Chapter 23
Jericho
"It's not much," I tell her, opening the door to my assigned room. "But it's clean and safe."
Aspen stands in the open doorway to my room, her eyes darting around it, like she needs to memorize her surroundings. I know she was feeling guilty for not being able to provide any more information on places she has traveled with Damien and even her father when she was younger, and she might be trying to make a difference. Either that or she might not trust that she's safe here. I don't know that she has accepted that we aren't her enemies. I know that has more to do with how she was raised than anything else.
I've done my best not to take that thought to heart because we all have our own hangups over shit.
"I have a meeting," I tell her, not stepping further into the room.
"This is your room?" she guesses, despite the fact that there isn't a single distinguishing thing in here to make her think that.
"What makes you ask?"
"It smells like you," she whispers, a pinkish tint lighting up her cheeks.
Her eyes dip to my mouth, making my entire body threaten to come alive, and we aren't doing that shit right now.
"The other rooms are either taken or undergoing a remodel," I tell her. "Lock the door behind me if it makes you feel safer."
I turn and walk away, hating that she's able to cause any fucking reaction from me other than irritation at this point.
I quickly make my way down the stairs and right to the conference room. I need to be around other people before my body leads me right back to her.
The room is already occupied by Casper, Ace, and Jersey. Nyx is sitting in the corner, dark eyes assessing us like we pose a threat to him somehow. Jesus, the man gives Hemlock's resting bitch face a run for its money.
"This won't be a very long meeting," Hemlock says as he comes into the room, letting the heavy door swing closed behind him.
I'm surprised he was able to pull his ass away from Zara long enough to join us.
I tilt my head, annoyed with myself and the bitterness swimming inside my head. I'm not normally such a cynical bastard.
"Our team has made its way through numerous locations," Hemlock says, the huge television behind him powering on to show pictures of five different locations. "The Reese/Gaines organization has its dirty little fingers in so many fucking pies, it sort of feels like we're looking for a needle in a haystack."
I let my eyes roam over the images on the screen, but it's no surprise that I don't recognize any of them. When I worked with Ivan Reese, I was at the house because he was always at the house. I can't swear that these locations weren't connected to him before Damien took over.
"We're looking through literally decades of travel plans and information. Blackbridge is working through some locations up north," Hemlock continues. "Neither team has found anything that indicates Eli Gaines has been on the property. We have no further proof that Damien has taken other children. It's very possible that the driver, Samuel, was lying in order to save his own neck."
The crack of knuckles makes my eyes dart to Nyx who looks like he's readying himself to take the man out.
"Is he here?" I ask, growing pissed at the chance that a man who could compromise everything might be in the house. The urgency to go to Aspen to make sure she's safe has me literally on the edge of my seat, ready to stand.
"He's still in Massachusetts being monitored," Hemlock assures me. "After the tracker was found in Aspen, we located a similar one embedded in the back of Samuel's neck. Damien hasn't sent a team for him yet. We're prepared if he does."
"What happens if Gaines goes back to one of the places we've already searched?"
"I don't know that he'd do that," Hemlock says. "But we have people in place, monitoring all the other locations."
"That's spreading us a little thin, isn't it?" Ace asks.
"That's why we've called in some reinforcements," Hemlock says, and the conference room doors open as if we're watching some theatrical show.
I look back and see several men I recognize from the day I burned the case with Nathan Adair to get Brielle Adair out of his clutches.
Cerberus New Mexico, and from the looks of it, it's damn near everyone on that team.
Kincaid, president of that chapter, enters the room, shaking hands with Hemlock.
Relief gathers inside of me at the sight of them. I'm fully confident in their ability to get to the bottom of all this shit and find my son. I know each and every one of them will do all they can to make that happen.
There's also that kinship, the brotherhood of being a Marine, that eases something inside of me.
A condition of being a member of the Cerberus team has always been time spent in the Marine Corps. Kincaid didn't require that of us here in Tennessee, but Ace, Hemlock, and myself are Marines. It's very possible that others are as well, but I haven't had the chance to get close enough to any of them in order to find out.
"Do I need to order cots?" Casper asks, his hands hovering over his keyboard, ready to make the call if he needs to.
"We're going to spread out into the other houses on the property," Kincaid says."This is your home."
"You're always welcome here," Hemlock says.
"Thank you, brother," Kincaid says with a quick smile. "But it's best for the newest guests here if we aren't all piled in one spot."
He's talking about Cora, Ace's woman, who recently came and who has suffered through some heartbreaking shit. He's possibly including Aspen as well.
"I have two teams with me now that will get started first thing in the morning, and my other team is already in the field working," Kincaid explains before looking back at Casper. "Max and Wren will coordinate all the tech stuff with you."
Casper dips his head in understanding, but his attention is diverted as he looks from his computer screen to Hemlock.
"Deacon Black, sir," he says.
Hemlock narrows his eyes at him, and I know it has more to do with the sir than anything else. The man reluctantly took the leadership role over this chapter in Tennessee, and he's less than impressed with the way Casper refers to him.
Casper swallows as Hemlock pulls his phone from his pocket, and I know the IT tech doesn't mean any disrespect. He'll learn, eventually. I just hope it happens before Hemlock punches the guy in the throat.
"Hey," Hemlock says when he answers the phone. I dart my eyes to Kincaid, wondering if it bothers the man that he seems to be here to assist even though it was his hard work that created Cerberus in the first place.
Silence swarms around the room while we all wait for the news and my gut twists when Hemlock lifts his eyes to me before he speaks again.
"You're absolutely sure it's not him?"
My skin grows icy cold as I stand, walking toward Hemlock, ready to rip the fucking phone from his hand.
He holds up a hand. I know the conversation he's having is about my son, and I'll be damned if I'm going to stand here idle while horrific news is being dished out.
A warm hand covers my shoulder, and although my first instinct is to shrug it away, I know the hell I'll bring on myself if I disrespect Kincaid.
"Let me know what else you find," Hemlock says just before ending the call.
"What the fuck is going on?" I growl, my hands ready to get to work.
"It's not Eli," Hemlock says.
"Who's not Eli?"
"They found a body," Hemlock says.
The room rattles with disapproval and hatred for all men like Damien Gaines.
"The kid was about fourteen or fifteen," Hemlock continues. "Shallow grave on one of the properties just outside of Pittsburg. It was... fresh. Days old. We have no other identifying information, no clue who this kid is or who his parents are. Deacon will let me know more when they know more."
"That sick fuck," one of the New Mexico guys mutters.
A rumble of agreement rolls through the room, and there are so many people in here, it seems to echo off the walls.
"We're doing all that we can," Kincaid says.
I hear what he doesn't say, but I dip my head in understanding anyway.
We all work hard. We've all dedicated our lives to helping and saving others. We don't sandbag when it's time to work, but there's a part of me that even though these guys give a hundred percent when working, I feel like they're going to try to go above that for my son. I appreciate every one of them.
"Thank you," I say, looking around the room and meeting the eyes of every man in there.
What he doesn't say is that sometimes we don't make it in time. I haven't worked for Cerberus long, and I haven't done the type of missions they do. Their work is incredibly different from what this branch in Tennessee was created to accomplish. I know they have jobs where they don't have the right intel, when the one they're looking for is either never found or they get there too late.
I know all this is possible where Eli is concerned, but there isn't an ounce of me that thinks I'll be forced to go on in life without ever meeting my son.
I have full faith and confidence in their abilities, and I know it's only a matter of time before I get to bring that little boy home.