Code blue, p.12
Code Blue, page 12
It had taken a solid ten minutes before my heart rate returned to normal, and I damned near followed him up to his room . . .
If he wanted to cuddle, I’d happily lie beside him in his bed and let him cuddle me all he liked.
But I didn’t.
He knew about my change of name.
He knew my old last name.
A quick Google search would tell him more about me than I’d told anyone in fifteen years. I’d left that part of my life behind for good reason.
I wanted to tell him to drop it, to never search for damn videos of my MMA days. But surely telling someone not to do something would make them do exactly that.
So I decided to never bring it up again. Don’t mention it, just pretend it never happened, in hopes Jeremy wouldn’t bring it up either.
Being busy with my phone stuck to my ear for most of the morning helped. We climbed into the van like always, I sat beside him like always, but I was on my fifth phone call of the morning before nine o’clock.
“Yeah, he’ll be there at ten,” I told Ambrose. “I need to speak to my team before he gets there. We’re changing security detail tomorrow.”
“Okay, I’ll organize it. Good work, Steve.”
The call ended, and I pocketed my phone.
“You’re changing security detail?” Jeremy asked me. “You never mentioned that. What does that mean? And who are we all meeting with this morning?” His eyes narrowed. “Did something happen that I don’t know about?”
“I might have found something in the footage,” I said. “I don’t know for sure, but I’ve asked the FBI guy to come and take a look. He’s coming by at ten.”
“What kind of something in the footage?”
“A person. Who doesn’t seem to fit in. In the crowd.”
“You picked out one weirdo in an audience?” He seemed to find that funny. “Steve, there are a lot of weirdos.”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“And what does changing security mean?”
“When it’s full-time security, we should rotate out every four to five days,” I explained. I nodded toward the front seat, to the back of Riko’s head. “They need a break and some decent sleep. See their families. That kind of thing.”
Jeremy shook his head. “I don’t want anyone else.”
“Riko has—”
“I’m not talking about Riko,” Jeremy said. I had no doubt Riko could hear us, but Jeremy didn’t seem to care. “I’m talking about you. I don’t want to work with anyone but you.”
Oh god.
“I’m not rotating out. I stay with you, that’s the deal. For as long as it takes.”
Jeremy seemed to relax then. He sat back and almost smiled. “Good.”
Christ, what does that mean?
But then his eyebrows knitted. “How much sleep do you get a night?”
I almost laughed at the one-eighty in subject. “What?”
“You stay up till three, right? But then you’re up at seven. That’s not fair.”
“I don’t need much sleep. Never have.”
“Four hours a night isn’t sustainable,” he declared. “You can’t be at your best for any length of time when you don’t sleep. Believe me, I know.”
“I’ll worry about sleep when this is over.”
“No, tomorrow we don’t have to be anywhere early,” Jeremy said. “You can sleep in tomorrow. For as long as you need. Riko can babysit me.”
“Riko is rotating out this afternoon. You’ll have Carlos. You know him.”
“Yeah . . .” He didn’t seem pleased. He made a face and shook his head. “I don’t know, Steve.”
“About what?”
He turned in his seat and put his hand on my arm. “Carlos is okay, but I know Riko better. And I’m used to living alone, so having people in my house is weird enough as it is without there being a revolving door. And is Carlos going to cook me his Japanese grandmother’s epic salad for dinner?”
“Uh, no.” Given Carlos was not Japanese . . .
“Exactly,” he said with a sad pout. “I dunno. I was getting used to having you around.”
Me around?
Just me?
Before I could think of something to say, Jeremy’s phone chimed. It was a FaceTime from Maddox. Jeremy answered. “Hey, dickbag.”
“Good morning to you too,” Maddox replied. “You on your way in now too?”
“Yep. You?” The interior wall of the van behind him was clearly evident, but Jeremy asked anyway.
“Yep.”
Maddox panned his phone to the left to reveal Roscoe. Roscoe was checking something on his phone but he looked up and smiled. “Morning.”
“Morning,” he replied, then turned his phone to show me. “Say good morning to Steve.”
Maddox grinned. “Morning, Steve.”
“Hey,” I replied with an awkward wave.
Jeremy laughed. “What was that? Did you wave?”
“Shut up,” I whispered.
Jeremy did a fake gasp, his hand to his heart. “Steeeeve.”
Maddox rolled his eyes. “So anyway, I’m going to assume you haven’t seen Twitter this morning.”
“Nope, why? Oh shit. I posted a pic last night. I forgot.” Jeremy laughed. “Freaking hell. What happened?”
“‘What happened’ he says,” Maddox mocked. “Only you could post a selfie, then forget it existed while the internet went into meltdown.”
Jeremy snorted. “Meltdown?”
“Well, you’re hotter than me now, apparently.”
“Just now? I always have been, asshole.”
“You’re such a dick.”
“That’s why you love me. Because you love dick.”
Maddox’s middle finger filled the screen, then he disconnected the call. Jeremy chuckled and opened the Twitter app on his phone. “Oh man . . .” He grimaced. “Hashtag JeremyDalton is trending. And oh my god, so is hashtag FreeJeremy. What the hell does that mean? Free me? Like Free Willy? What are they freeing me from, exactly?”
“Maybe those fixated-folk who are caught up on the FBI details think they’re freeing you from whatever they think the FBI is doing.”
He exited out of the app and pocketed his phone, but then he sighed. He put his head on my shoulder. “I’m tired.”
His hair smelled so good, and I had to stop myself from sniffing it like a creep. “You not sleeping? Or just still trying to catch up after the tour?”
“Bit of both, I think.”
He sighed again and was quiet for a few blocks. He still had his head on my shoulder and I thought he’d fallen asleep, but then his phone rang. This time it was Ryan. He read the name. His thumb hovered over the Answer button, but with a groan, he let it ring out. “Fucking hell,” he grumbled, still with his head on my shoulder. “I just can’t deal with anything today.” He switched his phone to silent and shoved his phone under his leg.
I patted his thigh and he slid his hand onto my forearm, down to my wrist. He kept his hand there, so I kept mine on his leg.
I was surprised he couldn’t hear my heart thundering.
Being with him like this, spending so much time with him, was starting to mess with my head.
My phone buzzed again, and sure enough, it was Ryan. “Thanks,” I said, and Jeremy snorted.
I answered the call. “Ryan.”
“Is Jer with you?”
“Yep. We’re five minutes out.”
“I just tried to call him. Twice.”
“Yeah, look, Ryan, he’s okay. He’s just not up for talking right now.”
There was a beat of silence. “What?”
“He said he doesn’t want to deal with anything today. He has enough on his plate, don’t you think?”
“Uh . . . We . . . I still have a job to do.”
“Yes, you do. And so do I. We’ll be there in five minutes.”
I ended the call.
I had no clue if I’d just overstepped. I was leaning toward yes, but Jeremy slid his hand down my wrist to my palm and he linked our fingers.
“Thank you,” he mumbled.
“You know,” I suggested, “if you’re not sleeping, Doctor Hardwick could probably get you something to help.”
“I don’t need any pills,” he murmured.
“Okay.”
“I just . . . I dunno. Everything’s so fucked up right now.”
“I know.” I sighed. “Would it make you feel better if Riko and I both stayed on instead of rotating out?”
He nodded against my shoulder. “Yeah.”
“Okay.”
He squeezed my hand, and he didn’t say anything else until we arrived. If Jeremy dozed off in those few minutes, I wasn’t sure. He didn’t seem too happy to have to go inside. In the elevator, he hid behind me with his forehead pressed to my shoulder blade.
He was so close, I could feel his body heat against my back.
“We’ll leave early today, okay?” I said.
He nodded, and when the elevator dinged at our floor, he sighed. But as soon as we were out of the doors, Luke grabbed him and dragged him to the other guys. Maddox all but tackled him in a hug while cursing him for being more popular on Twitter.
I felt a pair of eyes cutting into me, and sure enough, I found Ryan giving me daggers. “A word?” he said.
“Sure.” I didn’t move. If he had anything to say to me, he could damn well say it right where we were.
I liked Ryan. I really did. The three managers did a great job. But I stood by what I said to him.
“Look,” he said. “I’m sure you can appreciate my concern—”
“Of course,” I replied. “And I’m sure you can appreciate mine.” I glanced over to where the guys were still talking, not paying us any attention and not within earshot. “He is one hundred percent my only concern right now. When I’m with him, I do what’s in his best interest. And if he doesn’t want to speak to anyone, then I respect that. You should too.”
“Steve—”
I kept my voice down, almost a whisper, and locked my gaze onto his. He took a small step back and I didn’t care. “Ryan, I have spent every minute of the last few days with him, and I’m telling you, he’s not handling this well. So cut him a fucking break.”
I noticed then that Robbie was standing, watching. So was Zoe. Both ready. For what, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to cause a scene or have some kind of stand-off. But I was protective of Jeremy, right or fucking wrong.
Ryan swallowed hard, and by now, Jeremy and the guys were watching too.
“Everything cool here?” Ambrose asked from the door, clearly reading the room.
I dragged my eyes from Ryan’s to Ambrose’s. “Sure.”
“Steve, Agent Zielinksi is here. You have something to show him?”
“Yes, I do.” I turned and left, sparing a quick glance at Jeremy on my way out.
He was smiling at me.
If I got reprimanded, so be fucking it. That smile made it all worth it.
“Wanna tell me what that was about?” Ambrose asked as we walked down the corridor.
“I told Ryan to give Jeremy a break. He’s not handling this whole ordeal like he’s letting on.”
Ambrose stopped walking. “Is he okay?”
I wasn’t sure what to divulge here. There was a fine line between being honest with Ambrose for Jeremy’s sake but also not abusing Jeremy’s trust. “Have you ever known Jeremy to not want to deal with anything, not want to come to work, or not take phone calls from Ryan?”
“Never.”
“Then you have your answer. He needs this whole ordeal to be over. And he needs a break. He needs time away from the madness.”
Ambrose studied my eyes for a long second before he conceded a nod. “Okay. We’ll work that out. First, we shouldn’t keep the FBI waiting.”
“Hey, Steve, wait up,” Jeremy called out as he walked toward us. “I want to see what you found.”
If Ambrose thought that was a bad idea, he never said anything.
But then Maddox, Wes, Luke, and Blake followed. Where there was one, the other four were never far behind.
“Sure,” I replied. “I don’t have a problem with that.”
All the guys, Agent Zielinski, and Ambrose watched the footage I’d timestamped. This same woman was in the crowd watching the band get out of cars, entering hotels, waving at their fans, but she was not cheering, not yelling, not even smiling in three different countries. In LA, in London, and I found her again in Tokyo footage this morning.
And that was just the footage I had access to. I had no idea if she was in any other location, or any concert crowds.
“I know it’s not unusual for fans to travel to see the band. Some fans do the entire tour, every country,” I explained. “But they’re typically excited and they want the band to know who they are, right? They don’t stand there like that.” I gestured to the screen, where this particular woman was now frozen. “That is a look of disdain. Now, maybe that’s just her face. I don’t know. But three countries. The US, England, and Japan. That’s a very big and very expensive effort to go to just to stand in the front line with that kind of contempt.”
Jeremy snorted. “Just her face. Nice, Steve.”
I shrugged, but his smile made me happy.
Zielinski chewed on the inside of his lip for a moment, but then he nodded. He was studying the screen for a beat too long. “I agree. It’s worth looking into. Can I get a copy of this?” he asked. He smiled at me. “Good work.”
“This is just crowd footage,” I added. “It was all I asked to see. And I didn’t even get all the way through it. I noticed her in LA, thought it was weird. Noticed her in London. Twice is a coincidence, but a third time is a pattern. As soon as I saw her in Tokyo, I’d seen enough. There are still a few hours left to watch. I can get through them tonight if you want. I just wanted to let you know what I found before I wasted another day.”
Zielinski gave a nod and turned to Ambrose. “I’ll need to double check ticket sales information, such as names and credit card info to identify the repeats. I’m assuming a ticketing agency was used for that. Can you get me that?”
Ambrose nodded. “Of course.”
“I’m going to need a copy of all this footage, including the timestamps Steve marked. I’ll have our team go over it. Steve, you’re more than welcome to keep watching.” Zielinski smiled at me. “More eyes looking the better.”
“Sure.” I’d have about five hours to kill tonight after Jeremy went to bed.
“Don’t we have plans tonight?” Jeremy asked.
I turned to him. What the hell? “Uh, do we?”
He aimed a cheeky smirk right at me. “Yeah, we have another martial arts lesson, and then you get to cook me dinner.”
I stared at him. Because what the fuck was he playing at?
“No, it’s your turn to cook dinner,” I mumbled, trying not to be embarrassed.
“The fuck?” Luke asked Jeremy, stunned and a little offended. “He cooks for you?” Then he stared at Blake. “How come Jason and Zoe don’t cook for us?”
Blake shrugged. “Because you guys know Jeremy can’t cook for shit.”
Luke considered this, then nodded. “True.”
“Though I have to say, Robbie’s never cooked for us either,” Maddox added. “I might have to suggest a roster or something.”
Jeremy shook his head slowly. “Guys, I gotta tell ya, Riko made a salad that I’m never gonna stop talking about.”
“Riko cooks too?” Blake cried.
“Ah, guys,” Ambrose said. “Can we focus here? I don’t think Agent Zielinski needs to be here for this conversation.”
The guys all shut up, but Jeremy met my eyes and his smile was smug, as if he’d accomplished whatever it was he’d set out to do.
I would have to ask him about it later.
“Now,” Zielinski said, clapping his hands so the attention drew back to him. “The incident I saw on the news last night? An issue in the parking garage?”
“It wasn’t gunfire,” Ambrose was quick to say.
I nodded. “I requested the footage of that as well, and the crowd that had gathered earlier in the day at the front of the building,” I admitted.
“You should see the footage of inside the elevator, when Steve goes into Steve-mode,” Jeremy added. “Not gonna lie, it was kinda hot.”
Oh my god.
Jeremy?
Maddox whacked him with the back of his hand and laughed. “Dude, what the fuck?”
Grinning, Jeremy shrugged, but he looked directly at Zielinski, which was odd. Something was definitely going on inside that pretty head of his, but now was not the time to unpack any of that.
I did my best to ignore the guys and focused on Zielinski. “I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary in the garage footage. It did appear to just be a guard who dropped a table, which sounded like gunfire, yes. I wanted to make sure there was no one around who shouldn’t have been there, checking for reaction times, that kind of thing. I couldn’t find anything or anyone in the crowd footage either. But I’m not an expert.”
“You found that woman just fine,” Zielinski said wryly.
“I know crowds and how to read people. But I can’t tell you if footage has been doctored or altered.”
Zielinski’s eyes narrowed. “Do you think the footage has been altered?”
I put my hand up. “No. God, not at all. I’m just saying I wouldn’t know if it was. I’m not a digital forensic person. People, crowds, individuals, I can read. But all that tech stuff is out of my realm of expertise. Don’t take my word on anything. Have your experts look at it.”
“I will, thanks,” Zielinski replied.
He and Ambrose began discussing the transfer of files and information and I turned back to the screen, which still had the woman’s face on it. “Uh, Agent Zielinski, can I ask you something?”
He smiled and came to stand by me. “It’s, uh, Special Agent. But sure, ask away.”
I pointed to the screen but kept my eyes on Special Agent Zielinski. “This woman, do you recognize her?”
His eyes darted to mine. “Why do you ask?”
“Because when you first saw this footage, you did a double take. Super quick and you hid it kind of well, but I’m guessing this woman is already on your watch list?”
