Page 73 of Heathen

"What concerned us the most about Morgan Spence is it looks like there might've been plans to have her added to their roster, but I don't see that happening while they're all scrambling to cover their tracks," Kincaid says. "From what we can tell, no one from the organization has made contact with her yet, so she should be okay right now. Twisted, if you could keep an eye on that situation?"

"You got it, Prez," the man offers.

"I figure it's best if Kaylee doesn't know about the suspected danger," Kincaid continues. "I'm not trying to hide anything from her, but I can't imagine the guilt she might feel for putting her friend on some sick fuck's radar."

"She won't hear it from me," I assure him, taking the quick dip of his head as gratitude.

Kincaid is big on protecting women, and sometimes that means protecting them from feeling bad about how their decisions can cause a domino effect and cause problems in other people's lives.

I know she already feels guilty for just the verbal threats she got from Dima about Morgan. I wouldn't want her to internalize the fact that she put her friend right in their path.

"We're keeping an eye on Dima, Edmon, and several of the other guys that were taken into custody today. Rooster has eyes on all of them, so we'll let you all know if we need to mobilize and catch them doing something worse than what put them behind bars today. I suspect they'll be scrambling to get out of town more than anything," Kincaid says. "Heathen, I want to give you a little praise for discovering this organization so soon aftergetting to town. It's exactly what we're looking for with this new group."

A round of applause goes through the room, and it makes me feel completely ridiculous. What no one else is saying is that I've made life-altering decisions where Kaylee is concerned, and this isn't just easily wrapped up with signing off on a debriefing.

"Enough," I mutter after several pats to the back.

A round of chuckles echoes around the room, making my cheeks heat with a tinge of embarrassment.

"Tkachenko's organization is one of a thousand in Clark County and the surrounding areas alone, we're guessing," Kincaid says after the guys in the conference room calm down. "But it's a good start. Stay safe and stay vigilant. Good job today, guys."

The screen goes black as Kincaid disconnects the video chat, and the other guys begin shifting in their seats and getting up to leave.

"Wanna join us for a beer to celebrate?" Twisted asks as he claps me on the back on his way out of the room.

"Maybe," I tell him, unable to commit to anything right now, when all I want to do is go upstairs and beg Kaylee not to leave me. "I'll find you in a little while."

I wait for everyone to clear the room, grateful that Rooster must notice me hovering and stays rather than heading to the kitchen with everyone else.

"What didn't Kincaid say?" I ask.

"What do you mean?"

"They found more stuff to pin Dima to the wall. What kind of stuff?"

"The usual," Rooster says with a shrug. "Guns, drugs, and more aggressive levels of trafficking, but the majority of that isn't even local connections. You know how it goes."

"But I'm supposed to think that Kaylee is fine?"

"Kaylee is less than a blip onTkachenko's radar, Heathen," he assures me. "The precautions Kincaid wants to be taken with her friend is just protocol and will more likely than not amount to nothing."

"I'm supposed to trustmore likely than not?"

"How you handle your personal situation is up to you. But you don't have to stay in a situation you didn't expect when you came to Vegas because you're fearful that Kaylee is still in danger. There's too much else going on for anyone to concern themselves with her.More likely than not," he repeats, "Dima and Edmon are going to try and find out who has been pilfering the information that led to the raid on his house."

From the outside looking in, I can see why no one is really concerned for Kaylee's safety. Statistically, she should be fine, so long as she keeps her nose clean and doesn't go sniffing around any more criminal enterprises. I don't think after all of this that she'll even speak up if she sees something happen right in front of her, much less go looking for trouble.

Knowing all that doesn't make it any easier to walk up the stairs and tell her that it's time for her to go back to her own life.

Simply because I don't want her to leave.

However, it's selfish of me to keep her here under the guise of fear for her safety. I owe her a full explanation of what she's facing, and she's smart enough to know if the Cerberus leaders think she should be fine, then she should be, because they always err on the side of caution. It's how I know she'll be okay. If Kincaid thought for a second she was still in danger, he'd urge me to ask her to stay until he was certain.

Instead of going up the stairs and laying it all out, letting her make her own decision, I head to the kitchen and take the beer that's offered. There's always tomorrow to watch my wife walk out of the door and never look back.

Chapter 30

Kaylee

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