Page 65 of Sundowners
I needed to get through my shift. I needed to go home and tend to Rhonda. I needed to have a good cry. And then I needed to find Cross and Mark and do what we’d agreed to do.
20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Roman
I leftPuesta Del Sol in a state. I had the urge to go out and break shit, do something totally destructive, but I also had a keen focus.
I needed answers, right? And if Creed wasn’t going to give them to me, I had two choices. Either say the hell with all of this and go about my business, or I could find the answers myself.
So I went home and I started digging. Deep. I cross-checked everything Donna Hicks had given us with everything I’d researched about La Mente. There were a lot of things that seemed coincidental between the situations, and that made bells go off when I thought about Creed.
The attacks. Here, four men were cornering people on the street, scaring them, and then biting them. In Spain, the two people I spoke to who’d “escaped” from La Mente’s headquarters talked about mental torture, that they were put through hours of torment in order to gauge their body’s reactions to it. And Creed, talking about his cohort, how they learned how to manipulate energy, and some had chosen tomisuse what they learned.
What if they really were all connected? What if these people Donna mentioned, EVE, were what Creed’s group had been about?
I called Sterling and we talked. He urged me to bring everything I had down to the police department, so I shoved a sandwich in my face, threw on a sweatshirt and headed out into the night.
Once I arrived at the PD, I used my ID to get in and didn’t freak out this time. I joined him in the same conference room. Sterling walked me through the financial trail and a few things became clear: EVE had its fingers into research facilities in the US, Spain, Monaco, Germany, and South Africa. We found records dating back to 1975. We had a web of names and organizations, all of them with huge gaps as they tried to cover as much of their tracks as possible.
Sterling decided it was time to bring in the FBI, and when Vanessa and Rey came in, she agreed.
“There were about forty cars at that house tonight, none of them worth less than eighty grand, and we got license plates for all of them.”
“Yeah, we found a good vantage spot off the property where we could use the zoom camera. Easy-peasy,” Rey said, and he high-fived his sister, who looked at him like he was nuts.
We caught them up on our information and, with the captain’s approval, Sterling called the FBI field office.
It was after midnight and I had class in the morning. I stood to stretch and was about to tell Vanessa and Rey I was heading out, when everyone started rushing around, grabbing coats and keys.
“What’s happening?”
“There’s been another attack. Come on.”
I followed Rey and Vanessa and climbed into the back of her Explorer. I knew it was serious when they didn’t even argue about who was driving.
“Where was it?” I asked.
Rey turned around. “Roman. It’s Creed.”
My breath caught in my chest.
All of the shitty things I’d said earlier that evening came back to me and sucked all of the oxygen from my body.
“Hey,” Rey said, putting a hand on my knee. “He’s okay, there were no serious injuries, but he was sent home.. work.”
I pulled out my phone and texted him, my hands shaking. “Please,” I pleaded.
Tell me you’re okay.Please, Creed. I’m sorry.
We pulledup to Puesta Del Sol, and I realized he probably wasn’t going to answer me. I stayed behind Rey as he talked to the other cops there, and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Lexi. If anyone knew where Creed was, she might. I told Rey where I was going, and he nodded, still in mid-conversation.
“Hey, Lexi,” I said as I approached. It was obvious she’d been crying.
“Roman,” she said, wiping at her eyes and trying to smile. “Hi.”
“What happened?” I asked her.
