Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
“ Y ou tired?” Torres asked, chuckling as Leo yawned. They were cuddled up in one of the booths just enjoying each other’s company.
“Mmmmhmm, it’s been a long day.” Leo sighed as he snuggled into Torres’ warmth.
“Yes, it has.” Torres agreed whole heartily, sliding down a little in the booth to be able to rest his forehead on Leo’s neck. “I can’t wait to get back home and go to bed.”
Leo snorted. “Gonna be another unsatisfying night, huh?”
Torres grumbled, nipping Leo’s neck. Hard. Making the man laugh as rub against him, before he could say anything he saw Catherine coming closer.
“Where is Gabe?” Catherine asked as she joined them, studying both of them as they sat so close to each other but wisely keeping her mouth shut even if her eyes tightened with disgust.
Torres looked at Leo, then back to her. “What he was with you playing games,” He said, confused. What the hell was she talking about?
She shook her head. “No, he came to grab Leo to play about fifteen minutes ago. I was talking to someone I knew from work. He got bored, so he told me he was gonna grab you and take you to the escape room.” She gestured over her shoulder.
Torres stood quickly, knocking the table that was bolted into the floor, back. “Gabe!” He called out as he looked around. He moved quickly through the arcade, desperate to find his son, looking around all the games to make sure he wasn’t sitting somewhere. He checked the ball pit and other than a group of teenagers, he wasn’t there. “Did you see Gabe? The kid that came in with me?” Torres demanded from the kid, watching the counter. He would feel guilty later as the kid was new and he probably just scared the shit out of him, but he couldn’t bring himself to apologize right now. He needed to find his son.
“Yeah, I saw your kid leave with a guy. I’m sorry, man, I thought he was with you, otherwise I would have tried to stop him.” The kid mumbled haltingly.
Torres felt bad. The kid was as white as a sheet. “Can you describe the guy for me?”
“I can do one better.” The kid tapped a few keys on the computer, then turned the screen to show him the CCTV footage.
“Fuck.” Torres barked, and he pulled out his phone and dialed Kade as he watched the video.
“What’s wrong?” Kade said in a way of greeting. He knew Torres was out with Leo and Gabe tonight and only an emergency would have warranted a call.
“Gabe was taken from the arcade, by the looks of the man he’s the guy that’s in town looking for info on Daegan.” Torres raked a hand through his curls tugging harshly on them as he tried to calm himself down so he could focus. Fuck him, it was different when it was your own fucking kid missing.
“I’ll mobilize the team. Vince, I need you to take some deep breaths for me.” Kade said calmly. Shit was not going to go well. If Torres lost his cool that would be like trying to capture a bull in a china shop. He pressed the panic button on his desk and sent out a quick message to the team that was still in the area. He’d only sent Jett and Hawk to follow Daegan’s footsteps overseas. Cowboy had returned a few hours ago so he put him as lead.
Leo grabbed the back of Torres’ neck and squeezed hard, helping to ground his man before he started to hyperventilate. “Can you send that video to me?” He asked the kid.
“Yes, absolutely.” The kid got to work when Leo gave him his info and Leo heard the ding to signal he got it. He pulled out his phone and immediately sent the video to Kade.
“Thank you.” Leo pulled Torres outside.
“What is going on?” Catherine demanded, her eyes wide with fear.
Leo sighed. “My husband apparently kidnapped a boy before he was killed overseas. It looks like the kid’s father is the one that took Gabe.” He wanted to shout in frustration and then he wanted to dig up Daegan’s body and have a few words with it.
“What!” she screeched. “You’re the reason my son was taken.” She moved towards Leo, her hand reached back as if to slap him.
Leo glared at her. She had some fucking audacity to sit there and accuse him of shit.
“Enough,” Torres barked at her, which caused her to back up a few steps with wide eyes. “You lay a hand on him and all bets are off. I will lay your ass out. You don’t have shit to say after everything you’ve done, I’ll get him back.”
“Try not to kill the guy in the process.” Leo said calmly.
Torres raised a brow. “I make no promises. Kade mobilized the team. Let’s head back to the farm to figure out what we can do.” He grabbed Leo's hand and drug him along with him back to the car.
“I’m going with.” Catherine said, not backing down at Torres’ withering glare.
Torres opened his mouth to disagree, but Leo held up a hand. “That’s fine, but you treat my family with respect or we’re gonna have a problem.” He didn’t wait for a reply, just turned his back on her and rushed out to the car.
“What can we do to help?” Sanem asked the second they entered the house. Leo had called her from the car to warn her. She pulled Torres into a warm embrace, hoping it would help center him.
“Kade is on his way. He’ll be able to figure this out.” Torres said roughly. At least hoped his brother would be able to, he’d always been able to rely on him before. He could do this.
“The man is not all-knowing, Vince. You need to get over this idolization of him.” Catherine snapped.
Torres huffed. He had no idea what Catherine’s issue with Kade was, but it was starting to piss him off. She had hated him from the start.
Sanem raised a brow. “Considering that man helped find the man that tried to kill my son and my granddaughter, I would say we all idolize him, and that’s ok. How about I get you a drink?” Sanem pasted on a thin smile as she led Catherine to the kitchen.
Torres’ shoulders slumped. “I shouldn’t have let her come. This was a mistake.” He sighed deeply, pulling at his hair as he tried to think of what else he could do.
“We can handle it, son. She’s hurting. What she does is on her, not you.” Bram said softly as he clapped Torres’ shoulder.
Torres gave him a weak smile.
“Sorry it took so long to get here. There was traffic.” Kade said breathlessly as he and his men burst through the door. “Sanem, can they set up here or would you like us somewhere else?”
“Right here is fine, Kade.” Sanem replied as she and Catherine joined them. She pressed a glass of cool water into Kade’s hands. “Water, drink it.”
Kade raised a brow. “Yes ma’am,” He snarled and dutifully drank it all, before handing it back.
“Good boy,” she smiled at Kade’s snort.
“I’ve always been a good puppy.” Kade said, snickering as he helped his men set up their laptops and files. “Valk?” He patted his leg for his faithful companion.
“I’ve got him.” Ram said. “He’s playing with Sheriff out back. Do you need him?”
Kade shook his head. “No, just checking on him.” He cleared his throat. “Cowboy, can you explain what’s going on?”
“Yeah, I got ya brother. So, a couple months ago Leo received a video from an unknown source showing his late husband shooting a tribal elder in the head. In the video, we can also see the man’s son and grandson. Shortly before the elders’ death, the grandson went missing. He had last been seen giving Daegan a piece of bread.” Cowboy said as he passed out a photo of the exchange trying to hide his yawn. He’d caught a red eye to get back in time to help Kade with another case. “Within twenty-four hours, the boy was missing.”
“So you think Daegan had something to do with it?” Leo asked, not wanting to believe what he was hearing. He really didn’t want to think his sweet geeky husband could have done nothing like this.
“We think he had something to do with his disappearance. Maybe not have taken the boy himself but definitely involved. The boy in question is Yousef Masa, the Grand elder’s grandson.” Kade said.
“Is there any reason the boy would have been a target, besides being the grandson of the elder?” Leo asked, trying to piece together anything that could help.
“Yes,” Kade nodded. “The kid has green eyes which are rare enough to make him sought after.” Kade kept his voice level. It was a hard topic to talk about so keeping emotions out of it was the best idea all around.
“So you’re thinking, human trafficking?” Leo asked, not really surprised by the thought.
“I don’t want to, but in my experience, yes, that’s what would most likely happen, that or the boy was killed. If he was dead, why would the father still be looking for him? Unless he doesn’t know for sure.” Kade asked. “None of it makes sense.”
“Maybe he’s not looking for him. Maybe this is a revenge grab.” Scorp said roughly, his voice raspy and cracking. He didn’t talk much. He was more of the muscle but he had to put it out there just in case.
“Stop talking.” Doc growled at him as he handed the hard-headed man a bottle of water. “Let your throat heal, idiot.”
“Deep-throating dick too much for you, Scorp?” Saint teased.
Scorp raised a brow. “You should know.”
Doc rolled his eyes as he slapped Scorp in the chest. “Shut it, Saint. He’s suffering from smoke inhalation and I would rather him not hurt himself putting you in your place.”
Danno snorted. “Good luck with that.”
“Children, let’s focus, please.” Kade said drolly. “If it was a revenge grab, why would he grab Gabe?” He asked. “What would he gain from grabbing him?”
Scorp shrugged and opened his mouth to speak and was smacked upside the head before he was able to utter a word. He glared at Doc.
“Write it down, you brute.” Doc hissed, shoving a pad and pen into Scorp’s muscular chest.
Scorp sighed but did as he was asked, grumbling the whole time. Doc was getting out of control. He knew he’d scared the man—but damn, he could barely piss in private at this point. The man was up his ass and not in a fun way.
Doc took the paper to read when Scorp handed it over. “If he’s been watching Leo, he would have seen Torres and Gabe. He could have assumed Gabe was Leo and Torres’ kid. An eye for an eye.”
Torres grabbed Leo’s hand at the man’s panicked look. “It’s ok Leo, this isn’t your fault, and I don’t blame you for anything. At all, none of this has anything to do with you. It’s all Daegan’s fault.
Leo had a sinking feeling that wouldn’t always be the case.
“Probably wasn’t a good idea to name our son after him, then was it?” Danno asked, wide-eyed as he looked at Merrick.
“No, it was. You named him after the boy I loved, not the man he turned into Danno. I can't tell you how honored I am that you chose that name for your son.” Leo quickly told his brother it was true he loved his brother even more for allowing the good in Daegan to live on as he didn’t have any kids themselves.