20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Taran stayed in his arms all night. They made love slowly, mostly to not frighten Daiq, who was laying off in a corner of the room. Liam wanted to pound the hell out of Taran, but not there, not under the roof of the pub.
That didn’t help his burgeoning feelings wane. The tender touches, soft kisses to his collarbone that Taran gave so sweetly, it made them grow. He’d never been in love, never let himself feel more than sexually attracted toward another man, but Taran was…different.
Like a kid in so many ways, but smart and driven besides that, Taran was special. His heart was possibly a little too pure to be a cop of any sort, but his morals were right on the button. He wanted to save people, pure and simple, and to come across bad guys with good hearts had thrown him.
Liam felt that was likely why he thought Taran was falling for him.
When he woke, and Taran was dressing on the other side of the bed, he groaned, “You gotta go?”
“Was supposed to be gone an hour ago, but…I guess I was comfortable.”
Liam moved around the bed to see Daiq on Taran’s lap. “I thought you were dressing.”
“I was, but he had other ideas.”
“I knew I trained him right,” he purred, turning Taran’s face to kiss him.
“Do not get me started. Camp wants me there to cover you guys tonight.”
“Cover, but don’t get in the way. These guys are pretty good at this.”
“Just observing, and…and filming.”
“Blackmail. I figured, in case we don’t give up the people you want us to give up?”
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
Liam understood and thought of Katie and Little Mick again. “Whatever saves the little ones.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Your place or mine?”
“Here. I like your cat.”
“Thanks. Daiq, next time, though, you’re staying in Abs’ room. You don’t need to see that stuff.”
“Hear that, Daiq? Your daddy wants me to come back. How about you?”
Daiq got up, his back arching high as he stretched and rubbed his head across Taran’s chin. Liam snatched Daiq up and told Taran to finish dressing. “I have another meeting myself soon. I’m gonna shower and get going. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Taran’s smile brightened him, his heart warming at the sight.
He headed to the basement after his shower, and after Daiq was fed. Inside, Mims was listlessly walking around the table while Goldie and Abs were at the computer. “You okay, Mims?”
“I’m…fine.”
Tally came up behind him and whispered, “The guy broke it off with him.”
That was what they all knew would happen. All except Mims, that was. “Sorry, Mims. I’m sure he was a loser.”
“Loser with a house near Capitol Hill and another in Aspen.”
“Who cares? He’s obviously gay and married to a woman, so he could have ten houses and still be miserable. It has to suck to lie every day of your life.”
Mims gave him the ghost of a smile and crept to him, kissing his cheek. “Thanks.”
Goldie called over to Mims, “If you can, baby, come help with this.”
Mims went over and took the chair in front of the computer, with Liam following. “There,” Goldie pointed. “That camera I set up outside the side of the place. See that?”
They all watched as two men were carrying the painting, the very one they were planning to steal, out of the house. “What the fuck?” Abs asked in amazement. “Do you think they knew?”
“No,” Liam said. “Look at the logo on that van they’re taking it to. Restoration specialists.”
“They’re taking it to get it restored? People don’t do that.”
“They do if it got damaged,” Abs said and pointed to the padded blanket they were setting over the painting. “Look at that corner.”
Liam saw it when the other had. “The frame is broken.”
Goldie whistled through his teeth. “What are we gonna do now?”
Murphy came through the door and got the information thrown at him quickly. He smiled and said, “That’s fine. We just readjust our timetable. This works for us, boys.”
Tally told them, “I’ll call as his secretary. That way, I can find out if they’re on schedule to have it back.”
“Perfect. Wait a day to make the call, though. Fellas, looks like we’re off duty this week,” Murphy said.
“Why? There’s a perfectly good Bentley waiting to be stolen,” Liam reminded him.
Goldie laughed as he said, “Just like that?”
“Well, the reason I didn’t go after cars of that magnitude is that we didn’t have a computer guy. Goldie, you can follow the owner, get something of his to get his prints, right?”
“Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?”
“The secret storage in those cars is only accessible by fingerprint. That is likely where the keys will be, and if not, it’s easy enough to lift. With the resources here, with you all, I can steal any car ever made.”
None of them looked confident, so he asked Mims to move so he could sit in front of the screen. “I’m not good at this, but can I type in anything? Without, you know, having someone tracing it?”
“Sure,” Mims said. “I have servers all over the world pinging me.”
“Great.”
As Liam typed, they all hung over his shoulder, watching him bringing up the Bentley specs, security, and anti-theft.
“GPS is easy enough,” Mims said. “A simple scramble or I could take it and point it at some old Pinto or something.”
“Don’t be cute,” Murphy said. “Remember what I said. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.”
“Fine. I can scramble it, but I’ll have to be with him to do it.”
Goldie’s head snapped to him. “No way. You don’t go on these. You’re here or the van, that’s it. You don’t have any experience.”
“I have to go,” Mims said. “I have to be there if something happens.”
“I’ll take care of him,” Liam swore to them, and meant it. “I swear, if anything looks off, we’re gone. Bentley can stay where it is.”
“Goldie, look,” Mims said as he looked back at the screen. “Watching him, following him, you can find the keys, and maybe you can even get any codes we’ll need.”
“Surveillance is a huge part of boosting cars,” Liam agreed. “I’ll take your night shift this week in the pub, if Murphy’s okay with it.”
“Whatever needs done. Damn shame, though.”
“What’s a shame?”
Mims groaned, “We can’t sell the car whole. It’s got to be taken apart. It’ll be sent overseas and reassembled, but with varying parts.”
That hurt his chest. “That is a beautiful car! There’s no one that could take it whole?”
“With that security? Even if we had someone that could get the fingerprint changed and other things, it would be too big a risk.”
Liam nodded to Murphy and whispered, “I understand, but it sucks.”
“Yes, it does, but the payout is the same. The parts on this bitch. Fuck, I could send both of my kids to college with the parts alone.”
“Okay,” Goldie conceded. “I’ll get started first thing in the morning watching this guy. Then…the painting.”
“This could be a big week for us, gentlemen. Not only will the cops be freaking out, but our enemies too.” He looked at Liam and said, “Might want to talk to your boyfriend about all this.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
Goldie laughed. “No, sure, he’s not. He better be and you best make him fall so hard for you he can’t turn on you.”
“Yeah. Yeah…I guess so.”
Mims reached over and grabbed his hand. “That’s not the only reason. You like him. I can see that.”
Liam didn’t know how it had happened, but he was falling in love with all the men in the pub. Not like…not like he was with Taran. They were making him a member of their weird family, and as much as he thought he’d hate it, he didn’t.
He confessed it to the only one that he knew for sure wouldn’t tell a soul. “I like them, Daiq. I don’t even know why. I was set against it, I swear, but…they’re not hiding things. They’re making me a part of them without even knowing me all that well. I’ve never had people trust me like this before in my whole life. Am I being stupid?”
The cat rubbed his head on Liam’s chin and then lay in a ball by his chest. “You’re a lot of help.”
Taran called him, wanting to meet for coffee the following morning, so they met up and took a long walk as they sipped their coffees. “The Bentley? I know the car. The guy who owns it is on our radar.”
“I thought you said the guy that owned the painting was.”
“They both are. Human trafficking is a big business, Cosmo. Denver, unfortunately, is a major hub between North and South America. Smack in the middle of the country between Canada and Mexico.”
“I just never think Canadians could go in for that stuff, but there are bad people everywhere, I guess.”
“There are. Listen, get the car. No law enforcement agency is going to go to bat for this guy, but he’ll hire private security just to find the thing. I’m thinking, maybe keep it somewhere, under wraps for a few months first.”
“I’ll let Murphy know. These private security guys, will you know about them?”
“He hires the same ones that he uses for personal protection, so yeah. They’re licensed, good at their jobs and most are ex- military-special forces. Liam, they’re very good at their jobs. It scares me to think they’ll be after you.”
“Then we’ll have to make sure they don’t find out about us.”
Taran stopped on a bench at the park their walk had led them to, and Liam joined him.
“You were the means to an end, Liam. I learned all I could about you, and already my heart was changing. Now, knowing you…I am terrified. I want to take you away with me so far that no one would ever find us. And I’d keep you safe.”
“What life would that be?”
“Not one either of us could stand, I’m sure.”
Liam laughed, knowing his dreams of catching bad guys, and Liam’s own for living life on the edge, and as nice as it sounded to be in a cozy love nest, fucking and eating fruits and whatever, he knew they’d grow bored.
“One day, when we get all this out of our system, if you still want to do that…we will revisit the idea.”
“I like the way you think.”
“I’m working for Goldie tonight. Come in and I’ll buy you a drink.”
“You’re on.”