Seeing Love: Saints Protection & Investigations

by Maryann Jordan

  The simple act of dressing had Faith’s head pounding once more and her abrasions stung. By the time the nurse came in with the discharge forms and instructions, she would have signed a pact with the devil to get out of the hospital and back into her own bed. Oh yeah, I can’t go home yet. She quickly decided Bart’s bed was even better.

  *

  The ride home was silent, but not uncomfortable. Bart shucked his jacket, making a pillow for Faith’s head before they pulled out of the hospital parking lot. She knew she should not doze off, but it felt nice to rest her eyes from the glaring lights.

  He cut his eyes over to her often, making sure she was not asleep. He wanted to talk, but did not trust his temper. Fuckin’ hell! Someone’s gonna pay for hurting her, he vowed.

  Later that afternoon, he tucked her into his bed telling her to rest, but that he would be waking her often. She smiled wanly up at him, touching his heart.

  Walking back downstairs, he called Jack. “Tell me you got something, boss.” A sigh on the other end of the phone had Bart’s blood boiling.

  “Nothing yet, but we need to meet. I’m sending everyone to your place, unless you have an objection.”

  “No, come on over. Someone’s after Faith and it’s gotta be because of the Krustas case.”

  Disconnecting, he checked on her before waiting back downstairs for the rest of the Saints to arrive.

  Within thirty minutes, all of the Saints were settled around Bart’s large dining room table. Cam’s fiancé, Miriam, came also. As a nurse, she assured Bart that she would sit upstairs with Faith. Offering her a genuine hug, he kissed the top of her head. “Owe you, darlin’,” he said.

  “Oh, please, Bart,” she said, rolling her eyes. “After all you did to help Cam rescue me, I hardly think you owe me anything.” Giving him a squeeze before winking at her fiancé, she headed upstairs.

  Turning back to the group, he asked, “What have we got?”

  “The witnesses told the PD that the sedan was black with dark-tinted windows and they corroborated Faith’s story that it changed lanes to go straight for her. There’re no cameras at that light. There are cameras around the block focusing on the elementary school, but not on the intersection.”

  “Fuck,” Bart cursed. “There’s no way she can get run down in broad daylight and no one can figure out shit!”

  “And the news gets worse. I talked to Mitch,” Monty added. “Ivan made another transfer of money this morning, but no word on Erik yet. Over a week now. Jesus, this sucks.”

  Luke said, “I’ve been working around the clock to try to follow the money trail. I know my skills are better than what the FBI has, but it’s like someone is a step ahead of me. There’s some kind of blocking system that I’ve never seen.”

  “While the field of suspects could be huge, it seems if someone is after Faith, then the culprit has to be someone that you two interviewed. Someone who feels that she’s on to something,” Jude said.

  “So, are the FBI focusing on the Maldonis, Miguel, or the Volkovs?” Blaise asked, looking at Monty.

  “My money’s on Sergio,” Bart said, his voice cold and hard.

  The Saints looked at him, waiting to see what he would say.

  “The other three want Krustas out of business, but Faith didn’t get a definite feeling about any of them, other than the criminals they are. But Sergio? She felt anger, betrayal, and even hurt over Ivan turning him over to the Feds. And this kidnapping bullshit? It’s personal. It’s goddamn personal.”

  The others nodded in agreement while Luke’s fingers were tapping quickly on his keyboard.

  Bart leaned forward, piercing them with his stare. “Ivan’s worth a shit ton of money. Yeah, these constant payments are hurting him, but it’s not going to take his business completely down. Someone wants his fucking money, they demand a couple of million right off the bat. But this? This is wanting to gut the man where it hurts. And that, to me, leaves Sergio.”

  “Who were his cohorts before he was sent to prison?” Blaise asked.

  Quickly sending the information out to their tablets, Luke said, “He had no one else in the family that was working on the takeover, but he had his own large crew of men, with a possible tie to Volkov.”

  “What are they doing now that their leader is in prison?” Chad asked. “Or could Volkov be doing it for Sergio?”

  Blaise spoke up. “I don’t see Volkov doing anything for Sergio. Sergio may still have power, but he’s got a long prison stay. They’re both ruthless leaders. I don’t see one wanting to work for the other.”

  “According to Mitch, most of Sergio’s men integrated into other, smaller gangs, but the FBI is sure Sergio has sway on the outside with them…or others,” Cam added.

  “Who’s had contact with him in prison?” Chad wondered as Luke pulled up the prison records.

  “His lawyer is the only one who has visited. His mail and email are monitored, but it is assumed that anyone contacting him with that method has codes they use and hidden identity.”

  “FBI follow up on any of it?” Marc prompted.

  Monty shook his head. “Nah, it’s too much work and not enough manpower for the FBI to do that. They wanted Sergio, not his underlings. Ivan handed them what they wanted so as long as he’s in prison, they’re satisfied.”

  “Fuck!” Bart exploded again, shoving his chair back in frustration. “I’ve got my girl upstairs, bruised and concussed, and I’ve got no fuckin’ clue who did this to her!”

  The men around the table shared a smile as they looked at the big, blond amongst them.

  “Your girl?” Cam asked, his white teeth gleaming against his tan skin as he looked at his best friend.

  Bart’s gaze moved around the table as he slowly nodded his head. “Yeah. My girl.”

  “Then I should go back and visit Sergio to see what feeling I get now,” came Faith’s soft voice from the middle of the stairs as she walked gingerly down with Miriam’s assistance, her eyes on Bart.

  Chapter 20

  As the Saints erupted in Hell, no and Fuck that, Faith stopped short of the bottom of the stairs, Miriam’s arm still around her waist.

  Bart jumped up from the table, his chair scraping against the floor, and stalked over to where she was standing.

  “Princess,” he forced his voice to gentle, “Why are you up?”

  “Miriam had to wake me up and then I needed to…uh…” she blushed, leaning in to whisper, “go to the bathroom. We heard voices and I asked her to bring me down.”

  Miriam had moved over to Cam, looking up apologetically. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I shouldn’t have let her come down.”

  Cam hugged his fiancé, saying, “It’s okay, babe. Bart was going to have a hard time keeping her from knowing what we’re looking into.”

  Jack came over to where Bart was standing with Faith tucked into his embrace. His eyes moved over her forehead, a bandage covering the stitches. “Faith,” he said softly, “you don’t need to go meet that piece of trash again.”

  She met his gaze before slowly looking at the other men in the room. “I’m sure you don’t believe in the feelings that I get, but I’d like to keep working on this.” She twisted her head around to stare into Bart’s eyes, wincing in the process, and said, “Maybe this time I’ll be able to get us closer to finding Erik.”

  “We’ll talk about it later, princess, but not now. Right now, you need to rest and heal,” Bart said, brushing her hair back from her face, seeing the dark circles underneath her eyes and the bruising showing at the edges of the bandage on her forehead.

  Too tired to argue, she nodded and allowed him to sweep her off her feet as he carried her back to bed. Miriam followed, stepping out into the hall after he tucked the covers around Faith.

  “Miriam, I need you to stay with her. Jack’s going to obtain special permission to go to the prison tonight even though it’ll be late when I arrive. I’m going to talk to Sergio myself.”

  “I’ll stay with her,” Mir
iam promised.

  “I’m asking Cam to stay with you two for protection while I’m gone. I’ll be back in the middle of the night so you two can stay in the guest room.”

  “We’ll be fine,” she assured once more, patting him on the arm. “I’ll check her and make sure she’s well.”

  Bart quietly entered his bedroom again, seeing Faith already in the large bed. Kneeling by the bed, he whispered, “I’m going out, but I promise to come back to our bed as soon as I can. Holding you through the night is the only thing I want to do.”

  Bending over to kiss her lips in a feather-light touch, he admitted in a whisper, “I’m falling, princess. Falling hard for you.”

  He stole out of the room and back down the stairs to the Saints.

  Faith drifted off to sleep, a smile on her face.

  *

  This time, as Bart sat at the grey table in the prison conference room, he had Jude sitting with him. Jude’s eyes darted around, trying to take in everything, until the guard entered the room with Sergio following behind. Glancing to the side, he adopted Bart’s nonchalant attitude, keeping his eyes on the prisoner.

  Sergio shifted his eyes between the two large men before he sat down in the plastic chair across from them. His lips curved into a slow grin. “I see you brought someone else with you this time, big man. What happened to the pretty seer?”

  Bart saw red, but refused to fall for Sergio’s dig. “You got something to hide from a seer?”

  “Everybody’s got something to hide,” Sergio sneered.

  The room was silent for a moment that uncomfortably stretched among the players. Jude said nothing, keeping his dark eyes on the prisoner. Bart was willing to let the silence continue until Sergio spoke, but the man sitting across from them appeared to have all the time in the world. Fuck, he does have all the time to wait us out.

  “I think you’ve got more than you told us,” Bart said. “I think you know exactly where Erik is and that’s why you’re afraid.”

  Sergio laughed at that, throwing his head back. “You are searching, aren’t you, big man.” His face taking on a serious expression, he shook his head. “I’ll tell you this, but only because I’ve got nothing against the kid. You want to find him? Don’t look at me, ’cause I got nothing to do with it. You want to know…look closer.” The metal chair scraping against the tile floor screeched as Sergio pushed his seat back and stood. “Got nothing else for you, big man.”

  *

  The images seemed to float among black, rolling clouds. A storm’s coming. Faces, mostly filled with anger, swept by. Her chest hurt, heart pounding in fear, as the faces from the past week continued to haunt her.

  One final image burst through the inky darkness, causing her to gasp as she jerked awake, her mouth open trying to breathe. As her eyes darted around in panic, recognizing Bart’s bedroom, Faith leaned back against the pillows, willing her fluttering pulse to slow. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she padded into the bathroom. Staring at herself in the mirror, she was horrified at what looked back. The dark bruise escaped the bandage over the stitches crossing her forehead.

  With shaking hands, she drank a glass of water before returning back to the bedroom and crawling under the covers. What woke me? What was that last image? Unable to hold a pencil with the wrappings on her hands, she could not even let her mind wander to her fingers to create an image on paper.

  Willing her thoughts to slow, she brought the last image back to the forefront. A smile. It was a smile. Innocent. Gentle. Unafraid. But whose smile? This time, the night held no answers.

  *

  Jude reported in to Jack as Bart drove back to Charlestown. Disconnecting, he looked over at Bart. “Jack says we’re upping the protection on Faith, but I know you won’t let her out of your sight.”

  “Damn straight,” Bart agreed, his hand tightening on the steering wheel. After another minute of silence, he heaved a sigh. “This case is so fuckin’ frustrating. It’s not what we normally do.”

  Jude, new to the Saints, turned his full attention to Bart, willing to give him the time to explain more fully.

  “We’re usually given a specific assignment and we go in and do whatever we have to do to make it happen. This? Hell, the FBI is in charge of investigating the kidnapping—we’re not even supposed to be working on that. The bureau chief never called us in on the kidnapping case.”

  “It’s all Krustas this time?” Jude said, more of a query than a statement.

  “Yeah. Just investigate his enemies and take Faith along to see if she can help. And now, fuck, she’s right in the middle of this mess.”

  The silence filled the truck cab once more, for several more miles, before Bart added, “I never expected this, you know?”

  Jude looked over, unsure as to what Bart was referring to.

  “Faith,” Bart said, admitting everything in that one word.

  Jude grinned, remembering the first couple of times he met Sabrina’s cousin. In fact, the first time he lay eyes on her, she was on the arm of Bart. Jude had assumed she was his date and was relieved to find out the beauty was his cousin, allowing him to make his move on her before anyone else did. Bart was known for his easy-going manner and cavalier attitude toward no-strings-attached sex. To meet someone like Faith—totally threw the man for a loop.

  “You’re gonna keep her safe, Bart.”

  “Or die trying,” Bart added, with a slow grin. A few more miles down the road, he asked, “Where are you and Sabrina celebrating Christmas?”

  “We thought about going to Nonnie’s house but, with everything going on, we’ll probably just stay here and celebrate it together. My mom might visit to help with some of the wedding planning. What about you?”

  “I planned on heading to Virginia Beach to visit my parents and Nonnie, but I don’t want to leave now. I could ask Faith if she would like to go, but it’s too soon.”

  Jude laughed heartedly. “Nonnie would be planning your wedding, not caring that you’ve only known her for a week!”

  “Seriously!” Bart was thoughtful for a moment, then added, “But maybe it would be good to get her away from here. We could spend Christmas with my parents.”

  “Don’t think the danger would follow her?”

  “I don’t know. I’d like to think that it wouldn’t, but whoever is threatened by what they think she can see would probably follow her anywhere.”

  An hour later, after dropping Jude off and giving his cousin a quick kiss, he hurried back to his house. Walking in, he was not surprised to see Cam and Miriam already awake. While Cam let him know the night was uneventful, Miriam filled him in on Faith’s condition.

  “She was restless and I think had nightmares a few times. I checked on her once and she was sitting in bed, frustrated because she couldn’t use her hands to draw. But she’s out of the danger zone for the concussion and I have given her some pain medicine. She’s sleeping right now.”

  Thanking his friends, he walked them to the door, saying goodbye, before taking the stairs two at a time.

  Stripping down to his boxers as soon as he got to the bedroom, he slipped underneath the covers, pulling her close to his body. She was warm and soft, dark hair spilling over his pillows and face peaceful in sleep. Tucking her in closely, he fell asleep with her in his arms, the surprising realization hitting him—I want this every night.

  An hour later, he came instantly awake as her body jerked against his. “Faith? Faith?” he gently shook her.

  Her eyes flew open, breath coming in pants. “Bart?” she rasped. “You’re back!”

  “Yeah, princess. I’ve been with you for about an hour.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry I woke you,” she said, her dark, haunted eyes turned toward him.

  His large hand cupped her face as his eyes roved over her forehead. “How are you doing? Headache?”

  “No, not really,” she said, more glad than she could express that he was back from his trip and holding her closely in his bed. �
�Just dreams,” she added softly.

  “Miriam said you were upset that you couldn’t draw earlier.”

  “Yeah, but hopefully today I can fix the bandage so that I can hold my pencils,” she said. “I…I’m having visions, Bart.”

  His heart hurt at the hesitancy of her voice, as though she were afraid to tell him. Rubbing his rough thumb over her soft cheek, he leaned it to whisper, “Princess, don’t ever be afraid to tell me what you’re feeling. I…I don’t know what it is that you can do, but I know something special happens. And I believe in that something special.” He watched for a moment as the insecurity left her expression, replaced with a small smile. “Can you tell me what you’re seeing?”

  She shook her head sadly, admitting, “No, not really. I see the images of those we have been dealing with and then it ends with just a smile. I don’t know whose smile…just a little smile and then it goes away.”

  Tucking her back into his mighty embrace, he kissed her lips softly before watching her slip back into slumber. A smile? Whose smile? Wondering if her gifts—and he finally had to admit he believed in her special somethings as gifts—were going to help them move in the right direction, he knew that placed her in more danger. Vowing to keep her safe, he fell asleep once more.

  Chapter 21

  Faith had Miriam come over later the next morning to re-wrap her right hand. “I’ve got to draw and, the way the bandage is now, I can’t move my fingers.”

  Miriam saw that her palm was the injured area and her fingers were undamaged in the fall. “I should be able to make this work so that your fingers are exposed and you can move them.” She lifted her gaze back to Faith, saying, “But you realize that, as you bend your fingers, it will cause your palm to move, which will cause pain.”

  “I can deal with some pain,” Faith assured, “but I need to be able to try to make sense of the images from my dreams.”

  A knock on the door interrupted the two, as Sabrina came in. “Jude got in late and left early, so I assumed that Bart did too.”