“Don’t leave.”
“I can’t sleep. I was gonna see if I could get some work done so we could spend the day together.”
Kreed kept the intensity in his gaze, staring at him long and hard before he removed his arm, but lifted his hand to Aaron’s head, drawing him closer until Aaron moved the rest of the way on his own to kiss Kreed’s lips. “I meant what I said. It doesn’t matter. When you’re ready to tell me, we’ll figure it out.”
“Okay, thank you,” Aaron responded and moved off the bed, covering Kreed up behind him.
“Leave the door open. I’m getting protective where you’re concerned. I need to be able to hear,” Kreed said, turning again to his back and draping an arm over his eyes.
Who even knew what that protective comment meant, but he left the bedroom door open and also the door to the spare room where he’d set up his equipment. Aaron took a seat at the desk and logged on to see several hundred unanswered messages. Without question, he knew he wasn’t pulling his weight. It had to be freaking his crew out. He was always the one to push and barrel through every job, keeping everybody on track each step of the way.
Aaron scanned through all the messages, didn’t deem anything that important, and by-passed them all. Instead, he decided to look a little closer at Derek Sinacola’s death. Kreed had brought his brother up a couple of times, and Mitch had once said they were having a hard time getting information on what had really happened in the friendly fire explanation the military had released. Those answers were something he could give Kreed when the time came to call this quits. At least he could give Kreed a little something back, because the guy had given him so much.
Finding the openings was what he did best. He’d broken into the Marines’ network too many times to count, and they never fixed their shit, so it didn’t take long at all for Aaron to get back inside. It took the longest for him to dig through the files to find Derek’s case. Aaron yawned. He was tired, but he needed to do this for Kreed. He pulled the file, made a quick copy, and got out of there before the system detected the intrusion.
Aaron propped his feet on the desk, leaned back in his chair with his keyboard on his lap as he started to sift through the hundreds of pages of information. It was the regular, standard military bullshit. Lots of words, all very official, that meant nothing at all. Legal bullshit that taxed the brain and gave someone a job, but the answers were hidden in all the mumbo-jumbo, so he had to keep going.
Hours passed and Aaron slowly began to lose steam on this idea. This massive file, with a huge amount of information, was turning out to be miles of rhetoric and babble that just made no sense at all. What Aaron couldn’t figure out was why all that paperwork was necessary. Derek Sinacola was just your average enlisted Marine, nothing at all like his brother’s file. So why did they document him so closely? Could they have worried about a pending lawsuit from the family? Nah, it was the military and he was active duty at the time of death. They couldn’t sue, even if they had evidence of wrongdoing.
Scrubbing a hand over his face, he placed the keyboard back on the desk and stood. He stretched his tired body and yawned deeply, taking several steps around the room to help wake himself. That gnawing, tickling across Aaron’s spine started. That was never a good sign, but something wasn’t right in that information; it didn’t make sense. Too documented, even for a government agency, and that meant something.
Most definitely the military was hiding information, but what? The time stamps on the files were legit, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t done that on purpose. The data seemed thorough. Aaron stared at the screen from across the room, forcing himself to think outside of the box.
Okay, so Kreed was a military badass, so it made sense that they’d recruit his brother if they’d ever realized the connection. The military could be ruthless. The price of freedom wasn’t free and ethics be damned. Knowing Kreed’s skills, Aaron could see the military wouldn’t have used him for his brawn, though that was impressive, but for his brain, and Kreed had spent most of his time overseas.
To gather intelligence from foreign enemies required the intuitive stealth of someone like Kreed Sinacola. Aaron’s eyes jumped to his computer as he moved forward. Could it be? If so, in today’s world, there would be no way to hide that information. With a speculative smile, Aaron sat down and woke his computer again. If it was there, he could find it. He even knew exactly where to go. Covering his tracks, he went to work.
Kreed woke to the sounds of…a printer? He didn’t even know Aaron had a printer in all that shit he’d carried around with him everywhere. Kreed opened his eyes to find the sun peeking in through the bottom of the dark shade covering the windows. Not surprising really. He’d gone to sleep in the early hours of the morning. As he rolled from bed, he looked over at the alarm clock. The bright red digital display read twelve thirty. He’d slept a long time. Must be the great company, good sex, and all these contented feelings of love he’d never experienced before that had him sleeping this long.
Whatever the reason, he was thankful, actually appreciative of a lot of things. But the biggest one was in there printing what sounded like a book from the way the machine droned on and on. He padded toward the bathroom, thinking over their evening. He hoped they’d broken ground last night with Aaron’s confession that he had secrets. Yes, he’d been sleeping and Aaron hadn’t meant for him to hear his disclosure, but that didn’t matter. An admission of secrets meant that his guy was opening up, coming around to agreeing there could be a future between them. Those hidden secrets would come in time. It would all be baby steps, but that was okay too.
Kreed brushed his teeth and splashed water on his face, then reached for a towel. After drying his face, he haphazardly hung the towel back on the ring and went in search of his jeans. He dug through the pile of their clothing, found his, and tugged those on, not bothering with any underwear, being careful as he zipped. He walked out in the hall then stuck his head in the guest bedroom. His guy was busy working and wore those damn headphones, probably not hearing him at all. There wasn’t any food or empty plates around, which meant Aaron had to be starving by now.
Resisting the urge to bother his workaholic lover, Kreed padded toward the kitchen. He began frying up some bacon and eggs before starting the coffee.
As expected, Aaron came around the corner, maybe taking the kid a little longer than he would have thought since he was almost done with cooking. Grabbing a piece of bacon, he dropped it in his mouth, chewing as he glanced at Aaron over his shoulder. He smiled at Aaron, who stood in the middle of the kitchen, not moving, his face a mask of anger and pain, and in his hands were several printed pages.
“What’s wrong?” Kreed asked, turning fully toward Aaron.
“I wanted to do something for you. Give you something back, but those motherfuckers… Kreed…I’m so sorry.” Aaron was shaking his head. “Those self-righteous assholes…” Tears formed in Aaron’s eyes, and it confused him. Dread coiled in his gut and trepidation sent fear racing down his spine. He moved forward as Aaron handed him the pages he held. All Kreed saw was his brother’s name listed on top before he lifted his eyes to Aaron’s.
“What’s this?” Aaron moved in closer, placing both hands around his upper arms.
“I wanted to give you closure on your brother’s death. I wanted you to know what happened so there wouldn’t be any more questions for you. You could begin the process of healing, but… Honestly, I never thought I’d find something like this.”
Kreed lowered his gaze to the pages. “How did you get these?”
“I hacked the system.”
“Do they know you did this? Can they find you?” He knew the information in his hands was life-altering, and he didn’t want the man he loved at risk for gathering this for him.
“Not likely. I covered my tracks.”
Kreed nodded, his eyes going back to black words on the pages. His heart sank. He’d told himself he didn’t need to know what happened. It didn’t t
ruly matter because nothing would bring Derek back, but now that he had the information in his hands, his heart hammered in his chest, and he had to fight to draw air into his lungs. With eyes fixed on the documents, he moved past Aaron and headed for the kitchen table where he took a seat. Sucking in a deep breath, Kreed steeled his spine as he turned the first page and began to read. Aaron walked over to the chair across from him, put his hands on the table and waited.
Reading through the last line, Kreed continued staring at the last page as his heart filled with a sorrow he hadn’t known could exist. Images of that cute kid following him around the house filled his head and his heart. He had always pretended to be so annoyed. Even when he’d come home on leave, Derek had those big brown eyes focused on him, always staying close by. He could see his brother idolized him so much that he’d followed in Kreed’s footsteps and joined the military.
What Kreed hadn’t known—what no one in his family apparently knew—was that his brother had followed completely in his footsteps. He’d had the same keen intuition that Kreed had and the military used that to their advantage. Where Kreed’s espionage had been hidden, ultra-secret missions, where if he had been caught, the military would disavow all knowledge, Derek’s had been part of a new initiative—a clandestine intelligence program performed by the United States military.
They were both assigned to the Middle East. It made sense based on their looks. Only, his brother had been found out. An internal breach. Someone from the inside fed information to al-Qaida. Derek had died a brutal death when ransom amounts had been given and the military hadn’t paid. Damn it to hell, his brother had to have been scared shitless. Kreed sucked in a breath as his heart ripped wide open at the thought.
Had he known, he’d have gone to Derek. He could have tried something…anything. A tear slid down his cheek as he grabbed the papers off the table and marched to the back door. He ripped it open and went through, leaving it open as he stood on the back deck, letting the cool, salty air fill his lungs. The waves crashed against the shore like his thoughts, colliding with the disbelief and anger in his heart.
All the aggression he’d felt at the table began to fade, with desolation and self-doubt now taking hold. Why hadn’t he warned his brother of everything the military had put him through? Better question, why had neither of them ever talked about this weird instinctual thing they had going on inside them?
Kreed went down a couple of the porch steps and dropped to the wood, his shoulders slumped. The United States military had so much going against it. Forever, they’d had spies infiltrating their ranks, but in today’s world, our own people sold the secrets. Kreed had seen those signs all those years ago. That was one of the reasons he’d left when he had. Working undercover in a hostile country was tricky enough before you ever factored in your fellow Americans turning your name over to the wrong hands. Kreed placed his elbows on his knees and hung his head. He should have been there for his brother.
Aaron stood at the window, watching Kreed with his head bowed, those thick shoulders lowered in defeat. His heart broke a little further. He hated what he’d found; hated he had no choice but to share it with Kreed. More than anything, he hated that the man he’d grown to love had been so hurt by a bunch of hypocritical assholes who’d decided as a part of daily business who lived and who died.
He took a deep breath and stepped back from the window before turning and heading for his room. They’d pay for this. Aaron would make sure of that. As much as he wanted to be there for Kreed right now, he shut the door behind him. It would take a little time, but they were going to regret their lies.
Chapter 32
At sunset, Kreed finally acknowledged the rumbling in his stomach. As sick and nauseous as the day’s discovery had made him, he needed nourishment and probably a cold beer or twelve. He rose from his perch on the back deck and headed for the house, deeply missing the brother he’d never really known. They’d shared so much in this life. He’d entered the military through the navy. Derek had entered through the Marines, but they’d ended up in the exact same place—stuck in the bowels of the worst terrorist organizations in the world.
Maybe if he’d talked to his little brother more, he could have helped keep him alive. He most certainly would have never allowed Derek to get involved in espionage. The problem with that line of work—it forced the spy to eat, drink, and breathe that way of life. Kreed wasn’t proud of the things he’d done or seen and ignored while working his way up the terrorist cell he’d been assigned to, but he’d had to do them. Those were his orders. And a military man followed orders at all cost.
Kreed jerked open the refrigerator door. He grabbed a beer from the shelf on the door before he saw an aluminum-foil-wrapped plate of food. A slight smile formed at the corner of his lips as he noticed a note taped on the outside of the plate of food.
I didn’t want to bother you. You need to eat. Please try. I’ll be working for the next few hours. Don’t leave and don’t swim if you start drinking. I’ll be out soon.
The note wasn’t signed.
The thought of Aaron taking time to fix him food and the sweetness of the written words flooded that special place in his heart that Aaron had occupied, the one that only belonged to him. He liked how Aaron wanted to take care of him. It just didn’t take away the indignation, pain, and betrayal coursing through him, all directed at the military. Aaron had been smart to keep his distance this afternoon, to allow Kreed time to work through all this new information. Kreed glanced up at the clock on the microwave and realized it wasn’t afternoon after all. It was already evening.
He pulled the plate out, placed it and the beer on the counter, and looked underneath the foil. It was a hoagie; one of Aaron’s specialties. A bag of chips and some beans were also on the plate, along with the spoon. He popped the top on the beer can and grabbed the food. He went down the hall, past the closed bedroom door. He could hear Aaron talking. It wasn’t the first time he’d talked while working, but Aaron shutting the door was new.
Deciding not to bother him, Kreed took the food and went out on the patio. He placed everything on the table and lit the tiki torches close by. The magnitude of grief still overwhelmed him, and it seemed one concern led into another today. The pain over the truth of his brother’s death, his fears that Aaron’s early morning confession would drive the man away from him rather than closer, and then his future with the marshal service—his uncertain future now that Mitch would no longer be his partner—all of it weighed heavy on his heart this evening.
After lighting the last torch, Kreed made his way back to the table and picked up his beer. He downed that one pretty quick before heading back inside for another. He grabbed two that time and the roll of paper towels before going back outside.
Kreed took his seat and stared down at the food, unseeing, lost in images of the slop he’d eaten in the underground caves in Afghanistan. Just like always, the visions of burned bodies and the charred remains of tiny villages overloaded his brain. He would never be able to un-see that shit.
The horror and atrocity he’d endured in order to feed information to his government and… He shook his head to clear the memories. And now he knew his brother had lived that life too, except his brother had been caught. God, the death he must have endured. His stomach roiled and both hands went to his forehead, holding his head as he closed his eyes. He should have been more open and honest with Derek, been there to protect him. He’d just been too fucked up in the head. He was still working on coming to terms with that shit himself.
Kreed had no idea how long he’d sat there, playing over the images that had haunted him for years, before Mitch’s shrill ringtone startled him, snapping him back to the present. The pain in the ass sound grated on his nerves. Mitch had obviously changed the ringtone at Colt’s place. Asshole did that shit all the time. Kreed had just never taken the time to change it back.
Kreed rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. “What?” he growled on the third annoying
cackle.
“What’s wrong?” Mitch asked, not even bothering with a greeting.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” he countered. Kreed wasn’t certain of the time difference but it was already late on the island, which made it even later on the mainland.
“You haven’t seen the news?” Mitch asked.
“Would you be watching the news if you were here?”
“Point. Everyone’s in a tizzy. Protector took over all the military and defense sites. Had to be something big to set them off. They’ve broken the usual patterns, so it seems more personal. But off the record, it’s funny as shit. The fire-breathing dragon, their calling card, made into a cartoon starring the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. It shows him bouncing all over the page, trying to protect his ass from the dragon’s flames. With the message, Deception Will Bite You in Your Ass.”
“Seriously?” Kreed asked. Mitch captured his complete attention with that description. He sat up and pushed his plate away, having never taken a single bite.
“Yeah. Protector wasn’t as clean this time. They must have been really pissed off and wanted to cause a lot of grief for those guys. They acted fast and weren’t as thorough covering their trail. Tracked it to some IP address in Nebraska.”
“Like they shut down all the military branches?”
“Yeah,” Mitch chuckled. “Every branch, the entire DOJ, everything is being rerouted to Protector’s main page. They locked that shit down. The FBI guys are chomping at the bit to apprehend whoever’s involved. Getting things back up and running’s not gonna be an easy fix. It’s been a couple of hours and their best guys are still locked out. Every time they get close, the dragon pops up on the monitor, cackles, and everything on screen goes up in flames.”
Kreed sat there quietly, listening and thinking, unease taking root in the back of his brain. His head was too fucked up. Something kept needling at him and he couldn’t shake it off.
Nice Guys Collection With Added Bonus Material Page 108
