then I’m on my way to the auditorium to sit with my students during the presentation,” Mateo said. “I’ll be back soon.”
Noah wrapped his arms around him. “Yeah? Don’t take too long.” He pressed his lips to Mateo’s. “We might get into serious trouble if we’re left to our own devices.”
“Somehow, I believe you.” Mateo showed them to the gym where others were setting up their tables then continued on. “I’ll s
ee you in about twenty minutes.”
When Mateo called the school to let them know he was coming back early and bringing friends, he didn’t actually explain what Asher and Noah’s jobs were. He only told them about the two FBI agents tagging along.
He figured it was better to see Asher and Noah in action. Besides, if he told the school they were black ops, he didn’t think the idea would go over very well with the parents. It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.
Mateo passed through the office where he signed in and accepted the warm greeting he was given. After answering several questions, he continued down the hall of his high school toward the auditorium and grinned. For the first time since everything happened, a lightness settled over him. Yes, he had a few nightmares, he’d never deny there were some fears involved with walking out of the safety of the base, but he also wouldn’t allow it to keep him down. Rae gave him some different sites that would also help him with any symptoms associated with PTSD. Plus, when he needed it, Rae was there to talk through it. Even though their experiences were different—way different, it helped to know he wasn’t alone.
However, until the conversations with Rae no longer worked, he wouldn’t dwell on his experience. Mateo understood, at some point, he’d have a meltdown. He’d be crazy if he didn’t think it could happen to him. Until then, though, he’d continue his conversations with Rae and keep moving forward.
As he stepped into the auditorium, he was welcomed with a chorus of ‘welcome back’s. His students rushed him. Some noticed the green and yellow bruising under his eye. Another student noticed the steri-strips over his brow. “First, I’m fine. Second, some of you haven’t turned in your homework yet.”
His students laughed as they took their seats while others continued to chatter amongst themselves. Once he had them all settled, he sat back in his chair as the principal announced how many different companies and government contractors were in attendance at their annual job fair. Mateo missed this. Missed the normalcy of going to work. The happy conversation from his students.
The presentation by the principal didn’t take long. He introduced some of the more prestigious presenters then had a few of the faculty hand out cards for each student. The plan was for each student to talk at least three different businesses, exchange emails, and the representative had to sign off on their card. Pretty simple. Mateo added a little incentive for his class. He would also give his students extra credit if they had five exchanges.
“Okay, guys,” he said, standing outside the gym. “Remember, be polite. Ask questions, and don’t forget to get your signatures. Happy job hunting.”
Mateo stepped aside as his class entered the job fair. From where he stood, he could see Noah in action already. The table where Asher and he stood was covered in kids. Some of the boys were there, but mostly it was girls. He understood them in a non-creepy way, Noah was hot as fuck, and all Mateo’s. He walked around the perimeter, watching over the students as they asked their questions and worked the room.
He glanced at the table where Callahan stood with AJ and Scotty and noticed they, too, were surrounded as well. Thomas and Duncan stood to the side with a group of students, but as he traced what distracted them, Mateo frowned. Bex, one of Mateo’s quieter students, stood off to the side at one of the automated booths for a tech firm based out of Japan. Bex was a different type of student. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what made her unique, but she had the ability to hide in plain sight. She also had a mean as hell father.
He crossed to the FBI agents and pulled Thomas aside. “Is there an issue?” Mateo cocked a brow.
“The kid.” He pointed to Bex. “Her father wouldn’t happen to be Raul Iniguez would it?”
Leave it to the feds. Always working a case or a lead. “Yes, but we don’t talk about it.”
Bex liked to tell everyone she lived with her mother in an apartment not far from the school, but Mateo knew the truth. The girl had no one. Her father, Raul, didn't spend a minute with her. When he did, he worked her to exhaustion. She'd come to school on more than a few occasions covered in cuts and bruises. When Mateo pressed, she would clam up, until the last time when her father broke her leg so severely, she had to have the limb amputated. Later, she’d been fitted with a prosthetic. Because of who her father knew in the state, CPS refused to open an investigation, even knowing what her father had done.
Mateo glanced at Bex and frowned. While in the auditorium, he hadn’t seen the purple hue surrounding her right eye. Nor the cast on her left arm. Shit. “Looks like I missed a lot while at the base.”
“She is the link we need,” Thomas said. “Do you think you can get her to talk to us?”
Mateo snorted then laughed. “No, she’s been trained not to talk to people like you. Her life hangs in the balance. If word ever got out she even said hi to you, she’d be punished.”
Thomas frowned. “Raul has been running drugs along with laundering money for different crime syndicates stateside and in Mexico. We need her.”
“Good luck with that,” Mateo muttered.
The smack of a student falling on the polished floor of the gym startled Mateo and sent him running toward the noise. Thomas and Frazier were hot on his heels. A group of what Mateo termed “mean girls,” stood around a cowering figure. Scotty pushed through the crowd just as Mateo arrived. AJ came up beside him, frowning as she stared down at the small girl, covering her head. Shit. Mateo hurried forward, pushing the students back. Noah was already parting the group of students on his side as well. Scotty stood with Bex in his arms without saying a word. He glared at the group of girls who’d spent the last year harassing Bex.
“You gonna cry, bitch,” one of the girls said then laughed. “You’re so fucking pathetic. No wonder why your dad doesn’t want you.”
“That’s enough!” Mateo snapped. “Sasha, Valarie, and Maybeth, get your things and get to the office. Now!”
“We didn’t do anything, Mr. Aquino. Honest.” Valarie batted her eyes. Like her mother, she thought if she flirted enough, it would get her out of trouble. Well, it didn’t work with him. “She tripped over her dumb false leg.” She giggled and covered her mouth.
“Yeah, not our fault she can’t stand on her peg,” Sasha added.
Scotty eased through the gathering group of students and took Bex over to his table, sitting her in his chair. AJ joined him a minute later, while Noah crossed to Mateo’s side. He didn’t know what to say. Nothing he ever did changed a damn thing the girls did to Bex. Noah folded his arms over his chest and glared at the girls. His husband vibrated with rage.
Another thing he learned about his husband, he hated when the underdog was picked on. It ignited some desire to protect the person. Right now, that person was Bex. A cruel smile tugged at the corner of Noah’s mouth, and Mateo touched his forearm. He couldn’t have Noah chewing the girls out in public—more specifically, at his job.
“It’s okay, Noah,” he whispered, desperate for his husband to hear him. “They’re not worth it.”
“No, they’re not,” he said. “Did you know they were just at our table. Seems the girls thought they’d make great members for R.O.O.T.”
Mateo’s eyes widened. “Surprise, surprise.”
Noah snorted. “But, after this little display, young or old, they’d never be accepted onto our team. They wouldn’t even last a week in basic, let alone have the morality it takes to make an effective teammate.”
“Whatever, old man,” Sasha bit out. “Didn’t sound like fun, anyway.”
Noah laughed. “Next time, say it with more conviction.”
“Go on to the office, girls,” Mateo said. “I’ll be there shortly.”
All three girls frowned as they stomped off, headed for the door. Mateo scrubbed his face. What a way to start his first day back since being kidnapped. He shook his head and turned to Noah. His husband stared after the girls with a frown.
“They’re nothing but trouble.”
“Tell me about it.” Mateo gave a humorless chuckle. “I need to take care of this. Can you watch over Bex for a minute, and don’t let the feds talk to her?”
Noah narrowed his eyes and nodded. “You got it, Mattie. She’ll be in safe hands.”
Yeah, that’s what he worried about. Since she’d arrived at Princess Anne, she’d been subjected to more harassment than he’d ever seen a student withstand. She didn’t have any friends, and he doubted even if she could make them, that she would. Her father had a reputation around the school, and it wasn’t good. The majority of the teachers were afraid of him and the others looked down on him in disdain. Sometimes, it bled over to Bex.
Mateo ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. Guess it’s a good thing I came back when I did.
Mateo stepped into their apartment and groaned. Everything hurt. His back. Feet. His head. Spending six hours inside a gym with over a thousand students broke him. He laughed to himself, Noah looked worse. But, it’d all been worth it.
After he returned to the gym, Noah returned to his post with Asher and returned to talking to different students. He signed off on more cards than either of them could count, and by the time they left, he’d been wiped. Bex stayed with AJ and Scotty, though she wouldn’t talk to them or look at them. Mateo reassured them it wasn’t anything personal. She didn’t talk much as it was.
“Kaine and Frazier are going to make me hate them,” Noah groaned, dropping onto the couch. “They want all the information they can get on the kid.”
“Not happening. If they even think about going to her, she’ll be killed,” he replied. “I won’t have her death or injury on my conscience.”
“I know,” Noah murmured, tugging Mateo into his lap. “It’s why I want to kill both agents right now.”
I have to give it to them, though, they are tenacious,” Mateo said. “I get it. It also makes sense after hearing what they had to say about her father. He’s a bad, dangerous guy, but she's innocent. She doesn't deserve their attention.”
Noah kissed him. “Don’t worry. Kaine is out of here in a few days with AJ and Scotty. It’ll blow over.”
