Hell & High Water (THIRDS 1)

“I know, it’s a tough case—”

“I’m not talking about the case,” Pearce said quietly, shifting in his seat. “I’m talking about your partner. There’s a lot you don’t know about him. The guy has secrets. Things he doesn’t want getting out in the open. Things the THIRDS don’t want getting out in the open.”

Dex sat up, wondering what could possibly have Pearce so worked up. “What are you talking about?”

“Have you read his file?”

“No.” Technically, Sloane had been in the right, checking out Dex’s file. He had every reason to know who his new partner was going to be, especially someone recruited from the outside. It stung a little, but Dex understood. Of course that didn’t mean he would go running out to do the same. “Anything I need to know, I’ll find out on my own.”

“You think he hasn’t read yours?”

Dex’s expression must have said it all because Pearce gave him a nod.

“He already has. Nice. Well, I’ve read his.”

“How?” There was no way the THIRDS would give the HPF access to their agents’ personnel files unless there was a damn good reason, and he was sure the information available would be limited once permission was granted. What reason could Pearce have possibly given to receive access to a THIRDS Team Leader file?

“I pulled in a favor.”

Must have been some favor. From what Dex had learned in his short time at the THIRDS, these guys covered their asses, and they were especially wary of the HPF. The relationship between the two organizations was strained at best. Whenever politics were involved, it didn’t come down to who could do the most good, but who could stomp their foot the loudest before storming off and taking their toys with them. “Okay. I don’t understand what’s going on here.” Ever since Dex had gotten recruited, Pearce had been warning him about Sloane. The whole thing was starting to unsettle him.

“There was always something off about him, and I had to know what it was. Especially since….” Pearce closed his eyes tight for a moment before seeming to compose himself.

“Since what?” What could possibly be so hard to say? “Pearce—”

“Since he was sleeping with my brother.”

Dex’s heart plummeted. “What?”

“Sloane Brodie and Gabe were sleeping together. A year before Gabe died, it had gotten pretty serious. They’d been together four years.”

Dex was so stunned, all he could do was sit there, attempting to process what he’d heard.

“You didn’t know? No, of course you didn’t. Did you really think he was running off all those other agents because his work partner had died? It would have been rough, but he would have pushed through. Brodie was out of commission for six months. The THIRDS made up some bullshit about him being on special assignment or some such nonsense like they always do when one of their agents is down for the count. They don’t like to admit those guys are as vulnerable as the rest of us.”

“Did they know?” Dex’s voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “The team, I mean. Did they know about Sloane and Gabe?”

Pearce shook his head. “It’s against the rules. At the first hint of anything more than bromance, one of them would have been reassigned. They gave Brodie that much time for a reason, and I wanted to know what that reason was, but when I got access to his file, I couldn’t find anything.”

“Wait, you didn’t find anything?” So what had Pearce gotten himself so worked up over?

“That’s the problem. When my brother was alive, I saw his file. He wasn’t supposed to show it to me, but when he got recruited, he was so excited that he took me on a tour of the place, including his office. What I saw was frightening. It had everything, from his height, to where our parents took us on vacation when we were kids. The thing was a complete map of his life from when he was born. Yet in Sloane’s file, the only information there is of his time with the THIRDS. There’s nothing about where he came from, who his parents were, and nothing pertaining to medical records. My brother had to pass a quarterly examination that included a physical. All the results were in his file. Why aren’t Sloane’s?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s different the higher up the food chain you get?” At the moment, Pearce seemed to know a lot more than Dex di

d, if what he was saying was true, though the guy had no reason to lie, especially since Dex could go back to HQ at any time and debunk his story. The desperate plea in Pearce’s eyes was hard to ignore. This was obviously important to him, the least Dex could do was hear him out. “You look like you have a theory. Theories can be dangerous.”

“I’m sure it has something to do with him being one of the first.”

Dex frowned. “First what?”

“Jesus, Dex.” Pearce scooted his chair closer and leaned in, his hazel eyes intense. “This guy is what’s keeping you from ending up like my brother, and you have no idea who he is or what he’s capable of.”

Actually, he did. Sloane Brodie was his partner and Team Leader, he was high-strung and emotionally unstable, but now Dex understood why. Sloane had been in love with Gabe Pearce. From the moment Dex had come crashing into Sloane’s life, the guy had been waging war with himself. He liked Dex, and his heart was giving him hell for it. He wasn’t supposed to like anyone who tried to take Gabe’s place. Were the roles reversed, Dex probably would have done the same. He sure wouldn’t have welcomed some jerk from an outside department with open arms, watching as the new guy waltzed in and took the place of someone he’d loved. Sure, it wasn’t the guy’s fault, but his heart wouldn’t care about that. He’d have been hurting and angry.

Dex’s thoughts went to the parking garage and the expression on Sloane’s face after what happened. Jesus, the guilt was probably eating the poor guy alive. Sloane was attracted to him and that probably made everything ten times worse. Sloane wasn’t on the rebound, he was still mourning. Damn it. Dex had fucked up. Badly.

“All I know is that the very first THIRDS agents recruited were First Generation Therians. Sloane Brodie is one of them. He was recruited when he was sixteen, trained, and worked part time for the THIRDS while attending college. It was all arranged by the THIRDS. But it’s like the guy appeared one day out of nowhere. I did some digging, and I can’t find any trace of him before then. The only way that could happen is if the government was covering it up.”