Page 4 of Free
"So he just sits there? You don't get him a lawyer or anything?" Noam looked shocked.
"He doesn't need one." Bryon waved him off.
"What? Of course, he does." Noam looked angry.
"Noam, just wait. Let us deal with this tonight. I'll explain everything later." Kasey stood, grabbing his arm gently before looking at Bryon. "Did he complete the sting?"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure if that's good or bad for him. I'm glad he got the asshole, but it's another charge against him."
"He's going to face time for all of us. There's no way around it. I just wish there was a way we could let him know he's not alone. I mean, he knows the deal. We can't put ourselves in danger, and anyone who goes to see him will be under suspicion. He's just got to wait."
"I can go in," Noam said.
"No way." Kasey shook his head. "I'm not letting you put yourself in danger."
"I wouldn't be. Think about it. The police know I'm hunting pedophiles. They go with me to make the arrests. It would make sense for me to want to talk to Dyson and find out his sources, how he gets his information. No one would think twice about it." Noam stared at Bryon. "You know it would work. I can talk my way in there, then once I'm there, I can somehow let him know we're working to get him a lawyer or whatever it is you guys have planned."
Bryon nodded. "It could work."
"Fuck no. You can't do anything that will make them look at you as a possible suspect." Kasey sat back down.
"Why not? It's not like they'd find shit if they do come looking. We're careful not to have anything linked to us. Our STK phones are the only thing we carry that could ever be a link, and those are burner phones that are a non-issue as long as they don't get possession of them. What are they going to do, follow me to my old house where I have off-duty cops acting like twelve-year-old girls to lure the predators in? They already know about that. Hell, Chief Daniels stopped in for coffee the other day. I've got nothing to hide," Noam told him.
"Kasey, I get why you don't like this idea, but it's something to think about. We've never had to deal with this before. Yeah, we have a plan, and we will follow that plan, but you know as well as I do, it could be a couple of weeks before we can do anything. The timing has to be just right. Everything has to go smoothly. One fuck up and he's gone for a very long time." Bryon gripped the counter hard.
"He's gone either way." Kasey slammed his fist down on the table. "Fuck!"
The front door flew open again and Beau and Parson came walking in. Bryon sighed. "I told everyone if this ever happened not to come in."
"We can't all sit home waiting and wondering." Beau looked around the room. "It's true then? Dyson got arrested?"
"About an hour ago. He finished the job and got picked up on site. I don't have any information on what happened other than a neighbor thought he was breaking into the place. I won't have any info until they book him and we see the charges. Even then, that won't tell us what happened, just what he's charged with." Bryon glanced up as Xander and Matt walked in. "Fuck, do none of you listen to orders?"
Xander wasn't having it. He strode into the room looking pissed off as he got in Bryon's face. "What the fuck happened?"
"We don't know." Kasey jumped up, grabbing Xander's arm. "Don't blame Bryon. This isn't his fault. It could have been any of us. We all know the risk we're taking and that one day our luck is going to run out. It's why we have money set aside. We'll deal with this, but not by yelling or blaming each other."
Xander's nostrils flared. "Is he okay?"
"It sounds like it. He was being taken to the jail last I heard. Carter and Trenton are in there now following up on everything. Xan, I know he's your best friend, but I need your head clear for all this. It's going to be a tough few weeks." Bryon looked around the room. "All stings are off until further notice. This isn't the end of STK, but we have to take a break while this all blows over."
"This wasn't supposed to happen to him." Xander turned and left the room, headed toward the computer room down the hall.
"This wasn't supposed to happen to anyone," Bryon called with more anger in his voice than should have been there.
When Carter came to him with the STK idea, they'd planned for everything. There wasn't a situation they hadn't worked through, verbally playing through every move they would need to make to stay one step ahead of the police. They knew then that it could end in an arrest, or worse, several arrests. They planned for that too, but now that it was happening, Bryon didn't like the solution at all. He couldn't stand the idea of one of his men in police custody facing God knew what charges the police would toss at him.
"What can we do?" Matt asked.
"Go home, wait until this blows over. Keep away from the other team members. Go on with life like STK doesn't exist. Whatever any of you do, don't go see Dyson, don't write to him, don't drive past his house. For the time being, you don't know Dyson Fowler." Bryon glanced at Noam. "You and I will talk more about you going in to see him. It's a possibility, but I'm not giving the okay until we know more, and until we talk to Carter and make sure this won't fuck with his plans at all. I know we all want to help Dys, but right now, leaving him alone is what is going to help him the most. We don't want to cause him any more problems. We'll make sure we take care of him, but as you've all been told in training, this could take weeks. Until then, just keep your cool and go on with your lives."
Beau glanced at Parson, then back at Bryon. "I was coming in to tell you tomorrow, but now's as good a time as any. Parson and I are taking the kids on a trip to Hawaii. We'll be gone for two weeks. I was worried about the team, but I guess now, it works out well."
"Perfect timing. That's two less people I have to worry about. If you're in Hawaii, you're not here to cause problems. Take the rest of the team with you, would ya?" Bryon shook his head. "What a clusterfuck."
"Eric's going to freak with Jeff away for two weeks." Noam sighed.
"Jeff told Eric about it tonight. They've got it planned to Skype and Jeff is going to show Eric around by phone while we're gone. They'll get through it. They were trying to learn the Haka tonight before going to bed. When I went to see what all the yelling was about, they were laughing like crazy." Parson grinned.
