Kane was a good driver and Luca had no doubt he could have gotten to his apartment faster than the twenty minutes it took, driving over the hill on the 405 freeway. Luca had a feeling he’d only kept the speed down because Luca told him it was his first time on a motorcycle. The ride was thrilling as hell. Kane had driven smoothly between the lanes of cars, which was allowed on California freeways, but the narrow gap between the cars was scary. Kane had executed it flawlessly, however. Luca decided if it had been anyone other than Kane driving, he wouldn’t have gotten onto the back of the bike. The big man was obviously experienced.
Kane pulled up to the curb in front of Luca’s apartment and waited for him to get off the bike. Luca’s ass was still vibrating as he stood beside the bike and pulled his helmet off, handing it to Kane who still straddled the large blue bike. Kane watched him closely, seeming to examine his reaction of the ride with a glint of amusement in his eyes. He was probably waiting for Luca to have some sort of meltdown. He smiled at Kane and suddenly had the overwhelming urge to kiss him. When Kane reached out and wrapped his long arm around Luca’s back and pulled him close, Luca couldn’t help but throw his own arms around Kane’s neck and lean down. Their lips crashed together in a toe-curling kiss that burned right through the cold that had seeped into Luca during the ride.
They only parted their mouths when someone called Luca’s name. He glanced at Corey who waved at him from half a block away. He was standing outside his white Honda Accord, waving his arms. Luca lifted his hand and waved back at him before turning back to Kane and offering him a tiny smile.
“Tell me you’re not going out to a club or something tonight,” Kane said.
Luca nodded. “The community is turning out for a candlelight vigil and fundraiser tonight at Hamburger Mary’s. Corey called me while you were changing clothes.” Kane nodded, not looking overly pleased but that couldn’t be helped. This rekindling of their relationship was way too new for either of them to be putting any conditions on it. There was no way Luca was going to curtail his activities with his friends and if Kane hadn’t been headed to the coroner’s office to meet his colleagues, Luca would have invited him along.
“Well, be careful,” Kane said, frowning. “We don’t know who did this and the investigation is still in its infancy. I can only guess when you say the community, you mean the LGBT community. Marty’s was a gay bar so…”
Luca reached up and placed two fingers over Kane’s full lips. When he stopped talking, Luca leaned down and kissed him.
“I’ll be careful, Special Agent Delancey. I promise.” Luca smiled sweetly at Kane and watched his shoulders move up and down with his deep sigh. He knew how hard it had to be for Kane to just let him walk back into a crowd of people who may be targeted. It had to be terrifying for anyone to see someone they cared about in that situation but for an alpha male like Kane, it was probably much worse. He was showing great restraint even though Luca had predicted he would act like a caveman. He really was falling for him…
… all over again.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
“Are you out of your ever-loving mind, Luca?” Corey bellowed the moment Luca got into his friend’s car after he’d changed clothes upstairs in his apartment. “That man got what he wanted from you and fucked off, leaving you alone to go date a woman!”
“He’s not…” Luca hesitated. How on earth was he going to get Corey to understand what he and Kane had together? He knew he was probably an idiot for believing in Kane… for believing that Kane actually cared this time but Corey hadn’t seen the way Kane looked at him. He hadn’t heard the way Kane’s voice shook as he’d apologized to him. He had no idea how to explain the look in Kane’s eyes when he thought they might be walking into danger tonight just for going to a vigil.
“What? He’s not what?” Corey demanded, starting the Honda’s engine with a roar. He pulled out onto the street and pointed the car toward the bar but Luca could feel his friend vibrating.
“He apologized,” Luca began but stopped when Corey let out a bark of laughter.
“Bullshit!” he said, dragging his eyes away from the road so he could give Luca the “death glare”. “How can you fall for that? He only wants to get back into your pants.”
“He already did, okay?” Luca replied defensively.
“You really are an idiot then,” Corey said.
Luca knew he only worried about him but he didn’t like having to look in the mirror which Corey was forcing him to do. It’s not like he hadn’t thought about that ten times today. Then they’d made love and then Marty’s had happened… like Kane said, it had been a hell of a day.
“We’ll talk about this after you calm down, Corey. I know you don’t want to listen right now and there’s a lot that’s gone on today so let’s just table this until later, okay?”
Corey glanced over at him again and Luca sent him his most practiced pleading expression. Corey watched him for a second and then sighed.
“Fine, asshole.” Corey turned his gaze back to the road and Luca relaxed back in the seat of his car.
Luca ran his hands up the sides of his arms, realizing he hadn’t put on a jacket. He reached up and touched his ears. They felt like ice and he suddenly remembered freezing his ass off on the back of Kane’s gorgeous bike.
“Hey, do you have a hoodie or something?”
Corey glanced over at him. “Are you cold? Where’s your jacket?”
“I forgot it when I ran upstairs to change and my ears are freezing from being on the back of that bike. Even with the helmet on, my head still froze.”
Corey smirked. “I can’t believe you rode on the back of the motorcycle. By the time I spotted you, you’d already climbed off. I bet you looked hot on that bike.”
“Kane looks hot on that bike. I just clung to him like a fucking limpet.”
Corey chuckled as Luca ran his hands up and down his biceps again.
“Sorry,” Corey said, reaching between the seats and digging for something in his backseat as he drove. “I forgot you were cold.”
Luca waited as Corey pulled his arm back and then held something out for him to take.
“What the fuck is this?” Luca asked, holding up a black knit ski mask with a huge florescent pink pompom on the top. The eye holes and mouth hole were trimmed in the same ridiculous pink. He’d never seen anything like it before.
“What? You said your ears were cold,” Corey said, pointing to it. “That thing works great for cold ears.”
“I’m not putting this on,” Luca said, turning the offending object over and over in his hands. He held it up and shook it until Corey turned to look at him again.
“What?” his friend asked with a tiny smile playing around his lips.
“Where did you get this?” Luca asked.
“I was looking for socks the last time I was at my grandmother’s house. I found it in her dresser drawer and she gave it to me,” Corey explained. “She said I could have it because she only wears it if she has to go to the pharmacy.”
Luca blinked at him for a few seconds, speechless. “While she’s there does your grandmother rob the pharmacy?” Luca asked.
Corey burst into laughter and Luca grinned. He was so relieved to hear his friend laugh. It felt like he’d been waiting for the sound all night long.
Chapter Eight
Kane walked into the LA County coroner’s office ten minutes after he dropped Luca off at his apartment. His whole body was thrumming with energy. He was anxious to find out why he’d been called to come down there tonight. Usually the county coroner only worked the day shift but Cassidy Ryan had explained that Linda Hastings was there and had some important information to share with all of them. That meant whatever it was had to be significant.
Kelly greeted him when the elevator doors swished open as soon as they stopped at the basement level. In addition to his partner Kane found Cassidy, Mike, and Lincoln Snow from the FBI, his partner, Mac, and Kane’s colleagues from
the ATF—Dev King, Nico Devecchio, Jose Galvez, and Sarah, his SAC. It was a full house and Kane frowned the moment he saw them all. Something was obviously up with all of this. He greeted Sarah as she reached out and took his elbow, pulling him away from the others.
“Everyone over there knows about WITSEC except for Galvez and Devecchio. I think you should tell them about it because that’s kind of why we’re all here.”
Kane frowned deeply as he set his hands on both hips. “Wait a minute. What does me being in WITSEC have to do with the coroner’s office and the death of all those people?”
“Remember when Marshal Brady told us there was a handful of people in WITSEC who were out of pocket? He and the marshals have been trying to locate all of them. Ring a bell?”
Kane nodded. “Yeah.”
“Okay, so we had Devecchio on the victim’s deep background since he’s the go-to computer genius in our office. He got to Freddy Lombardi and guess what?”
Kane felt the blood drain out of his face. “No way. Lombardi was in the program?”
Sarah nodded. “Yes. Devecchio found out that all his records were forged,” she said, leaning close so she could speak with a whisper. “You know how impenetrable WITSEC is and how good their ID kits are.”
Kane nodded.
“Well, you also know Devecchio is a fucking rocket scientist when it comes to computers. He suspected something and then went in and started dissecting the code. He learned Lombardi was a false identity and started asking questions. You have to tell him and Jose about yourself so that the whole team is up to speed with the rest of us.” Sarah put her hand out and squeezed Kane’s arm as she looked deeply into his eyes. “I know this means that two more people will know about you but Devecchio already suspects something and it won’t be long before he convinces Jose of it and…”
Kane held up a hand. “It’s okay, Sarah. I trust them both. They’re like brothers to me. They’re not the leak or the criminals here.” He glanced over at the rest of the group and counted the number of people who knew about him before looking back at her. It was a staggering number once he added in the marshals and Luca. “Go ahead and tell them.”
Sarah nodded, dropping her hand. “Good. I was hoping you’d say that. We’ll talk to Hastings—the coroner—and then you can tell them.”
Kane nodded. “That’s fine.”
They turned and walked back to the others who all waited patiently.
“Sorry about that,” Sarah said to the group. “Let’s go talk to the coroner. She says she has a significant finding that turned up during Lombardi’s autopsy.”
Cassidy and Mike led the way into the coroner’s office ahead of Lincoln, Mac, and the rest of Kane’s colleagues from the ATF, ten people in all. When Linda Hastings looked up, her eyes widened. Linda was a very pretty woman in her early forties. Kane had met her once before and even though she was much older than he was, he’d debated whether to ask her out. She had the face and figure of a Barbie doll and she was his type—at least she had been his type until he met Luca. He had to push that thought out of his mind because if he started thinking about how attractive Luca was, he was going to end up with a hard-on. That was the last thing he needed at the moment. When the coroner finally recovered her composure, she addressed Cassidy.
“I didn’t know you were bringing all of law enforcement with you, Ryan.”
“Hey, Linda. You might not know everyone here,” Cassidy said, holding out his hand. “This is…”
“Fine.”
“Huh?” Cassidy asked, furrowing his brows.
“I said, it’s fine. Don’t bother to introduce everyone. Just gather ‘round boys and girls and let me show you all what I’ve found.” She turned and walked to an autopsy table.
Kane met Cassidy’s gaze. The detective was trying not to laugh. Kane smirked at him but did as the bitchy coroner told them to do and walked over to the long metal table where a burned body was stretched out. The room smelled of burnt flesh, a stink Kane had only known from his days of active duty. When he’d been in the Corps, he’d been exposed to more than one chaotic scene where an insurgent had set off a bomb. It was a smell one didn’t forget easily. Freddy’s body was mostly intact but for a missing right leg. His flesh had been ripped apart by an explosive that had gone off in close proximity to it.
“As you can see, Mr. Lombardi was very close to the blast when it went off,” Linda said. “The other bodies were damaged less than his because they were farther away.” She swept a hand out at the other two tables in the room. Bodies lay on those as well. As she spoke the door to the autopsy room opened and a coroner tech rolled a stretcher into the room. On it was a black zippered body bag.
“Is that the latest?” Linda asked.
“Yes, ma’am. This person passed away at the hospital only recently.”
Linda nodded and looked directly at Cassidy as if he were the only person in the room. “That makes four dead from this bombing. Should I expect more, Cassidy?” She fluttered her lashes at Ryan and Kane had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.
“Two more are on the critical list,” Mike said, answering for his partner.
The coroner turned to glare at him.
“We’ll have to wait and see, I guess,” Mike continued.
“Fine.” Linda waved her hand at the tech. “Put our latest case over there until we finish up with these.” She turned back to the body, perusing it for a moment before walking over to a light box which hung on a wall. She reached up and switched it on. An x-ray of a head and neck lit up on the box. “This is Mr. Lombardi’s head x-ray and it’s why I called you,” she said, pointing to a white spot in the man’s skull.
“As you can see, this is a bullet wound.”
“That’s not shrapnel from the bomb?” Cassidy asked, walking over and staring at the x-ray with the rest of them.
“No, Cassidy. That is a .38 caliber slug.” Linda walked back to the body and picked up a small cylinder with a bullet in it. She held it up and showed them all. “I extracted it from his left temporal lobe.”
“So you’re saying he was killed by this bullet, not the subsequent explosion?” Lincoln asked.
“That’s right. I can only assume that the bomber set off the bomb after killing Mr. Lombardi…” She looked around the room. “Unless one of those fellows is our bomber, he shot Mr. Lombardi before the bomb went off.”
“I’ll be damned,” Kane said. “I’ll venture a guess that the bomb was set off to cover the murder.”
“Which means that Lombardi was the target all along,” Mike concluded. “Whoever planned this just didn’t give a damn who else they killed.”
“That’s cold, man,” Jose Galvez said.
“You can say that again,” Sarah said. She looked at the coroner. “You’ll call us after forensics gets the ballistics back on that bullet?”
Linda sniffed, looking down her nose at Sarah. “Of course.”
“Thank you,” Sarah said. She reached out a hand to the coroner. Linda looked down, examining the appendage as if it were the leg of a spider. “Thank you, Coroner Hastings,” Sarah repeated.
Linda finally nodded, taking Sarah’s hand. “No problem.”
Kane covered his smirk with a cough before looking up at Kelly. “You said there are surveillance tapes to look at also?”
“Yeah.” Kelly glanced at Sarah as she walked over.
“Let’s go back to our office so you can have that conversation with Nico and Jose,” Sarah said.
“Yeah, no problem.” Kane glanced at Kelly. “Can we look at the surveillance tapes at the ATF office?”
“Sure. Why not?” Kelly replied, smiling at him and then nodding at Sarah. “We’ll see you down there.”
“Sounds good,” Sarah replied, turning to walk over to where Linda Hastings was saying goodbye to the rest of their colleagues.
“You have your car?” Kelly asked, drawing Kane out of his musings.
“No. I have the bike. I�
��ll have to follow you to Glendale.”
Kelly smirked. “Damn. I wanted to hear all about you falling on your sword with Luca while we drove.”
“Oh, hell no,” Kane said, grinning. “That’s the last thing I’m gonna do with you. Just suffice it to say, I apologized, he accepted my apology, and we’re gonna try and work things out.”
Kelly reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “Good. I love that kid. He’s really a great person, Kane. I hope you don’t fuck up again because this time if you do, I’m going to have to kick your ass.”
Kane was still chuckling when they stepped onto the elevator with everyone else.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
Hamburger Mary’s was standing room only by the time Luca and Corey arrived after eight o’clock. The bar was only two blocks away from Marty’s in the heart of West Hollywood. It took them a long time before they could find parking almost a block away. Luca hadn’t really known what to expect. Whenever there was a tragedy in the gay community, folks seemed to turn out for candlelight vigils by the thousands. He couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to see so many people marching on Washington during the AIDS crisis in the early 1980s. He’d seen tons of movies about that time in history, but to have been there immersed in the LGBT community at the time the way his boss, Stephen had been, had to have been incredibly sad.
Luca was still blown away by the fact that Stephen Auerbach was the owner of Marty’s. It freaked him out a little bit. He’d been there so many times for karaoke night. Stephen had never mentioned owning a gay bar; then again, they hadn’t been friends for long. That afternoon, Stephen had said something about having owned it with his partner. Luca wondered who and where that partner was. He’d most definitely be asking Stephen about that.
Play With Me Page 11
