Chapter Sixteen #5
The paranoia was running rampant with this one today. They probably shouldn’t have busted his ass so much on the flight there.
The cuckoo was cuckooing.
“Don’t be a pussy. This isn’t a trap. Now, I’m sorry we went there. We should have never riled you up. We were kidding, Zayn. You’re safe in there.”
Still…
The man wasn’t budging.
No.
Freaking.
Way.
A mercenary had limits, and his was walking into FBI West in full mercenary gear. That just screamed insanity to him. His self-preservation was the law of the land. After all, he had a wife and flower garden to go home to at the end of the night.
Call it paranoia, but he liked not being locked up in jail, fighting for his life.
“Well, you did. Whatever happened to mercenaries avoiding shit like this? Those were the good old days! You put me in my Blues and made me go to the White House for a wedding! Now, you want to parade me past FBI agents? No. Absolutely not happening today, tomorrow, or ever!”
Jagger tried.
“No one is going to pay any attention to you. Not with that mug.”
He shook his head.
“Nope. I said it once, and I said it five times. I wasn’t kidding on the jet. I’m not going in, and you can’t make me.”
Jesus.
This was ridiculous.
“Elizabeth has consistently shown up for us. She’s never said no, and now you are?” Jagger stated. “You love Elizabeth. You said you’d do anything to help her. Now, you change your mind? We could have brought Dakota!”
He was to the point.
“I’m not saying I’m not helping her. I’m saying I’m not going into that building. That’s my hard line. You sashay her derriere out here, and I’ll do what it takes. I’m just not going into that building. Look at all the Feds milling around. Fuck that to the hell no!”
Maura shrugged.
They didn’t have time for this. It appeared they were leaving Zayn out here to his own devices.
How could that go wrong?
“Let’s go, Jagger. Rogue, you’re on BABY duty. We can’t trust he won’t do something IRRATIONAL like blow this taco stand without us.”
Honestly, Zayn didn’t care.
“That’s the enemy. You don’t stroll into the enemy’s building and shake your ass around the place and not expect to be in handcuffs and locked up. I’m not the crazy one here. We kill people for a living.”
They both stared at him.
“You’re ridiculous.”
Rogue agreed.
“I wanted to see the inside of the building, in case we have to break out one day.”
Zayn pointed at him like he wasn’t a lunatic, too.
“SEE?”
Instead of arguing, they got out, flipped him off, and walked across the guest parking lot. At the front door, she pulled out her keycard and slid it through the lock.
Fingers.
Were.
Crossed.
When the light turned green, they headed in, smiling like they belonged there.
Once inside, they were met by Gene. They had texted en route, and he’d promised to be waiting.
As they approached, the man was amused.
“Couldn’t get the manchild into the building, huh?” he asked. “How bad would it be if I had two agents walk around the car suspiciously. I mean, that would be all kinds of crazy, locked in that car. I bet he’d bounce around like a fucking ping-pong ball inside.”
Maura laughed and hugged him.
“He’d lose it and kill them. Bad choice. You know how Zayn is. We were busting his ass and got him all riled up. Now, Rogue is trying to talk him down. You like Rogue. Don’t make him sit in that car with the armed ping-pong ball in question.”
Yeah, he did.
That was probably a very bad idea to go there—for Rogue’s sake. Jinx would kick his ass next time he was in NOLA.
“Where’s the boss?” Jagger asked.
He clued her in.
“She just went to the morgue to talk to Chris. Want to go there?” he asked.
The man nodded.
“Yeah, and we have some gear for her. We figured she couldn’t get out to buy some shit. You need anything?” he asked.
He shook his head.
“No, the security guys gave me duds. Don’t I look nice?” he asked, amused.
Unlike Zayn, Gene would stand in the middle of the FBI building looking like a mercenary, or a Fed going out on some SWAT mission.
His give a fucks had clearly run out.
When Maura said nothing, instead of humoring him, that made Gene laugh.
“You’d do me dirty like that?” he asked.
She was to the point.
“You ran away for love. That hurt,” she teased, as they headed further into the building.
Gene just snorted.
“He’s sexy. I’m weak. You guys know how it goes. Look at you two lovebirds.”
That was the truth.
What wouldn’t she do for love? Hell! Half of the time, she was ready to run from NOLA just to have some downtime with the family. She’d follow Jagger anywhere.
“So why wouldn’t he come in? What were you busting his ass with this time? MATE?” Gene asked as they walked over the FBI emblem toward the elevators.
His watch chortled, clearly proving that MATE was listening into the conversation.
She pointed at the wall.
“He’s afraid he’s on the most wanted list,” she said, noticing he wasn’t on there, much to his beliefs.
None of them were.
That proved they’d been right.
Family didn’t do you dirty.
“He’s insane if he thinks Elizabeth would do that. Now, ME…I would,” he said, tapping his smart watch, MATE’S voice came over it. He was out of his vest, so she only had access that way.
“Yes, Daddy?” MATE asked.
Immediately, he rolled his eyes. That was a battle for another time and another place. Gene didn’t have the energy to keep telling their AI that he was not her ‘daddy’.
Chris had that honor.
“I need a favor. I need you to take a picture of the wall with all the most wanted on it, superimpose Zayn’s face over half of the pictures, and send it to him from Maura’s phone.”
There was chortling.
And Maura even laughed.
“He’s going to be twitchier than a virgin at the prom,” she said. “I like it. Forget the Feds circling the car. That’s some funny shit,” she said, giving Gene a fist bump.
Damn.
They missed him on their team. His mental illness was being wasted on the FBI.
Yeah, him too.
Jagger was amused also.
“On it, Daddy.”
As the elevator door closed, they busted his ass too because that’s what you did.
“Daddy, huh? I see that Ethan isn’t the only one calling you that,” Jagger stated, getting his giggle on.
Truthfully, Gene didn’t argue with MATE anymore. It was counterproductive.
The system was batshit insane.
“She likes to irritate me and watch when people have sex. It’s weird, but our world. As for my sexy Native love muffin, he’s the ONLY one I want calling me that.”
Only, Jagger was focused on the one part.
He glanced over at Maura.
“Uh, do you think she watches us?” he asked. “Really? Because I never even considered that.”
His vest chortled, and it sounded like some creepy haunted house voice.
“Shut up, MATE,” Jagger stated. “I’m not Zayn,” he admitted.
The system went there.
Sometimes, it was just too easy. It was clear that AI was far smarter than the flesh bags it helped.
“Your blood pressure and pulse rate say differently. Mikey,” she said, teasing him. “I’ll clap next time your Doll is doing her thing.”
That was all he had to hear.
He gasped.
And Maura laughed.
“I mean, she’s gotta learn for when she gets a body and tries to reproduce,” she teased. “Plus, I am spectacular when I’m at Mikey O’s mercy.”
Oh, Jesus.
Yeah, pass on that visual. As for the rest, that was no one’s business but his and the Doll’s.
Because he’d warned them, Gene was to the point as they got out of the elevator.
“And that’s why I don’t screw around with MATE. We all taught her bad habits. It’s on us.”
Yes, yes, it was.
Now that they’d had their fun teasing Zayn, and each other, Gene needed to get serious.
They had work to do.
“How did the search go?” Gene asked as they headed toward the morgue.
Jagger clued him in.
“We narrowed it down to the two people. One specializes in bombs, and one is a chemical expert. They are the ONLY ones in this area. That’s who we want to start with for this one.”
Gene fist bumped them.
“Is it them? Do we have confirmation?” he asked. “Because when I say we want all loose ends covered, we want all lose ends covered.”
Maura took that one.
“No, but like he just said, they are the only likely ones. The bomb, and I know because we had MATE share the forensics, matches a switch that Jace Reyaund favors. It’s got to be him.”
Gene trusted them.
“And the other?” he asked.
Maura shared that too.
“We found an ex-US scientist who went off the grid about ten years ago who worked for the government. She created poisons for war. Her specialty was altering Aconite.”
Yeah, that would likely be her, too.
“Good work.”
“So, we have everything we need, but a way to get to Devon Slater. We’ll have to see what we can find.”
That they would.
Before they could access the morgue, Zayn’s voice came over the com, and they all heard him through Maura’s vest.
“You’re a bunch of fuckers!” he shouted. “That wall better be fake, or I’m taking goddamn hostages! Starting with Gene! This smells like his bullshit! I have NOT missed it!” he said, seeing the FBI most wanted wall.
Gene actually laughed.
“Oh, well, maybe that was too obvious,” he joked. “It should have been only one photo and not multiple ones,” he stated. “That was too far and got me busted.”
Jagger just muted his com as Zayn was losing his shit.
No one needed to hear that.
NO.
ONE.
“He’ll get over it,” Maura said. “Rogue won’t. You’ve trapped him in that car with the crazy.”
He snorted.
“Yeah, I’ll apologize later.”
At the morgue door, Gene placed his palm on it, and they were given access. Once inside, Jagger saw his other favorite lady.
His sister.
“JAX!”
The second she heard her brother’s voice, and saw him, she headed his way, running at him. When he caught her, he spun her around holding her.
“JAGGER!” she said. “I’m so glad to see you!” she said, as he put her back down on the ground.
Well, the feeling was mutual.
“I like seeing my baby sister. I missed you, Kiddo,” he said, smiling at her.