She saw a flash of anger on his face and she shook her head at him. She didn’t want the comments. “We both know it happens to girls on the streets. He stabbed me and I yelled. The first time, then I remembered Carrie. She was in the next alley over. I didn’t want him finishing with me and going after her. That distracted me, and he wrestled me to the ground. He stabbed me again. This time right here.” She touched the area on her ribs. “He stabbed me a few more times. Then Carrie was there, and she hit him with a board. Right across the back of his head. I don’t know if it knocked him unconscious or what. I was in really bad shape, then. He hadn’t hit my lung, thank God. But it was damned close. And I was bleeding.”
His fingers tightened on her hand. Paige kept her hand right where it was. It felt good, to have even a little connection with the life she’d built while talking about the one she’d left behind. “Carrie was so frightened, and I was hurting. I thought I was going to die.”
“But you didn’t. And you’re here now. Tell me, sweetheart, what happened to you next?”
She barely noticed the endearment, so intent on the past. The pain, fear, knowledge that if she died, Carrie would be all alone. She would never forget those feelings. “Carrie made a deal with the devil.”
“Excuse me?”
“There were always rumors of a band of people that roamed like gypsies. No one knew where they stayed, but everyone on the streets had heard of them. Even we had, although we’d only been in Dallas for a few weeks.”
“And this devil helped how?”
“Carrie somehow found him. The thing is, out on the streets everything comes at a high cost. The one they called the devil knew that. He’d made a point of it.”
“Was the devil this Leo?”
She shook her head. “Yes, and no. It was him and Miles, his brother. They were two incredibly brilliant men, Mick. I’ve not seen the likes until recently when I found Luc. He’s got that same kind of gift. Even the people of PAVAD, as smart as they are, can’t match the basic street sense that Leo and Miles possessed. That knowledge of how people would react in the worst possible situations. Even some of the profilers can’t hold a candle to them.”
“What was the cost to you and Carrie?” He pulled his hand back, then broke his cookie in half and handed her a part of it. The simple gesture touched her for some strange reason. This was Mick, what was she doing?
“Apparently they knew about us just as much as we knew about them. I don’t know how Leo did it, but he always knew about new people in his sphere. He prided himself on it. And we’d apparently earned a rep before we left Houston and headed to Dallas.”
“What kind?”
“Carrie’s hacker skills. My…” How should she put it without admitting to things she didn’t want to admit to? “I had—still have—the ability to get into places I’m not supposed to. I’ve climbed the sides of buildings, hopped roofs, rappelled down places that shouldn’t have been. I’ve gone through manholes, air ducts, whatever was needed. I was good at it. Very, very good. And I had the height, and scrawny build, to squeeze into a fair number of places. Those were skills the Butelli brothers wanted. And it was all we had to trade with.”
“So you were hurt. And then?”
“I’m not sure how she did it, but Carrie found Leo and not one of his underlings. We got away, back to where we’d been camping out. Carrie did what she could, got the bleeding stopped somehow. But out there, it’s a cesspool of bacteria. I’d lost quite a lot of blood, and within hours there were signs of infection. I don’t know what happened next, or how long I laid there in that shed. When I opened my eyes again, Leo was carrying me into an old office building. He took care of me; I think, and I’m not completely certain, that he’d been in the military, with the medical corps. but had been discharged a few months earlier. He saved my life. I was ill from the infection for a week or more, I think. He pumped me full of antibiotics that he’d stolen. I don’t know how he did it, but he did. And I will always be grateful for that.”
“He should have taken you to the hospital.”
“And I’d have been sent to a group home for habitual runaways and probably wouldn’t have seen Carrie ever again. She would have been out there virtually defenseless. We made a pact when we met. We’d stay together no matter what we had to do. And we kept that. Carrie traded the prototype for one of her computer software designs to Leo in exchange for him taking care of me. But…” But it had been her that was saved, not Carrie, and Miles had made that very clear to her. She’d owed them, was how he’d put it.
Despite Leo’s protest that they were even.
“Go on.”
“Leo’s brother wanted my skills for his own purposes. He wasn’t as careful as Leo, nor was he as worried about not hurting anyone they stole from. He’d turn violent when he didn’t get what he wanted.”
“And what was it he wanted?”
“A thief. And by that point that was exactly what I was, and a damned good one. And in exchange for keeping Carrie out of it, I had to do what I was told. I know now he manipulated us, and we should have run off at that point. But I was still very weak, and it was getting colder. And Leo and Miles had food and shelter. Heat. I made a mistake.”
“You did what you had to do. So how long were you with these brothers?”
“A month total, counting the days I was out of it. Leo and I…we grew close. We’d work together staking out the places for ways I could get inside, for what my target would be, what I’d steal. Sometimes we’d play lovers. I was good at becoming other people when needed. I’d spent a few years as a teenage boy before I found Carrie, when I found her she thought that’s what I was. I hadn’t developed yet. Lack of nutrition will do that to a girl. Now that I’ve met my brother, I realize genetics are responsible for most of my non-figure. Back then I was grateful. We fended off quite a few assholes who wanted Carrie. She’s always been curvy.”
“Your figure is just fine. Not every guy wants a big-busted Barbie doll. Some are more discerning. Anyone tells you differently and they’re stupid. So…Leo.”
“I could play older, I could play younger and I could play male. And Leo was almost as good. He couldn’t do female, but he could do any other role. So we’d go in together. After about a week of working together for hours on end, something changed between us.”
“You were attracted. He was still too damned old for you.” He glowered when he spoke—an expression she was definitely used to seeing pointed in her direction. He was so…Mick right then. This time it didn’t bother her quite as much.
“Mick, how old are you?”
“Thirty-six.”
“Eight years older than I am—close to the same as Leo. Are you saying you’re too old for me? That Sabastian is too old for Carrie? He’s ten years older than she is. I was sixteen. In more than half the states in this country, sixteen is the legal age of consent.”
“Whatever; that doesn’t make it right. It was different when you were a teenager than today. You’re legal for any real man now. But go on.”
“We became involved. And I loved him. It was fast, but it felt real.”
“But it ended and quickly. What happened?”
“Something went wrong. The police were staking out one of our targets and we didn’t know that. It was a front for some serious money laundering and a prostitution ring. It was disguised as a mom and pop book and card store, of all things. They carried cell phones, the old bulky kind, that were super expensive. We wanted those phones—not for profit, but for communication. There was also an FBI agent working with the police. The prostitution angle, he was trying to track down some girls that were missing. Looking back now, he was probably fresh out of the academy. But to me he was terrifying. I don’t think he was even as old as Leo, but to me…he was the enemy.”
“So what happened?”
“We went in…but I knew something wasn’t right. Carrie had stayed with Miles; they were working the security feed and Miles was directing us all,
using a crude system he and Carrie had cooked up. But I had the feeling something was wrong. And we had three younger girls with us, none were over fourteen. So…I gave the signal to abort. They ran. Leo looked at me and I knew he knew what I was going to do. But his responsibility was those girls. So…I let myself be collared.”
***
Mick thought it was the son-of-a-bitch Leo, who put her in that position in the first place who’d needed to be collared by the police. He knew she had strong feelings for the guy, but if the man had truly loved her he would have kept her safe and away from anything that could have hurt her.
It’s what Mick would have done if a woman like Paige was his. “What happened next?”
She grinned, a wicked Paige kind of grin that was sexy as hell. “I gave the FBI agent a real runaround, then when he left the room I slipped out the window. We were three stories up and I Spiderwomaned right down the building.”
He could imagine. Could also imagine how it would have pissed him off greatly to have a kid escape. “Not in an interrogation room?”
“No. An office. I wasn’t officially charged with anything. They couldn’t prove I was part of that theft ring. We covered our tracks very well. But he had questions, and I refused to answer them. He left to call DPS—or so he threatened. I knew if they got ahold of me, Carrie was completely defenseless except for Leo and Ceci. And they didn’t care about her as much as I did. And I didn’t want to leave her with Miles. He…used people, and made them eventually do things that they didn’t want. I didn’t want Carrie to go down that path. So…I went to where I thought Miles would be. He kept separating us, keeping Carrie with him. Supposedly to work on programming. Miles had a temper, Mick. A bad one.”
“You were afraid of him.”
“Yes. Something terrified me with him. I found him, and he was angry. And he was taking that anger out on Ceci and a girl named Amy.” She was shivering, did she realize that?
Mick slipped out of his suit coat and draped it around her. “You’re cold.”
“Thank you.” She pulled the lapels around her and almost disappeared in the bulky material. She definitely had height, but most of it was in her legs. Scrawny. He could only imagine how scrawny she would have been back then.
“Keep talking.”
“He started hitting them, hard. I knew I couldn’t stop him, and Ceci was there. She saw me, and shook her head. Mouthed run to me. I knew then that he was angry with me. And Ceci was pulling him off of Amy but he was still furious. I ran. I found Leo and told him what was happening. Told him we were going. I begged him to come with us. But he wouldn’t; he said he was responsible for the rest of the family. And no matter what he wanted, he couldn’t go. But that I couldn’t stay. Miles was blaming me, apparently. And terrified I was talking to the cops. Leo said if Miles saw me so soon, that he wouldn’t believe I’d escaped, that he’d think I was a traitor and spilled everything. Leo gave me the money he had on him, Carrie already had our bags. We ran. And I never saw Leo—or any of the others—again.”
“Who took the photo? Who would have copies of it?”
“Miles took it. We all had copies. I tore mine up years ago at my college graduation. I didn’t want reminders of what I almost was. Carrie kept hers.”
“So there are potentially six more copies out there.”
“Possibly seven. You think it’s Miles?”
“Or this Leo. Or any of the others. It’s a place to start.”
“Let’s go, then.”
“Tomorrow. You aren’t leaving this hospital anytime soon.” He studied her for a minute. He’d pushed her too much and it showed. He grabbed the food tray and tossed the trash. “Come on. You’re going back to your hospital room. You’ll change into one of the lovely gowns this place provides, then you will get in that bed and rest. If I have to chain you to it.”
“You really are kinky, aren’t you? Bet your dates love you.”
He leveled a look at her. “I’ve not had any complaints. You finished?”
She nodded. He took hold of the wheelchair and wheeled her past Djorn. “We’re headed up to her room. Head over to the waiting room and get some volunteers. I want her and Carrie Lorcan guarded at all times. Melody Beck, too.”
“Understood, boss…” Djorn drew out the words with only a bit of sarcasm. Mick glared. But he was used to asinine comments from people outside of IA. Hell, he and Djorn had argued a few times on Djorn’s past cases.
“Good.”
Chapter 25
HE took her back up to her room, and Paige stayed quiet the entire way. She still wore his suit coat wrapped around her shoulders. It smelled like a man, like him. No shock there, but what did surprise her was that she recognized the scent as uniquely Mick’s.
What had happened to her when she hit her head?
She pulled the material tighter around her middle. For some reason it was comforting—a reminder that the past was long ago, and she had a new life now. One that included this man’s brother and sister. She needed to remember that.
Once they were back in the room, she slipped the coat from her shoulders and returned it to him. “Thank you. Thank you for everything tonight. I really do appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” He was so gruff sometimes, wasn’t he? But…maybe he didn’t mean to be that way all the time? “I’ll stay with you until someone else gets up here. Then I’m going to go. I’ll look into this photo, into the names you’ve given me. We’ll talk more in the morning. Decide what to do next.”
Paige nodded, feeling torn in a million directions. They had a case, a mass murderer to stop before he killed anyone else. But someone had targeted Carrie; someone from their past. And Melody Beck had already been collateral damage. She didn’t want anyone else to face the same fate. Shouldn’t her attention go in that direction, and let Mick work the mass murder case?
Passing cases off to other teams happened, though it wasn’t something any agent really liked. “I…I’m confused, Mick. I don’t know what to do. Where I should look for anything right now.”
“And you don’t need to. You have a waiting room full of people willing to watch your back. Take tonight. Rest. Be with your sister and niece, where you belong. Tomorrow is soon enough to worry about PAVAD, to worry about any of it. In the meantime, I’ll handle what needs to be handled tonight.” He slipped his suit coat on again. Paige surprised herself by reaching out and fixing the lapel when it twisted. She flattened the cotton, then realized her hand was resting on his chest. His very hard, very broad chest. Guy was built like a linebacker, and made the baseball player she’d dated back in March seem like a teenage boy.
Her fingers lingered. “Mick…I…thank you. I mean that.”
“Stop thanking me. It’s what anybody decent would have done for someone in need. Someone who mattered to them…to their family.” He wrapped his fingers around hers. “We may not always get along, Daviess, but that doesn’t mean I’d leave you…floundering…when you needed help. I want you to know that.”
She looked at him and something shifted inside her. A deeper understanding of the kind of person he was, maybe. She surprised herself—and probably him, too—by kissing him on his cheek. It was easy for her to do. He was right there, and he wasn’t that much taller than her. And it was just a quick brush of her lips against his skin. Nothing major, nothing special. When she was finished, she pulled away. “Still, it was appreciated, ok? Take it as it’s meant.”
“Will do.” He let go of her hand and stepped away, just as someone knocked on the door. Paige slipped over to the bed and sat on the mattress as his sister and Cody entered, followed by Payton and Kelly. “I’ll get going. I’ll be back, first thing in the morning.”
She didn’t say anything else; she couldn’t. Al and Cody were talking and almost overwhelming her.
But she watched him as he left—almost wishing he would stay.
Maybe she had hit her head harder than she thought? That was the only explanation.
&n
bsp; Chapter 26
PAIGE let Al railroad her into the pajamas she’d found in the gift shop. Pink. Delicate and feminine. So not what Paige wanted to wear, but she wasn’t going to complain. At least they were decent, and not gaping open in the back like the gown that was her other option.
“I’ll have Ally grab a bag for you if you want,” Kelly said while braiding Paige’s hair.
“I think what I’ve got will work for tonight. I’m not staying here more than one night. I have things I need to take care of.”
“Mick one of those things?” Cody asked. “Because he was looking seriously yummy tonight. Wouldn’t blame you if you tried…”
“Cody, that’s my brother.” Al shook her head. “Besides, we all know those two don’t exactly play well with each other. Tonight, the exception, of course. And it’s because they’re working together now.”
“Still, Paige had to notice how sexy he is. I know I did. And did you see the nurses tonight? How many really had to swing by our waiting room? And peek in. And happen to ask if anybody needed anything while eying our boys like candy? Come on…”
Paige knew what Cody was doing and she appreciated the attempt. Unless…did Cody really mean it? The other woman was classically beautiful, much like Al was, and men flocked to her.
And she would look perfectly right standing beside Mick. She could almost picture them together. And Cody was as cheerful as he was grumpy. Perhaps they’d balance each other perfectly?
Why did that bother her so much?
“Paige? You ok?” Payton asked, softly. She settled on the foot of the bed and tapped Paige on the knee. “You scared us. Again.”
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