Beneath This Mask

by Victoria Sue

  Gael took a couple of deep breaths.

  “How soon after developing the mark did the swimming underwater start?” Jake asked, and Gael shot him a grateful look.

  “The day after. He’d had a cold, a mild flu. Apparently that’s quite a common thing when people change?”

  Gael nodded. He remembered his own.

  “Mom was old-fashioned. She believed in mustard baths.” Mateo rolled his eyes. “A teaspoon of mustard paste into the hot water. Anyway, Adero had been in there a while, and my dad went into the bathroom to check that he was okay. First and last time I ever heard my dad swear. Adero was lying fully submerged with his eyes closed. My dad thought he had died.”

  Amy excused herself and came back with some bottles of water. Gael smiled his thanks.

  “When everyone had calmed down, Adero explained he had ducked his head to rinse the shampoo off and had immediately felt so much better that he had stayed under. He said all his symptoms disappeared. He felt calm, peaceful. We guessed he was under the water for around fifteen minutes before my dad found him.

  “We thought it was strange, but you didn’t take enhanced to any doctors, so nothing happened until he started getting sick the next night and ran a bath around midnight. My mom stayed outside the bathroom for about twenty minutes until he shouted he was okay. It was a nightly occurrence then, until my mom and dad died in the accident and we went to live with our cousin George.”

  “George who?” Jake asked.

  “George Huras. My father’s cousin.”

  “And he stopped Adero from swimming?” Gael asked. That was unusual. Maybe the trauma had caused the change.

  “Oh no.” Mateo sipped his water. “He just couldn’t do it there. No bath. They only had showers.”

  “What did he do?” Jake asked, sounding enthralled.

  Mateo smiled. “He tried it at the public swimming pool. A lifeguard dragged him out and he was taken to the hospital. That wasn’t gonna work, so he started swimming. Like, in the sea. He had to be careful there were no lifeguards, though.”

  “There was no difference between salt water and fresh water?”

  Gael glanced admiringly at Jake. He hadn’t thought to ask that.

  “No. Like I said, he held his breath. He couldn’t breathe underwater.”

  “And he had to do it every day or he got sick,” Amy confirmed.

  “Yeah. The apartment block got evacuated once for a gas leak. My dad nearly had to carry Adero to the bath when we were let back in.”

  “Did he have any other enhancements?” Gael asked.

  Mateo immediately looked uncomfortable, and Gael would have been willing to bet the cops had never asked that question. Mateo glanced at Jake and back at Gael.

  “You can trust him,” Gael said deliberately.

  “This is gonna sound nuts,” Mateo sighed. Gael just arched an eyebrow. Mateo grinned. “Okay, you win. Sometimes he would suddenly tell us that we had to stop doing a lawn service for a customer.”

  “What, because they owed money or something?” Gael asked.

  “No, for no reason. I challenged him once, and he got really upset with me. Said he knew the guy was a bad man, but wouldn’t say how.”

  Gael frowned. “Did he have any psychic abilities?”

  “Not that I knew of.” Mateo squirmed.

  “Look, we have no idea why your brother died or even if it was an accident. Surely you want this answered?”

  Mateo glanced at Amy, and she nodded encouragingly. “We usually did straight lawn cutting, nothing fancy, but a few of our customers wanted a full service. Plants, tree trimming, feeding, etcetera—even some landscaping and designing. That was what Adero used to do.” Mateo’s voice dropped as if someone could hear. “If he ever wanted us to ditch a client, it was because of him spending the morning in their garden.”

  “He would hear something, see something?” Jake asked.

  “No,” Mateo said, wincing. “He said their plants weren’t happy.”

  Gael’s mouth dropped open. He’d heard some weird shit in the last fifteen years or so, but that was a first.

  Mateo put his arms out, his cheeks reddening. “I know, I know. Crazy, huh?” He leaned forward. “But the last customer he insisted we cut was on Bayshore Drive. Huge house. A month after we finished, we got interviewed by the police because they’d found the body of the guy’s ex-wife buried under the patio.” Mateo shook his head. “I’m serious. Hell, you guys would know more about it than me.”

  Jake and Gael were silent for a few beats, and then Jake said weakly, “Do you happen to have a record of the addresses you stopped going to?”

  Mateo went pale. “I never thought of that.”

  Jake extended his hand in a consolatory gesture. “Not for one second do I think we have a rash of dead ex-wives buried under patios, but I think a quick check may be in order.”

  “I can email you the information tomorrow, detective,” Amy said. “But it will be a large list. All I can give you are the customers that stopped our service for any reason. Lawn care is often quite a transitory service. People change their minds a lot when a new service starts up with an opening deal. We didn’t keep a separate record of the ones that Adero made us withdraw from.”

  “Or the nonstarters,” Mateo added.

  “Nonstarters?”

  “Adero was with me a few times when we went to see new customers. He would just refuse someone for no reason, and a couple of times, he went on his own, but I don’t have a record of those addresses.”

  The account of Mateo finding his brother was the same as they had been given already by Cortes. Lastly, as they had agreed, Gael showed the photograph found under Adero’s body.

  Mateo shook his head. “Who is he?”

  “We think he may be a missing enhanced child. The picture taken before obviously.” Mateo shrugged, but Gael noticed Amy frowning and passed her the photograph for a closer look. “Do you recognize him?”

  She shook her head but looked troubled. “I don’t think so. The hair color is quite striking. I think it’s more that he reminds me of somebody.”

  Jake stood and passed her a couple of cards. “If you think of anything.”

  Mateo stood and stretched out his hand. “It’s nice meeting the good guys. I mean, all cops are, mostly, but it’s time this country recognized the enhanced for the gifts that they are.”

  Jake smiled, and Gael’s belly did a little flip.

  IT WAS comfortable driving back to the field office, 100 percent different from their journey this morning. They’d quickly gone to Adero’s apartment but it had been as depressing as the house in Port Tampa, so they hadn’t stayed long.

  Gael’s belly rumbled, and Jake smiled. “Vance organized lunch for everyone back at the shop.”

  Gael grinned. “That means Vance called Betty’s diner and got them to deliver.”

  When they’d parked in the secure lot, they both piled out and headed to the building and the elevator. The ride took less than a minute, and when Jake bent to tie his sneakers, Gael got a very satisfying flash of smooth, tanned skin.

  Talon opened his office door as they walked past. “Jake, Gael, can you give me a few minutes before the meeting?” Talon having his own office was a new thing. Gael was sure he did lots of managerial tasks in there, all of them involving Finn, no doubt.

  Gael followed Jake in and stopped in surprise. Vance was sitting at the small table, holding a cup of coffee, but it was the other agent in there that gave him pause: Drew Fielding.

  Drew stood, smiling, and put his hand out to shake Gael’s, and Jake’s when they’d been introduced.

  “I thought you’d left us for loftier climbs?” Gael teased Drew. “BAU isn’t it?”

  Drew shrugged. “No openings at the moment, but I interviewed well.”

  Gael was suddenly amused. Drew was nothing if not confident.

  “I wanted to get you four together to clear the air. Gael, I understand you and Jake aren’t mesh
ing.” Talon shrugged. “It happens. It’s no one’s fault.”

  Gael’s heart started beating faster. He didn’t dare look at Jake.

  “Vance, I’m going to partner you with Jake. I had a partner picked out for you, but his assignment is taking longer to wrap up, so we’ll put you and Jake together.”

  Vance brightened and nodded his approval.

  Talon looked at Gael. “Gael, Drew is available for now, and he knows a good deal about the unit, so I’m going to partner you two together. Please bring him up to speed as quickly as possible.”

  No. Gael had been wrong. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but Talon turned to Jake.

  “Is that okay with you?”

  “Sure,” Jake said woodenly, and Gael finally dared to look. Jake’s face was carefully blank. Gael had thrown Jake’s humor and kindness in his face, and a shutter had come down. All the times in the last few weeks that he thought Jake didn’t care, wasn’t interested, or was simply bored, he was just hiding how Gael’s lack of trust and indifference bothered him. If hurt had a color, it would be the deep gray of the eyes he was staring into.

  Not for the first time, Gael had screwed up. He’d made a huge mistake—one he had no idea how to fix.

  Chapter Four

  I REALLY shouldn’t give a shit. Jake was used to being disappointed. He’d joined the force to get his dad’s approval when he’d really wanted to do something completely different, and it hadn’t made a damn difference anyway. The whole gay thing really sealed the deal.

  He’d been twenty-two, convinced he’d done everything to make his dad proud of him, and had been careful never to give him any reason to think he actually liked girls. Then he’d brought Terry home.

  Terry worked for the department. Not a cop, but a data analyst. Coffee-brown hair and eyes to match. Hot, geeky vibe, complete with tweed jacket and wire-rimmed glasses that made Jake’s fingers itch to take them off. His mom had been in the kitchen when Jake had brought him in and introduced him shyly. His first clue should have been her wide, alarmed eyes, but he’d explained it away as it was the first time Jake—even at twenty-three—had ever brought someone home. After all, neither his mom nor dad had ever said they didn’t approve of gays, and his mom’s cousin had just married his husband in New York. They had sent a nice gift.

  He couldn’t have been more wrong. Not that there had been loud words or even an argument, but recrimination and disappointment had been heavy in the lengthy silence around the dinner table. Terry had gotten the message loud and clear, and had gently suggested afterward that for the sake of both their careers, they ought to quit before they got too involved.

  Too involved? Had Terry really thought Jake would have taken him home if he hadn’t hoped the relationship was going to be long-term? Even permanent? Jake had quit trying at home, and decided as soon as he could, he would put in for the detective’s exam and transfer. For a rash moment, he thought about signing up for the military because of his interest in weapons. But then he had the chance to work with a hostage rescue team on a bank job, and he and his partner had been called to investigate the house with the dead kids. Four weeks later he’d been accepted for SWAT training and moved from Oceanside, just north of San Diego, to Los Angeles. He had trained hard. Already accurate with an MP5 and a Glock, he quickly became accepted as a valuable team member. Until the day it had all gone wrong.

  Now, twelve months and twenty-five hundred miles later, he had disappointed someone else. And this one hurt. After all these years, he thought he had toughened up, but he was obviously still too soft. His dad had told him that many years ago, and he’d been right.

  He’d been ten, eleven maybe? They had a dog, Penny, that had been Jake’s shadow for years but had started to get arthritis. The vet said she could be pain-free with medication. He’d come home from school the next day to find out his dad had shot her. His dad had discovered him by the back of the barn where she had been buried, crying for the first time in quite a few years because his dad said men didn’t cry. His dad had scoffed at him and called him soft. “Man up,” he’d said. He even offered to take him to the pound the next day so he could pick out a new one. Like a new winter coat.

  “So, what do we know?”

  Talon’s voice permeated Jake’s thoughts, and he sat up and focused on his team leader. They’d all written up their reports and demolished the sandwiches Vance had organized. Then Jake had to go upstairs for his monthly medical, and it was after four by the time Talon had called them all in. Gael sat on the other end of the table from Talon, so if Jake didn’t turn his head, he’d have no reason to have to look at him.

  “Gael?”

  Jake sighed silently as all the team turned to Gael. It would look weird now if Jake didn’t.

  Gael recounted their morning, and Jake did his best to stare at the table.

  “What about the PM?” Vance asked.

  “Secondary drowning but the lungs floated,” Finn said immediately.

  Sawyer made a face, like—eww.

  “It’s a PM test for drowning,” Jake said before Finn could. “If the lungs float in water, the victim was dead before they were submerged. Although he was found in bed, and I’m by no means an expert on secondary drowning, so I’m unsure why they would do it in the first place.”

  “The bath was full in the apartment, but Adero was dry and dressed when they found him. They wanted to make sure he wasn’t drowned and then put in bed,” Finn explained. “They sent samples to get a toxicology report.”

  “Meaning?” Sawyer asked.

  “There were no obvious signs of struggle, so the assumption is that, if Adero didn’t kill himself, he might have been sedated.”

  “But you said the lungs floated?” Vance said.

  Finn nodded. “He didn’t drown, but one theory is he was sedated and fell asleep, therefore preventing him from getting in the water like he needs to do every day. The only reports we have are that he gets sick. But his PM showed all the signs of drowning, except there was no water.”

  “That’s nuts,” Vance replied.

  Finn smiled. “Yeah, so we’re wondering if Adero’s ability is the opposite of drowning. His family said if he didn’t go in the water, he developed coughing, tiredness, breathlessness. Sometimes to the extent he ‘spaced out,’ as his brother put it. All these are classic warning signs of dry drowning, especially in children.”

  Jake interrupted. “Mateo said once his father had to literally put him in the bath. There had been some gas leak, and they had all been standing at a perimeter away from the house while it was checked out. Apparently when they finally got inside, Adero could barely walk.”

  “I’m wondering if not being in the water was the reason Adero drowned. They call it dry drowning, but in Adero’s case, it might have literally been that,” Finn added.

  “Well, toxicology will take at least four weeks, and apart from the results and the possibility of a photograph that may be someone out of a magazine for all we know, we might never find out,” Drew put in, sounding condescending. “To be honest I’m surprised the BAU are connecting it.”

  Jake saw Gael look to the ceiling and clamp his jaw. Good, he thought waspishly. He didn’t know Drew, but he sounded like an asshole. Gael deserved him.

  “Could someone have come in?” Vance asked.

  “The family doesn’t know. The brother and his girlfriend were out for the evening and assumed Adero had gone to bed when they got home. No sign of forced entry. He wasn’t a huge socializer, but we do have some reports of him going into Ybor. Certain gay clubs, but nothing to show he had a boyfriend,” Finn answered.

  Just then all their phones bleeped with the special alert notification that meant their team had been requested, and Vance dialed the switchboard. Vance’s easygoing smile fell, and the team went quiet as they recognized the distress on his face. He told whoever they were talking to that their team would be there as soon as they could.

  “We have to go. Some k
id is holding a knife on a teacher at City High. Apparently they’re locked in one of the computer labs.”

  “Okay.” Talon got to his feet and everyone followed.

  “Talon, do you mind if I sit this one out and read up on the BAU notes so far?” Drew asked, his nose already buried in the file.

  Talon shot a look at Gael.

  “No problem,” Gael answered for him, and Talon rolled his eyes.

  “What do we know?” Jake hurried to reach Vance as he strode toward the team’s truck.

  Talon hopped into the driver’s seat, Vance at the other side, and everyone else piled in. Jake hadn’t meant to sit next to Gael. Gael looked about as happy at it as he was.

  Vance turned around. “Thirteen-year-old. Seems to have taken the teacher hostage.” He paused. “ENu are already there.”

  Fucking wonderful. This day just got better and better.

  They pulled up to the school parking lot twenty minutes later, just in time to see Tampa PD putting up a barricade as a news van rolled up.

  “How the hell do they know already?”

  Their truck was waved through by the cops.

  “Talon,” Finn said, leaning forward to look behind some temporary classrooms.

  They stared as Mac Carmichael laughed and clapped Atkinson on the back before they both got in a truck. The truck headed out of the staff parking lot and onto the main road. Jake didn’t think they had even seen them.

  “Damn,” Talon said.

  Jake frowned. “Isn’t them leaving a good thing?”

  Gael glanced at him. “It means we’re too late.”

  Vance peered through the windshield. “But there’s no ambulances. ENu aren’t allowed to transport if they sedate anyone, are they?”

  Jake shook his head. “Definitely not, and I don’t see how any ambulance would have time.” Then he straightened a little in his seat. “Talon.” Jake nodded to where an older man in a suit was hurrying toward their truck. They all got out.