Page 76 of Secret
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
He had to be the luckiest person in the world. Kasey waited as Noam took the leash off Casper before following him into the house. It was like coming home again. Things were hardly perfect, but they were talking, which was more than Kasey ever dared dream.
He took in Noam's living room, seeing the clutter on the coffee table, the clothes scattered on the furniture. A far cry from Noam's usually clean place.
Noam saw him looking around and shrugged. "Sorry about the mess."
Kasey laughed.
"What's funny?" Noam asked, looking confused.
"My place looks the same." Kasey grinned. "I haven't felt like doing much. If Faith hadn't intervened I'd probably still be wearing the same clothes as the day I last saw you."
Noam frowned. "That bad?"
"It hasn't been easy." He sighed. "I lost everything that mattered to me."
"The job?" Noam's eyes went wide.
"No, you." Kasey reached out and traced his finger down Noam's cheek. "I lost you. I'd give everything else up for you. I meant what I said at the park, if it's the job, whatever it is, I can change it. You're what matters."
Noam nodded. "Have a seat. Do you want a drink or anything?"
That wasn't the reaction he hoped Noam would have to his words. "No, I'm good, thanks." He took a seat on the couch, unsure how the night was going to go. The fact he was there was positive, but something told him there was still a wall between them and he wasn't sure what it was made of or how to break through it.
Noam sat down on the other end of the couch. "Fuck, this is hard."
Kasey nodded. "But it doesn't have to be. We've always been able to talk. What's bothering you?"
"Seriously, I don't know." Noam ran his hands down his sweats almost as if he was nervous. "Is there more? Anything else I don't know?"
Kasey expected the question. It was only fair that Noam would think he was hiding other things. "No, other than who I work with, there is nothing you don't know. I can tell you anything you want, but I won't put those I work with at risk by letting anyone know their names." He wouldn't risk the team or the others.
"Fair enough. I can understand that." Noam leaned back. "I have questions."
"I'll answer anything. No more secrets between us. I've told you what I can't share, well, other than the location we work from. I can't share that either, but the rest, I'll tell you anything." Kasey sat forward. "What do you want to know?"
"How many of you are there?"
"Counting me nine, but only three who do what I do."
"So those nights you were home, but there were still… I'm not sure what you call them, but I guess crime scenes were what they were to me, it was the other guys? Girls? Do you have girls working with you?"
"The three of us rotate unless it's a two-man job like the married couples or any time there is more than one pedophile on the property. Sometimes, like the sting in Nevada, it takes all of us." Kasey took a deep breath. "We have one girl on the team. She is an information source only. She doesn't get her hands dirty."
"Sting. That's what you call them?"
Kasey nodded.
"In Nevada, they said there were four of you, were they wrong?"
Kasey shook his head. "There were four that night. One of our other team members joined us since there were seven guards in the building."
"Shit, you went in four to seven? That's not sane."
Kasey shrugged. "None of us can be sane to do what we do. We did our homework. The guards were nothing more than paid thugs with no training. We took out security, deactivated the alarms, and were able to get in unseen until we were right on them. It was almost flawless." Kasey touched his arm, which was now nothing more than small ugly scars.
"How? I mean we figured out you hack the cameras and things in the locations you go into, but that takes someone with know-how." Noam stared at Kasey's arm as he spoke.
