United Service (18 page)

Ben looked past Sterling over to where Kate lay on the bed, so Sterling closed the door to give her some privacy. In the past, he and Ben had sometimes shared women. But, Sterling wasn’t going to share Kate with anyone. He didn’t even want Ben to see her lying on the bed.

Ben smiled at Sterling. “I’ll get the coffee. I’ll be back in ten minutes to talk about Brooke and what our plans are. I know where she is.”

The door had not closed before Kate sighed. “He thinks we hooked up last night.”

“Yes, he does.” Sterling walked back to the bed, wishing he could ‘hook up’ with Kate, but he knew time was not on their side. He noticed her eyes were no longer their longing black. He liked them black.

He ran his hands through his hair. He knew what his body wanted. Hell, what it was craving. He shifted from one leg to another trying to give his erection more room in his shorts. He wanted to rejoin her on that bed and take her in ten different ways. But there wasn’t enough time. They needed to save Brooke.

Sterling took a deep cleansing breath. “As much as I want to explore our skin issues right now, and continue that wonderful kiss, you and I have to get ready to head out.”

When Kate agreed, Sterling reached into the pockets of his damp shorts and brought out a pair of wet gloves. “I always carry gloves with me.” Sterling sat down on the bed and reached for her hand. Once again they were numb and held in fists. “Tell me if I hurt you.”

“Trust me. I barely feel anything when I’m like this.”

He pierced one of the tiny rods into her left hand. As sensation came back to the limb, she moved her hand up to her mouth and licked the small drop of blood. The tiny pinprick sealed around the pin. After her right hand was pierced, she cleaned that hand as well.

“I can do the rest.”

“You sure?”

She wiggled her hands in the air. “I have opposable thumbs. I’ll be fine.”

“Ok. I am going to go back to my room and shower real quick.”

Kate seemed puzzled. “Your hair is wet. Didn’t you already shower?”

“No. I slept in the rain last night. Get ready and I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes. Ben should be back soon with our coffee.”

Walking back to his room, Sterling reminisced about that kiss. He had actually closed his eyes as he kissed her. He had never done that before. He wanted to finish that kiss. But right now, he needed a cold shower.

Aargh!
“Where are those drums coming from?”

Kekoa moaned in pain, as he lay in his bed. Sunlight already shined through the windows of the cabin, and he would have killed for another hour of sleep. All night long he heard those blasted drums. They wouldn’t stop and his head was pounding. He checked the clock on the wall and realized the boys would be late for first meal if he didn’t get them up. In fact, the guard should be unlocking the door any second now.

He noticed a couple of boys were already up. Kekoa felt dizzy, nearly light–headed as he stumbled getting off the bunk. As he walked over to Stephen’s bed, his stomach twisted in hunger pains and Kekoa froze as fear took hold of him. The beating drums were the boys’ heart beats.

He took a deep breath and looked for Brian. Kekoa pulled the boy aside, “Here,” he said handing the bracelet over with the help of his t–shirt so his fingers would not burn. “Put this back on quickly.”

Kekoa held his breath, trying not to smell Brian’s blood. The pain was instant as the silver band strapped to his wrist. “After inspection, remove the damn thing,” he quickly said as he took several quick steps away from Brian and his delicious–smelling blood.

Brian followed him. “Kekoa, your wrist is raw.”

Kekoa held his breath and did his best to ignore the drums. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll wear the band on the outside of my shirtsleeve until they need to see it,” Kekoa closed his eyes in pain. He was so hungry and his fangs were extended. He tasted blood in his mouth as his fangs cut through his gums for the first time.

The sound of the door being unlocked startled him. There was the usual knock, and then the guard yelling for them to get up.

Using his hand, he covered his mouth and nose. “The door. The handle is silver plated.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Brian reassured him.

Once the door was opened, Kekoa quickly walked through it, allowing Brian to gather the younger children. Kekoa licked his dry, parched lips. He wasn’t sure how he was going to make it through the day.

Sterling closed his hotel room door and took a long, deep breath before heading towards Kate’s room where he knew Kate and Ben waited for him. They needed to save the children. Duty called. He never thought too much of being a hero. All that mattered was that the people were safe, or they had closure. Of course, most days he had sat alone in an evidence room with a headache.

Traveling around with a lovely woman was a rarity. He sighed heavily as he leaned on the closed hotel room door. It was time to be superman to everyone and everything in this whole damn world.

He turned and hit the door soundly with his fist. Luckily, the wood did not split in two. He didn’t know what the hell was going on with Kate, between the two of them, or fuck, life in general now. He needed to put all personal issues aside and focus on those missing kids. But, all he wanted was Kate. He wanted her body. He needed her like he had never needed anything else in his life.

Their kiss still lingered on his lips when he heard his phone buzz. It was Daniel. Sterling took a deep breath before answering. “What?”

“
Your father asked me to watch over a few of your cases while you’re on the road. So, you could be a might nicer to me, mate.”

Sterling rolled his eyes. “Something come up?”

“
Rather, something went down. You were helping detectives with the Max Watson serial killer case.”

Immediately an image of Alicia popped into Sterling’s mind.

“
Max has confessed to nine murders, five of which took place in states favoring the death penalty. There will be no trial and his transfer to a death penalty state will happen this week.”

Justice was served. A smile crossed Sterling’s lips, but quickly vanished. “One of the victims was a minor. Alicia Reece. Did you contact her family?”

“
I contacted the LA police department and they are paying the family a visit as we speak. There’s nothing we can do, but, at least they’ll have closure.”

Sterling felt his teeth grind together. Death was too good for Max Watson for what he had done. Unfortunately, there were plenty more men like him in the world.

“
You were also scheduled to fly out with the President for a talk he’s giving in New Mexico. William will cover that for you, as well as your White House patrol route this week. Alex is double timing it to cover Ben’s work.”

“We’re not living it up,” Sterling belted into the phone. “Kids are being kidnapped and their parents killed.”

“
I wasn’t accusing you of being on holiday, mate. I just wanted to catch you up on the home front. You take your time and find the bastards. We can handle things here.”

Once again, Daniel was too nice for words. Sterling hung up the phone and remained at the door another moment before going back to Kate’s room. One sick bastard was being brought to justice; he and Ben needed to wrap this case up as well.

He quickly walked down the hallway to Kate’s room and found the door open, so he let himself in. Ben stood alone in the center of the room. “Where’s Kate,” Sterling asked.

“Bathroom.” Ben glanced over to Sterling. “Like I told Kate, I found the next victim. She’s only a few hours away.”

“Why do the Hands of God suspect her as a pre–trans?”

Ben’s eyes shifted away. Slightly under his breath he said, “She’s sort of related to Stephen Miller.”

Sterling spied two coffees on the dresser, and one still sitting in the cardboard container. He walked over and claimed the cup. “Related? How?”

Ben sheepishly answered. “The two are paired off for marriage after they transition.”

Sterling raised the cup to his lips and took a sip of the hot liquid. The brew tasted more bitter than normal. Of course they were in an arranged marriage. The two were teenagers, both probably from wealthy families … possibly paired off while still in diapers. Super easy.
Incredibly
convenient.

Hot coffee spilled from the cup as Sterling realized he was crushing it. He set the cup down and gave Ben a nod. “Let’s get going.” Turning towards the bathroom he shouted, “Kate.”

Ben held up his hands. “Wait a second. We need a plan.” He reached into his pocket and got out his phone.

“We’ll think of something in the car.”

Clicking on a few buttons, Ben handed over the phone to Sterling. “This is Brooke Smith.”

Sterling studied the image. The picture showed her in her volleyball outfit with her school colors blue and red. “Yes. That’s the girl I saw.” He now noticed that other than being a brunette, she didn’t look that much like Kate. No one was as beautiful as Kate.

“So I thought of the start of a plan to lure the kidnappers out.”

The two turned at the sound of the bathroom lock clicked and the door opened. Kate stepped out. Her hair was parted in the center and braided down both sides. The braids were tied off with blue and red ribbons, and a feather was laced into the left braid. Her t–shirt was red and she wore blue shorts.

Kate spun around and proudly said, “Ta da!”

The twirl wasn’t too graceful, but at least she didn’t fall into the television. When she stumbled and straightened herself out, Sterling realized she wasn’t wearing makeup. Her skin was paler, but still had a healthy glow. Her eyes were absolutely beautiful, even without the worn–out soft brown eyeliner and the greenish eye shadow he had noticed earlier that morning.

Sterling shook his head as he gazed once again at the ribbons in her hair. Kate wore her hair like Brooke had in her volleyball picture. Just then, his stomach twisted as he realized what Ben had in mind. “No,” he said, pointing at Kate. “She is not to be used as bait.”

Kate stopped smiling and glanced over to Ben. “I told you he’d be against the plan.”

“She can pass for Brooke,” Ben said. He then walked over to one of the two Walmart bags on the nightstand and took out a small school backpack. “With this she looks young enough,” he said, handing the backpack to Kate who gladly accepted the bag and tried it on.

She appeared too young to Sterling. He walked over to the bed and looked down at the Walmart bags. Obviously Ben had been out shopping this morning. Scanning through the second bag, he noticed a tube of hair coloring called a Washable, super glue, and some large, gaudy jewelry.

“My hair was too dark for the washable to work,” Kate said as she pointed to a faint pink stripe in her hair.

Sterling looked down at his watch. “How long was I gone? I only gathered my stuff and showered.” Sterling turned to look at Kate. “In ten minutes you rolled back the clock a good five years?”

“Thanks man,” Ben nodded proudly. He waved his hands towards Kate. “Not a bad transformation if I do say so myself.”

Sterling furrowed his brow and wanted to smack the smug expression off Ben’s face. “That wasn’t a compliment!” He then glanced over to Kate. This couldn’t have been the same passionate woman that, moments ago, was in bed with him. She looked like a child. “No,” Sterling said defiantly. “She is not going to be bait.”

“Sterling, the kidnapping is taking place in a few hours. The team can’t get here in time, and we can’t risk losing Brooke to those monsters,” Ben said. He pointed back to Kate, “She’s willing to go undercover.”

Sterling gritted his teeth and said in a low, even tone, “Serve and protect, Ben. We took oaths to serve and protect civilians. This is too risky. I won’t have her do it.”

Even without wearing any blush, Kate’s face reddened. “I can handle myself against humans, but Tiffany and those other kids can’t. This is the best solution.”

“How? How is you posing as this kid and getting yourself kidnapped the best solution?”

Ben tapped his phone. “We’ll track her phone. We will know exactly where she is at all times.”

“Her phone will be the first thing taken from her!” Sterling pointed repeatedly to his head. “Use your head, Ben!”

“Now look,” Ben said as he walked over to the plastic bag on the bed. “We can use a small transmitter and attach it to some jewelry. They won’t notice …”

“Jewelry can be removed,” Sterling noted.

Kate waved to get their attention. “I could put a transmitter in my bra.”

Ben’s eyebrow rose, and his head tilted as if considering the option.

“No.” Sterling said walking towards Kate. His expression softened when she looked at him. “These are trained killers, religious nuts … and maybe rapists. Your clothes might be one of the first things you lose once they get you in the back of a van.”

Kate stood quietly for a moment, then said, “Brooke would have less of an advantage against them. I could fight them off.”