Destruction

by Knightley, Reese

  The coroner moved inside the small room and began the painstaking task of removing the scorched victims.

  The room was slowly cleared. He had no idea if any of the men were Caleb. DNA tests and dental records would hopefully identify them soon. He stumbled from the room and walked until he was outside. He kept walking and taking in large, deep breaths of fresh air. Fumbling, he pulled out his phone and checked it. Still no messages.

  Where the hell are you, Alex?

  Alex

  He hissed between his teeth and squinted at the man in front of him. A smirk lifted the man’s mouth and eyes flashed up at him.

  “Just a few more and I’ll be done. You sure you don’t want a local?”

  “No,” he growled. Unable to drive out of Burbank the previous night, he’d holed up in a motel overnight, hoping to take care of this shit on his own. Sometime in the early hours after midnight, he’d passed out and completely missed the Hunter’s Point raid. That hadn’t been his intention, but once he’d woken up, he realized the next day was starting and the raid was more than likely over.

  Numerous text and phone messages had flooded his phone. Intending to call Micah back, he’d tended his wound first. He’d been able to get the bleeding stopped for a few hours, but then it would start up all over again. Eventually, he admitted defeat, left the hotel, and drove home, stopping several times along the way.

  “Too macho for pain killers,” Rush said, not looking up from the stitching. “And too macho to ask for help.”

  His scowl was wasted on the medic. “They fog up my thinking and it’s not like that.” There had been a time when he would have called on one particular man for help without any hesitation.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  Alex closed his eyes at the low growl from the voice coming from the doorway.

  “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he tried reasoning first.

  The man stitching him up snickered.

  “Not helping, Rush.” Alex frowned at the medic, who just grinned and poked him.

  “Ow.” He sucked in a breath.

  “Goddamn it,” Micah snapped and was across the room in two seconds. “What happened?”

  “I won,” Alex said, using tactic number two.

  “Barely,” Micah barked back, probing the two smaller cuts on his arm.

  “Hey! Ow.” Alex jerked his arm away.

  “Big baby.” Micah eyed him.

  “Am not,” Alex grumbled. “Knives are your area.”

  Micah made a sound under his breath and reached up to brush the hair from his forehead. Alex closed his eyes at the touch. He would gladly stay right there for the rest of his life if Micah would keep that up.

  “Hold still,” Rush said with a sigh.

  “Haven’t I taught you anything?” Micah scolded, edging closer. “You go in low.”

  “I did.”

  “And?”

  “He’s dead.”

  “Good,” the man growled. “Or I’d fucking kill him myself. Why didn’t you take me with you?”

  What could he say? That it had taken months to break the habit of wondering where Micah was every fucking minute? Or that it was his way of preparing for the day Micah ended all contact.

  “I got the call early. I knew you needed to be at Hunter’s Point. I thought I’d be back before the raid,” he said, keeping his gaze on the far wall.

  “Okay,” Rush dropped the small medical tools into the disinfectant filled tray with a slight rattle, “you’re good to go, just be careful you don’t open those stitches,” the medic said, placing a bandage on the wound before stepping back.

  “No guarantees, but thanks, doc.” Alex nodded and rolled his shoulder.

  “I’m no doctor.” The former military EMT shook his head and turned away to clean up.

  “You are to me.”

  Micah rolled his eyes.

  “I saw that.” Alex frowned at Micah.

  The hunter snorted and slipped an arm around his waist. It felt good, and Alex leaned into Micah even though he could have stood on his own.

  Reaching a vacant room in the unit’s bunker, Micah eased him down on the bed and then turned to close the door.

  “Come here.”

  Micah eyed him for a long moment and then stepped closer and sank down to sit next to him onto the bed.

  “I’m sorry I worried you,” he said roughly.

  “You didn’t pick up the phone.” The man glared accusingly at him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said again and ran a hand down the man’s arm.

  Micah shrugged, opened his mouth as if to say something, and then closed it and tugged away.

  He dropped his hand and waited for Micah to look at him, but the man kept his face turned away.

  “How’d Hunter’s Point go?”

  “We got some intel.” Micah shoved a hand through his hair. “It wasn’t much, but we got a map and a few places to start the search.” The man swallowed, still not meeting his gaze.

  He brought Micah’s hand to rest against his chest, keeping it there, so Micah was finally forced to look at him.

  The man’s eyes filled with an intense, painful emotion.

  Alex frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  “There were three bodies.” Micah pulled his hand away and then ran it over his mouth and chin.

  His heart lurched. “Were any of them Caleb?”

  “No, Rossi just informed me,” Micah said quickly, then stood and paced.

  Alex moved to sit on the side of the bed, hands on his knees, his head bent. So fucking grateful. He sat looking at the ground for several moments, and then rubbed both hands over his face quickly.

  The room grew quiet until the soft scrape of chair legs echoed as Micah drew the desk chair closer and sat across from him. The man’s face was a mask of torment.

  “What, tell me?”

  “Vladimir fucking burns them,” Micah said, his voice strangled. “And he has been for a while.”

  “I know,” he acknowledged quietly.

  “You…know?” Micah looked at him with a confused look.

  “Who told you?”

  “I overheard Stefano talking. You knew and you didn’t fucking tell me!”

  Alex looked away. “No, I didn’t,” he confirmed, looking back. “I figured you’d learn about it in the meetings.

  “You deliberately kept it from me,” Micah hissed after a moment.

  “I didn’t think you needed the added stress.” Shit. The words were out before he could stop them.

  Micah’s face filled with anger.

  “Who the fuck are you to decide that for me!” Micah exploded to his feet and moved a few steps away and whirled on him.

  “You were a loose cannon. You’re barely holding it together now,” Alex pointed out reasonably, but that didn’t work either.

  His chest tightened as the storm built in those amazing eyes.

  “Still trying to control every fucking thing, Alex?” the man sneered.

  He held the man’s angry gaze and clenched his jaw.

  “When did you find out?” Micah snarled, and he reopened his eyes.

  “A while ago,” he said flatly.

  Micah glared and then turned his back and stalked out.

  “Fucked up there royally, Hendrix,” he growled at himself. He knew how much Micah hated to be handled. Still trying to control everything? The words had stung, but he couldn’t deny they were true.

  Twenty minutes later, he stepped out into the main room. Allison gave him a brief nod from her desk, but the others weren’t in the bull pen.

  “Micah went out,” Allison said.

  “Thank you.” He gave her a brief smile. It was just as well, no sense igniting the man’s temper any more than he already had.

  His phone buzzed with a text from Roscoe to meet in his office. Taking the elevator up, he knocked on Roscoe’s office.

  “Enter.”

  “You wanted to see me?”

  “Have a s
eat.”

  He eased into a chair, stretched his legs out, and waited.

  “I heard you had an altercation of some sort and were stabbed. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” He waived off Roscoe’s concern.

  “What happened?”

  “A friend needed some help.” Alex filled Roscoe in about the circumstances and deaths of Wolf’s man and the young girl, leaving his friend’s name out of the conversation.

  Gazing out the window from where he sat, he could see the darkening skyline. Another long moment passed.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too.” He glanced back at Roscoe.

  Roscoe sat quiet for a moment. “So, there’s a slight chance that this Gashi and Vladimir are working together. And if that’s the case, Vladimir could still be here in California.”

  “Honestly? I don’t think any of them are anywhere near here, except maybe Gashi. If anything, Vladimir may still have ties here, but I doubt he’s hanging around. Especially if he still has Caleb,” Alex responded and steepled his fingers. “The suspect I questioned reported to Gashi. The guy didn’t know anything about Caleb. I showed him a picture and there wasn’t a hint of recognition.”

  “And the others?”

  “He didn’t recognize Vladimir, Petrov, or Mez either,” he said.

  “You’re sure?”

  Alex studied his fingers and then flicked his gaze to Roscoe’s. “I’m positive. If he knew anything more, he would have told me.”

  Micah

  His smile turned to horror when the boy’s face melted into a gaping hole, which transformed into a thick swirling black. Like a living thing, the blackness moved, warbling, swaying, and inviting.

  Micah moved forward but before he could touch the darkness, it came alive. A figure emerged dressed in an impeccable suit and tie. The man spun and a terrible face was revealed.

  The man smiled with a sinister twist to his thin lips and in his hand…dangled the head of a young boy.

  “No!” he screamed. “Fucking no! You can’t have him!” He raged until his throat was raw and fought when the man reached for him, holding him down. His knife flashed and he stabbed over and over, sinking deep into the monster’s flesh. Flesh that turned into the charred body with singed curly brown hair. He screamed, his voice raw, and dropped the knife.

  “Micah! Fuck. Micah! Come on, wake up.”

  The voice was distant, but enough to jerk him semi-awake.

  He gulped and shot up in bed. With a frantic gaze, he glanced around for the dark-haired head.

  “I cut you! I cut you!” Panting, he took several shaking breaths.

  “No, hush. I’m fine.”

  “You’re fucking bleeding.”

  “No, look at the room. It was just a dream.”

  Sucking in several more breaths, he darted his gaze past Alex at his room. It stood empty, save the man on his bed. The room door stood open. Alex’s hair was ruffled as if he’d been sleeping or running fingers through it as he typically did when he was restless. The only sound in the room was that of his ragged breathing.

  “What are you doing here?” He rubbed shaking fingers at his brow.

  “I have the room just down the way. I heard you call out.”

  He swallowed, the nightmare still lingered at the edge of his vision, and he closed his eyes, lips pressed together as he tried to stop their trembling.

  “Don’t go there.” Alex gave him a gentle shake.

  “I’m not.” His voice fell flat.

  “Micah…” The man’s deep voice sent a shiver through him.

  “I’m okay,” he breathed out, looking around. The clock displayed a little before midnight.

  “You don’t sound okay,” Alex said, and then after a moment, rubbed a hand up and down his back.

  The shear expanse of Alex’s chest drew his gaze and he swallowed. Pulling away, he shrugged off the man’s touch. “I said, I’m okay.”

  Alex stood up and took a step away. Micah closed his eyes against the sight of the hurt that briefly flashed on the man’s face.

  The room had grown quiet in only the way the low thrumming of silence could and it rushed against his ears. Lifting his hands, he placed them against the sides of his head. Taking a deep breath, he dropped his hands into his lap.

  He searched for anything to say to break the strained silence between them.

  “He texted me,” Micah said, looking at the floor.

  “Who?” Alex stepped closer.

  “Caleb.”

  “When?” The sense of urgency in Alex’s voice was unmistakable.

  “The day they took him.”

  “Jesus, Micah. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Micah cleared his throat and stared at his hands. Slowly, he turned them palms up and then curled his fingers. His eyes drifted up, and then his head tilted and he met the man’s gaze. It looked like they were both keeping secrets.

  Alex’s pressed his lips into a straight line and gave an abrupt nod.

  “Right, why would you tell me?” Alex murmured as if to himself. The man turned away and walked a few steps, and then stopped, took a breath, and turned.

  “What did it say?”

  “He wanted help on his book report when I got home,” he responded woodenly.

  “I wish I would have known,” Alex said, and something in the man’s voice, some soft, aching tone made Micah’s eyes sting.

  “He was so fucking proud of that phone.” His voice broke on the last word and he lifted a fist to his mouth even though a sound escaped. The smartphone had been an early birthday present.

  “He’d been hounding you for one for months,” Alex agreed, easing closer.

  Micah blinked rapidly and nodded. “I gave it to him early because I couldn’t wait.” The surprise on Caleb’s face had been comical. Micah couldn’t figure out who was more excited, he or his baby brother. It was getting harder to remember the joy on his brother’s face.

  “I remember,” Alex whispered.

  “It was so that we could keep in touch.” He stared into nothing. “So that wherever he was, he could call me.”

  Alex stepped forward and sat on the edge of the bed next to him, offering silent comfort.

  Micah tipped his head back. So many memories sat between them, so much time had passed, so much fucking hurt yet Alex was still here for him. Searching Alex’s face, he was suddenly transported to a different time when the man had been there for him. The last battle that took him out of active duty.

  He was down, having caught shrapnel from an exploding land mine. The guy who’d stepped on it lay dead nearby. The enemy was coming at them from all sides as he struggled to his knees. He could see Alex fighting across the small area.

  Alex suddenly looked across the distance. Their gazes locked and held. Micah’s lips trembled and he tried to let Alex know that it was okay. He was ready to die with him by his side.

  Something snapped inside of Alex that day. Micah had never seen anything like it before and he’d never seen anything like it since. The memory of the fear on the enemies’ faces still sent a chill down his spine. By the time Alex was done, some twelve enemies were dead, scattered bodies torn apart, the man’s gun in one hand and knife flashing in the other, bodies dropped, bleeding at his feet, and a US Army helicopter hovered over their heads. Alex picked him up and carried him to the waiting bird.

  “What the fuck happened?” one soldier asked, mouth gaping at the carnage.

  “Fear killed them,” he’d whispered.

  “What fear?”

  Micah gestured to Alex.

  Rumors spread like wild fire after that and what was twelve men became twenty and sometimes fifty as the story was told and retold. But Micah knew the truth, and the truth was enough of a story in itself.

  He’d been done after that, but Alex had completed another tour, and then had come for him.

  Nothing could keep them apart, or so he’d thought. But then monsters had come calling and h
is world fell apart.

  Micah turned into the man, harsh, dry sounds coming from his throat.

  “Shhh,” Alex murmured and slipped an arm around his shoulders.

  Micah made a sound in his throat. His own hands reached up and fisted into Alex’s shirt. He looked up into gunmetal gray eyes and the world fell away. Lifting that inch that would close the distance, he pressed his lips to Alex’s mouth in a desperate kiss.

  Alex didn’t turn away from his kiss, but something was missing, the man’s lips weren’t crushing his nor moving at all. Confused, he pulled back and put a fist to his mouth, staring at Alex over the top of his hand.

  “Not like this, Micah.” Alex’s eyes were so sad. Micah felt the look like a physical pain.

  “I want to kiss you, but not out of some desperate need to forget. When we kiss again, I want it to mean something.”

  Alex

  Roscoe made his way to the front of the room. “Attention, everyone, take your seats. This meeting is going to be very brief,” the man said. Everyone filed into seats and the room grew quiet. “Local law enforcement apprehended three big rigs coming in and out of Hunter’s Point. Victims were rescued and the drivers are being questioned. So far, they aren’t talking. Additionally, the three burned bodies recovered from Hunter’s Point were identified and families are being notified. I told Micah prior to this meeting that none of the victims in the trucks or warehouse were Caleb.” A few concerned faces turned toward Micah, who gave them all a nod.

  Alex kept his eyes up front. The desperate kiss from earlier on auto replay. He folded his arms against his chest and forced himself to stay still.

  Roscoe nodded at Reggie. The techie stood and walked to the front. He pointed to the wall of monitors filled with maps and various written documents. “I’ve been working on the numerous documents retrieved the day before yesterday from Hunter’s Point.” The techie turned from the monitor toward the unit. “It’s slow going, but as well as California, Oregon, Washington, and Texas, we can now add Alaska to the list of possible Lakhonin locations.”

  “That’s a lot of fucking territory.” Storm frowned and Reggie glanced at Roscoe as if not sure what to say.

  “It is,” Roscoe responded. “And Fear found evidence of a location further south of here in Beverly Hills.” Roscoe nodded at him.