Page 30 of Free
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jeremy slumped back down on the couch, glad the initial meeting was over. He'd been nervous as hell about meeting D. He hadn't known what to expect, but he'd assumed that D would walk in and start acting like he was running everything. Thankfully, that hadn't been the case.
The fact that D had experience on a team and he didn't, worried him. He didn't have a clue how these teams worked, and that left him at a disadvantage. He needed to follow D's lead on many things, but he hadn't wanted a bossy partner controlling everything.
One thing was for sure, D was hot as mother-fucking hell. Even with the oddly colored hair, which seemed to be a mix of blondes, browns, and orange, he was attractive. The tattoos were what did it for him. He loved a man with ink, and he had to force himself not to stare as he tried to study each tattoo that he could see on D's arms. How many more did the man have?
Reminding himself why he was there, and that it wasn't to find a boyfriend or even a fuck partner, Jeremy forced his mind off of D and back onto the job. He had programs to download, security to check, then he needed to run a few more system checks to make sure he could easily hack into things like traffic cameras and home security systems.
Hacking was easy for him. He'd started hacking when he was in his early teens, and he never stopped. It wasn't until college when he'd hacked into a government program just to prove he could, that things had changed. It didn't take long for the government to catch on and show up at his door. What he'd expected to end up as a prison term actually had ended up as a job. He'd worked with the CIA for nearly ten years before everything had gone to hell and he'd been arrested.
The memory left him nauseated. He'd had everything. He wanted for nothing. Now, he was walking around under a new name, a new life, and a new job. At least he was walking around. He easily could have been sitting in prison for what he'd done.
When Carter had jumped in and offered him a way out, he'd taken it. Coming to Colorado hadn't been his dream, but it was better than the other option of facing charges and a very public trial. He could have ended up in prison for sure. He owed Carter everything.
Still, he was nervous about this job. Going after pedophiles was great. He was happy to do that, but having them castrated was another thing. He was still working on dealing with that side of the team's work.
When Carter mentioned that he wouldn't have to get his hands dirty and could focus on the computer end of things, that helped. Knowing D had experience and was willing to take on the more gruesome sides of things was a blessing. The less he knew about that part, the better he was.
He's spent the last few days with Carter, creating an online profile so he could get into the dark web. Carter knew exactly how to do things, and it took only one night for Jeremy to be accepted into several hard to access groups that dealt with children. He hadn't been ready for that. The images and videos he'd seen made him physically sick. He'd walked out several times, sure he was going to vomit.
Through it all, Carter promised him that if it was more than he could handle, that he was free to leave, find his own path, and start fresh on his own. The thing was, as hard as it was to view the images, he was able to help. He had the skills to do this, and very few people in the country were as good as he was at hacking and manipulating computer systems. Only Carter and a couple others he used to work with had more knowledge and talent than he did. It was why the government had wanted him on their side. He was dangerous in the hands of the enemy, and he hoped he would be dangerous to the pedophiles also.
He made his way back into the computer room, thinking more about D. He was hard to read, but seemed like an okay guy. He'd tried to push for information on him, but no one would talk. He knew nothing other than he was coming from a team calling themselves STK and they were based in California. Beyond that, D was a mystery.
Carter had let him know what the team did, and that D had been a member for years, working as one of the muscle of the team. He quickly learned that meant that D went out and castrated the men, leaving evidence for the cops afterward.
Any man who could do that, he had to respect.
He liked that they were both starting over. It wasn't easy. He missed so much of his past life. He'd only been Jeremy for a few weeks now, and it wasn't getting any easier. He hoped getting settled in Colorado and getting a routine down would help. He missed so much of what he'd left behind, but faced with the same choices again, he wouldn't have changed anything. He didn't regret what he'd done.
Jeremy forced his thoughts aside and focused on the computer system. Once he started working, he thought of nothing else. One program led to another, and before he knew it, he heard the computer room door open.
"I have Mexican food if you want it." D stood against the door, showered, and changed, his hair still wet.
"Oh, yeah, thanks." He took a breath as he closed the program he was working on. "I didn't even hear you come in."
D led them to the kitchen where several takeout bags sat on the table. "Yeah, I want to get an alarm for that door so that we hear if anyone comes in. Something that will ding or buzz in the back rooms. Right now, being only us, it shouldn't be too bad, but as we add new team members, they'll come and go more often."
Jeremy pulled silverware from the drawers and handed a set to D before sitting down. It smelled delicious, and he realized he hadn't eaten anything but a bagel earlier in the morning. "I'm not even going to pretend I know what we're doing. This is all new for me. Carter explained the computer side of things, and brushed over the jobs of the team, but I have to admit, I'm a bit lost."
"That's going to make it easier. If you'd come from another team, we'd both be fighting each other on what works best. I have no clue how to do more than send an email on a computer, so if we each focus on what we know, we should be okay. I'm happy to walk you through anything on my side of this, but don't feel you have to if it makes you uncomfortable."
"Actually, I'd like to learn what you do, and Carter warned me you weren't great with computers, but he said I needed to teach you some basic things to make sure you knew how to use the system in an emergency. Nothing major, just tracking and hacking into cameras and such."
"Good, because I don't have the stomach for the dark web shit." D handed him a container. "I just got you a combination. Figured there had to be something in it you liked."
"I'm good with most foods, thanks." Jeremy took it, setting it down in front of him. "So, I find it odd you can't stomach the dark web, yet you can tolerate castrating people."
D laughed. "Yeah, I guess that would make sense. Honestly, I can't stand to see the kids hurt. What you see on the dark web is horrible shit. All I'm doing is making the assholes who hurt the kids pay, which is easy. I want them to suffer. It's watching them hurt the kids that I can't deal with."
"Yeah, I was shocked at how fucked up it all is. I knew it was there, but until you see it, you really don't know." Jeremy cut into a burrito and took a bite.
"Yeah, I've seen some horrible shit over the years." D picked up a taco and took a bite.
"How do you deal with it? With seeing all the horror?"
D took a drink before setting it down. "Everyone has their own way. We find our outlet. What works for me may not work for you. Some guys work out, some take up boxing, some use sex."
