Beneath This Mask

by Victoria Sue

  Gael tried to heave a breath. It was no good; he would pass out if he didn’t get taken down soon. He opened his mouth and the bottle returned. Drew kept it held there for much longer this time, and Gael drank all he was offered. When the bottle was lowered, his head was already swimming. He blinked, unable to bring Drew’s face into focus, but he could feel the hand stroking his cock. Thankfully he was too far gone to worry about a reaction.

  “TALON, I’M going to see Michael Ramsay,” Jake said as he stopped the truck outside the field office. “I want to know exactly what happened last night with Derrick, and I think he’ll tell us more than Bayside will.”

  Talon nodded as he got out, but Jake was already getting Michael’s number and calling him. Despite obviously being woken up, Michael promised to start brewing the coffee immediately.

  He didn’t live far away, and ten minutes later, Jake got out of his truck and eyed the messy front yard. There was a basketball hoop that clearly got a lot of use, and the grass and flowers had been trampled between the two soccer nets that had been staked in the ground as far apart as they would go.

  Michael opened the door as he picked his way down the path. “Agent Riley.” Michael shook his hand. “You think Gael has gone missing?”

  “Jake, please,” Jake said, following him into the house and into the kitchen. A woman stood over a saucepan of milk, obviously warming it, and turned and smiled when they walked in. “My apologies for waking you, ma’am,” Jake said immediately.

  “Oh, that’s fine. It was Colin who woke me.” She dried her hands on a dishcloth and shook Jake’s offered hand.

  “Nightmare?” Michael asked, concerned.

  She sighed and nodded, poured the milk into a cup, and took it out of the kitchen.

  “Cream, sugar?”

  “Two and two, please,” Jake said.

  “You’re destroying my preconceptions,” Michael said, spooning the sugar.

  “That all cops drink strong black coffee?” Jake smiled, used to the jokes. First thing he would do when he got him back was buy Gael the caramel latte he loved.

  Michael closed the door to the hallway and came back to sit at the kitchen table. Jake told him that no one had heard from Gael after he had phoned the office just before he left Bayside.

  “We wondered if anything Derrick said might have been unusual.”

  Michael put his cup down. “Well, I’m not sure about unusual, but it certainly was wonderful.” He described how the evening had finished, with Derrick falling asleep while Gael held him. “I don’t know what’s going to happen if Derrick gets moved. He won’t be going to Jackson Memorial, but he has definitely lost his place in the care home, and it has to be a secure one with his problems. I’m worried that even if we manage to save the school, Derrick could end up having to leave anyway.”

  Jake sighed. It would kill Gael. Jake had seen how close Gael was with Derrick.

  “Daddy?”

  They both looked as the door opened and a little girl stood there. Jake smiled at the pretty brown eyes, the smattering of freckles on her light brown skin, and her gorgeous bow-shaped mouth. Her face was rounder, and he recognized the telltale creases at the side of her eyes, the flatter face, the smaller nose.

  Michael held his arms out, and she came running over. He immediately lifted her on his knee. “This is our oldest daughter, Keisha.”

  Jake was charmed. “It’s nice to meet you, Keisha.”

  “Did Colin wake you up, sweetie?”

  Keisha nodded and buried her head in Michael’s neck.

  “Oldest daughter?” Jake sipped his coffee.

  “Yes.” He grinned. “But only by four months.”

  Jake chuckled. He had kind of worked out that she was probably adopted.

  “My wife is a special needs teacher, as am I, as you know. We met when we were both approaching forty and decided rather than trying to get pregnant, we should adopt. Keisha is eight and has Down’s syndrome, as does her younger sister Elizabeth. Colin has cerebral palsy and is eleven. He didn’t have a good start in life and has frequent nightmares.”

  Jake heard the wealth of meaning in the simple sentence.

  Keisha was already relaxed and snoring softly, and Michael grinned. “This is nothing. She is capable of shaking the whole house when she gets going.” He sat back, cradling the little girl. “I’m sorry, you wanted to know what Derrick was saying?”

  “So, his communication was better, clearer?”

  “Yes. He still talks about himself in the third person, which isn’t so unusual. He will say ‘Derrick is hungry’ for example, not ‘I am hungry.’”

  “What else did he say?”

  “That Barry had hurt his arm.”

  Jake’s eyebrows raised. “He mentioned him by name?”

  Michael nodded, then frowned. “Do you know, I actually don’t think he did. He said ‘bad man hurt him.’ We just assumed he was talking about Barry. Gael told me he often says a word he remembers from a previous conversation. He suddenly said the word ‘train’ for example and he was remembering the nurse’s scrubs, but he had already left the room. He seems to repeat anything he finds visually stimulating.”

  “Would he call Barry ‘a man,’ not a boy? Would he be able to differentiate?” Jake paused. Or was he talking about something else, someone else? “What other phrases have you heard him say?”

  “He says, ‘Hi, Gael’ all the time.” Michael chuckled. “He even once said ‘Hi, Gael. FBI,’ which I thought was incredibly clever.”

  Jake blinked. “But how did he know that? Gael told him?”

  “No, never while I’ve been there certainly.”

  “When did he say it? Yesterday?” He wondered if Gael had flashed his ID when he went to the hospital.

  “Gael told me he said it when he got taken to Bayside. When Gael got permission to see him. It was the first thing he said.”

  Jake leaned back in the chair, coffee completely forgotten. Derrick repeated things he saw. Visually stimulating. Bad man. He would bet Derrick didn’t mean Barry at all and he had been talking about the most traumatic event in his recent history. Maria Kelly’s death. They all suspected that the guy who had come to kill her showed a badge. It was the one reason they could think of for her to lower the window and break more rules than she had already.

  It wasn’t a cop’s badge. It was an FBI one.

  Jake knew who had Gael.

  “THE LAST contact we have was a conversation between Gael and Drew, when Gael called here last night from the hospital at 7:53 p.m. Drew’s phone is turned off, and there is no sign of the car. We’ve located Gael’s on a side street. Likely parked there when he went to meet Angel.” Gregory glanced around at all the somber faces in the room.

  Jake stood. He couldn’t sit for a second longer. They had been going around and around in circles for what seemed like hours.

  “How much do we trust Angel?” Finn asked.

  “I find our inability to locate either Drew, his phone, or his car more telling than what any witness may or may not have said,” Gregory said slowly. “All we know so far is that he lied to you all about his BAU interview, but that is not in and of itself anything other than a poor decision.” Gregory had just told them all that, in fact, instead of “interviewing well” as Drew had said, he hadn’t even been offered one. “And I’m sorry. As much as I trust your interpretation, Derrick is not a reliable witness.”

  “Is it possible that whoever took Gael has also taken Drew and is using his car?” Sawyer asked. “I mean, I don’t especially like the guy, but it seems odd that he would suddenly do this.”

  There was a knock at the door, and a man Jake had seen at the front desk walked in and handed Gregory a file. Gregory waited until he left.

  “I cannot discuss all aspects of personnel files with you, but I will say this. Drew’s only family is a father who is in a care facility just outside of Phoenix.”

  “What?” Finn’s head shot up in surprise.


  “For the last three years. The man has dementia, very distressing.”

  “But Drew told me he had family in upstate New York. That his father was a bank manager. He’s told me that twice, and he has a friend, Hannah Bishop, who joined the latest intake at Quantico back around Easter some time. She gave me the impression both families were friends.”

  “We’ll certainly look into that,” Gregory continued, “but his father lost his job just after Drew got his first posting here. His mom left his father when Drew was seven. There was an older brother who left with the mom.”

  “Why would the family split?” Vance said, puzzled.

  Jake didn’t reply. He had seen the bleak looks in the room. Not everyone had Connie, but right at that moment, Vance didn’t need reminding of that; no one did.

  Talon sent Sawyer and Vance to go see if they could locate Angel. He felt Angel might have more information, and he would like to officially interview Genie. Adam was quiet, but Talon immediately set him and Finn to watch CCTV footage to try to trace the BMW.

  Gregory stood and said he was going to see when Drew had last visited his father.

  There was just Talon and Jake left. “If this is Drew, why now and why Gael? What happened to make Drew think abduction in a crowded place was worth the risk?” Talon said.

  “I think we need to look at those addresses. If he lied about other things, he may have lied about those too.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  IT HAD been eight hours. Eight hours since Gael had gotten into the BMW, and they were no further along, and Jake was ready to punch someone, anyone.

  They knew it was Drew, absolutely knew. CCTV had picked up the BMW, and they even had a shot of Gael getting in. The tag was clearly visible. It had been seen twice more, but they’d lost it on 275. What worried Jake more was that Drew didn’t seem to care, like he wasn’t concerned about them finding out, and that made Jake break out in a cold sweat.

  Cortes had done everything but alert the Marines. He’d taken a search warrant and four officers to Drew’s apartment.

  They’d heard from Hannah Bishop as well. She’d actually dropped out of the training course at Quantico and had gone to work in a bank in the Midwest. She hadn’t heard from Drew since she started her training. She’d emailed a couple of times, but he hadn’t replied. She knew about Drew’s father, as her dad used to work in the same bank as him, and she had dated Drew for nearly a year before he had been accepted for the FBI. They had parted then, quite happily. She had said he was always more like a friend than a boyfriend.

  “Where does Drew live?”

  “Same apartment complex as Finn,” Talon confirmed. Jake raised his eyebrows, and Talon had the grace to blush. “He doesn’t ever sleep there. Gregory has them rented for the team.”

  “Do we know who does the lawn service?” Jake asked suddenly.

  “Come on.” Jake picked his truck keys up.

  The manager of the complex met them at the office, even though it was early, because he had been summoned by Cortes with a search warrant. Jake didn’t have the patience for pleasantries. “Mr. Gonzales, who does the lawn care for your complex?”

  “Barrillo Nurseries.” Talon shot Jake a helpless look, and Mr. Gonzales peered from one to the other. “Is that important?”

  “Have you ever employed GreenScape?”

  “Mateo Huras’s company?” Mr. Gonzales shook his head. “I knew Mateo’s parents—wonderful people—and obviously offered them the chance to submit a proposal, but they regretfully refused. Too far out for them. I was most upset to hear about Adero.”

  “So they were never here?” Jake pressed.

  “Mateo and Adero came for a visit, but Mateo called me later to say they didn’t have the labor to come this far away from their current customer area. They were hoping to submit next year when the contract came up for renewal.”

  Talon stood and shook Mr. Gonzales hand. “Thank you for your time.”

  Mr. Gonzales nodded. “I do hope you find Mr. Fielding soon.” They had given the excuse that he’d gone missing. “He was a model tenant and most helpful.” He smiled. “In fact, he met Mateo and Adero while they were viewing the grounds, and he was most helpful when they couldn’t submit a bid for the contract.”

  “He was?” Talon queried.

  Jake looked pointedly at Talon.

  “Yes, and now I come to think of it, Mr. Fielding actually recommended we contact Barrillo Nurseries. His father used them for his house over in River Heights, I think it was. He was very pleased with them.”

  Jake stumbled, and it was only Talon’s comforting hand on his shoulder that got his legs moving properly.

  Talon was on his phone as soon as they left the office. “Finn and Adam are seeing if there are any addresses linked with Drew, and Sawyer is altering the CCTV search area.” Talon stopped and put the phone on speaker. “What is it, Finn?”

  “I think we need to look within five minutes of Vance’s place.”

  “Vance’s?” Jake asked.

  There was a pause. “Talon, do you remember when I left the barbeque on Memorial Day?”

  “Yes, of course I do.” Talon gripped the phone a little tighter.

  “I was going to call a cab, but Drew just appeared in the car. He just said he was close. T, what if he was already there in a house we don’t know about?”

  “Okay,” Talon said. “We’re going to head over there, and I want the team to meet us outside Vance’s.” He hung up.

  Jake followed him to the truck, his hands shaking a little, and he didn’t object when Talon took his keys from him and went around to the driver’s side. “Are you calling Cortes?”

  Talon glanced at him. “No.”

  Jake opened his mouth to ask why, but Talon’s level look was answer enough.

  “It’s been nine hours, Talon.” Jake wasn’t even trying to pretend he wasn’t terrified.

  Talon started the truck. “We’re gonna get him, Jake.”

  Jake swallowed. But he didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure he could.

  GAEL FELT Drew’s fingers sliding up his leg and pretended to be out, but the pain in his shoulders made his breath hitch.

  “You like that, Gael, hmm?”

  Drew didn’t sound like he needed an answer, so Gael didn’t worry about having to think of one. His head felt full of clouds, and if he kept his eyes shut, he was sure he would just drift. He concentrated on trying to protect his hands, but it was hard to bring his barrier up.

  He gave up when Drew’s hand reached his groin. “What are you doing?” he rasped.

  Drew raised his eyebrows. “Why, I’m waking you up, of course. My father insisted that a body massage was the right way for a boy to wake up in the morning… every morning.”

  Gael closed his eyes in disgust. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “That isn’t right—you know that.”

  “Oh, I know,” Drew added calmly, moving his hand and walking back to a small camping table that Gael didn’t think was in the room last time he woke. Gael tried to see what he was doing, but Drew had his back to him.

  “I-I’m thirsty,” he croaked, hoping for more oblivion, or maybe just even some water. Where was Jake? He missed him, missed his laugh, missed the way he looked at him. His skin ached for Jake’s touch.

  “I find it fascinating in a strange way,” Drew said, still with his back to the table, “that your skin works the way it does, and yet out of everyone, you are the most disfigured.”

  Gael wrenched his eyes wide open and his heart picked up. There was something in Drew’s tone.

  “I understand we both shared a somewhat difficult childhood.”

  He turned around, and Gael stopped fighting for breath. He was too focused on the gas lighter Drew held in his hand.

  He didn’t speak for a second, just rotated it in his hand. “I would have loved to get a copy of the exact one your father used, but I’m afraid that was quite impossible to find out.” He stared at Gael. “I know the official re
port said you had done it, but we both know that was a lie to protect Wyatt.”

  Gael tried to swallow, but his throat was almost closed. “Drew….” He didn’t want to beg, but he knew at that minute, if he thought it would make any difference, he would.

  “Let’s just see what happens, shall we?”

  He was so matter-of-fact, so normal. Part of Gael’s brain didn’t actually think he would burn him until he felt the first touch of it on his skin.

  White-hot agony seared his chest, and the smell… burning meat, sickly. Smoke filled his lungs and he retched, then spat out the little water he had in his stomach.

  TOO LONG a time later, Gael was ravaged. He’d passed out twice but had ice-cold water thrown at him to wake him up. His body hurt everywhere. He didn’t have the energy to even tremble. His legs had given up trying to support him, and he swung from the chains. He stood in his own piss. Agony seared through his scalp as Drew clutched his hair and dragged his head up to look at him.

  “You think you’re all so much better than the rest of us. Superior. Enhanced,” Drew spat the word out. “But you’re dirt. If I have to kill you one at a time, I will, until every last one of you is dead.”

  Gael blinked. He was used to hatred. The fear that widened their eyes when they saw him. Children pushed behind adults in case he would hurt them. Simply crossing the street or asking him to leave. Refusing to serve him, spitting, sneering—looks of disgust, and even pity. He had grown his ability like a second skin. They couldn’t shoot him. No blade would stab his side. But little by little, he had been cut inside. His heart chipped away by simple words. His soul stripped bare. Every torment, every misery destroyed him bit by bit, until he had nothing left.