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“Then why not just give us a heads-up? Let us know we were walking Wit right into a setup?” Cane questioned. “Seems like that would be a lot easier and cleaner.”
“And fewer dead bodies,” Rip deadpanned. “Those agents weren’t prepared for Bozz to show up. Not a single one of them walked away from that. That’s some kamikaze bullshit – suicide, really.”
“They wouldn’t have fought back, if that were the case. And the snipers on the roof?” Coy stroked his chin, peppered with day-old scruff. “You don’t bring that kind of backup to sure death. You bring them to make sure you have the element of surprise and to guarantee you get the hell out of there.”
“Okay, new theory. Those guys said it was one of ours who ultimately grabbed Wit and took off with him. They would know our relationship with the Dozen changed, and they would be an appropriate ally in that kind of scenario. Maybe someone we have in the field under deep cover?” Cane proposed.
“Nah,” Killion reasoned. “I like where you’re going with that, and you’re on to something, but I don’t think it was one of ours who grabbed him. Besides, nobody is so dark under the radar that they would risk one of our own for a case. They would have come to us, even if it blew their cover.”
Cane nodded in agreement. “Okay, then if I’m on the right path, we just need to change out the players and stick with the theory.”
“We have someone out there with access and who wants to help us but not come to us when they have a solution?” Coy surmised. “They just send a… a cavalry with no real context or explanation?”
“Or they want us to piece it together. Maybe the Dozen were more than just a cavalry. Maybe there’s more to it,” Killion said. “What if they have as much to gain or lose as we do?”
“And what is that? We lost Wit. What did they lose?” Coy said, frustration lacing his words. “Make it make sense, man.”
“I can’t,” Killion admitted. “I fucking can’t. Circling back to the female operative on our roster being identified as the abductor doesn’t even make sense.”
“Agree. Bozz and Hen wouldn’t recognize the female agents we have buried deep in ops,” Cane added. “Most of our roster doesn’t know or recognize them. They’re deep cover for a reason.”
“Well, someone or something brought us and the Dozen to the same place, at the same time, with Wit as a target for murder, of all things,” Coy said. “We all have blood on our hands, it’s a part of the job, but Wit isn’t a killer. Not in the way they’re saying. Capital murder? That’s heavy shit, and shit he isn’t capable of.”
“Only a few states prosecute and charge capital murder. Most call it murder one and the like. That’s actually a clue. Maybe that will help me gain insight into Wit’s past.” Killion’s attention was back on his computer, and his fingers began marching across the keys, searching for answers that were proving difficult to unearth. “I can’t find anything on the guy. At all.”
“Right. None of us exist online or in any database anywhere,” Cane confirmed. “It’s protocol.”
“That’s true to the rest of the world, but I have access. I can find whatever I want on anyone. Those files I scrub live where only I can find them.” Killion paused. “Only, I don’t have anything on Wit.”
“You had to have vetted him pretty well when he joined the ranks here,” Coy said. “That’s how you connected me and Dillon.”
Coy referred to his sister, Dillon Stone, who was also a Keepers operative. When Coy worked a case with BK Security, years before, he and the organization he worked with at the time, Safe Haven, joined forces with BK Security to battle some of the worst kind of criminals who walked the earth: human trafficking, domestic abuse, and the like. Safe Haven was made up of helpers from all walks of life. Motel owners who sheltered victims, truck drivers who helped move them quickly to safety, and even enforcers and assassins who put down the worst of the abusers.
Coy and Wit had met there when they found the Keepers working the same case. They’d both survived traumas of their own and were equally high-trained operatives more lethal than any gun or knife you could bring to a fight. They were their own one-man army working for the right side of the law. Most of the time.
“Wit’s records were mainly from his enlistment days. Even those were slim reading because he ran off-the-books ops, and there simply wasn’t record anywhere of anything related,” Killion admitted. “I put him through because of his status and his level of clearance. It could be verified, even if I had limited access to everything else. We do it this way all the time. It’s just how it works in our line of business.”
“Well, anyone who says yeehaw and talks about soup as much as he does has to be a low-level threat and not exactly the criminal mastermind type,” Rip said, lightening the mood.
It was a known fact that Rip had a less than easy history with Wit. The guy just rubbed him wrong and not for any other reason than Rip was the big and silent type –– an absolute introvert –– and Wit was his total opposite. But even Rip was concerned at this point because, despite his rowdy ways, Wit was a good guy and an asset to the team. He was loyal to a fault and would take a bullet for every one of them –– and had several times.
“What about family?” Coy asked. “He talks about hisuncle cousinsandthird cousins twice removed from his great Aunt Sally’s sideall the time… Surely, there’s something there?”
“Nothing,” Killion said. “Not a thing.”
“But what about all thosemy mama saidmoments?” Ronan asked.
“His mama sounds like she was as much a talker as he is,” Ryker joked. “And sounds just as… over the top.”
“Let’s leave his mama out of it,” Coy said. “Neither are here to defend her.”
“And by defend, you mean make us soup and tell us about some ridiculous family escapade that you know can’t be true,” Cane teased, earning a laugh from the group. “Something about his aunt Pat and uncle Pat caught in the fountain in the town square?”
“Yeah, weren’t they cousins?” Rip asked. “Or some redneck, backwoods, hillbilly shit?”
“I’ve heard that story a hundred times and still can’t keep it straight.” Coy laughed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Wit’s somehow his own father, err… cousin.”
The group chuckled as they thought of their friend and colleague fondly. It was evident that this case wasn’t going to be easy and not because they had little to go on, but because he was a part of their team… family.
