Full Domain (Nice Guys 3)

“I’m sure it is, but Connors is all over that. Our job’s done.” Kreed lifted his hand for a high five, and Aaron smiled a little, giving his hand a soft slap, before running his fingers through his hair.

“We really did it.”

“Yes, we did.” Kreed followed Aaron’s lead, running his fingers through Aaron’s hair while wrapping an arm around his waist, drawing him against his chest. Kreed kissed him thoroughly and swiftly. All the tension he’d held, the worry over keeping his church boy safe, faded. They’d done it.

Chapter 25

Both Mitch and Kreed stood side by side in front of the one-way mirrored window, watching as two of the bureau’s agents interrogated Pastor Helps. He answered every question asked of him with a tirade of hellfire and damnation Bible verses that Kreed wasn’t entirely sure were word for word from the scripture. He suspected Helps added and deleted as he needed to drive his point home.

“I just got word that Burns didn’t make it,” Brody said, coming inside the small room to stand next to Kreed.

“I didn’t see how he could,” Mitch said. Kreed silently agreed. The car chase had ended almost as quickly as it had begun, with a cement truck pulling out onto the parkway, clearly unable to anticipate the fleeing man’s high rate of speed. The deacon, with no way to avoid the impact, had lost control of his vehicle and slammed into the side of the truck. Even though the fire rescue team had arrived quickly, it took a solid hour to remove him from the wreckage, and he’d been barely alive at that point. “He’s pissed off,” Mitch added, cocking his head toward the pastor.

“Yeah, but his staff members are singing like canaries,” Brody replied, tucking his hands into his slacks pockets. The pastor sure was putting on such a show that it was kind of hard to turn away. To be so old, he was going strong. For many reasons, Kreed would hate to be at one of this guy’s sermons, because he could see hours spent waiting for him to finish on the pulpit. “We’ve got more than enough to file charges. They’re just trying to get information now about the satellite churches—how much they knew. He’s gonna be the one to have that information.”

“You think that vein in his forehead’s gonna explode?” Kreed asked, shoving his fingers into his jeans pocket, not able to tear his eyes away from the scene playing out in front of him.

“I’ve been watching it but decided only the good die young,” Mitch stated.

“Seriously, he looks like the crypt keeper. Did you notice that?” Kreed asked Mitch, knocking him in the arm with his elbow.

“More like the crypt keeper’s weird grandfather.” Mitch chuckled.

“You guys are too much,” Brody said, laughing a little.

“Has he cracked yet?” Skinner asked, coming inside the office. His arrival was the only thing that had all three men turning from the window.

“He’s close to a confession or blowing a vessel. It’s hard to know which one,” Kreed answered. Skinner shook each of their hands before patting Mitch then Kreed on the shoulder.

“Job well done. If you hadn’t stuck with this, we might not have ever known. Most certainly more men would have lost their lives,” Skinner said, taking a spot next to Brody, looking in on the pastor.

This case was Mitch’s baby. He deserved that credit, but he’d never take it. Kreed was certain his buddy just felt like it was all in a day’s work.

“Where’s Stuart? He needs some recognition in this,” Skinner asked.

“He’s still in Midlothian. I need to get back there,” Kreed said, thinking about the look in Aaron’s eyes just before he’d left.

“Montgomery invited you to stay at their house,” Knox said, and as anticipated, he never acknowledged the compliment Skinner had just given him. That was so fucking Knox. Kreed nodded, having turned back to continue staring inside the small interrogation room. He decided he’d probably take Jace up on that offer. The kid seemed to really like Jace and Colt. Aaron would probably feel better staying in Dallas with someone he knew than waiting alone in a hotel or even waiting in some stale room here at the station for when he might be needed.

“I really need to go check on Aaron,” Kreed finally said, forcing himself to turn away from the window once again.

“We need to talk to Stuart,” Skinner said, but he didn’t move. The director couldn’t seem to stop staring at the freak show playing out in the other room. Kreed understood. It was like watching really bad reality TV but knowing, for sure, this was completely real. No script could be this fucked up.

“I’ll bring him in, but give me a few hours,” Kreed said to Director Skinner, then turned his attention to Mitch. “Do I just call Jace?” He kept his eyes averted from the interrogation, not wanting to be drawn back in to the crazy, fucked up performance going on behind the glass divider.

“Yeah…or I will,” Mitch said, finally turning away. The guy followed Kreed out the door and walked with him down the hall. As they stepped out of the front doors of the office, Mitch walked all the way to the parking lot. In the silence they shared, Kreed could tell his partner was trying to get out from under the contact surveillance cameras surrounding the building. From this vantage point, they’d still be seen but not necessarily heard. Mitch swiftly pulled off the sunglasses hooked to his T-shirt collar and put them in place before he turned to Kreed, stopping him about ten feet from his rental car.

“Thank you for this,” Mitch said, holding open his arms and hands. Mitch was a little awkward in his movements, his brow furrowed. Aww, damn, his partner was emotional.

“You did this, man. I just helped out when you needed me.” Kreed swallowed the lump in his throat at Mitch’s sentiment. Nothing more was said. They stood there, staring at one another until Mitch drew Kreed in for a hug, and Kreed accepted it, wrapping his arms tightly around his partner. It felt so good to have those crazy people off the streets. There would always be more like them, but just knowing this cell was shut down made the moment a little more special. “I wanted you to have this finished so you wouldn’t always be looking over your shoulder. I know it killed you not being right in the middle of this after what they did to Cody.”