“Not much, and what I have doesn’t even make sense to me,” Erich said scrubbing his face. He gave Tucker a rundown about the plane the guy was being transported on, how they had to make an emergency landing, and that everyone, including the pilots, was killed so Alphonso Gianni was able to make his escape. Obviously the guy had help, but no one knew who they were. “He popped up on our radar just before I called you,” Erich finished.
“Anyone knows what or who he’s after? What was he arrested for?”
“From our records, he was arrested for a whole host of shit. You name it, he was involved in it. Black-market trade, child slavery. Gods, whoever put this fucker behind bars did us all a favor.”
“Who was it?” he asked just as Lucas walked in and hovered at the door looking at him. Tucker got a sick feeling in his stomach when he looked at his husband. “Erich, let me call you back. Or I’ll see you in a few.”
“You got it.”
They hung up, and he kept looking at Lucas. “It was your case wasn’t it?” He knew the answer before his husband answered.
“Yeah.” He walked further into his office and sat on the couch a few feet from his desk. “I had gone undercover if that’s what you want to call it. It’s not a secret that Tyler and I have outside interests, so I went as myself and pretended I wanted to step away from Hamilton Enterprise. That I wanted to do shady side deals with Alphonso Gianni. It made me sick that I had to pretend for six months, going along with whatever he wanted to do and turn a blind eye when I had to watch him beat and rape his own wife. Then I turned around and used her and his daughter to help turn him, only for him to take his revenge by killing them when he escaped.”
Tucker stood up from his chair and walked over to Lucas, sitting beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
“He’s going to come after me next. I know it. Tonight, when they asked me to come back, I wanted to say yes so bad. I quit the first time because Zoi needed me but now I’m pregnant, and I can’t put our babies at risk. But at the same time . . .”
“You want to go after him,” Tucker finished for him.
“Yeah.”
Tucker was silent for a few minutes and prayed what he was about to say didn’t start an argument between them. Everything was going perfectly for them already, and he didn’t want to ruin things between them.
“Then, let’s do it together.”
“What?” Lucas asked pulling away looking at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What the hell are you saying to me? I can’t believe you’re telling me to put myself and our twins in danger.”
“But isn’t that what you wanted me to say? You just admitted that you wanted to say yes.” Lucas went to say something, but Tucker stopped him. “Don’t even kid yourself, Lucas, I’ve come to know you better than anyone else in your family. You wanted me to tell you that it’s okay to go out there with guns blazing because you miss the danger, miss going after the bad guy and being the fucking hero.”
Lucas was quiet for a few minutes. Tucker watched him get up and start pacing the room. “If I agree with you and I’m not saying that you’re right. How would we do this?”
“We pool both our resources together. Have people we trust working with us. I’ll call Jaxson, Brenden, and Stephen to help us. Mayson as well, since he’s now working for Seekers and I’m sure Tyler and your father will help. You tell us everything we need to know about Alphonso Gianni. If he’s like any other psychotic sociopath, he’s saving you for last because he wants you to suffer the worst.” Having never met the guy, he could only profile him for what little Lucas told him.
“Why do I get the feeling you don’t trust any of the Seeker agents, except Mayson?”
“And you, I trust you, baby.”
Lucas blushed, and he thought it was adorable. “Okay, and me.”
“Think about this . . . how would Alphonso Gianni know where to find his wife and daughter? Hell, the FBI knew nothing about him until tonight. Seekers has . . .”
“Don’t say it, Tuck,” Lucas said getting up.
“You guys have a double agent in the midst, baby.”
“I told you not to say it,” he whined.
Tucker stood and walked over to him, cupping his cheeks. “We are going to find this guy, and he will never come anywhere close to our family. I get that you’re scared, hell, knowing you’re involved scares the shit out of me, and as much as I don't want you anywhere near this, I know that it won’t happen. But I’d rather be the one watching your back than someone I don’t know or trust.”
“Gods, I hate it when you’re so fucking logical.”
“And right, don’t forget I’m always right,” Tucker said with a smile.
“Are you sure we can do this?”
“I know we can. I know you secret agent types have all your fancy gadgets, but don’t put it past the FBI. We know how to hold our shit together.”
He looked into Lucas’ eyes and knew that his lover was worried about something. There was something he was holding back and wasn’t ready to reveal to him and he hoped Lucas would trust him to tell him what it was. To ease his worry, Tucker bent and pressed their lips together thinking of the only way to give him comfort without using words. Lucas melted in his arms just like he wanted. He still needed to leave, but his husband needed him more now than anyone else. He was about to drag Lucas to their bedroom when the doorbell rang.
