Page 55 of Soul

“Look, Kat, I know Carson feels deeply for you.” She lets out a puff of air between her dry lips. “He does or he wouldn’t have been here this whole time. As it is, the only reason he’s gone is because I forced him to leave, to take a shower, and get some sleep so he could be fresh and ready to keep vigil over you. He’s not left your side since you were brought in from the fire. If that’s not love, I don’t what is.”

Kat purses her lips and closes her eyes. “Maybe. I guess time will tell.” Her response is vague and delivered with absolutely no feeling. I have to just chalk it up to her being in a very emotional, vulnerable position right now and let it go. My job is to be here for her. That’s all I can do. That’s all any of us can do.

Chase

Everything is in place. Dana called and said the food is being set up at Coit Tower for my date night with Gillian. Pin prickles of anticipation mingle with tension while I peek into the room where my wife is holding hands with Kathleen. They are both talking so low I can’t hear the words, but it’s definitely a serious conversation. Slowly, I back away, pull up my phone and text my woman.

To: Wife

From: Chase Davis

I’m going to be later than planned. Have Jack take you to Davis Estate after hospital. I love you. Kiss our babies.

That should do it. If something happens to me and this shit goes down badly, Gillian and our children will have that message. She’ll always know that I love her and our children. If she knew what I was about to do she’d lose her mind. As it is, I’m losing my mind worrying about her and the two children within her.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. This is our fucking Hail Mary. If it doesn’t work, I fear this will never end. I won’t be able to protect my wife or our children. We’ll constantly be under watch, waiting for the next strike. Neither of us can live like that. It’s wearing Gillian so thin, and after everything she’s been through, Justin, losing her mother, her friends getting hurt, watching my mother die, being kidnapped and beaten…no, no more. I cannot stand by and wait for him to get his hands on her again. I’ll die protecting her, and my only regret will be never having seen my children’s faces. It’s a risk I have to take.

The undercover cop is already in the blacked out SUV when I arrive. The sun is just setting on the horizon darkening the sky. Agent Brennen was to have the team in place as of early this morning. We don’t want to take any risks that they’ll be clocked by McBride when he arrives. A couple are in the old heating and air ducts, another set on the buildings pretty far away, but the FBI assures us they’re the best. And, of course, Agent Brennen is close; where, I don’t know. Detective Redding is inside the top of the tower secured in a cutout in one of the stone pillars. Fully loaded weapon ready to go.

Once I get into the car, I pull off my shirt and put the Kevlar vest on.

“You think he’s going to fall for me?” The pretty red-head says. She looks nothing like Gillian normally, but she has very pale skin, is the same height and build aside from my girls vivacious curves. When I met Detective White, I looked at her small tits and thought the first thing McBride would notice were the lack of Gillian’s sizable attributes. Now though, staring her up and down, she could easily be Gillian from a distance. She must be wearing a heavily padded bra. The wig she’s sporting is almost frightening in similarity to Gillian’s incredible locks, completely covering this woman’s normal brunette hair.

I nod while buttoning up my shirt. Her normally blue eyes have green contacts in them that do not hide the fact that she’s checking me out. Well, at least the faking him out part will be easy. “You like what you see?” I grin, falling back on my old pre-wife flirting habits before mentally chastising myself for the poor behavior. If my wife finds out I am here with this woman, about to touch and kiss her, she’d tweeze the hair from around my cock one painful tug at a time.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Davis. That was incredibly unprofessional.”

I shake my head and push my arms back through my suit coat. “No matter. We’re here to do a job. It helps that you’re not put off by me. If this is going to work, draw McBride out, he can’t think it’s a setup. We need to carry on as if you’re my wife at a romantic dinner.” I smile and she takes a deep breath. I grab her hand and hold it. She instantly startles. “See, you can’t push away from me. He’ll be watching. God willing.”

Her jaw is tight when she nods, but then after a moment of holding hands she softens and relaxes. I look down at my phone and check one last time to see if Gillian has texted. She hasn’t. And the screen does not show that she’s seen my message yet. Good. That just means I have more time before she suspects something is up. To make sure I’m not swayed or distracted, I power off my phone, taking one last look at her smiling face. Then I pull the picture out of my coat pocket and scan the two hazy white figures.

“What’s that?” the nosey detective asks leaning close to me. I want to snatch it from her view and hide it away, but I can’t. This may be the last time I ever see them again.

Gritting my teeth I show her the image. She looks at it and smiles wide. “Twins?” she gasps. How the fuck do women know that right off the bat? It’s two blurry blobs for crying out loud. These things must be in some type of health class when a girl is growing up. One that the boys aren’t privy to. She looks at the photo. “Your wife?”

I nod but put the picture safely back in my breast pocket right over my heart.

“I am a twin,” she shrugs. Fraternal like yours.” Again, she knows they are fraternal just by looking at the picture. “My sister and I are really close. Look nothing a like, but shared a room growing up, then through college, and now we live next door to one another. She’s married with a kid, no twins though. They say it can skip a generation. Any twins in your family?” she asks.

The last thing I want to talk about are my twins, but I also don’t want to put her off. I need her to play along. The future of my twins and my wife hangs in the balance. “Not that I know of.”

“Huh, well, possibly your wife’s?”

I shrug. “I wouldn’t know, but you’re a wealth of information. Thank you,” I offer. The detective smiles brightly, then remains quiet, thank God, for the rest of the journey to Coit Tower.

When we arrive, I have her place a pair of Gillian’s glasses on her face. Our guard in front of us hands us two cordless ear mics. She puts one in, and I follow her lead.

“Mr. Davis, can you hear me?” Agent Brennen’s voice comes through the tiny flesh-colored mic crystal clear.

“I do. Can you hear me?” I ask.

“Roger that. We have not seen the suspect, but that doesn’t mean he won’t show or isn’t already here. Stay sharp. It will be expected to have your bodyguard lead you through the building and then leave you alone. He’ll be waiting for that. Detective White, you good?”

“Dandy,” she says.

“Got your Kevlar and your piece on?”

“Yes, sir.” She lifts her skirt and shows me the gun tucked into a holster at her thigh. It does give me relief aside from the fact that she flashed her lace panties too. That I didnotneed to see.

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