Watching You: KJ Elite Inc. (28 page)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           over at Mike and Candace who were hashing something out over a tall table in the corner.

“This doesn’t make sense – if they wanted to kill…” Candace was midsentence when Mike lightly touched her shoulder to stop her when he noticed his brother watching from across the room.

They all stopped what they were doing and stared at Tommy, trying to get a feel for his      sudden appearance.
“Hey Kane.” Candace greeted lightly.

“Where are we?” Tommy asked in return.

Mike stood up straight and set his pen down on the table before answering.

“Honestly?”

“Seriously?” Tommy retorted.

“We’ve got a few leads but keep hitting a wall. Whoever this is, is pretty damn good at bad.”

“If you’re gonna do wrong, do it right.” Peyton quipped.

“Well, they are and it’s not helping us in keeping Taylor safe.” Candace piped in.

Tommy looked at her and noticed how close she stood to Mike.

He was making a mental note to deal with that later.

“How on God’s green earth, did Hollywood figure out that this fucker is two stalkers and not one?” He yelled to his older brother.

“Care to repeat that?” Peyton asked, taken aback. He walked around the table and reached out for the folder Tommy held in his hands.

“Yeah, you heard me. He showed me what he had been looking on; the guy who went to business school and only wears designer shoes, has gotten farther on this case in a few nights’ time than anyone. Isn’t this our job? Quit the damn kissy kissy and computer games and fucking do work.”

“Is that what you’re doing over there?” Mike shot back, pointing in the general direction of the house.

“As a matter of fact, my job is to keep her safe and no one has hurt her yet.”

“That’s debatable.” Charlie hollered from his office.

“If you’ve got something to say…” Tommy turned and yelled back to him.

“Enough!” Mike commanded.

Everyone looked to him as he took the folder from Peyton.

“The events have two distinct characteristics, vibes if you will. This is definitely not one person.” Tommy said.

Noah sighed loudly from his space and scrubbed a hand down his face.

“Only Taylor could manage to wrangle two stalkers at the exact same time.”

“She didn’t ask for this.”

Now Tommy was really starting to get pissed. His brothers had never made him so angry in all their lives. How could a handful of people that were professionally, strategically and comprehensively trained, not catch on to all of this. His mind was in a tailspin and he gripped tight to his control to help him finish this little visit and get back to Taylor.

“What are the leads y’all are tracking right now?”

Mike held up on hand to signal slowing down and reminded Tommy, “We are working on more than one case, T.J. Yes, Taylor is family and she is catching priority, but we cannot just drop our other cases. Remember that.”

Without another word on it, they jumped right into it.

“The note that lead Jason to Taylor is sloppy like it was written in a hurry, but it’s a match for Taylor’s roommate’s handwriting according to a buddy of mine. We have been trying to get a hold of Jamie but after we verified her whereabouts, she suddenly fell off the grid and no one has seen or heard from her. That doesn’t look very good for the model.” Noah said.

“If there are two stalkers, the alibi that cleared Jamie wouldn’t rule her out.” Candace offered.

“I doubt it’s her, but keep looking. I think maybe y’all should call up to The Ward and check on our dear old friend: Leif Montgomery. Some of these messages have a more intimate feeling that almost seems all too familiar. It may be a bust, but this was the kind of shit he liked to do to her then and it didn’t really click until Matt pointed out the differences.” Tommy said.

“Wait… Leif? Like, the crazy half-sac from high school who couldn’t accept Taylor’s breakup?” Mike asked.

“That’s the one. Daddy has a lot of money but hardly a match for the Kane-Jameson name and Leif got sent away after he got a little too attached with Taylor.” Peyton said.

“It started just a little while after you left Mike. The dick weasel liked to climb through her window, sniff some personals, take a few memorables, call, text, email, and letters, sliced and diced his arms and chest and some other stuff. Creeped Taylor out enough that she asked me to take her to the Sheriff.”

“Yeah, she said he kept saying something like, ‘I’m protecting you so he can’t have you. He is too close to you and you don’t even notice it.’ We just figured he was talking about Tommy. He was always jealous of their relationship.” Noah added.

“No doubt, I’d be a little freaked out, too.” Candace said.

“Why did everyone play it down so much? The story y’all are telling now is a whole hell of a lot more serious than I was told all those years ago.” Mike asked, getting pissed.

“Like we were really gonna tell you while you were in the desert? No thanks, we liked you nice and undistracted. Plus, this is Devine; everyone knows it’s always been safe and despite their need to feed off of negative bullshit and spread the drama, no one was gonna make it seem like some teenager just made it a worse place for anyone.” Noah said.

“And we really didn’t need two idiots hauled down to the station for beating the rat bastard to within an inch of his life. Though, that was probably the only time I have ever seen the Sheriff look a man, let alone Tommy, dead in the eye and say, ‘Son I did not see a damn thing. Get your scrawny ass back home and check on that girl.’” Peyton laughed as he did his best impression of the good old Sheriff.

Tommy chuckled to himself as he remembered his dad hauling him out of the chair by the back of his jacket and making a run for the door before anyone changed their minds.

“Well, did he physically hurt her?” Candace asked.

“A few bruises but he had no idea what he was getting into when he laid his hands on her. Just kept saying he was saving her. Most of her bruises were from self-defense moves we all tried to teach her.” Tommy said.

“I like this woman more and more every time I hear a story about her.” She said, smiling at Tommy.

“She’s somethin’ alright.” Noah agreed.

“Alright, two stalkers.” Mike interrupted their trip down memory lane.

“Whoever they are, whatever their reasons are, one of them isn’t too keen on the other encroaching on what they think is their territory and is seemingly trying to help us catch them.” Peyton suggested, erasing their giant white board and grabbing a new marker.

“I think you’re on to something with that.” Candace agreed. The others nodded their heads in tandem.

“Unfortunately, even if it is Leif again, we still have an unknown and knowing exactly who these twisted shits are, isn’t all it takes to catch them.”

“But at least we have a starting point. Let’s get moving.” Mike tasked.                   

Tommy shifted away from Peyton, Noah, Mike, and Candace, who seemed to be eyeing him cautiously, and hunched down next to Luke who was now facing his set-up.

“I need you to look into something for me, when you get a chance.”

“Just say the word.” Luke said quietly.

“Complete work up on Matthew Carver. I want to know him like the back of my hand.” Tommy said as he scraped his thumb along his scruffy jawline.

“You mean like your palm?” He chuckled. “He’s next on my list, after Taylor’s roommate, Jamie.” 

“Keep me posted.”

“Hey brother, nice shirt.”

Tommy laughed without even looking.

His shirt was gun metal grey with union workers logo in the center reading, “LOCAL 1776 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IGU”; around the logo, it said:

ISIS GRAVEDIGGERS UNION
YOU KILL EM’ WE FILL EM’

The logo was written in white and orange with the combat flag on one sleeve and their company logo, GRUNT STYLE on the other.

If this company had stock, Tommy thought he ought to invest in it because they were only going up from here.

With a clap on Luke’s back, Tommy stood tall and headed for the door muttering a thanks and something about his brothers watching too many fashion shows. The hollowed out feeling Tommy always had whenever he was separated from Taylor was gnawing at his sanity and patience, making him tense from head to toe. More than normal.

* * *

Matt sat watching over Taylor from the far shadows of the room, keeping his word to Tommy. This woman who meant the world to him, who was the closest thing he had to family, was sleeping peacefully for what seemed like the first time in ages. The constant frown in her brow these days was hurting his heart.

While there was not one molecule of a romantic feeling in him for her, that didn’t matter because she was one in a million and when no one else would, she stood by his side. Even if she didn’t understand the depth of her support in his life. Taylor was his lucky charm that kept all of his demons at bay, where they couldn’t eat at him. If protecting her was how he went, so be it; he could be at peace if it meant trading his life for hers. That would be the greatest thing he did in all his life.

From the corner of his eye, as he shifted on his feet, Matt noticed a bright green speck of light glowing off in the distance. He knew he was hidden well enough that no one would see him, even if they were trained to look. Moving with a fluid dexterity that took years of his own training and practice, Matt held the walkie talkie that was linked directly to Tommy’s own handheld and spoke softly into it, so as not to stir Taylor.

“Possible sniper position approximately a half to three quarters of a mile southeast off safe house backdoor.”

A very short “Roger,” sounded back and just as quickly as it came, the light went out.

Matt prayed with all he had that whoever it was, was either friendly or the cut off was mere coincidence and not a breach in their security that tipped off one of the rats chasing Tay.

After a few minutes time, Matt figured Tommy would be marching through the door with a good few couple of questions for him. The jig would be up once Tommy got his answers from Noah, and Matt wouldn’t be upset when Tommy demanded that he leave immediately. Tommy had himself some ghosts and skeletons and other nasty shit in his closet but nothing compared to Matt.

No, Matt’s demons were far worse than Tommy’s and what was chasing Taylor in the here and now; the only one he could protect them from was himself. Matt had more fingers on one hand than people knew about his past and all he had done. Rumors and whispers in the wind was what Matt had been turned into and could never escape. He didn’t think so low of Noah or any Kane as to think they wouldn’t be able to break past all of the special walls built around the files on him; they would be kicking the door in to kick his ass right back out before any of his shit was riding onto their doorstep. And they would once those files were opened. Lots of very dangerous and powerful people were looking for that information.