Revealing

by Calle J. Brookes

  “He showed up at my hotel this morning. Kid’s scary smart. He tracked me using GPS. Funny kid, skipped a few grades. Looks just like her.” Lake smiled, then sobered. “Dying to protect him was probably the only noble thing that woman ever did. But it’s messed him up, of course. He begged me the night I met him to get him away from her. I was going to call in Social Services after I found the other sister. Today changed things.”

  “I’ll say.” What the hell was Paige going to do with a kid? “Where is he now?”

  “Left him in the lobby. I don’t know what to do with him. He doesn’t want to go back to Texas, and to be honest, I’m not so sure that would be safe for him anyway.”

  “Why was someone after the boy?”

  “I’m not a rocket scientist, but my gut is saying that it’s connected to whatever happened to Ariella Avery. And that means…whatever is happening to Agent Daviess. It’s all connected. And I just became your new best friend.”

  There was shouting just outside Mick’s office. He jumped from his seat. Yelling in the CCU was never a good thing. Lake was right behind him out the door.

  They were in time to see a boy nearly knock Paige to the ground.

  Lake cursed. “I left him in the lobby. This was not how I intended to tell her.”

  “Shit.” Mick started down the stairs toward the bullpen. The PAVAD building was a large rectangle. The outer walls were lined with offices. His, his brother’s, Hellbrook’s, the rest of I.A. and every supervisor had an office surrounding the bullpen. The bullpen was open, where anyone could see the desks of the agents at any time. No cubicles for the CCU. Open and lacking in any privacy.

  Hell of a place for what was about to happen. She didn’t deserve that. “We’d better get down there.”

  The security agents were looking a little less than thrilled. Mick understood it. There was no way a preteen boy should have been able to get past two checkpoints to run around a federal building.

  Mick headed toward Paige’s desk. Toward Paige. He ignored the people standing around gawking. He nudged past Hernandez, probably a bit more rudely than he should have.

  It didn’t matter.

  All that really mattered was the woman staring at the kid she still held.

  Chapter 39

  “Who are you?” the kid asked her. He was younger than she’d first thought, probably about the same age as Dan’s step-son Ryan. He was definitely younger than seventeen-year-old Gracie. At most she’d put him at about thirteen. Maybe twelve. His voice hadn’t started to change yet. “Where’s Lake?”

  “Cam Lake? He’s right there. Now, who are you, and why are the security agents chasing you?”

  “Because they needed the exercise.” He jutted his chin out. But she saw the fear in his eyes. What was a kid doing here? “I didn’t do anything wrong. I just…didn’t go by the metal detectors. I got stuff in my bag I don’t want getting de-magged.”

  “I see.” She didn’t. But… “How did you slip by?”

  “I went sideways first. Then slipped through the gap.”

  She knew what he was talking about. But the kid shouldn’t have been able to fit. The space between the two metal detectors was less than eight inches. But…if he moved himself just right, a flexible kid with long legs could pull it off.

  Hell, she could have done it at his age. Easily. Who was this kid? “What’s your name?”

  “I’m Simon.” He stuck out a hand. “I came with Lake.”

  “Simon, what in the hell did you do? Did you break the FBI?”

  The boy turned sullen. He looked at Lake, his face showing embarrassment, too. Paige got the impression the boy liked Lake a great deal. Wanted to impress him. “No. I just…you were gone a long time.”

  “Fifteen minutes. I told you it might take a while.”

  Paige let the boy’s arm go. “Agent Lake? Care to explain?”

  Lake stared at her a moment. Mick wrapped a hand around her arm and pulled her closer. “Let’s take this into the conference room. Paige…we need to talk. Privately.”

  She looked at the man she’d shared a shower with that morning. There was a hesitation on his face. It had her tensing. What did this kid have to do with anything? And why was he with Lake? “Of course. C is open.”

  She led the way toward the smallest conference room. The men and boy trailed after her. Paige tried to figure out what was going on now. Why was Lake still around?

  **

  Mick wanted to hold her, or at least touch her in some way. But they were in the midst of the PAVAD bullpen and there would be cameras on their every move. He wasn’t ready to share with the rest of the world just exactly how much things had changed between them. He doubted she was ready for that either. Not Paige, definitely not Paige.

  She took the chair next to the door. Mick took the one immediately to her right. He couldn’t help himself, he wrapped his fingers around her knee. Screw the cameras; he needed to touch her.

  Needed to help her through what was about to happen.

  If he couldn’t be there for the people he cared about when they needed him, what the hell was he doing in St. Louis in the first place? And in that moment it became more than crystal clear to Mick.

  The one person in St. Louis he cared about the most was the dark-haired pain-in-the-ass right there beside him. He didn’t have a clue what that meant for him. For her.

  Or even for the dark-eyed kid who looked so much like Paige Mick wondered how she hadn’t seen it yet. “Paige…There’s some news you need to hear.”

  “What?” She looked at him. Worry hit her face. “Carrie and Sebastian? Melody? Luc or Payton? Who?”

  Luc and Payton. Mick pulled out his phone. Paige’s sister-in-law would be in her office about now. He texted her to get upstairs double-ASAP. “They’re fine, as far as I know.”

  “Then what is it, Mick? What’s changed since this morning in the hotel?”

  He hated scaring her. He grabbed her hand when she would have pulled her chair away. When she would have jumped to her feet and started pacing. “Lake has something he needs to tell you.”

  “What is it? And how does it involve this kid?”

  “Agent…Paige…

  “You found her, didn’t you? Ariella?”

  Mick watched the boy jerk. Saw the knowledge and suspicion on the kid’s face. Man, he really resembled his sister, didn’t he? Mick shook his head. Didn’t Paige see it? “Payton’s on her way up.”

  It took two minutes for a soft knock to come on the conference room door. Paige’s sister-in-law slipped into the room, looking pretty and sweet. She was blonde and blue-eyed and her quiet exterior hid a will of iron and a fierce protectiveness where her loved ones were concerned. And Paige was the only sister—the only relative—of Payton’s husband. Not to mention one of Payton’s good friends.

  Mick also considered her a friend. She made a point of inviting him out to their home for dinner with her and Luc at least once a month and had since he and Luc had been involved in that human trafficking case back in March. Payton had a way of worming her way into a person’s life.

  “Mick? Paige? Something wrong?” Payton looked at them all, her gaze stopping on the little boy. “Oh. Hello. Who are you?”

  “Simon. Who are you?”

  “I’m Dr. Lucas. Paige, what’s going on?”

  “I don’t have a clue.”

  “Lake has some news…relating to Denise Daviess.”

  “I see.” Payton’s expression darkened. Mick understood. He hadn’t exactly had too high of an opinion of Paige and Luc’s mother, either. “What about her?”

  “She’s dead. She’s dead, ok. The guy killed her.” It was the kid, of course, who delivered the news in a high, shrill barely-holding-himself-together kind of voice. “She’s dead. Who are you people?”

  “Who are you?” Paige asked him.

  Mick studied her; she’d paled. Her hands, both the one on the table and the one he still held, trembled.

  “His n
ame is Simon Daviess. He’s the youngest child of Denise Daviess,” Lake said, bluntly. Mick understood the guy’s tactic. “He’s your brother. And there are four more out there. Two older than you, Ariella, and one between her and Simon. The oldest disappeared years ago. Two were given up for adoption. Ariella went with her birth father. And Simon stayed with Denise.”

  “Luc. My older brother goes by Luc now,” Paige said. “Payton is married to him. He runs Lucas Technologies. He didn’t disappear, she sold him.”

  Mick studied her face. She sounded so strange—was she in shock?

  How could she not be? He put a hand on her shoulder and the other on the arm of her chair. He rolled her closer to him. “Paige?”

  She was holding herself together. She focused on him. Opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. He watched her pull in some deep breaths. She closed her eyes and just breathed.

  Payton looked at the kid. “Hi Simon, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Payton. I guess I’m your sister-in-law.”

  Mick knew the blonde came from a family of six or seven brothers. She was used to a large number of people in her life.

  Much like Mick was.

  But Paige had had no one for most of her childhood. It had to be a total shock to her.

  He’d been the one to drop the news to her in March that Luc was her brother. He’d never forget how he’d let the news slip in a way he’d never meant to. Never forget how he’d hurt her. Now here they were again.

  **

  She’d certainly had some bad days, but this was one that was shaping up to be a totally insane one. There was no real denying the kid. He looked so much like Luc had back then. His skin was lighter, closer to her fairness. Luc’s was far darker. Probably because they’d all had different fathers—that she knew of. “What happens next?”

  “I have to call the Texas police, let them know Simon is in my custody. I can probably work something out with my boss and Texas DPS to get him listed as a material witness. But after the case is completed, he’ll go to them.”

  The little boy’s face—if she could call him little, he was at least five foot four—showed his fear at that. She understood it.

  Payton was shaking her head. “No. Foster care isn’t an option. Paige, I’ll call Luc. Have him make some calls. Listen to me, Simon. You’re not alone now.”

  Was it that easy for Payton? Just take one look at the kid and that was it? Move over and make room for him? “Simon, I promise you. We won’t let you go into foster care. No matter what we have to do. Would you like our help?”

  He nodded. Looked right at Paige. “You’re my sister, aren’t you?”

  How could she deny it? It wasn’t like it had been with Luc. They’d had a shared history. She had been young when they’d separated, but she had had some vague memories of him. But this kid? Just like Ariella, she didn’t know him. There was no real connection.

  Except that he was right there in front of her, and vulnerable.

  And because he was a Daviess he was all alone right now. No family to count on, no one to care about him at all. Alone. Or was he? “Just exactly what happen to your—our—mother?”

  The men tensed. Immediately. Paige looked at the one she knew would tell her the truth. “Mick? What’s really going on?”

  He took her hands in his. “Paige, Denise Daviess was killed last night. An attacker broke in. It was over quickly.”

  “I see.” Was she really supposed to care? The woman had sold her to perverts before she was even four years old. She didn’t care. How could she?

  Then she looked at the little boy who probably had cared. “I’m sorry, Simon.”

  “It’s my fault. I told her I wished she was dead, that I was leaving her as soon as I could. I was packing my bag when the guy came in. He killed her because she wouldn’t let him have me. I went out my bedroom window and came to Agent Lake.”

  “Why did the guy want you?”

  “I don’t know. Is he going to get me again?”

  “Not if I can help it, kiddo. You’re going to be fine.” She pulled her hand back from Mick’s, and wrapped it around the kid’s. “I promise. I promise.”

  “I can stay with you?”

  She looked at her sister-in-law. Payton and Luc would be a much better deal for the kid. Payton’s hours were steadier. She was sweeter, and definitely knew how to be a part of a family. Luc had all the resources in the world available to him, if the kid needed it. They would be a great mother and father to a kid. Not her. She was just getting used to taking care of the dog. “You’ll stay either with me, or with Payton and Luc. He’s your brother, too. You’ll be ok. We’ll make it ok.”

  The way she’d wished someone had for her when she was just a little younger than this kid.

  Chapter 40

  Hernandez had managed to track the real Leo Butelli down in Tucson fifteen minutes after Simon had found her in the bullpen. Chalmers and Evan had headed toward Tucson on the CCU’s jet, while Hernandez and Jazz headed toward some warehouses near the original crime scene that they’d discovered were owned by Leo’s company. Another connection she hadn’t known about before. Paige appreciated Mick having Leo and his assistant brought to St. Louis. Leo had come willingly.

  She’d wondered at that. Leo had never been cooperative.

  But the last thing she wanted to do was go into that interrogation room, to face Leo for the first time in so long. Had he changed? Was it him? Mick had a computer tech tracing what he could find of Leo’s past, and his most recent whereabouts. She was telling herself that she was waiting for that information to come back before going in there. And that she was waiting for the team leader before proceeding. But those were just excuses and she knew it.

  She didn’t want to see him, didn’t want to feel the connection from the past.

  Not when she had a real future, a real life she’d made for herself.

  Why were the demons of the past always right there waiting for a person when they least expected it? She wouldn’t let herself think of Simon. Not now.

  She sorted through the stack of paperwork on her desk, shuffling it into piles based on immediacy. Even though it felt like the world had paused for a few days, reality was that it was turning as fast as ever.

  Once this was over, there would be a hundred more cases in the next month to take this one’s place.

  Death and evil never really ended. She’d accepted that a long, long time ago.

  She wanted to put her head down, to rest for a little while. But she didn’t. She could almost feel Al’s eyes on her, her friend’s worry was clear for her to see. Al and Seth were at the desk across from hers. Lake had taken over Hernandez’s desk, and she could feel him looking at her every so often. She wouldn’t let herself think of the little boy who’d gone with Payton.

  She didn’t know where Mick was. He’d dumped her off on his sister and headed off to his office, or somewhere else. She’d sensed he needed some time to himself, and that he was giving her time to process what had happened, with Lake and Simon, with him.

  He’d been certain that something was there; but she knew the truth. She wasn’t good at that kind of something. But he had been so strong and protective and…kind. And she’d needed him.

  No, she wouldn’t regret it. In the meantime, she had to deal with the past once again.

  Paige pushed open the door to the conference room and there they were.

  Leo and Mick.

  Two men who’d touched her life in more ways than any other men in the world. It was almost automatic to compare the two. They were both extraordinarily handsome men, and she half wondered at that. Both were dark haired, but Leo’s eyes were as dark as her own. She’d never seen eyes bluer than Mick’s, nor as beautiful—when he wasn’t glaring at someone.

  Like he was Leo.

  His disgust for the other man was very clear for her to see. Why? Because of what she’d told him about Leo, or because of the case? She half suspected it was because of what Leo was to her. Ev
ery time she’d mentioned him—since the very beginning of the case—he’d glared and looked like he wanted to eat Leo for breakfast.

  No one had been that protective of her in longer than she could remember. In fact, the last time a guy had really cared about just her, it had been her eleven-year-old brother! She had never been a man’s top priority—even Leo’s.

  Mick had barely let her out of his sight since she’d ended up in the hospital. That left her with a lot to think about.

  But not now. Now she had to face Leo.

  She didn’t know if that should bother her or not. Was he their killer? She would never forget the sight of Heather, dead on Jules’ table. She’d been just a girl last time Paige had seen her, barely thirteen. Sweet, scared. That girl hadn’t deserved to be killed. Was her blood on Leo’s hands? He was certainly capable of it. She’d known that about him long ago. Back then the danger had attracted her. What she’d perceived as strength.

  Now she knew true strength, and what it looked like. She’d seen it in the eyes of the men she worked with, Dan, Ed Dennis, Malachi, and Hellbrook. In Mick.

  He wasn’t just strong because of his physical size, but because of the love he had for the people closest to him. He was strong enough to let them in.

  Leo was at the table across from Mick. He stood when he saw her. “P.J.”

  “It’s Paige. I don’t go by a boy’s name any longer.” She’d used her initials from the moment she’d hit the streets at eleven and realized that she’d probably be safer being a boy for a few years. But she didn’t have to do that now. And while a few people still called her that—Carrie when she was feeling vulnerable, Hernandez when he was joking—she’d never be P.J. again. “How have you been?”

  “So so. Some up, some down. We’re in the middle of an up time. We run a business. Imports, exports. Different kinds of goods. Similar to what we did twelve years ago. But a hell of a lot less illegal.”