Page 24 of Dangerous Chaos

“Okay, maybe that too. When I find my people, I don’t let them go easily. I fight for them, and I do really love them. Probably more than they love me.” He snickered. “Acquired taste, remember?”

“I doubt that. You’re well loved and considered family by everyone at Watermark. Family isn’t just about blood and DNA. In fact, those just make you related. There’s so much more that goes into being family, and you are definitely more, Wit Meyer.”

“I suppose you’re right. In hindsight, everything I went through led me here. To my work as a justice seeker, as you put it, to the team, to you. I think I understand life in a way most couldn’t fathom, but it’s made me a better man, I can tell you that.”

“That’s a great perspective. You amaze me, Wit. Taking something so devastating and making it something incredible is more than most could do.” She reached for his hands. “You’ve always impressed me, and just when I think you can’t impress me anymore…you show me all of you. And it’s the most honorable, respectable, and lovable human I think I’ve ever known. I’m honored to know you and share this life with you. I’ll fight for you, Wit, until the end. I need you to know that, okay?”

He leaned in to kiss her forehead, and when he sat back, a lone tear ran down his cheek. “Girl, I’d move mountains for you, swim oceans, and fight giants. From the day I met you, I knew… I knew it would begin and end with you from that day forward.”

Emotion overcame her, and she shook her head and began to chuckle with embarrassment. “How did hiding out become so…this?”

“You asked a question, I answered most of it, and here we are,” he teased. “That’s just the beginning of Witman Chester Roosevelt Meyer. Chapter one, if you will.”

She chuckled at his lighthearted banter. “Did you even look for the family? The one who was going to adopt you? Seek them out? I don’t know what purpose it would serve all these years later, but it seems like they contributed a lot to who you are.”

“Nah. They certainly did help mold me into who I am—one hundred percent. I didn’t know what family was all about or understand what unconditional love was. They taught me that. The examples of integrity and character I had up to that point just didn’t exist. Man, I put them through the wringer in the beginning too. I thought the whole world was wicked. The only kindness I ever witnessed was the Hanks, and they were so temporary it seemed like a fluke,” Wit recalled. “I blamed my foster family for quite a while. It was a long time before I understood just how out of their control it was too, and by then, it felt too late. Like it was time to move on and leave the past right where I left it.”

“Do you ever think about them?”

“All the time. I had a choice, Aye. I could overcome my circumstance or become it. I chose to leave it all behind me, and that included them. I used the time with them as a road map to the future I wanted. I applied it and took all the bad shit and used that too.”

Ayelish seemed baffled by the admission. “How do you mean?”

“Safe Haven,” he said frankly. “That organization called to me. I knew both sides, the good and bad. I understood the victims, and I knew how to get them out. I guess my life training paid off. We rescued countless people from the grips of hell and gave them a chance at a normal life again, or as normal as life could be after the kinds of things the victims endured. We helped women and children out of abusive situations, went after human traffickers, saved children, ruined drug lords’ empires. It also led me to the Keepers… and you.”

Safe Haven is a volunteer-based network made up mostly of people impacted by domestic abuse or trafficking who want to help rescue victims. From truck drivers to motel owners, to farmers, to big city giants and everyone in between… it took all kinds to run this program. Completely off the books, it was free to those who needed help out of dire situations.

It took one case that overlapped with the Keepers for BK Security to see a need they could fill and step in to offer the resources needed to make Safe Haven more widespread and effective. That was how Wit came to be a Keeper. He was on a case that BK Security crossed paths with and was quickly recruited by the Keepers. Not only did he become a lead operative for BK Security but Wit also played a big role in the Safe Haven program along with fellow Safe Haven alumni and Keeper Coy Stone.

“I’ve worked a few Safe Haven cases,” Ayelish added. “They have some of the toughest circumstances, but they are the most rewarding when a case is successful. I heard how Coy became a part of the program, but I never heard how you wound up being a key piece of the puzzle.”

“My sister,” he answered. “The day I headed out of town, just sworn in, I saw her on my way to ship out. I was in a van with several other newly pledged soldiers, and as we crossed through an intersection… I saw her. I knew the street corner and what it was known for. I also recognized the men not far away, making sure the women were… working. I couldn’t do anything but call the police at the time, but I looked for her. She looked like Mama or what I remember of her. Strung out and meek, a shell of herself. I looked for her and tried finding her through Safe Haven. I guess that’s why I fight so hard for those we help and will always fight for them.”

“Did you…?”

Wit knew what she was about to ask and answered before she could finish. “No. I never found her. But because of her, I’ve helped a hell of a lot of people. It’s important work.”

“It is. Do you think that the bogus charge comes from Safe Haven? Maybe a trafficking ringleader you took down settling a score?” She continued. “We should have the team work that angle if they haven’t already been digging around there.”

“They won’t find the answers they’re looking for there,” Wit added.

“You never know. What if…?”

“Aye, it’s not coming from Safe Haven.”

Ever so persistent, she pushed her point further. “But your past… you said there might be something to go off of and—”

“I sure did.” He interrupted once more. “My foster family. The family who nearly adopted me but moved away. That’s the lead.”

“That’s your clue? An adoption that didn’t go through? Wit, that doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s probably time to bring in the team,” Wit warned. “My foster family… They were the vics. They were the Skrivers.”

12

Wit saton an oversized outdoor sofa under a cabana looking over the city he’d come to love. It was dark, and in an effort to avoid detection like Ayelish warned, he kept it that way. The only light was from the star-glazed sky and subtle light illuminating the steam rising from the heated pool on a quickly cooling night.

Ayelish approached him and tossed a burner phone she’d used off to the side and stood before him.

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