Page 22 of With You

He barked a laugh through the phone. “Nope. But I can assure you that he’s no longer a threat or an asset to your investigation. He was just a low-level employee, easily replaceable, I’m sure.”

Sam started to tap her finger on her knee, a clear sign of agitation and I could tell she was losing her patience. “Listen, I have sympathy for your situation, I really do. I think your sister went through absolute hell and you did, too, in order to get her back. But there are others just like her—sisters, daughters and friends that aren’t so lucky to have a brother like you. If you aren’t going to give us anything that might help us do our job and bring them home, then I feel like this is a waste of not only your time but ours as well.”

Pride filled every inch of me. Sam was a boss and she wasn’t willing to take anyone’s shit. The phone was quiet except for the occasional background noise, alerting us that he hadn’t hung up yet.

Then after what felt like an eternity, “You’re right. I apologize for being an asshole. My sister told me about some of the girls that she’d met while she was held captive. She’d kick my ass if she knew I had the chance to help them and didn’t.”

A tired sigh came through the speaker, “When I finally found her, she was in Venezuela. She was—fuck, she was in bad shape,” a shaky inhale. “I’ve still got my files on the fuckers that had her, I’ll send them to your office. Do you have a secure server?”

“I do,” I answered. “I’ll give the information to Baz of where you can send everything, I give you my word it will be untraceable to your location.”

“Sure,” he said, sounding anything but. I doubted he’d ever trust us fully. “Baz, you have my permission to share anything you want with them. But be careful, all right?”

“I hear you,” Baz said in his deep voice.

‘Careful,’ because what Baz and his friend had done to save his sister was not legal in any sense of the word. And judging by his reaction when Sam brought up the boyfriend, I got the distinct impression that he was no longer a threat because he was no longer alive.

“I hope you find who you’re looking for.” There were two beeps and the call was over.

Sam’s brow was creased and her mouth turned downward as she stared at the phone. I wanted to touch her, even just to hold her hand and erase the worry etched on her face, but that would have to wait until we were alone again.

“I know it doesn’t seem like much,” Baz caught our attention. “But an offer like that, to send you all his own files, files that he knows could incriminate him in a dozen different crimes, is like finding buried treasure at the bottom of the ocean. Let me go get you what I have.”

Baz rose to his feet and limped down the hall, leaving us alone. I placed my hand on Sam’s knee and she turned her head away from where Baz had disappeared. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I just was hoping he’d let us talk to the sister. I get why he wouldn’t. If I had a sister who’d been through something like that, I’d probably lock her away from the world, too. But then the faces of all the women that are still missing start flipping through my mind like the world’s saddest PowerPoint and I wonder, what if she holds the key to saving them? To bringing the whole fucking operation down?”

“I’ll ask him,” Baz had returned while Sam was talking and was leaning against the doorjamb, a cardboard banker’s box gripped in his hands. “If you still have questions after you go through everything, I’ll ask him if we can talk to her.”

It was more than we had yesterday. And hopefully that box and the files to come would be just the break we needed.

10

SAM

“They had to have been Black Ops. These are military satellite photos; you don’t just get those off Google.”

I reached for one of the pictures in the stack that Roe was looking through. “I agree, looks official to me, definitely not civilian. You think they had someone who was still active doing recon for them?”

We were propped against the headboard of the bed in the hotel room. Pictures and documents from the box Baz had given us were spread out next to crumpled wrappers from our fast-food dinner. I picked up another photo. Two men, leaning against the outside wall of a house, smoking, oh and they both had AR-15s strapped to their arms.

Roe took a sip of his drink and pointed to the picture in my hand. “Yeah, I do. The satellite that took that one, I may have used a few dozen times myself.”

It was easy to forget that Roe wasn’t just a computer genius that ran background checks and perp traces for us back in the office. When we were active duty, the rest of us had been boots on the ground, but Roe was the eyes in the sky. I didn’t know specifics of the missions he’d been involved in, classified wasn’t a serious enough term for what he’d done. If he said Baz and his friend were Black Ops, then they probably were.

We’d checked in with Gray the minute we’d left Baz’s ranch. He wanted us to stay put for the few days it would take to get through all the information we’d been given. He also reminded us of the recruitment portion of our assignment and suggested that we try to convince Baz to come work the case with us back at the office. At least that was how we were to suggest it to him, Gray was hoping that Baz would make the move permanent.

A glance at the clock let me know that we’d been at this for hours. I tilted my neck right and left attempting to work out the cramps that had formed.

“My eyes are starting to cross; I think we need a break.” Roe grabbed the pictures out of my hands and scooped up the rest of the papers and put them on the table.

Then he walked back to the bed and pushed me forward, climbing behind my back. I was now sitting between his legs and he pulled on my shoulders so that my back was flat to his chest. He pulled the end of my braid free from the hair tie and then long fingers worked at unraveling the thick plait. When that was done, he began to massage my scalp.

“Oh, that feels amazing,” I moaned. Roe shifted his hips underneath me and I laughed, very aware of his cock hardening against me.

“What? I can’t help it, that’s the same sound you make when I’m inside of you.” The massage continued down my neck. I groaned as he found the exact spot to rub and his fingers jerked against my skin, making me smile.

I’d avoided any kind of attention from men most of my life. I’d never wanted it like I did from Roe. I liked the way he looked at me, wanted me and how he wasn’t embarrassed that my actions made him hard.

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