Page 7 of Avenging Kelly

My blood boiled, but I’d grown so accustomed to the sensation from the injections that I had learned to control it until it was necessary that I not. The adrenaline spike was about tenfold of what it used to be pre-Operation Jackpot, thanks to my treatments. At the moment, I needed to remain in control.

“Does anyone know who the baby’s father is?” I asked.

The previous night when I’d arrived at my mother’s house, it had been too late to do anything but look at Daisy in her crib. She was a beautiful baby girl who deserved to be loved and protected.

Unfortunately, the three of them were gone by the time I got up that morning, so we were yet to be formally introduced. I was looking forward to it.

Before I could get an answer about the father, another man came into the conference room and stepped over to me. “Sergeant Brown, I’m Duke Chambers.”

He extended his hand, and I shook it. “Kelly Brown.”

“Noble said you were here. I wanted to see how Mia was doing. I understand she had the baby,” Chambers said.

I couldn’t help but smile at getting to share the news. “Yeah, she did. A little girl. She named her Daisy,” I answered, feeling my heart squeeze in my chest at saying my niece’s name.

“Say, Duke, do you know who, uh… The father?” Smokey asked for my benefit.

Duke exhaled. “We believe it was the foster father, Phillippe Trudeau. He was stationed at Pendleton for a while as you know because you tracked him there. After you were picked up, he disappeared off the grid with his wife, Bess. He… I hate to be the one to tell you this, but he traded your sister to Richard Fleming, her pimp, to cover a debt for drugs.”

“So he was at Pendleton? I was told he wasn’t there… that they had no record of him,” I confirmed, knowing I would find the fucker and end him. That was where The Gambler and her secret safe house in Manhattan might come in handy.

The envelope The Gambler had given me offered all kinds of access to a killer’s dream. The idea of having to fuck her in a couple of months wasn’t anything I dwelled on. It wasn’t like I’d never fucked a woman before.

“Yeah, he was, but like I said, he’s disappeared. Casper has alerts set up on his identity so if Trudeau does anything—like use one of his credit cards, open a checking account, rent a house, or buy a car—we’ll get a notification so we can find him,” Smokey spoke up.

“Thank you. What can you tell me about Mathis’ death?” I asked.

Duke pointed to Shepard. “We were at one of Rafael’s restaurants for the Seven Fishes feast with the whole family and didn’t know it had happened right outside the restaurant. He’d been on the way to the party and was crossing the street when he was run down by a speeding car,” Shepard explained.

“Do you have any leads about the driver?” I asked as I glanced around the table.

St. Michael spoke up. “We have security footage of the accident from several sources along the various corridors leading to the restaurant. From that video, we’ve been able to compile a partial license plate for the car, but that’s all.”

I stood. “I’ll need copies of everything. I have connections that will get me more information,” I barked out.

As I glanced at those in my company, I could see my comment immediately pissed them off. I needed to back pedal and show a little more gratitude.

“Oh, wait. It’s not that I don’t think you’re doing a good job. I just have…”

The door to the room opened at that moment and Gabe Torrente walked in, a somber look on his face. “Kelly, it’s good to see you. I have some news…”

3

LONDON

I gawked at Kelly Brown as my brain failed to form words because it was busy committing his handsome face to memory. I’d thought Mathis might have been in love with Kelly, but from everything Mathis had said to me, the soldier—former soldier—was straight. That didn’t make him any less attractive, though.

As I stared at Brown, I could see why it would be hard not to fall for a man like him, though my common sense reminded me that developing feelings for a straight guy was a fool’s endeavor. Kelly gave off an intense energy that I’d always been fascinated by, so I was sure any encounter with him—sexual or not—would be explosive.

When Gabby stepped into the conference room, I was relieved because Brown was getting demanding, and it sounded like he didn’t appreciate anything we’d tried to do for his family regarding Mia’s abduction. That pissed me off.

“Kelly, it’s good to see you. I have some news,” Gabby stated as he took a seat at the head of the table. I was also interested in what he had to say.

“Good to see you, too, Gabe. I hope you have something I can use to find these people who took my sister,” Kelly stated, his quasi-friendly demeanor having fled the scene completely.

“I want you to know that we’ve been diligently following the targets we believe are responsible for your sister’s abduction. Mathis dogged Mia’s former social worker, reporting her to her supervisor for not doing her due diligence before placing Mia with the Trudeaus. The supervisor is looking into the chain of possession from the time Mia was rescued in Mexico by the CIA, to when she was dropped off at the hospital in…”

“Whoa! Hold up. What the fuck does that mean?” Kelly snapped, his hands tensing into fists as he took in what Gabe said.

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