Lauren led them all out and to the elevator. Kieran and Devan walked behind her, with Carmine following them. Varick took a position behind Carmine. It looked like he floor had been cleared of people. Considering how clustered together they were, they would have stuck out like a sore thumb. They all entered the elevator and Lauren tapped the B button. A silent ride took them down to the basement level. Lauren had obviously walked the route a few times, because she moved with ease through the maze of hallways. Carmine was sure he would’ve been hopelessly lost if he’d been by himself. They entered the morgue and the chill of the place left them all feeling off. At the exit, a couple of agents stood there waiting, both wearing dark suits with ear pieces.
“Alright, this is Special Agent Jason Miller,” she gestured toward the one on the left. He was average height, wide shouldered, with dark brown hair close cropped to his head and deep brown eyes. He had one of those faces that really blended into a crowd, nothing overly remarkable, yet at the same time, Carmine thought he was interesting because of it. Perhaps it was his theater training, but he had a lot of respect for someone who could blend in. He was somewhat tan, but it was obvious to Carmine after so many years in theater, it was a spray tan.
“And this is Special Agent Richard Watson,” she pointed to the one on the right. This one was a bit taller, very thin, with blonde hair and clear blue eyes similar to Varick’s. His face was long, and he had a light goatee and mustache. Carmine smirked because this guy had a real tan, and a deep one compared to the light color of his hair. He probably liked being outdoors at lot or had a reason to spend time outside.
Carmine noticed Kieran squeeze Devan’s hand, and he really wished he knew more about the doctor because he wanted to hug him so badly right now. He really didn’t want to see him hurting, and right now it was obvious he was scared. He moved his attention back to Lauren who was chatting quietly with the two agents.
Pushing a button on her earpiece, Lauren snapped “Ready” and the door opened. As they stepped out of the door, Carmine was surprised to see it was the nurse from earlier. The short nurse immediately ran to Kieran. “Hey, you ready?” He ignored everyone else except Kieran.
Kieran nodded to him. “I guess.”
Still clinging to Devan’s hand, Kieran’s eyes were only on the nurse. He reached for his other hand, smiling at him. He led them out through the dock where hearses and vans could pull up to remove bodies. There was a windowless white van sitting there and Carmine had to stifle a snicker. All he could think of was it was the type of van that should have “Free Candy” written on the side. It was completely inappropriate considering the situation, but the thought ran through his mind nonetheless. He bit down on his tongue to keep it still. He didn’t trust himself not to blurt out something about it being a pedo van.
Carmine could see the van had a bench that ran down either side of the inside. Devan had sat down at the end on the righthand side, and Kieran sat beside him. The nurse sat beside Kieran. Varick slid down the left-hand bench, and Carmine followed him. They ended up sitting almost directly across from Kieran and the small nurse. The two agents got in last, sitting at the end of each side, still not saying anything. The nurse leaned over Devan and Kieran to speak through the window between the back and the front.
“Ready,” he called.
Carmine glanced up toward the front and saw a rather tall man with blonde hair and a woman in the passenger seat. He couldn’t tell much more than she had a head of pale blonde hair. She turned around a little and snaked her hand through the window. Devan reached up and took it, intertwining her fingers in his.
“You okay?” she inquired, and Carmine thought he recognized the voice, but at the moment he just couldn’t place it.
Devan smirked, putting his hand back in his lap and just sighed. “Yeah, now.”
As they took off, Carmine heard Kieran make a whimpering sound as he tried to adjust himself, so he wasn’t sitting flat on the seat, but he was having obvious trouble with it. Devan glanced at him and smoothly, before anyone could say anything, pulled him up onto his lap. He spread his legs out, so Kieran could sit balanced between his knees. Carmine smirked at Kieran’s surprised face as Devan braced Kieran’s knees over one leg and leaned him back to hold his back with his other arm. Carmine knew Devan would do things without thought and snatching up the young doctor to help relieve his pain was entirely something like that.
“You were looking rather uncomfortable, Cutie,” Devan explained with a smile. “Just hang out here for a bit, okay?” He reached up and brushed Kieran’s hair out of his face.
Carmine heard one of the agents make a noise, so he turned to stare at them. The blonde agent arched a brow at Devan and Kieran but didn’t say anything, just glanced over at his partner with a curious look. He got a shrug in return.
After a few minutes, Kieran leaned over on Devan’s shoulder, dozing off again. Carmine wondered why he kept falling asleep. He watched as Devan put an arm around him and he felt a little jealous again. The strange thing was the jealousy was directed at both of them. He wanted to be able to comfort Kieran, but he also wanted to monopolize Devan’s attention. This was such an unusual situation and he wasn’t sure how to handle it.
The van bumped and rattled as they passed through a construction site. Everyone inside instinctively hung on to something or other to steady themselves. The world outside the van moved on, daily life beginning to wind down as night began to gather. Inside the van, the world had stopped for a brief time, and there was no indication of how long their pause in the wider universe would last. All they could choose to do was concentrate on the small things they could control, and put aside all the large ones they could not.
Devan felt Kieran’s body grow heavier, and he glanced over where he’d laid his head on his shoulder. He snorted lightly, staring across at Varick and Carmine. “He fell asleep again,” he said quietly.
Varick glanced at Artemis. “Um, you’re a nurse, right?”
Artemis glanced back. “Yeah, Head nurse of the Neurosurgery floor, actually.”
“So... I don’t know much about medical stuff, but... you got his file, and he really okay?” asked, obviously still concerned.
“He will be,” Artemis confirmed, sighing. “There wasn’t a lot of damage, aside from his ribs being pummeled. He’ll just be pretty sore for a bit after...that.”
Varick nodded. “It seemed like sitting was bothersome,” he peered over where he was sleeping on Devan. “We can carry him in when we get there, so he doesn’t wake up,” he added.
Devan inclined his head toward Varick. “Yeah, no big deal, he’s a tiny little shit,” he muttered, adjusting him in his arms. Kieran was incredibly light, and he wondered if he ate enough. He hoped the doctor wouldn’t have the same problems with food he himself had gone through after that.
“Ya ain’t much bigger,” Carmine commented. “You’re like all of maybe half a foot taller than him, and I bet you don’t weigh much more.” Carmine had a smile starting to crease his lips. From the front, Devan heard Lyric snort. He was certain that he’d be getting his ass whipped later.
Devan narrowed his eyes at Carmine. Just because he was small did not mean he wasn’t strong. “I may be fuckin’ skinny, but I’ll take either you or Leo down in less than ten, or both at the same time,” he growled, pursing his lips for a second and making a kiss noise. He damn sure could lay both of those fuckers out if he put his mind to it, no matter how much more they weighed.
Swallowing hard, Carmine spoke with an obvious blush darkening his cheeks. “Devan, fuck, I am totally throwing your skinny ass down and fucking ya stupid as soon as I get us to a horizontal surface. Table, bed, fuck, the floor...don’t care what. Maybe me and Leo can take you up on taking us both on at once...”
Varick reached over and smacked Carmine lightly on the back of his head. “Dammit, Carmine,” he muttered. “We’re in mixed company.”
The two agents were staring by now; the blonde-haired Richard
having turned a deep crimson color. The other one, Jason, wore an amused smirk. He spoke up first.
“So...you two are a thing?” Jason gestured to Devan and Carmine.
Carmine looked at him for a moment. “Depends on what you call a thing,” he answered. “I mean, Leo and I both fuck him if that’s what you mean. And I’d say we have a ‘thing’, but Dev is reluctant to call it more than fuckin’.”
“Both?” Richard asked.
Varick rolled his eyes. “I don’t want all our escapades advertised, Carmine,” he sighed. “Not everyone wants to hear about our sex lives.”
“Well it’s true,” Carmine exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down by the sound. “Besides, they’re gonna be in the house with us. They’re gonna figure out pretty quick we’re going to be doing the shit we’ve been doing there too. Though, gonna miss the accessories. I didn’t even bring a flogger...”
“That is a shame, guess you’ll just have to beat my sexy ass with your hand,” Devan hissed, grinning mischievously at him.
Artemis smirked beside them, speaking up for the first time in a while. “Well, arrangements can be made for your...fun.”
Varick looked at him, nodding. “Yeah, I’d imagine they might with you and Mischka involved...”
A few minutes of silence passed, and Jason’s phone started ringing with a sweet-sounding melody. He smirked. “Sorry, it’s my girl.” Devan had briefly seen the name Dawn appear on the screen before he put it to his ear.
“Yo, babe.” He paused, dark eyes looking up at the roof. “Yeah, y’know I can’t talk, work stuff. Yeah. I dunno, gonna be out of pocket for a while, no idea how long. Call when I can, love ya!”
“Girl, you said?” Devan asked. She certainly had a husky voice. Granted, so did he when he was in female mode.
Jason nodded. “Yeah, we see each other when we can, she’s older, kinda my sugar mama.” He gave Devan a wink. “She gives me money when I ask and all I gotta do is keep her happy.”
Carmine chuckled. “Good luck with that. There’s a reason I go for guys more than girls these days,” he muttered with a shake of his head. “Last one ripped my goddamned heart out and I swore I was done with women for a while. But then I go and find my Dev here, and he gotta make a liar outta me.”
“What does that mean?” Richard piped up suddenly.
“Well,” Carmine began but the van was pulling to a stop.
The driver popped open the back doors. “Home sweet home, boys,” he smirked at Artemis. Then once Devan got a look at the driver, he realized why the name Mischka name had seemed familiar. He smirked to himself, recognizing Puck as Lolita’s partner at the club.
The two agents jumped out and waited for the others. Varick and Carmine came out carefully, both ducking to save their skulls. Devan stood up easily with Kieran, not waking him, surprisingly. He leapt down deftly, but jostling Kieran enough that he grumbled and his eyes fluttered open. Devan just tightened his grip and followed Mischka’s lead up the drive to the house. Kieran was growing quite heavy in his arms, but he would be damned if he put him down right now. He just told them he could hold him.
From the outside, it looked like any other of the large mansions in the high dollar areas around St. Louis. Considering it had been maybe a half hour drive in the van, they couldn’t have gone far. If Devan didn’t miss his guess, he thought they had to be in Chesterfield. The house was two stories and only because Devan knew what he was looking for, he saw the cameras located in spots throughout the yard in front of it. The house had a cul-de-sac style driveway that went past the doorway which was where Mischka had pulled into. To the right of the house was a double garage with paved drives leading out to the front of the property.
Despite how prepared he thought he was for this, Devan felt like something was wrong.
REDMOND RAN A HAND over his rich, red hair and growled under his breath as he walked toward the emergency room doors of McKellar hospital. The deep gold seventy-two Dodge Demon 340 he drove was parked as far away from the rest of the cars in the parking lot as he could get. High end hospital or not, he was not going to get his car door dinged at this place. The fact he was freezing his nuts off on a Sunday night was frustrating, to say the least. He glanced at the man beside him. He’d already forgotten the bastard’s name, though. Charlie or some shit, he thought. Whatever, he was useless, and it was stupid that Callaghan thought he needed to bring someone with him for a milk-run like this.
As they came to the door, there was a man in a suit and tie standing there smoking. Redmond smirked and walked up to him. He knew this one from the files he had on their men. This was one of the new guys they had in their pocket.
“Yo, gimme a smoke,” he grumbled, glaring at him.
The man, who was shorter than Redmond by seven or eight inches at least, jerked and looked up at him. He passed him the cigarette over with a shaking hand. Redmond took it and dragged deep. He smiled. At least the kid smoked good cigs. He reached in the breast pocket of the suit jacket he wore and pulled out one of the envelopes inside it and handed it to the kid.
“Keep yer mouth shut, shithead,” he said and led Charlie through the door into the hospital waiting area.
He glanced around and saw another man in a suit. Another of theirs. He headed toward him. This one was standing behind the nurse’s station and leaning against the wall beside the elevator that stood just outside the entry into the actual treatment area.
“Redmond,” this agent said with a smirk.
This one was older, middle aged, with a bowl cut and sharp eyes. Redmond didn’t care what his name was, he just reached in his pocket and passed him an envelope before he got into the elevator. He made sure to avoid the security camera that sat above the entry to the ER. He got into the elevator with the dumb shit Charlie on his heels.
“Um, Sir, can I ask what our orders are?” Charlie asked meekly. Fuck, Redmond thought. He hated the ones like this.
“We find the twink bitch the boss wants to use as a fucktoy. We take him back, and kill anyone that tries to stop us,” Redmond muttered as he watched the numbers flash from three to four.
Charlie cleared his throat. “Um, what if Sully’s with him?”
Smirking, Redmond glanced at him. “We take that motherfucking bitch alive if we can. Boss wants a personal discussion with him. Then Jake gets to have a little fun with him.”
“Jake, sir? Why Jake?”
The number changed to seven and the elevator stopped. “See, boy, ya need to get the facts straight. Jake has a hardon for Sully, has for a long time. So, to punish Sully for being a traitor, Jake gets to have a go at him.”
“I thought... Um, I thought the boss didn’t... You know, like gay people.” They approached the exam room.
“He don’t, but that don’t mean he don’t look the other way when someone like Jake is good at his job.” Redmond stopped and glared at the younger guy, hand on the doorknob. “Besides, Boss fucks dudes too, or did you realize we’re here to pick up a boy?”
As a nurse walked by, Charlie tensed up and smiled nervously at her. She nodded and moved on. “He... But we were told not to say if we, you know, did like other guys. And isn’t he like super Catholic?”
Redmond rolled his eyes. “In case you hadn’t noticed, boy, Boss is fucked here,” he stabbed a finger into Charlie’s temple. “He’s the Boss though, so we do what he says and indulge him. As long as it don’t hurt the Family. Got it?”
Not waiting for an answer, Redmond yanked open the door to find the room vacant. He growled and saw the mussed sheets on the exam table and a tray from the cafeteria. They hadn’t been gone long if the room was still a mess. He guessed they’d just missed them. He was reaching for his phone in his pocket when he felt it vibrate. Pulling it out he saw that it was the Boss.
“Redmond.”
“It seems that they have been moved to a safe location. I had a call a little while ago from a friend that knew a bit about the situation. A surprising call, as I didn�
�t expect him to be interested in this,” Callaghan’s voice sounded steady despite being foiled.
Redmond shook his head and sighed. “I don’t trust that man. Rich men bother me, ‘specially the sort that got their fingers in our businesses.”
Charlie was looking around the room, and Redmond didn’t stop him. Maybe he’d find something. The boy was pretty worthless so far, he figured. Maybe he was good at spotting things others missed or some shit.
“I don’t trust him, Redmond. I just will take what he gives. It doesn’t matter. Come back. They’ve been taken in by the Seaths. We can’t get to them right now.”
“Fuckin’ serious?” Redmond snapped.
“Come home, my boy.” Callaghan ended the call.
“Fuck,” Redmond exclaimed and shoved the phone back in his pocket. “These worthless motherfucking agents can’t give accurate information.” He turned to Charlie. “Come on, we need to see why no one knew they were already gone.”
Once back outside, Redmond saw the young agent he’d seen first. He smirked and stalked toward him, grabbing him by the shoulder and slamming him into the wall of the hospital.
“Why the fuck was your information bad? They’re gone.”
“I-I-I d-d-don’t know! I-I-I w-wasn’t told! N-none of us were!” the boy stammered.
Redmond moved his hand and wrapped it around the agent’s pale throat. He pushed him up the building until his toes dangled a few inches off the ground and squeezed his large hand. He used his free hand to pull the cigarettes out of the boy’s pocket as he felt his throat spasm under his hand. He clamped his hand down harder and felt things shift as the boy started sputtering and trying to breathe. It really didn’t take long before the body went slack and seemed to double in weight. Tucking the cigarettes in his pocket, he lowered the body down a little and grabbed his head with both hands and twisted enough to hear the crack. It wasn’t necessary since he was sure he’d crushed his larynx but just in case.
Stolen Innocence Page 33
