Re/Deemed (Doms of the FBI Book 8)

by Michele Zurlo

  Chapter 14

  Needa showed up at six in the morning, nearly an hour before the sun was expected to make an appearance. Brandy was no stranger to rising early, but that didn’t mean she liked doing it. If she were with just Lukas or her crew, she could be silently grumpy while she mainlined coffee. None of them would chance conversation unless the topic was of grave importance.

  Since Needa Ross was the co-founder of The Eye, that meant Brandy had to be on her A-game. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she shoved her legs into a pair of jogging shorts and her feet into the tennis shoes Lukas had bought for her back in Michigan. They’d seen better days.

  “I like to get my run in before the day starts.” Needa bent her knee and lifted her foot behind her for a stretch. She said the same thing every day, almost as if she knew Brandy needed the reminder.

  Brandy adjusted her ponytail. She preferred to stretch afterward. “Seems like once you start doing stuff, the day has started.” She mumbled the observation and tried to make it not sound so sarcastic, but she failed.

  Needa chuckled. “You’re definitely not a morning person.”

  No answer was required in this scripted conversation. Brandy pointed toward the far end of the compound where there were no buildings. “Are we running in that direction today?”

  “Let’s run outside the walls today.”

  She set off at a slower pace, allowing them both to warm up. The idea of being allowed outside the walls perked Brandy up. She wanted to see if there were places for her team to set up surveillance anywhere around.

  Brandy had no trouble keeping up while also observing her surroundings. Running with Lukas meant she was getting faster. He might slow down for her, but her pace didn’t come naturally to him, so the runs pushed her to a faster practice. She found herself lengthening her stride and shoving aside small pains.

  Needa’s pace was a little slower than she was used to going. By the time light streaked the horizon, Needa had decelerated to a brisk walk.

  “You’re so much faster than an eight-minute mile,” she panted. Her skin was ruddy from the run. She complained every time they ran.

  Brandy didn’t want to slow her pace much because she wanted Needa to focus on the physical exertion instead of noticing that Brandy was scoping the place out. A cool desert breeze brushed Brandy’s cheek. She sipped from her water bottle. “Lukas has a different opinion.”

  “He’s really that fast?” She paused and bent down to stretch. “You wouldn’t think a man that large could move so quickly.”

  Brandy watched the sun rise over the desert, taking a moment to appreciate the beauty. Lukas was a big man, and most people didn’t look close enough to see that he was healthy and fit. “Long legs.”

  Needa resumed walking, guiding Brandy back toward the iron gate with the guard that kept people from entering or leaving without permission.

  She scrunched her nose. “Does that mean he’s long everywhere?”

  Brandy hated this kind of talk, but she recognized the bonding value of answering. “Yes, but he knows how to use it, which is more important.”

  Chuckling, Needa nodded. “That’s why you like him. I can’t say that I blame you. He’s very handsome and intense.”

  While she agreed, Brandy rushed to defend Lukas. “He’s so much more than that. He’s sweet and kind, and he understands me in a way nobody else ever has. Sometimes I think he knows me better than I know myself. He cares about me, not just about our physical relationship. I’ve never met anyone like him. He’s one-of-a-kind.”

  They’d passed the guard and were back inside the compound.

  Needa paused, studying Brandy. “You love him.”

  “More than anything.” Brandy’s gaze swept the area, memorizing everything she saw. She hadn’t been allowed to see much of the compound before now, and she didn’t know if or when she would be allowed such access again.

  “So, do you believe in our cause yet, or are you still here because you’re loyal to Doctor Luke?” Though she spoke quietly, the gravity of her question blasted through.

  Brandy met Needa’s gaze. “I’ve spent my life barely scraping by in the good months. There isn’t much I believe in anymore. But I believe in Lukas, and he believes in this cause. I understand what I’ve heard so far. It makes sense to me. But I can’t say I’m here because I’ve embraced any kind of ideology. I’m here because I belong to him. Where he goes, I go. What he wants, I want. When he gives a command, I obey.”

  “If he wanted to leave here, would you go with him?” Needa lifted one pale, finely-sculpted brow.

  Understanding what Needa was really asking—how deep did Brandy’s loyalty to Lukas run?—she shrugged. “I can’t see him wanting to leave here. He’s worked hard to get where he is, and he takes pride in his work. But if he left, I would go with him.” Brandy met Needa’s steady gaze. “It’s not like you’d want me to stick around anyway. I wasn’t exactly invited in the first place.”

  “No, you weren’t.” Needa lifted her chin. “But I think I like you, so for now, I’m glad you’re here.” She turned and walked toward the main house, a mansion that dominated the southeastern quadrant. “Make sure you hydrate and stretch.”

  Back at the apartment, which was in the opposite direction from where Needa had gone, she found Lukas piling waffles on a plate.

  “You made waffles?” She frowned. They didn’t have a waffle maker.

  He set the plate on their small dining table. “They’re the kind that go in the toaster. I heated them up in the oven.” He slid a chair out. “Come, sit down, and eat. I know you’re on the verge of hangry if you’re not there already.”

  When they ran together, she always ate a little before they went out. Needa preferred a much earlier time for their every-other-day runs, so she hadn’t even brushed her teeth.

  She sat down, poured syrup over the stack, and dug in. They were mostly cooked, and only a little frozen. “Where were these hiding?”

  “Someone named Lilly-Rose stopped by with groceries. Apparently this is a monthly thing, and she left a form where we can request specific foods. She said she didn’t know what we liked, so she guessed.” He sat across from her and sipped coffee.

  Brandy got up and helped herself to a mug of java. “That’s nice of her.”

  “There’s chicken, ground round, and pork chops in the freezer.”

  She sat down and resumed eating. “Did we get any vegetables?”

  “Salad stuff. We got a sack of oranges and a bunch of bananas.” He talked, listing the contents of the delivery as she ate. Once she finished, he followed her into the bathroom.

  She halted at the door. “Daddy, I can do this part on my own.”

  He pushed her inside, closed the door, and turned on the shower.

  Brandy wasn’t against shower fun, but she was disgusting from the run. “How about you give me five minutes to wash first?”

  Rather than kiss her or pin her down or anything sexy, he fished something from his pocket. “I found this.” He held up the cell phone Liam had given her to contact her team.

  She’d hidden it by taping it to the back of a drawer in the cabinet under the sink in the bathroom. It was small enough to not inhibit the closing of the drawer.

  Blood left Brandy’s extremities, and she scrambled to recall the explanation she’d prepared for this eventuality. “Daddy—”

  He pressed a finger to her lips. “I understand why you have it. I’m not angry with you, Firebrand. But if you’re caught with it, you could get in serious trouble.”

  SSA Brandy Lockmeyer wondered why he thought she had it or how she’d acquired it, but she knew better than to dig a hole where there didn’t seem to be one. “Please don’t get rid of it. We can hide it better.”

  He studied her face, his gaze roaming over her features. “You said you had nobody to go back to.”

  She’d spun that lie well. “I don’t.”

  “Then what are you hanging onto?”

  Part
of her hated lying to him. He’d become more than just a way to get inside The Eye’s compound. Things had been so good between them, and this was a stark reminder that their entire relationship was a lie.

  She needed the reminder.

  She inhaled sharply and used an excuse targeted to hit his vulnerable spots. “My brother. I know he doesn’t want anything to do with me, but I—I can’t just disappear. I told him I’d met someone and had moved away. He wished me well. It’s the first genuine thing he’s said to me in years.”

  Lukas’s expression softened. “Firebrand, sometimes it’s best to let toxic relationships go.”

  She swallowed and dropped her gaze. “He’s my brother. My blood. He’s all I have left.”

  Lukas hooked a finger under her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. Fierceness and protectiveness blazed like coals in his irises. “No, Firebrand. You have me.”

  With one heartfelt declaration, he took her breath away.

  She didn’t have him, not really. Once this operation was over, there was every chance he’d hate her for destroying the very thing he’d sacrificed everything to achieve.

  But right now, her heart thudded with heavy feelings. Losing a phone wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen in an operation. She still had the pen and the tracker in her tennis shoe. She nodded. “Okay, Daddy. I understand. You can get rid of it.”

  She expected him to leave the room, but he knelt down and pried away the baseboard under the cabinet where she knew he kept his illicit cell phone. He slid hers next to his in the small crevice.

  “Make sure you use it sparingly, and be sure to put this firmly back in place.” He replaced the baseboard, and the sound of the water drowned out the noise. Then he got to his feet. “Firebrand, the only way this is going to work is if you’re completely honest with me. There’s nothing you can’t tell me.”

  “I know.” She spoke without thinking because she knew there was plenty she could never tell him, and it killed her a little inside. “There’s nothing else.” She didn’t use his title because she couldn’t bring herself to deceive him and also call him something that had come to mean so much to her. “Aren’t you going to punish me?”

  “Not for something like this. I’d rather you learned you can trust me with anything. I know bad things have happened to you, things you haven’t told me about. I see it in your eyes when you hesitate and measure your words before you talk. One day, you’ll trust me completely, and there won’t be secrets between us.”

  Caught off guard with no good response, she stared at him, her lips parted in case she thought of something to say. Did he tell her everything? Not by a long shot. Neither of them was completely honest with the other, but on his end, she knew he felt he was protecting her from the evils of the world.

  One day he would understand that it was her job to protect everyone from the evil in the world. She dreaded that day.

  He kissed her forehead. “Go ahead and get a shower. I’ll be heading out in about fifteen minutes. You can come with me if you want.”

  Six weeks later, she held his hand as they walked the perimeter of the compound. They’d developed a routine where she accompanied him to work most days. She’d cleaned up the old files, neatly sorting them so that the FBI could find what they needed. As she went through them, she was able to match some of the treatments of injuries with what she knew about The Eye’s operations around the world. It seemed the previous doctor treated the big players, while smaller fish were left to rot where they landed. Everything she’d discovered was neatly boxed up in the storage closet.

  Lukas was now the doctor who treated the big players. He kept meticulous records detailing who he treated and what those treatments entailed. As an agent who was going to have to go through those to use them for evidence, Brandy greatly appreciated his attention to detail. Most people in his situation would take steps to code the records or hide things so that nobody would be able to decipher them without knowing a lot of inside information. Lukas was great at a lot of things, but being a criminal wasn’t one of them.

  They’d taken to going on daily walks together. Needa loved how devoted to each other Brandy and Lukas were, and she encouraged them to spend time together. She sought out Brandy’s company for her morning runs, which had dropped in frequency to two or three times a week, and she especially liked to have Brandy around when she was doing something that required a personal servant. She’d assisted with pedicures and waxing, and she’d seen some things she’d like to never see again. Brandy didn’t care for the way Needa treated her, but she appreciated the access it granted her to the inner workings of The Eye’s most exclusive power couple.

  Ben Ross, the big boss, seemed to have accepted Brandy as one of Lukas’s possessions or Needa’s servant. Except when he needed her for something, which was almost never, he ignored her.

  “Hey, Bull.” A guard waved at Lukas. He was former military, his light brown hair cropped close and his body covered by Eye-issued fatigues. He sported two automatic weapons that she could see and three more she knew about because he’d shown her where they were hidden.

  Willowlands had a bevy of retired mercenaries to keep people from leaving without permission. The people who lived and worked there were just as much prisoners as those who populated Redemption Center or training sites like that all over the world. You either left with permission or you didn’t leave at all. Only this place was far nicer, more like a prison resort and spa.

  Lukas waved back. “Hi, Paul.”

  Brandy lifted a hand to wave, and Paul nodded in acknowledgment. To Lukas, she said, “Why don’t you tell him you don’t like to be called Bull?”

  Except for Ben and Needa Ross, everyone referred to Lukas by his Redemption Center nickname.

  He lifted a shoulder. “I don’t really care. It’s how most of them know me, and in a place like this, I’m okay with having a badass reputation.”

  “You’re a doctor,” she said. “You look down their throats and make them feel better. That’s not scary.”

  He stopped walking and kept hold of her hand, forcing her to turn to face him. “Firebrand, you’re the only person with the cojones to argue with me, and even you know you can only push me so far. If anyone here tries to mess with me, they will require surgery and a body cast as part of their recovery, which I will not provide.” A stoic, firm expression lent a sinister quality to his features. As he wore that expression most of the time, Brandy was used to seeing it.

  But in private, he relaxed. He showed his soft heart in the way he gazed at her over the dinner table and the tender way he held her as they snuggled on the sofa every evening. Even now, his grip on her hand was firm, and she felt the awesome power of his protectiveness. But someone who didn’t know him the way she did would only notice his stern expression and the unrelenting hold he had on her hand.

  Devil in her eye, she sidled closer. “If only they knew how you melt inside every time I call you Daddy.”

  His lips twisted in a wry smile, his version of public flirting. “They’ve heard the way you scream and carry on when I spank you. They’ve seen you limp out of our apartment and my office. I think my reputation is safe.”

  Brandy was also very good about never arguing with him when other people were around. She needed them to think he was wholly in charge of her. It helped sell the role she was playing at Willowlands. Lukas had never set that rule, but she knew he appreciated the respect and deference she showed him in the presence of others.

  Before she could continue their banter, she heard a strange noise, almost like a whimper or a whine. Her attention riveted on a cluster of tall, potted plants and vines that broke the monotony of the pale adobe wall surrounding Willowlands.

  “Did you hear that?”

  Always quick-minded, Lukas frowned and peered in the same direction as Brandy. “Hear what?”

  The noise came again, this time clearly a whimper. She crouched in front of the flowering vines and moved a few blossoms out of the wa
y. There, cowering against the wall, was a small animal. “It’s a dog.”

  She went to reach for it, but Lukas stayed her hand. “Never reach for an injured dog. Plus, we’re out in the middle of the desert. Odds are it’s not a dog.”

  Refusing to believe she could be mistaken, Brandy rolled her eyes. “What else could it be?”

  “Coyote, bobcat, ocelot, rattlesnake.”

  “Rattlesnakes and cats don’t whimper. It has a furry snout and cute ears.”

  “That leaves coyotes.” He peered into the hole she’d created by holding foliage out of the way. “It’s the size of a medium dog or a small coyote, and it’s definitely injured. Injured animals lash out to protect themselves, and you don’t know if this thing has rabies or something. Go to the barn and ask for a pair of long, leather gloves and an animal carrier.”

  She ran all the way to the barn, and she returned with the requested equipment, plus a rough-textured towel, and a portable medical kit. Brandy had grabbed a pair of gloves for herself, and she carried a pair of clippers in case she needed to trim back the vines to reach the terrified, injured animal.

  They turned out to be unnecessary. Brandy moved one of the huge pots aside, and Lukas fished out the animal, gripping it by the scruff of its neck.

  It was a scraggly creature with matted, grayish fur and dark eyes that darted about looking for an escape route. Its pointed ears were alert and tuned to keep track of everything. One had been ripped and was missing a huge chunk, though the tip was still there.

  Lukas held the animal in his firm grip while he conducted a cursory inspection. “It’s a dog. Looks like some kind of small shepherd mix.”

  Brandy wanted to hold the dog, but Lukas wouldn’t put him down. She settled for offering her hand for him to sniff. “He’s filthy, but except for his ear, I can’t see where he’s hurt.”

  Lukas’s hands moved over the dog lightly, noting whatever veterinarians noted when they did things like that. “Well, he’s a she, and she looks like she’s suffering from malnutrition and dehydration. She’s been in a few fights, but none of her injuries look recent. We’ll take her back to the barn, see if we can get her to eat or drink something.”