Like his brother, Justin had followed suit. Maybe being a soldier had turned him off from toting a firearm in his civilian life. He had seen too many bodies riddled with holes for his liking.
That surely could be a deterrent.
Now, Tori, she was the other side of the coin. She liked being armed. She often had one gun in a shoulder harness under a blazer and one strapped to her ankle. Old FBI and soldier habits died hard, and she liked to have her own kind of backup.
When Tori was following someone, she wanted to be safe at all times. Plus, it made her feel more secure, and that was a way to keep the blackouts at bay. Whenever she would begin to panic, Tori was more apt to slip back into the warzone. That was a scary thing to watch unfold, and if possible, Julian liked to avoid it at all costs.
Honestly, he didn't mind that his wife was armed with a firearm. It meant that she would be safe. The last thing that he wanted to see was the woman he loved going at a suspect in a rousing game of hand to hand combat.
Yeah, that visual made him want to retch.
Their last staff member also had chosen to carry a gun. Kane probably didn't need to, but he did, just in case. By sheer might alone, he could probably kill someone if push came to shove.
When out in the field working, if a subject discovered them, they generally would back down. That offered the team safety in an unsure environment.
As boss, his priority was to ensure that his team checked in every night. That was his main concern and always his focal point. Julian had learned, rather quickly, that the next important thing was the happiness of your employees. As boss, he was fairly laid back, and that worked to his advantage. Sometimes you had to sweat the details, and sometimes you just had to roll with it.
With a sigh, Julian retuned his focus to the paperwork in front of him. Shortly, the staff would be arriving, and they’d have their morning meeting.
Then, the day would begin.
God, what he wouldn’t do for a cup of coffee and a little lip action from his wife...
Tori stood in the doorway and watched her husband work. One of her favorite things in the world was to silently observe him without him being aware. When Julian was lost in thought, his face and features went calm and serene, and he looked so at peace and handsome.
Now, inside, she knew was a whole other story.
Julian was like a freak thunderstorm. It rolled up on you fast and before you knew it, it would explode around you. Where you would normally see him as someone calm and in control, just below the surface would be the simmering volcano that was ready to blow.
God, she loved that about him.
The way his hair brushed the tops of his shoulders when he turned his head from his laptop to the paper, made her heart skip in her chest. When he would reach up and tuck the silky strands behind his ears, she wanted to run at him and toss herself against his body.
Julian was her miracle in life.
Coming home from the battlefield, she had left a piece of her soul behind. Tori knew that it would never be recovered, and that was fine, because she didn't need it. Where the hole had once been, Julian had filled it with his own soul.
They were forever one, and she was very happy about that. There was nothing that she liked more than being his partner in marriage, life, and work.
It was her holy trifecta.
She woke up beside him, came to work with him, and did her job with the sweetest man in the world. How lucky could one woman get?
Many people didn't know the real Julian Littlemoon. They looked at him and saw the obvious. Yes, he was Native and quiet, but what they missed was that he was so full of love and life. Not to mention that he believed himself to be the king of practical jokes. If he could do something to catch you off guard, he surely would. Tori had found herself the victim of many of his pranks. Secretly, she longed for them. Just to see her handsome husband smile was worth a myriad of silliness.
Together, they were ying and yang.
Where she was good at working out a plan, he was excellent at being an entrepreneur. Julian took his business very serious. This was his name, his company, and his livelihood. To him, nothing was more important than his brand in the investigator business.
He had made them.
He was carrying them.
When his pen stopped moving on the yellow legal pad, she knew that he had finally sensed her there. As he glanced up, her heart skipped in her chest.
“Hello, Jules,” she stated, softly.
Whenever she called him by his nickname, his heart fluttered. It was a name that only his family used. When it came to the top person who mattered most, she was it.
“Tori,” he answered. God, she always took his breath away. From the tipped up nose to the full lips that spoke his name, there would never be enough of her. “I missed you, honey.”
She crossed the room towards him and stopped at his side. When he turned in his chair and reached for her, she found herself tumbling into his lap.
“I missed you too, babe.”
Julian took that quiet time, in their office, to kiss his wife. Slowly, his lips touched hers and showed her exactly how he was feeling. The kiss was warm and very welcoming. In fact, it woke his entire body beneath her. He loved when he could just take the time to enjoy the woman who owned him heart and soul.
Pulling away, she stared down into his gold flecked eyes and ran her thumb across his lower lip. “I hate when you go to work without me,” she stated, as she left a trail of kisses from his mouth to his ear.
Julian laughed as she drove him crazy. “Honey, we live upstairs. I think you can find me.” Deep down, it made him wild to know that his wife wanted him, even if they were only apart for a few hours.
That was true enough, but it wasn’t why she disliked it. Mornings were their special time, where they woke together. Leaning down, she whispered provocatively in his ear. When his body reacted even more, Tori knew that she had his attention.
“I won’t leave without you ever again, if that’s my prize,” he answered, honestly.
She grinned at him. Tori didn't want to get up, but she knew that he liked to keep his mind at work while in the office. From where she sat, she knew what he was thinking about, and it wasn’t his reports. “Want me to make you some coffee?”
Julian did, but it would mean letting her go. “Uh, no,” he replied, as he nipped her ear. “What I’d really like…” he began, and was promptly interrupted by his brother strolling into the room.
“Ugh, you two are at it already?” Justin said, laughing. “It’s not even eight in the morning, and you’re pawing at her.”
Tori kissed Julian one last time, before hopping up. “Would you like coffee, Justin?” she asked, heading towards the coffee station in the corner of the room.
“Sure thing, Tor,” he replied, as he dropped down into one of the free chairs. Justin focused on Julian’s flushed skin, and he wanted to bust his brother unmercifully, but just this once, he’d cut him a break. “So, what’s on the game plan for today?”
Julian had a thing about a morning meeting. He liked to talk to everyone at least once per day before they went out into the field. “We have to wrap up the last few things on the Coleman case, and whatever Kane is working on, right now.”
“Where is the giant?” he asked, accepting a cup of coffee from Tori.
“I’m right here,” he said, rushing into the office.
Everyone stared at him in surprise. Kane looked disheveled and off kilter, and that wasn’t the norm.
“Are you okay?” Tori asked, as she handed her husband his coffee. Since she had hers upstairs, this allowed her to rest her free hands on his shoulders and run her fingers up and down his neck.
It was a good day when she could cop a feel in the workplace.
“Yeah, I just had some personal stuff come up,” he muttered.
They all stared at him as they waited for him to continue.
“Seriously?” he asked as he took a seat. “Y
ou don’t expect me to tell you all about it, do you?”
Julian stared at him. “You look discombobulated. That can be a problem for your job, so, yeah you’re going to tell us all about it.”
As much as Justin liked to torment the man, he knew that private life was sacred. He would respect him enough to give Kane some privacy. “I’m going to go out and talk to Lena.”
Tori knew what that meant. Lena Lexington was their administrative assistant. She worked for them part time. With the rest of her time, she was a musician. If Justin was going out there, it was to rile her up.
“Justin, don’t piss her off. She’s going to hurt you one day,” Julian warned.
The man just laughed as he closed the door behind him.
“What’s going on, Kane?” questioned Tori.
He didn't know what he should say. “You know how I’m dating Christina, right?”
Tori and Julian were well aware. They’d been a couple since the ‘Skinwalker’ assignment. The big guy had fallen hard for the tiny FBI head lab tech, and now they were trying to make it work long distance.
If today was any indicator, it didn't appear to be working at all.
“Well, she applied for a leave of absence from the FBI.”
That completely took Tori by surprise. Christina Hart lived for her job and to ogle her boss, Ethan Blackhawk. It was hard to believe that she was going to walk away from all that. More importantly, her closest friend didn't even spill the beans. Tori was going to have to call Elizabeth later to see what was going on.
“Okay,” Julian replied, leaning back in his chair. “So, that should make you really happy. I’m going to guess by your rumpled appearance that she’s already here.”
Kane had the decency to blush. It was true. Before he left his apartment that morning, Christina had lured him back to bed. Everything was moving at the speed of light in his life. Six months ago, had anyone told him that he would fall for and be crazy about an outsider, he would have punched them in the face. He swore growing up that he was going to stick to a mate in his own ethnicity and not a white woman.
Obviously, fate had a sense of humor and wanted to torment him with a pixie like brunette who was full of vigor.
“She arrived a few days ago.”
“Well?”
Kane took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I feel horrible. I love her so much, but it’s been all about me. She left a job that she was at for over ten years, working with the FBI, to sit at my place to watch TV while I’m gone all day. I feel like an asshole to make her decide between me and her career.”
“What did she say when you brought it up?” Tori asked.
“Nothing, because I haven’t, but I can tell that five days into being here, she’s ready to bolt. If she leaves, I have to follow her. I don’t think I can live without her.”
Tori glanced over at her husband and lifted a brow. His eyes went wide, and he gave his head a small shake. If Kane left, they were going to be one man down at work, and that meant hellish hours for all of them.
Shit!
Julian knew where this was heading.
What the hell were they supposed to do with an overly energetic ball of energy in their office? They had an administrative assistant and investigators. How was he supposed to use a giant lab genius in the private sector? By the look on his wife’s face, he knew that his back was against the wall.
“I don’t know what to do,” Kane said, dropping his face into his hands.
This time, Tori gave him more than a look. It bordered on a scowl.
Julian got it. Since this business was half Tori’s, he didn't really have a choice. Her decisions had to mean something, or they weren’t truly equal partners.
“Why don’t you have her help you during the day?”
Hell, that hurt more than he thought it would.
“What?” Kane said staring at his boss. “You don’t really like Christina. You call her the Energizer Bunny on steroids.”
Julian was confused. “Who told you that?” It wasn’t exactly the truth, or a lie. He just knew the woman to be a little bit… over exuberant. He was more laid back and Christina rolled through like a hurricane.
“Julian, come on. I’ve heard you muttering it under your breath when she would come in to visit me. Chrissy makes you a nervous wreck and you get overwhelmed. Now, you want her here all the time? Are you looking for a trip to Medicationville?”
Tori stepped into the conversation. “She could be an asset. She’s the only one out of all of us that has a scientific mind. Christina sees things differently than we do, and that could help us out in the long run. Us, getting her to help out on the team would be a good thing. Besides, we could bottle some of that energy of hers and sell it,” she teased, covering for her husband’s obvious gaffe.
“Yeah, and if we ever need to blow up a building,” Julian began, only to have his wife give him the look once more.
Yeah, this marriage thing was a slippery slope. What could he do? Tori had a giant heart and always rooted for the underdog. Of course she was going to have Kane bring his girlfriend to work.
She lived for unconventional.
He didn't.
His eyes scanned up and down his wife’s frame, appreciatively. Yeah, he knew what he needed to do, just like he knew what would happen if he didn't take this path.
“Bring her in, Kane.”
Already, the man was feeling a little better. “I appreciate this,” he said grinning, as he began typing up a text message. “I can’t believe I’m going to work with my Chrissy.”
Julian could feel the headache brewing in the back of his skull.
“Yeah, me either.”
Chapter Two
He was desperate.
Mayor Lewis Lagerfeld needed to find a way to get someone to listen to him. He had called the police the second his daughter missed breakfast the following morning, and instead of the urgency that he was feeling, they were indifferent.
The cops didn't care that she was gone or that it was very unlike her. So, he waited for the forty eight hours, and then called back. He had a brief interview with two detectives, and just the look from the one in charge, he knew it was hopeless.
So, he started calling anyone who would listen to him.
From the paper.
To her place of employment.
Finally, when that didn't work, he made one last long shot. Lewis pulled clout and made a call to the most powerful entity in the United States of America.
He called the Feds.
Quantico was huge and his call would certainly be lost. So, he went for the smaller and closer hub. Surely, someone at FBI West would hear his plea and sympathize with a father who was missing his only child.
After waiting a while on hold, he was connected to a woman.
“Director Blackhawk, how can I help you?”
“Someone stole my daughter, and I need your help,” he blurted out, before he could control his brain and mouth.
“I’m sorry?” she asked, a little taken off guard.
“My name is Lewis Lagerfeld, and I’m mayor of a town called Delta Falls. Saturday night, my daughter’s car was found on the side of the road, and she hasn’t been seen since.”
“Okay,” she stated, trying to figure out if someone was pranking her. The men in her life liked a rousing game of ‘screw with Lyzee’. This sounded like something up their alley.
“Please, I need help in finding her. She’s all I have left in life.”
“Is anyone else missing?”
He knew it wasn’t going to be good. Lewis could tell by the hesitation in her voice. “No, there isn’t. Please, I’ll pay for the FBI to handle this. I’ll do anything to get her back.”
“Sir, I wish I could help you, but we don’t handle cases like this. We deal with serial killers, large scale abductions and things like that.” Yeah, there was terror in his voice, and she could hear it clearly now.
This was no prank.
; “Please. I beg you. The cops here are useless. They don’t care if she’s missing or if she’s dead. I need someone to help me find my Melissa.”
“Okay, breathe for me, sir. We can’t assist you, but I happen to know a private investigator, who was once in law enforcement from your town, and he’ll help. In certain cases, where a loved one goes missing, the cops can’t always act. Hiring a private agency is probably the best bet, and in fact, his wife used to work for me. She’s just as good as having us there. We contract Julian to find people for us. I can highly recommend them.”
With her words, he felt hope.
“Please, who is he?”
“Their names are Julian and Tori, and they own Littlemoon Investigations. Do you have a pen?”
He dug for one like a maniac. “Yes, I do.”
She rattled off the number and waited. “You tell them that the Blackhawks gave you their number.”
The man was so grateful. “Thank you, Director. I appreciate that you took the time to listen to me.”
Elizabeth wished she could do more. Too many women disappeared each year into the night, never to be heard from again. If she could help even one of them find their way home, she was ahead of the game.
“Good luck, Mr. Lagerfeld. I hope they find your Melissa, and soon.” What she didn't add was ‘alive’. Odds weren’t in his or his daughter’s favor.
He hung up the phone and immediately began to dial. This was his best shot at the moment.
Who was he kidding?
This was his last chance.
* * *
Julian and Tori sat in the silence of their car. She was videotaping the subject across the street, and he was taking photographs. The man, who they were observing, had just sworn to a judge that he could barely walk. Well, he was doing a hell of a lot more than that. It seemed that the man’s newly found wealth in his lawsuit win was getting him all the babes.
Specifically, the blonde one who was currently wrapped wantonly around his no longer ‘broken body’. Here they had a lying sack of shit, who at fifty nine, was trying to score with a child.
Blood Red Rage (LIttlemoon Investigations Book 1) Page 3
