Page 3 of Rising Storm

Snorting, Quincy looked out over the bay. “None of these people have had it easy, Gareth. And I get the feeling Helix was made to do more of the kinds of things that stain the soul. Whatever he’s looking for, he’s not sharing. And he’s not going through Lane and all the files they’ve managed to scan in electronically. That database Isaac is building is something else. Makes searching easy. Well, what we’ve managed to get included. It’s a slow process.”

Quincy was talking about their friend, who still lived in Oklahoma and worked remotely with them on the database. Isaac still worked for the police there, but they’d been trying to talk him into moving up to Maine with them.

Quincy nodded toward the beach. “There goes your boy now.”

He followed Quincy’s gaze to see that Helix had walked to the edge of the water. He must have gone out a different door to avoid them, which was standard behavior where he was concerned. Kept to himself for the most part, leaving to do re-steal jobs and sometimes returning for days before Gareth even knew he was back. Gareth watched the man standing on a boulder with the morning sunlight lightening his chestnut hair and he felt bad for his anger. He knew with everything in him that Helix had a rough life before, that he had things difficult to live with—things that sat on his shoulders like heavy weights. He sighed.

“I’ll try harder to get along with him,” he said softly. “But I’m still going to keep looking for a place in town. And a job.”

“You have a damn job. Salary not enough?”

“Fuck you, Quincy. You know it is, but I need to be doing something more. I'm restless.”

“So go with Helix and get the statuette. Get it back to your mentor and in the meantime, find some way to get along with Helix. We need you both to make this work. When you get back, I’ll put you on more runs. But first, this one. You’ll be gone a couple of weeks. The statuette is currently in an office building in, get this, Oklahoma City.”

His heart gave a hard pang. “So it never went far after all.”

“Sorry. But while you’re there, we want you guys to try and make contact with another thief. We’re pretty sure Bet is there since he contacted us. So, I’m sending you home.”

“With Helix fucking Rossington. Should be a blast.”

* * *

Helix closedhis eyes and drew in a deep breath of the salty, bay air, hoping its clean, fresh scent would wash away the cobwebs of another night spent going through paperwork. He knew Quincy and Gareth could see him from the deck, but he ignored them. None of the other people in this house knew why he was tearing himself up at night and he preferred it that way.

The only one of the bunch he trusted was Lane. And Shelli, really, though she got on his nerves. Not in the way Gareth Jones did, though. Holy fuck, that man made him crazy. He was a big, burly guy with short, black hair and a matching close beard which framed lips that shouldn't be on a man. They were so full and soft looking, they drove Helix nuts. He didn't even like the guy and he certainly didn't trust him, so his fantasizing about being underneath the man made little sense.

Helix had been a thief since the age of fifteen, so cops were the last people he'd ever give his trust to. He glanced up to the deck to find that dark gaze locked on him and he had to suppress a shiver. Gareth had jumped right in to help him, hadn’t even hesitated to doctor his wound. And he’d been so gentle. All Helix had been able to do was smell the big guy and wonder what he’d feel like against him. Gareth was so far from Helix's usual type, it was ridiculous. Yet, he was intrigued. Didn't make a damn lick of sense, but it was what it was.

Gulls cried from all around him. They nested in the rocks that surrounded the small, private beach off the edge of Nascent Bay. Helix had grown up in Maine, just south of this quiet little bay. He liked it here, though, and it didn’t even bother him that the house had once belonged to the man who’d ruined his life. He’d always lived in much worse, barely managing to get by on odd jobs.

He jumped down off the boulder and walked close to the edge of the water. Ignoring the bandage, he let the cool liquid wash over his bare feet. He wished it would wash away the constant worry that was like a living thing on his soul.

Sayer was out there in Oklahoma. He was almost sure he’d found him. And his brother was unaware that Hayrick Letsen was dead and he was free. Helix hadn't seen his brother in nine years. His memories of his brother were still strong because he’d kept going on them all this time. Sayer had been twelve when he’d last seen him, a precocious kid who was always getting him into trouble. Sayer had driven him nuts back then, but he’d loved him with everything he had and still did.

Memories of his brother brought up memories of his parents and the stab of pain was intense. He’d never stop missing the people Hayrick had killed.

Helix glanced up at the deck again and wished, not for the first time, that the two men sitting there weren't cops. They made all this so much more difficult.

Hayrick had held Sayer over Helix's head those entire nine years and the last year had been especially hard since the man had told him that if he hadn't done what Hayrick wanted, Sayer could end up in prison for life.

For killing a cop.

Chapter 2

Helix was hit with a wave of humidity when he walked out of the Oklahoma City airport. Instantly, his shirt stuck to his body and it was like he was inhaling the searing, wet heat into his lungs, like he could drown in the sludge replacing his air. It was often humid in Maine, but not with this kind of heat.

“How did you stand this for so many years?” he asked Gareth as he tugged on his T-shirt.

“This is more humid than usual, so it must have rained,” Gareth answered, pulling at the neck of his own shirt. “We usually have a dry heat that’s pretty damn difficult to handle on its own, but you get used to it. The humidity makes it worse.”

Helix was happy to hear it wasn’t always like this.

“It’s going to be rougher on you than it will be me,” Gareth continued. “But I’m having Liam pick us up, so he’ll be in a nice air-conditioned car.” He pointed to a red Jeep parked in the pickup lane. “There he is now.”

The grin that stretched his lips surprised Helix because of Gareth’s obvious delight, and he watched as Gareth’s friend, Liam, got out of the car to hug his friend. The hug went on a long time—long enough for him to start wondering if they were more than friends. Liam wasn’t as tall as Gareth and he had light brown curls in a short cut, his body long and lean. He wore loose jean shorts and a white T-shirt.

Gareth pulled back and clapped Liam on the shoulder. “Man, I’ve missed you. Thanks for coming. I got us a motel not too far from where you live.”

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