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“Right, but I plan on changing that. You know about me now, so there’s no reason to keep you in the dark about the Gemini Brothers. Are you in or out, Sis?” he asked.
She sighed, already knowing what her answer was going to be.
“I’m in,” she said, “but, only if I can have Joel on my team. I know that this doesn’t fall under local jurisdiction, but I trust him and don’t want anyone else watching my back.”
“I think that can be arranged,” Pete agreed.
“How much time will you need?” Joel asked.
“Three to four days,” Pete said. “Dante’s got a shipment of women coming in over the weekend. We need him to have a full house so that we can put him away for the rest of his life. The more women he has in cages, the longer his sentence will be.”
“Those poor women,” Trista breathed.
“Are you up for this, Sis?” Pete asked. That was a good question. Every time she raided a warehouse full of women, she felt sick. She was saving them, but would they be able to go back to their lives after what they had already endured? Most of the women had already been raped or beaten for not complying. Hell, sometimes they were beaten up for the sport of it. The men who took them and put them into cages didn’t care about how those women felt or who they were before they were taken. They might never be able to reintegrate back into their lives, and that thought made Trista sad, but it didn’t mean that she’d give up helping them.
“I’m up for it,” she said. “You don’t need to worry about me, Pete,” she assured.
“Good,” Pete said, “I’ll be in touch just as soon as the women are in place. In the meantime, you two should continue to lay low and don’t tell anyone about our meeting. As far as anyone else is concerned, I’m still a dead man.” Trista nodded, knowing that keeping this secret from her parents was going to be tough. Maybe not calling her mother and father for the next week might be the best plan. She wasn’t very good at keeping secrets from either of them, and Pete being alive was one doozy of a secret to have to keep.
“Got it,” she agreed. “Just don’t keep us waiting too long,” Trista ordered. “And Pete—be careful. I don’t want to have to bury you again.”
“I’ll try not to die again,” he teased, kissing her cheek. “It was good to see you, Sis,” he said, “and, it was good to meet you, Joel.”
“You too, man,” Joel said, “and for the record, I’m glad that you’re not dead.”
“Me too, man, me too,” Pete said. Trista walked him out to his truck and watched him drive off until she could no longer see his taillights in the distance.
“You okay?” Joel asked, wrapping his arms around her from behind.
“No, but I will be,” she whispered. “I just need some time to process that my brother is still alive.”
“Take all the time you need, honey,” Joel said. “I’m going to make us some dinner and then, how about we take a walk in the woods?” he asked. Trista loved that his property backed to woods that went on for miles behind his cabin. Their evening walks through the woods were her favorite time of day.
“I’d love that,” she agreed, “thank you for being here for me, Joel,” she said.
“Anytime, honey,” he agreed, “anytime.”
Joel
Joel worriedthat Trista’s brother showing back up from the dead might throw a kink in their plans—and it did. She had all but backed down from secretly working the case with him. He wanted to bring Dante down, but Pete was right, if they could just be patient and wait for the Gemini Brothers to “restock” they’d be able to put him away for life as well as bring down the whole organization. The only problem that Joel had with the plan was that he wasn’t a patient man.
Trista seemed to retreat into herself, not really coming out of their room much. Ever since she moved into his master bedroom, after their first night together, he had considered it to be “their room.” He just hoped that Trista was beginning to feel that way too because when this nightmare was over, he was going to ask her to move in with him.
Joel found Trista sitting in the kitchen, having a cup of coffee, and staring off into space. “You okay?” he asked. He could see the answer on her face—she wasn’t.
“Will he ever call?” she asked. It had been almost two months since Peter had turned up from the land of the dead, and he promised to call them as soon as he was ready to have them move in on Dante’s warehouse, but that was supposed to happen over a month ago.
Pete had stayed true to his word and got Trista back on the Gemini Brother’s case. She was told that she was being taken off the case because she was too close to it. Her boss, Henry, told her that he wanted to take her off of the Gemini case as soon as Pete died, but he gave her some time. What he failed to tell her was that he knew that Pete was alive the whole time. Her boss was in on the plan to keep Pete undercover in the Gemini Brothers, and he never told her. When Trista found that out, she was pissed, but she let it go when Henry promised to put her back on the case. She was in charge of the team that would go in when Pete gave the go-ahead.
The problem was that the last time that they heard from Pete was almost two weeks ago. Her brother was supposed to check in every three days, but it had been almost two weeks since he last checked in and Trista was worried. If he was being honest, he was worried about Pete too, but he kept that to himself.
“You just have to be patient,” he assured. “I’m sure that he’ll check in as soon as he can do so safely.”
“So, you believe he’s in danger then?” she asked.
“That’s not what I said, honey,” Joel said. “I just think that he’s been busy and doesn’t want to blow his cover.”
“Which is it?” Trista asked. “Is he too busy to call to tell us that he’s all right, or is he worried that calling us will blow his cover?” He had no idea, really. He was just trying to ease her mind, but Trista wasn’t looking for that. No, his girl was looking for a fight and he wasn’t about to give her one.
