by Crissy Smith
“Just keep your hands to yourself,” she ordered.
“I promise,” he said, not meaning it at all.
* * * *
Luca’s phone buzzed from the nightstand next to his head. He rolled over and picked it up before the sound woke Jade. “It’s five in the morning,” he griped as a greeting.
“Where the hell are you?” Sal demanded.
“In bed, asleep, like normal people,” he whispered back to his brother.
“Since I’m currently standing in your bedroom I know that’s a lie,” Sal sniped.
“I didn’t say I was in my bed,” he pointed out. “And why are you in my apartment?”
“Didn’t Abilene tell you I was coming?” Sal questioned. There was movement on the other end of the phone, and Luca didn’t want to think about what his brother would be going through of his.
“She did,” he said. “But I didn’t expect you in my place before dawn.”
“We caught an early flight. Now answer my question,” Sal ordered.
“I’m obviously at someone else’s place. Just take a nap or something and meet me at the office in a couple of hours,” he replied. “I might even bring you in donuts if you’re a good boy.”
Sal growled. “Don’t push it.”
Luca laughed. “See you later.” He hung up before Sal could say anything further. Oh sure, he would pay for it later, but he enjoyed screwing with his eldest sibling.
“Your brother got in?” Jade asked from the other side of the bed.
Luca set his cell back down before he rolled over and faced her. She had her chin resting on her fist while she watched him.
“Good morning,” he greeted before kissing her lightly.
“Hmm, let’s try that again,” she said as she reached for him.
Luca climbed on top of her. “Okay.”
Chapter Nine
True to his word, Luca picked up six dozen donuts on the way to the office. Jade teased him but Luca knew that Sal wouldn’t have appreciated his smart mouth earlier and he needed to make it up to his brother. It wasn’t Sal’s fault that he was such a hard ass. He’d always had the job of taking care of the other Perez kids. That was just the way it was in his family. As first born it had fallen to him to set a good example for the younger kids.
As the baby, Luca had gotten away with more than anyone else. He’d partied hard and stayed out late in high school. It was always Sal who would pull him out of all the trouble he found himself in. He never ratted Luca out to his parents but Sal could sure lecture for hours.
Yet, even though Sal could be overbearing and demanding, he was a great big brother. Luca just had a hard time convincing Sal that he was grown up now and could make his own decisions.
Jade pushed open the conference room door and all conversation stopped. He followed her in, holding up the boxes. The scent from the freshly baked goods was mouthwatering. “I brought breakfast,” he announced.
“Awesome!” Jamie cried. “And you didn’t even let having sex make you late.”
Jade made a choking sound as Jamie howled with laughter. Luca glanced over at his friend, noticing that he had his hand on the back of Sal’s chair. Jamie had set that up nicely.
“Sorry, Jamie,” Luca said with a smirk. “I know Brandy is making you watch your diet and I wouldn’t want to do anything to upset her. I think you should refrain.”
Jamie grumbled while he stalked closer to Luca. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt me,” he stated as he grabbed the load from Luca.
“Well, I don’t know…” Luca replied. “It might come up the next time we talk.”
Jamie flipped him off. Luca chuckled until he saw Sal’s glare. “What?” he snapped. Shit, he sounded like a teenager again.
Sal slowly shook his head before rising from his chair. He looked at Luca before settling his gaze on Jade. Luca wanted to jump in front of her to keep her from his brother. He knew it wouldn’t work, though. When Sal was determined, nothing that Luca said or did mattered.
“So, you’re the woman my baby bro is shacking up with,” Sal said to Jade.
“Sal!” Luca shouted. God, he wanted to throttle his brother already.
“Sal!” Flynn, Sal’s partner, yelled.
“Hey, asshole!” Cole jumped to his feet.
Jade laughed. “No.”
Sal ignored everyone but Jade. “No?”
“We’re not shacking up. Just using each other’s body in every imaginable way possible,” she said with a straight face.
There was no movement, no talking—he wasn’t even sure if anyone was breathing—as they all waited for Sal’s reaction.
Luca waited until Sal nodded. “Sounds good then,” Sal told her. “Did you get any lemon filled?”
Luca just stared at his brother as Sal started opening lids. What the fuck? He glanced over at Jade but she only shrugged before walking over to her partner. Cole put his arm over her shoulder as he continued to glare at Sal. Jade whispered something to him, which drew his attention away from his brother. Luca really didn’t want to get in-between Cole and his brother if Cole decided not to let Sal’s comment go. He knew it was his responsibility but why couldn’t everyone just back off and give him and Jade time to figure out their relationship on their own? He stepped forward, hoping he could take Cole’s attention from Sal. His brother’s partner was normally really good at keeping Sal under control. Luca didn’t know how Flynn managed it. If he had to work with Sal he’d strangle him in one day. And he loved Sal. Even now Flynn had his hand on Sal’s shoulder, remaining by his side while Jade still spoke softly to Cole.
Cole cracked a smile before he reached for one of the boxes. The tension in the room seemed to evaporate as Cole relaxed. Luca hoped the crisis had passed for now. He joined the rest of the team and grabbed his own food. He noticed that Cody and Zak were missing. “Any word from the commander?” he asked. He sat next to his brother because he knew that Sal would just make a big deal out of it if he didn’t.
“They’re still in a meeting,” Ryder informed him from across the table.
“I brought you some files I think you’ll need. I already gave Cody a copy. He met up with me early,” Sal said, sparing a quick scowl to Luca.
“That’s why he’s the boss,” Luca retorted.
Sal sighed. Luca took a big bite from his donut as everyone else in the room settled down. Cole and Jade had their heads close together discussing something. Luca wondered what it was, especially when she grabbed her backpack and pulled out her laptop. She pushed her plate away and started working furiously.
“What’s going on?” Luca asked his brother, knowing that Sal had a pretty good idea.
“I gave Cole several names I think they should look into,” Sal told him.
The familiar tone that Sal used when talking about Jade’s partner surprised him. “Do you know Cole?”
“Yes, we attended the academy together, although he was a few classes behind me. He’s a good agent. Or he was before all this happened. I get the impression that he isn’t too happy with the organization now. Which is a real shame. Cole is an asset,” Sal said.
“Why’s he still there?” Luca questioned. It was something he was trying to understand about a lot of the shifters in the FBI. They hadn’t been accepted and now it seemed that they were even being mistreated. Why had they stayed? Or come back after being suspended when the FBI had first learned that they were shifters?
“Cole’s stubborn. He feels he has a right to work there and he is correct. He won’t leave because he wants the others to see him standing up for his rights every day,” Sal answered.
“That’s why you’re still there, isn’t it?” Luca asked.
“Mainly,” Sal admitted. “I’m lucky that I have a boss who respects my work. I’m a lot better off than most of the others and I’ve worked damn hard to get where I am today.”
“Still, it would be easier if they just switched agencies,” Luca commented.
“Perhaps,
but someone needs to take a stand. That’s what we’re going to do here,” Sal informed him. “Let the government know that we are equals in every way.”
“You told your boss about the investigation?” Luca guessed.
“I have someone I answer to. I can’t go off half-cocked at a whim. I needed his support and I have it,” Sal confirmed.
“That’s good. At least someone high up in the chain knows,” Luca said.
“He’s more than aware. The reason I was able to get the reports I wanted so quickly is because he was already looking into some claims,” Sal told him.
“Really?” Luca asked, surprised. If the FBI was aware that there was a problem, why were shifters still being targeted?
“It’s just suspicion right now, but he’s doing what he can,” Sal said.
The conference room door opened, and Cody and Zak joined them.
“The good news is Commander Green approved our request to start an investigation,” Cody said as he took one of the remaining seats.
Zak remained standing and leaned against the wall behind him.
“The bad news?” Jamie asked.
“He doesn’t know how much he can help,” Cody informed them. “The FBI have been pulling out all the stops to hinder anything we do with them. Even for local joint cases.”
“They did agree to the joint task force so that’s something,” Jade commented.
Patrick cleared his throat. Luca and the others turned their attention to him. “About that…”
Sam grunted, appearing very unhappy. When Patrick didn’t say anything for a minute Sam growled. “You tell them or I will,” Sam threatened.
Patrick sat up straight in his chair and looked at Cody. “I was sent here to make sure the task force fails,” he said quietly.
“What?” Luca yelled.
Cole’s and Jade’s jaws dropped while some of the others frowned. Jamie jumped to his feet, towering over Patrick.
Patrick held his hands up to ward off the questions being fired at him. “Let me explain,” he said. “I was ordered by our boss to sabotage any training exercises and keep an eye on the other FBI agents. I have to report back every night on what we’re doing.”
“You told them about our suspicions?” Zak accused. His big arms were crossed over his chest while he glared at Patrick.
“Yesterday when you all met at Zak’s house,” Patrick confirmed.
Luca looked form Patrick, to Zak, to Cody. “You already knew that,” he speculated.
“Yes,” Zak answered. “Commander Green brought it up. He had a call from the agent in charge here in Lake Worth.”
“Simmons?” Jade asked. “He’s our boss, not Sam and Patrick’s.”
“Yes,” Cody confirmed. “Simmons dropped enough clues to make Commander Green presume one of his agents was talking.”
“He blamed me?” Jade guessed.
“He did,” Cody replied.
“Commander Green questioned us this morning, but we assured him that you weren’t the leak. Cole also wouldn’t talk since it’s shifters like him being targeted. That left the other two humans here. Having Simmons call instead of their boss was supposed to have us following the wrong line. Kick you and Cole out and hurt the investigation. You’re the one who found the connections in all the cases,” Zak explained.
“Son of a—” Jade yelled. She spun to Patrick, looking like she was going to lunge at him. Cole swiftly wrapped his arm around her neck and held her back.
“I’m sorry!” Patrick cried. “They told me if I didn’t do it they’d reassign me to one of the shifter units! I don’t want to die.”
Cole was speaking into Jade’s ear, which seemed to be calming her down. She relaxed into him but didn’t stop shooting daggers at Patrick.
“When did you find out?” Luca asked Sam.
“This morning,” Sam said. “I told Patrick that I was going to do this with or without him. He tried to talk me out of it and finally came clean about why we were really sent here.”
“That’s why you were so worried last night. Patrick said something to make you doubt yourself?” Luca questioned.
Sam nodded. “He asked me if it was worth my career and maybe my life.”
What a fucking mess. Luca didn’t even know where they should go from here. They had a rat in their ranks but at least they knew about him. Even if Patrick confessed to them, though, he could still screw up their assignment, if he hadn’t already.
“This has made our jobs harder, but we still have work to do,” Cole stated.
“I agree,” Sal said. “Let me show you what I have.”
“What about him?” Jade spat pointing at Patrick.
“Don’t worry,” Jamie replied with a grin. He put his arm over the back of Patrick’s chair. “Patrick will be by my side the whole time.”
Patrick swallowed visibly. Luca didn’t blame him at all. Jamie was a great guy and fun to be around, but when he was in full agent mode he was scary as hell. Patrick would not be going against them again.
Sal accepted some printed papers from his partner and stood. While he walked to the front of the table, Sal’s partner, Flynn O’Bannon, passed around more papers.
“I was able to find four other agents that have been killed or seriously injured in the line of duty since they announced what they were. I’d like to add these to the ones you’ve already discovered,” Sal told them.
Luca read through the names and times that his brother had put together.
“Do you have access to the actual files?” Jade asked.
“Yes,” Sal answered.
“I’d like to have a look to compare the names to the ones I’m already researching,” she told him.
Sal nodded to Flynn who started to pull out his computer. Jade lifted her bag and followed suit. He pulled his attention back to his brother as Sal started to tell them about each case and what had happened to the shifter who had been on assignment.
“I notice that in all these reports there was only one shifter involved,” Cole said. “The rest of the agents were humans.”
“I picked up on that too,” Flynn spoke up. “I looked through their records to see when they were transferred as part of that team. It’s anywhere between one and six months.”
“That’s…” Cole and Jade exchanged looks. Luca knew what they were thinking. If the other shifters had been assigned human partners and given a big assignment there was a chance that Cole would have also been hurt or worse.
“We think there’s a plan to take you out. Sending you here? Might be a part of it,” Sal stated.
Jade paled and grasped Cole’s arm. “They want to kill you!”
“Or at least make me disappear.”
She was on her feet and had hold of Patrick. She jerked him up and shook him. “What’s the plan?” she demanded.
“I don’t know!” Patrick cried. “I swear. I was just supposed to keep them informed about what we’re working on. Let them know about the training exercises.”
Cole grabbed hold of Jade, making her release Patrick. She resisted for an instant. Luca hated to admit it but he was turned on by the display. Jade might be one of the few humans in the room but she was just as terrifying as any of them when riled up.
She was a force, and Luca wished that he could pull her away and show her how sexy he found her.
“So, if something happened to him here it wouldn’t come back on them? Cole is pretty high profile in his department. He’s been standing up for all the other shifters,” Jade said while still glaring at Patrick. “They’re being more careful this time.”
“Patrick’s already told them what we suspect, though,” Jamie pointed out. “They can’t really go after him now.”
“They can if they move on it,” Zak argued. “If they work quickly before we get our investigation started they have a chance. They don’t know what Jade found or that Sal and Flynn are here. If Cole is hurt or killed, the suspicion falls on us. This might work out in our favor.”
“So what do we do?” Jade asked, looking worried.
“We give them the ammo to shoot themselves,” Zak said.
“What?” Jade turned toward Zak. “You are not going to use my partner as bait.”
“It’s okay.” Cole patted her back.
“No!” she yelled. “Find another way.”
“Normally I would agree with you.” Sal walked over to her. “But Cole is a trained agent. He’ll be okay.”
“So were the others!” Jade argued.
“But they didn’t know what was going to happen,” Zak said. “Even if they suspected something wasn’t right, I doubt they thought their own agency was trying to take them out.”
“I don’t like it,” Jade said.
“We’re all here for Cole. We know something could happen,” Luca told her.
She frowned at him. “You agree with them?”
Luca wished that they were alone so he could take her in his arms. Oh, screw it. He rose to his feet and strolled over to her. She was staring at him with a look of shocked betrayal. “We have one more thing they don’t know about.”
“What’s that?” she asked. He was glad that she didn’t pull away from him.
“Patrick,” he told her.
“What I am supposed to do?” Patrick asked.
“What you have been. You’re going to keep your boss informed about what we’re doing. We’ll just be telling you what to say,” Luca said.
“I can’t… I can’t do that. I don’t want to get involved,” Patrick whined.
Jade growled and lunged at him. Luca kept himself between the two of them, though.
“I don’t think you have a choice, little man,” Jamie told Patrick.
Jade grinned. “We can make you,” she threatened.
“Fine.” Patrick sank down further in his chair. “I’ll do whatever you tell me.”
“Good.” Zak rubbed his hands together. “Looks like we have a training exercise to plan.”
“What about the other agents?” Jade questioned.
“Send me everything you have,” Sal said. “We’ll find them.”
Jade grabbed his hand and gave him a good squeeze. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
