Page 51 of Red, White, and BearCat Blue

I held back a smile. “No, I won’t. What is it?”

He sighed. “I have some collector comic books, okay?” he blurted. “They’re the only thing of value I have.”

I’d seen them in the drawer under the coffee table when I’d been snooping around yesterday. I already knew he wasn’t the kind of guy who coveted expensive, material objects. If that were so, he would’ve kept one of the luxury vehicles he’d stolen and taken great pains to remove or change out the VIN number so it wouldn’t be traceable. His friend, Gary, at the garage, would’ve helped him with that. Allowing him to store the Maybach there, pretty much confirmed my suspicion that Gary wasn’t at all on the up and up. Hell, he probably ran a profitable chop shop, if I had to guess. Any other twenty-six-year-old guy would have a closet full of designer clothes and other things, but Cam was a simple guy. He wanted some comic books and recipes. I found it charming to say the least.

“I saw the comic books ya ‘id in the coffee table. We’ll send a couple guys on the team to grab those and whatever else ya need. Ya just ‘ave to make a list and they’ll do it.”

Cam frowned, shaking his head. “You saw the ones that aren’t worth much. The others are hidden away, Mars. Trust me, they’ll never find them.”

I looked at him skeptically. My brothers could find just about anything they set their mind to, given time. Maybe we could go back together…keep him safe. “Okay. Let’s wait until Candy gets ‘ere and then talk about it. Ya can’t go back there alone, especially now. Josiah’s guys might be waiting for ya.”

He nodded slowly, worrying his bottom lip. “Yeah, they probably heard about what happened at the university.” He frowned. “Shit!”

I hesitated for only a moment before reaching out and wrapping both arms around him. I pulled him close. He felt soft and pliant in my arms. It just felt right. “Don’t worry, Cam. We’ll figure this all out.”

I really hoped I was telling him the truth because anything other than that, could spell disaster.

Chapter Fourteen

CAM

I sat in a chair at the small table while Mom napped, scrolling on my phone as I looked at Mars every once in a while. He was seated in the desk chair, doing the same thing, surreptitiously checking on me under his lashes as he pretended to play a game on his phone. About an hour later, there was a quiet knock at the door, and I followed Mars’ progress as he answered it. He pulled his weapon, holding it down at his side as he put his eye to the peephole. He opened it a moment later, reholstering his gun. Mickey stood in the doorway, and Mars stepped aside to let him in.

Mickey nodded to me and glanced at the bed where my mom stirred, rolling over and sitting up. “Sorry to wake you, Mrs. Demarco,” he said.

She reached up, putting a hand to her cheek as she looked around. I went to sit at the side of the bed where she smiled at me, reaching for my hand. “Hello, Cam.”

I smiled back, relieved that she knew me, and leaned forward to peck her cheek. “Did you have a nice nap, Mom?”

“Yes, sweetheart.” She eyed Mickey and Mars, then pulled the sides of her sweater closed over her chest. “Please introduce me to your friends.”

They’d both met her at Shady Grove, so I gave them a knowing look before I turned back to her. “Mom, this is Mickey and Mars.”

Mickey smiled at her, stepping forward to offer his hand. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

When he stepped back, Mars did the same. “’Ello, ma’am. Nice to meet ya.”

“Who are you again?”

“These are FBI agents, Mom. They’re here to take us to Los Angeles.”

She glanced at me in surprise and I could see the questions flitting through her eyes. “Why are we going to Los Angeles?”

I looked helplessly at Mars, not knowing what to say. I didn’t want to remind her of what had happened since she quite obviously didn’t remember, but I didn’t want to lie either.

“Camden is ‘elping us with one of our FBI cases, Mrs. Demarco.” Mars exchanged a look with Mickey, doing that thing where they communicated without words for a few seconds.

“You’re helping with an FBI case, dear?” Her eyes searched mine.

“It’s nothing bad, Mom…just…ah…they’re trying to catch a guy stealing cars and they think I might know him.” I smiled to punctuate my words. I wasn’t going to get into that. I checked my watch, deciding to quickly change the subject. “You must be hungry, Mom. Let’s get some lunch.” I glanced at Mars. “That’d be okay, right?”

“Course,” he said. “Our boss is ‘ere, he texted before. ‘E’d like to see all of us downstairs in a conference room ‘e reserved. They’ll ‘ave lunch set up.”

I nodded and held out my hand to her. “Come on, Mom.” I stood and let her get up, busying my hands with folding the blanket as she went back into the bathroom to freshen up. “What does your boss want to talk about? He’s not going to say anything to her, right?” I gnawed on my lower lip.

“No, he just wants to let you know what he’s decided about how to move forward,” Mickey said.

“Okay.” I waited for my mom to finish up in the bathroom before taking my turn and then we left the room, flanked by Mickey and Mars. I felt safe with the two, armed agents around us. When we got downstairs, they took us over to the hotel’s business center. I was surprised by the sheer number of people waiting for us. Along with Mars’ teammates, Mom and I were formally introduced to the two women who’d protected her so well this morning. I made sandwiches for myself and my mom from the large buffet table which had been set up in a corner and settled her into a chair before sitting down beside her.