Chapter Fifteen

Creed came back down the hallway and entered the garage.

“Beckett gave him a sedative.”

“Good,” Ace said, clamping a hand on his shoulder. “How you holding up?”

“I’ll be better once we get this son of a bitch.”

“I found the information on Durn. He appears good on paper, but I found an alert from the DOJ that he’s being investigated. He married Kellum’s mother’s sister. No children, he’s forty-five, and bisexual with a preference for men. As I suspected, he set his sights on Kellum years ago. That kind of obsession runs deep,” Jacob said.

“Percy Barnes.” Jordan picked up the baton. “Attended college with Kellum. That’s why Kell went there,” Jordan said through his teeth. “Betrayed by a friend.”

“You think Durn got to Percy?” Owen asked.

“Maybe?”

Bile clawed at Creed’s throat and he walked to the sink he’d installed behind the bar and spit before rinsing his mouth.

Parker’s phone rang and they all turned toward the former police chief.

“Hey Harvey,” Parker greeted the current Ventura chief of police and listened for several moments. “Okay, I’ll let them know.” Parker hung up and scrolled through his phone. “Percy Barnes’ body was found dismembered. Preliminary coroner’s report say he was tortured.” Parker held out his phone to Ace.

Ace gazed at the document Parker had pulled up showing the body and listing the amount of torture the guy had suffered before death.

“Are those blow torch marks?” Creed asked. He could see over Ace’s shoulder at the cell phone screen. Marks like that were hard to miss.

“That would be my guess,” Ace said.

“One less piece of scum to take care of,” Creed growled and cracked his knuckles. The pops rang loudly in the room.

“That’s true, but it looks like Durn had Percy tortured to find Kellum’s location,” Ace said.

“He’s a fucking stalker,” Jordan spat.

“With a lot of power and money,” Owen responded to the young man’s angry words.

“So the fuck what! Men with money and power need to be held accountable!” Jordan shouted.

Owen held up his hands. “I’m not saying they don’t, but we need to tread carefully.”

“There’s something else,” Jacob said, and all eyes turned to the techie. “I think Kellum’s mom died under suspicious circumstances.”

“What do you mean?”

“On her autopsy, it says she died from an aggressive cancer, but I can’t find where she saw any doctor for the disease prior to her death.”

“Did he kill her?” Jordan gaped at Jacob.

“Maybe,” Jacob said flatly. “To get her out of the way. I don’t know. We won’t know that unless we have her remains exhumed.”

“How quickly can we do that?” Creed drew in a deep breath, trying calm himself down, but it wasn’t helping much.

“We need Kellum’s permission,” Ace said quietly.

“No.” Jacob shook his head. “We would need Durn’s permission; he was the mother’s power of attorney and made all her decisions.”

Had Kellum’s mother given Durn power of attorney because Kellum had rarely been there? Not only Kellum’s job kept him away, but also the abuse from Durn had kept the young man away. Creed rubbed at the headache that started behind his eyes.

“And right now, the estate is locked up in endless litigation with Durn claiming all of the inheritance.” Jacob flipped the laptop around, showing a document, but Creed didn’t need to see it to know that it was the power of attorney, plus the documents where Durn had claimed he deserved all the money, leaving the boys dependent on him.

A cold shot of fear ran up his spine. “Who has custody of the boys?”

Jacob’s eyes went wide. “I don’t know,” the techie hissed and his fingers suddenly flew over the keys.

“He will never touch those boys. I’ll kill him first,” Creed snarled.

“It’s Kellum,” Jacob said hurriedly. “It’s in her will. It looks like a separate will that came out two weeks after her death.”

Creed staggered with relief and Ace wrapped an arm around his waist. Leaning over, he placed his hands on his thighs and drew in long, deep breaths. It took a few moments for his breathing to calm and when he glanced up, people were either staring at him or avoiding his eyes.

“Hang on,” Jacob murmured. “Durn contested the second will. A judge issued Durn temporary custody of the boys while the will is being investigated.”

“That motherfucker is dead,” Creed said so quietly that Ace gripped his shoulder.

Owen spoke up. “We need to plan an op and we need to be very crafty going about it.”

“I want all the major players. I want to know who the fuck Durn is working with. Start with that fucking judge,” Creed said.

“What about the senator?” Holden asked.

Holden lifted a duffle bag he hadn’t seen on the floor and placed it on the small workbench with a slight thud. That sound was familiar to Creed.

It was hardware.

They’d come armed for fucking war and if they needed more, there was an armory back at Pegasus headquarters.

Anyone who fucked with one of their own rarely lived to regret it.

At the sound of the bag, both Link and Eagle stood and approached before helping Holden set out the array of weapons and ammunition. Not just from the one bag, but a few others as well.

“And the senator,” Creed answered Holden.

Something that had been in Kellum’s face had him worried as all fuck that there were more players in this fucking game. Kellum found it difficult to share and Creed couldn’t blame him. He himself wouldn’t want to relive anything that fucker had done.

“When the councilman finds out that we’re investigating him and that Kellum isn’t alone any longer, shit will get ugly,” Ace interrupted his thoughts.

“Won’t he back down since Kellum isn’t an easy mark anymore?” Oliver asked this time.

“No, if Durn is as obsessed with Kellum as he sounds, he won’t give up. He’ll be more likely to commit murder and suicide,” Creed said grimly.

“Well, that ain’t happenin,’” Holden drawled, and every man in the room agreed with the tall, Colorado born Texas transplant cowboy.

“I want Durn’s location immediately. Stay alert out there and don’t trust anyone but the team,” Ace said.

“What about our families?” Eagle asked, slamming a clip into the Baretta nine- millimeter. It was larger than a Glock, but Eagle was a big man so it made sense that he carried one. The man’s shoulder length hair swung loose around his shoulders and Link stepped up to gently pull it from Eagle’s beard. Rather than make him uncomfortable, Eagle leaned in and stole a kiss from Link. No one seemed to notice but Creed, and he wondered if he and Kellum would ever reach that state in their relationship.

Well, technically, they didn’t have a relationship, so he was dreaming. Kellum may not ever want to be with someone after being abused. It mattered to Creed, but he’d endure and be whatever Kellum needed him to be. One thing at a time, though. He had to eliminate the earth of Durn and then he could give his attention to Kellum. If, and only if, the younger man let him get close.

“I’ll call the chief back,” Parker said. “I’ll have him put units on the families.”

“I’ve broken up the areas the councilman can be found by his work, home, gym, and clubs he frequents,” Jacob interjected. “Check your phones. I gave them to you in pairs.”

Which made sense to Creed, most of Pegasus already had partners. Creed typically partnered with Fisher, but since the guy had left them to work for Erebus, he’d been buddying up with Owen.

“Where’s mine?” Jordan asked, checking his phone and finding nothing.

“Beckett is staying here, so I paired you with Holden.”

“No.” Owen shook his head. “Send Creed with Holden, I’ll take Jordan with me.”

Jordan scowled at Owen. “What if I want to go with Holden?”

“Too bad,” Owen growled, stalking forward and taking Jordan by the wrist of one hand. No matter how hard Jordan pulled, he wasn’t getting out of the grip on his wrist. Owen shoved the younger man out the side door and slammed it shut.

“Uh oh,” Parker said with a chuckle.

Creed frowned. “What’s going on with those two?”

“Jordan is giving Owen a run for his money,” Beckett said.

That was exactly what Creed had thought about Kellum, but now he knew different. “Maybe it’s something else going on with Jordan that Owen doesn’t know about.”

Beckett frowned. “Maybe.” Beckett swung on Jacob. “Is something going on with Jordan?”

Jacob gave Beckett a flat look without speaking and Beckett nodded.

“Who’s staying to protect your house?” Holden asked Creed.

“We are,” Ace said with a hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “We’ll make this our temporary headquarters for this case, but we really should think of moving them to the bunker.

Creed nodded and agreed.

Now, he had to convince Kellum that it was the best place.