AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Fifty-nine
Sloan held up his hand to Don. “Can it wait? We’re bushed.” He opened the door on Alia’s side and gently scooped Kean into his arms, the boy’s head lolling onto his chest. When Kean looked up for a split second and saw who held him, he wrapped his arms around Sloan’s neck, a sigh of contentment following as he drifted off once again.
Once in Sloan’s bedroom, Alia turned down the covers on his king-sized bed and Sloan slid the boy under them, only removing his flip-flops. He turned to her. “Leave this to me. You need to be with Kean right now in case he wakes up.”
She nodded, stepped in for a hug that he was more than happy to bestow, and kicking off her own sandals, she crawled in next to her boy. She gathered him into her arms and, with a happy sigh, her eyes closed.
Sloan stood, looking down at the two asleep in his bed. A mass of emotions churned in his body that could bring him to his knees.Alia and Kean.
How had he ever lived without them? Without the mess the boy left in his wake. Without the perfume she wore to sweeten his world. Without these two, he’d still be the empty shell of a man he used to be.
He swallowed the lump that had formed, blinked a few times and unclenched his hands. No one would ever take them from him again. A grin lit his face as he scrubbed at the beard forming.Face it, Booker. You like them way too much, both of them.Fighting off the powerful craving to slide in with them, he turned.
Stepping from the room, closing the door quietly, he went to the kitchen where Don had brewed the morning coffee. Grabbing a mug, he sat at the counter and saw the kitchen clock had struck seven.
Again, he scrubbed at the tiredness that hovered, waiting to descend, and wished with all his might that he could say good-bye to his old partner and head back into his bedroom to join his family. Instead he started the ball rolling.
“What’s up?”
The beginnings of a beard colored Don’s face darker than usual and his forehead wrinkled with worry lines.
“After Janna and Sam searched for the kitten, they stopped by to see if we’d found Kean, and if the animal had come back. It was once they got home that they realized that their relatives still hadn’t returned. So they waited for them.”
Sloan added, “It was pretty late by then, almost midnight.”
“I know.”
“Did the two return?”
“Yeah. A little while after that they showed up.”
“Did you get anything from the cameras? Any pictures of the passengers in the car or the plates?”
“Only Leah and Yasir got out of the car, no one else. I managed to focus on the license plate, but when I zoomed in, they’d covered it with mud or something. It was completely blurry so I couldn’t make out the numbers.”
“Man, we just can’t cut a break with this investigation, can we?”
“I’m thinking we might have one now. Sam was pretty disgusted when he came looking for you ten minutes ago.”
“Was he surprised to see you were still here?”
“I bullshitted that you didn’t know how long you’d be at the hospital with Roy, and in case you wanted me to babysit, I’d slept over.”
“Good. That’s good. Did he buy it?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t he? It’s not the first time I’ve bunked here.”
“Right, when you were too drunk to walk home.” Sloan teased. “How come he wanted to talk with me?”
“He wouldn’t go into any details other than he’s angry about his visitors. I’m thinking he remembers that you worked for the agency and he trusts you.”
“Hell. He knows you’re an agent too. Why didn’t he share with you?”
“I figure it’s because I still work for them, and he’s trying to protect Janna. Whereas, he knows you’re a private citizen now, one who understands the system. That’s my take, anyway.”
“Okay. Can you stay for the rest of the morning? I’ll call him over, but then I need to get a couple of hours sleep and go pick up Roy. He’ll be wondering why I wasn’t there all night. I’d planned on it and he knew that.”
“Sure. No problem. I’ll just borrow some cereal and get out of your way.”
