Wanting (24 page)

Chapter 55

*****

Kevin parked his rental car
outside the FBI building. He’d wait until his daughter came out for
the day and he’d approach her. Out in the open. Where she wouldn’t
feel threatened. Where else would be the best place? Her home had
been vandalized and he didn’t want to appear as if he was stalking
her by talking to her at Smokey’s.

No. The open courtyard of
the FBI building would be the place.

If he had to wait all
day—and it was barely noon, according to the watch his younger
daughters had given him for Christmas last year—he would do just
that.

He was not leaving this
town until he’d spoken with his daughter.

She might tell him to go to
hell—and that would be her right—but he was going to do
it.

No more being
afraid.

Caroline was his daughter
and it was time she knew it.

Six hours later he finally
gave up. Realized what he was doing was ridiculous. She wasn’t
coming out of this building any time soon. Perhaps he should go in
and just ask to speak with her?

He climbed out of the car
before he thought it through.

He didn’t know what he’d
say to her and his heart rate sped up. It was now or
never.

He flashed his badge and
his license to carry at the alert security guard and allowed the
man to run the wand over him. When asked he answered truthfully.
“I’m here to see my daughter. She works in the PAVAD
division.”

“
Sign in here, time and
date, and who you’re here to see. Henry will escort you to her
floor. You can retrieve your weapon when you sign out.”

Kevin followed the younger
security guard to the bank of elevators.

“
PAVAD takes up the top
four floors, plus the lower level. Which team is the agent you’re
meeting on?”

“
I’m not really sure. She’s
never said.” Kevin lied easily though it left a sour taste in his
mouth.

“
Please sign in, and put
the name of the agent you are here to see in this box right here.”
The guard handed him another clipboard. Kevin understood the need
for added security. In this climate, all safety precautions were
necessary.

“
Thank you.”

Kevin waited impatiently
for the man to return. He studied the photographs and paintings
hanging in the small lobby outside the main bullpen area. Finally
the security guard returned. “Sir? I’ve arranged for you to speak
with someone in the CCU regarding Agent Sparks.”

Apprehension filled him.
What did the guard mean by that?

Five minutes later he was
ushered into the office of a man about his age. He had silver hair
and the coldest brown eyes Kevin had ever seen.

“
Detective Beck, I’m Ed
Dennis, Director of the PAVAD directorate. I understand you are
here to see Carrie Sparks?”

“
Yes. I’ve come all the way
from Houston to do just that.”

“
May I ask why?”

“
May I ask where she
is?”

Chapter 56

*****

The last place he wanted to
be was in a strip club, with cheap alcohol, cigarette smoke, and
the watching eyes of every Benito’s employee trained on him. Most
had accusing expressions on their faces. Why? Because even after
only three days, most of the club’s employees had an obvious soft
spot for Carrie?

That could potentially help
them, but it made his role in the operation a little more
difficult.

Kem, the club manager,
seemed especially put out by Sebastian’s presence in the club on a
night the ‘band’ wasn’t playing. Sebastian ordered his drink and
forced his attention toward the stage. Desperation shown in every
dancer’s face in Benito’s. It was where those that couldn’t dance
anywhere else ended up. Sad.

Kem slammed the beer down
on the counter in front of Sebastian.

“
What’s eating you?”
Sebastian asked, sipping at the beer. Cheap. Disgusting. Like the
entire club. “Cockroach up your ass?”

“
Where’s little missy
tonight? She know her man is here looking at skin?” Kem wiped the
bar with a towel, using exact, angry strokes. Sebastian was glad
the man wasn’t close enough to wrap that towel—or his big
hands—around Sebastian’s neck. He could easily sense the other man
wanted to do just that.

“
She’s good with what I
tell her to be good with.” Sebastian deliberately shrugged. “She
knows she doesn’t own me. Besides, I’m just looking. Not
touching.”

They couldn’t just limit
their time at Benito’s to the three nights a week the band
performed. The potential loss of information could hinder the
investigation. So he and Hernandez—an agent from his team—were
checking out the dancers. Supposedly. Sebastian was hoping for an
excuse to slide out to the back offices. Just for a
look.

“
She’s a good girl and
doesn’t need the likes of you screwing with her. Surprised her
daddy hasn’t done away with you yet, the way you look at
her.”

“
I look at her. She looks
back.”

“
And that’s all you
see.”

“
What do you mean by
that?”

“
Exactly what I said. She
looks at you like a girl who has her heart out for any rat to take
it. I’d hate to see her hurt. She reminds me of my own little girl.
You understand?”

Sebastian understood. He’d
been warned away from Carrie yet again.

Was he really that wrong
for her? Wrong enough that everyone who even slightly knew them saw
it, and felt the need to protect her from him?

He was getting really
damned tired of it. He’d be with Carrie if he wanted—and if she
wanted.

It wasn’t anyone else’s
damned business. “You don’t worry about her. Let me handle her
anyway I see fit.”

The glass in the other
man’s hand was slammed against the counter. Kem pointed at him.
“Just remember, white boy, I’m watching you. You hurt her, and I’ll
break you like nothing. Got me?”

“
I’d like to see you try.”
Sebastian stood up and tossed a few bills on the counter. He’d hit
the restroom, and then do a bit of snooping.

And then he’d head over to
the rental house that was serving as home base for their operation.
See Carrie for him—and maybe scrub some of the images of the
dancers from his mind.

***

He found nothing that would
help them, and that pissed him off. And the call he’d just received
from Ed Dennis made him worried, and even angrier, and had him
heading straight toward Carrie. He knocked on the rental door, that
irritation making his movements jerky.

Reynolds answered.
Sebastian snarled a greeting, following up with the question he
wanted the answer to. “Where’s Carrie?”

“
She’s upstairs in the room
she’s sharing with Alessandra. Why?”

“
Private business and none
of yours.”

Dan cursed at him as
Sebastian started up the stairs toward the two bedrooms he knew
were upstairs. “Dammit, Lorcan, you’re not undercover now! Leave
the girl alone!”

“
Can’t. I want her. Rather,
I need to talk to her.”

He knocked on the door, and
then waited impatiently until someone answered. It wasn’t the woman
he’d come to see, and he fought impatience. He wasn’t going to feel
better until he saw her with his own eyes. Irrational, maybe, but
that was how he felt. “Where’s Carrie?”

“
Relax handsome. She’s
showering.” Al had that expression that said she was laughing at
him. How often did she wear that exact look? The woman had a
strange sense of humor, and it was often directed at him. This time
Sebastian didn’t care. “Strippers get you hot to trot or
something?”

“
Not quite. I need
Carrie.”

“
I’m sure you do, big guy.
I’m sure you do.” Alessandra laughed again. “Tell you what, I’ll go
handle Dan. Give you and Carrie some time alone. Just one
thing—”

“
What?”

She pointed to the bed
closest to the window. “That’s Carrie’s bed. Leave mine alone, I
just made it.”

“
Go. Get.” He shut the
door behind his agent, and then knocked on the bathroom door.
“Carrie!”

***

She shut the water off just
as someone yelled her name. Carrie grabbed the towel and wrapped it
around herself quickly. Had something happened? What? They weren’t
scheduled to play the club this evening, and Hell had ordered them
to take it easy and relax for a while. The only thing going on with
the case right now was Hernandez and Sebastian were going to go
watch the strippers to see if anyone they’d not encountered before
was hanging around the club.

Sebastian. It was him
calling for her. What had happened?

She grabbed her robe and
slipped into it as fast as she could. Grabbing the door knob she
swung the door open and faced him. “What happened?”

“
Do you have a relative
named Kevin?”

“
No.” This definitely
wasn’t what she had been expecting. “Why?”

“
Because someone claiming
to be related to you showed up at PAVAD. Ed Dennis just
called.”

Carrie sank onto the foot
of her bed. “I don’t have any relatives. Just Paige.”

“
What happened to your
family, baby?”

Red hair, red blood, her
mother’s green dress, all flashed into Carrie’s head in an instant.
She whispered, not even realizing she’d spoken until his hands
landed on her arms. “Nothing good.”

“
Tell me.”

“
I was in my parents’
room, playing. Someone yelled. My dad, I think. I don’t remember.
My mother put me in the closet and told me to count to three
thousand and to stay quiet. Not to move.” She shivered, and then
began tapping her foot against the carpet. She’d counted, over and
over and over that day. “I was so scared I couldn’t do that.
Couldn’t count that high. So I counted one-two-three-four over and
over again. Until the social worker found me.”

“
What happened to your
parents?”

“
Their throats were cut,
Sebastian. I don’t know why and I never learned who. But they were
dead and I wasn’t. Because I’d done what my mother told me to do
and kept quiet. I’d always done what she told me, and she knew I
would again.” His hands wrapped around her and he pulled her up off
the bed. Carrie let him. The comfort helped. Why had she never been
comforted by someone like him before?

“
They never caught the
killers?” She felt his lips brush her ear and she shivered. He
smelled like beer and stale cigarette smoke. But she didn’t mind.
She could also smell him.

“
No. I don’t know. No one
ever told me. I was taken to Oklahoma after that. Put into foster
care.” And the next six years were dull and dark in her mind. She’d
not understood what had happened for the longest time, and it had
taken her quite a while to adjust to the new life she’d had. She’d
never made trouble for any of the foster families—and there had
been quite a few—but she had never connected with any of them.
Until Jeremy’s family. But that had ended badly, too. Would her
life have been so radically different if her mother and father
hadn’t died?

“
You were taken to
Oklahoma? Where were you living at the time?”

“
Texas. That doesn’t make
sense, does it? Why would they send me out of state?” Had she had
relatives in Oklahoma or something? Relatives that had decided they
didn’t want her? It was very unusual for a foster child to cross
state lines like that. Why had she?

“
I don’t know. But we will
have someone find out. I talked to Fin. Ana is taking a few weeks
off right now to get her blood pressure back under control. She’s
going to do a bit of digging, if you want her to find
out.”

“
I do. But who is this guy
who showed up at PAVAD? And what did he want?” And was he the one
responsible for destroying her loft? Why? What could he possibly
want from her?

“
Ed said the guy refused to
talk to anyone but you. Even him.”

“
No one refuses Ed
Dennis.”

“
I know.”

Chapter 57

*****

Carrie was exhausted after
only a week of playing the club. It was harder than she remembered
it being nine years ago, but back then she had been free to just
focus on the music. Now she had to juggle the demands of being in
the band with the relationship between her and Sebastian, studying
the patrons of the club and the other employees, and orchestrating
times for the two of them to sneak off for what she definitely
recognized as increasingly hotter make-out sessions.

She was starting to have
difficulty recognizing where the boundaries of their jobs were and
where the personal aspect of their relationship started. Was it
just for the sake of Benito, Jr.? Or was there something
more?

Benito, Jr. had been out of
town for the last three days and Carrie was beginning to worry that
they’d not be able to get a handle on him before Hell and Sebastian
had to call it, and try some other way. Five days wasn’t very long
for this type of operation, and she knew that. But despite
Sebastian’s managing to search nearly every office-like space in
the club, he’d found nothing that even hinted at human
trafficking.