Page 16 of Pain
"Only you would have the balls to piss me off." Xander fumbled with the coffee maker, trying to get his morning caffeine fix.
"Here." Dyson set a cup of coffee on the counter. "I got you food too." He tossed the bag at Xander's chest.
"Fuck, I love you." Xander dropped the bag on the counter and reached for the coffee, pausing just long enough to light a cigarette from the pack on the counter.
"Yeah, you keep saying that, but I haven't seen a ring yet." Dyson jumped up, sitting on the kitchen counter as he took a sip of his own coffee.
"I won't buy the cow without testing the milk first, and you won't give it up." Xander hissed as he took a drink of coffee, burning his tongue in the process.
"Do you think I'm crazy? I know what you do for a living. I'm not letting you near my cock or balls," Dyson teased.
"Whatever." Xander rolled his eyes as he dug into the bag and pulled out two sausage biscuits. "You're just afraid you'd love it." He glanced up at his best friend and grinned. "Why are you here anyway? It's my day off."
"It was, but I need your help with a job tonight." Dyson met Xander's surprised stare.
It was rare that they had to team up to take down a perp. The only time it happened was when there was more than one perpetrator on site or a risk of someone else showing up. "What ya got?"
"It's the Sanders case," Dyson told him.
"Ah…" Xander nodded, recognizing the name. The Sanders were a married couple. The husband and wife team had recently kidnapped three young boys, holding them captive in their home as they groomed them, so they could sell them to others. All three boys were between twelve and fourteen and had been taken from the same mall on the same day. Security cameras had shown each boy walking with the woman to a black van at separate times. They hadn't been in distress, so she had to have lured them there one way or another. Once at the van, it had only taken seconds for her husband to grab them and pull them in before anyone noticed.
That had been over two weeks ago. STK had been searching hard, trying to find any information, but it wasn't until one of the boys showed up in a video, that Carter and Bryon had been able to figure out who had them and where they lived. Once they had the information, Bryon had given the go to rescue the kids as soon as possible.
"I'm going to need a second set of hands. I can't risk the kids getting hurt if one of them should get away from me and get to them first." Dyson set his cup on the counter beside him. "I know you hate dealing with team jobs, but Kasey is doing a job uptown tonight already."
"I'm in. You know I've got your back." Xander wouldn't let Dyson go into a situation like this alone. Not only did it put the kids at risk, it put Dyson in danger too. It wasn't like he had plans, and even if he did, saving the kids came first. "You've got the information?" He was sure that Dyson had stalked the house, finding out the couple's habits and the layout of the home before planning to move in.
"I've got the file in my car. It shouldn't be hard. The kids are kept in a locked room in the basement. The couple spends most of their time in a shared office on the main floor. If we do it right, we should be in the office before they realize we're there." Xander bit into his biscuit, thankful Dyson knew him well enough to know his favorite foods.
"I'll grab the file in a few. I just wanted to make sure you didn't have plans."
"Like my social calendar is so full," Xander spoke with his mouth full. "What time?"
"Figured any time after eleven would be safe. The house sits back from others. No close neighbors. There are two cameras outside, but Carter is going to have them looped before we get there. No one will see us coming." Dyson shook his head. "I'm looking forward to this one. The stuff Bryon's found on them is worse than usual. Taking them out is going to be a pleasure."
Xander took another gulp of coffee before taking the last bite of his breakfast. "Grab the file and we'll go over everything. I need to get a shower first." He tossed the bag in the trash. "Thanks for breakfast."
"I know better than to show up here before noon without coming with food." Dyson grinned. "Go shower, I'll make myself at home."
Xander grunted as he made his way back to his bedroom. Dyson was probably the only person who he'd leave unattended in his home. It wasn't that he had anything to hide, but he just didn't like people in his shit. He enjoyed his privacy, and his house was the one place he could find that.
As he stepped into the shower, he thought about the job they had to do tonight. It would be good to see this couple taken down. There was evidence of them having done this several times. How they never hit Bryon's radar was surprising. Hopefully, they could find evidence of where, or who, the other missing boys were, so they could maybe bring them home in time too.
He'd planned on spending the day working on the fire pit he was building in his backyard, but a day with Dyson sounded good, even if it was for work. He missed hanging out with him. It wasn't like they never saw each other, but their days of going out every night, hitting the clubs, and having fun had died off over the last year.
There really wasn't a reason. Nothing had changed. Maybe it was because they were getting older. Neither enjoyed the clubs anymore. Work also took a lot out of them. There were some jobs that were worse than others, and those could take a couple of days to get over. As good as he was at dealing with his emotions, you could only see so much before it got to you.
Dyson was a good friend. They'd met in the Army, both looking for a way to escape their abusive pasts. They'd been instant friends. When Xander left the service, Dyson followed about a year later, coming to stay with Xander for a while until he could get on his feet. It was then that Xander had managed to find his father.
He turned off the shower, not wanting to remember. There were some memories best left in the past, and anything to do with his father were among them. He quickly dried off before pulling on another pair of sweats and a t-shirt. If they were just going to be hanging out around the house, he'd go for comfort.
Dyson was sitting in the living room, the remote in his hand as he skimmed through what was on TV. "You know, you really need to let me help you upgrade this system."
Xander rolled his eyes. "Because I watch so much TV."
"Maybe you would if your system was better." Dyson grinned.
"Maybe I would if there was something decent to watch." Xander sat down, reaching for the file that Dyson had set on the coffee table.
