Page 59 of Hack
"You're FBI?" Xander's tone left no doubt that he didn't like that a bit.
"Not any longer. I'm a private investigator now. I left the FBI probably right after Carter left the CIA." He had no clue if that was true, but he assumed from what they'd talked about, the timing was close.
"Is Becca right, are you and Carter dating?" Faith asked.
How the hell was he supposed to answer that? "Again, that's his personal life and up to him to talk about. It's not my place."
Faith frowned.
"He's right, Faith. If Carter wants us to know things, he'll tell us. And I'm guessing he would be talking to us now if he wasn't so involved in the case they're working. We've all seen how he gets when he's tying everything together, and if this really is about Angel…" Matt stared at Archer.
He wasn't going to hide that. Carter had all but admitted it to them already. "It is."
"Then he's going to be focused more than we've ever seen him." Matt wrapped his arm around Faith. "When you were taken, no one could have stopped me from doing all I could to get you back. I have a pretty good idea where his mind is, and it's probably best if we just leave Carter alone until he comes to us."
Archer wondered what that was about. Had Faith been kidnapped? Was she a victim? He had to admit, he hadn't expected someone so young to be involved in whatever it was Carter and his team did. "I agree. Right now, he's dealing with a lot. I get the feeling he's never really dealt with Angel and Beth's deaths. He's not going to let any of us get in the way of what he needs to do. All we can do is be there when he needs us, because if we push, he's just going to leave and do this on his own. At least right now, we are here, and hopefully, he'll ask for help when he's ready."
"You know he's not going to turn whoever this killer is over to the police, don't you?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, I know that. I promised him when we started working together that as long as we stopped the guy, I didn't have a problem with Carter's end game. I don't want a part in whatever he has planned, but I support his need to do whatever he feels he needs to." He hated that might put Carter in danger, but he was smart enough to know there would be no stopping him.
Bryon shook his head. "He's not going to let any of us help him on this."
"He can't go in alone. That's not what he does." Faith looked worried.
"He's trained to do everything we do, but I agree, he shouldn't take this on by himself." Xander sighed as he looked at Archer. "Will he listen to you?"
"Not on this. He's promised me it's not a suicide mission, but that's all he'll say about it. In his defense, we just found out who this serial killer is and where he is. He hasn't had time to plan or make any arrangements yet. We came here just to confirm the location was right. We had a good idea it was, but until we saw the satellite images…" He shook his head. "Nothing will stop him now."
"You're sure this is the right place?" Bryon asked.
"I saw what he's looking at. It's what he's looking for. I saw the locks on the doors where the girls are being held. If it's not Angel's killer, it's someone who is doing pretty much the same thing. I watched ten minutes of his satellite imagery and it was enough to convince me to go in." Trenton stood with his arms over the back of Bryon's chair.
The doorbell rang, causing everyone to stiffen.
"It's the pizza I ordered." Trenton left the room to answer the door.
"So, you don't know what his plans are, his timeline?" Matt asked Archer.
Archer shook his head. "I don't have a clue how long he needs to gather the information he needs. He'll have to fly back there to do it. It's not local."
"North Carolina," Matt said, obviously having heard the address when they first looked it up.
"Fuck, he can't do this alone." Xander glanced up as Trenton brought the pizza into the living room and set five large boxes on the coffee table. "Did you see how many people on site?"
"From what I saw, and it wasn't a serious scan of the place, there were seven kids, two adults, one male, one female. The kids are kept in a small shed or something to the side of the house. The adults were inside the main home. I can't be sure there weren't more." Trenton glanced at Archer. "You want beer, soda, water?"
"I'll take a beer, thanks." He leaned back, letting everyone discuss what Trenton had seen and try to piece together how Carter would handle it. He said nothing. He wasn't going to bring everything out in the open until Carter said it was okay. He couldn't stop what they already knew or what they'd seen, but he wasn't going to fill in the blanks. That was Carter's job. His loyalty was to him. While he respected that they all wanted to help him, he had to do what he felt was right, and that was let Carter decide what was going to happen and who knew about it.
He ate silently, more comfortable than he had been, but wishing Carter would come out and save him. He no longer worried the team was going to kill him, but they had to know he knew more than he was telling them.
"You play video games?" Faith asked him.
"It's been a while, but I'm a fast learner." He smiled.
"Then come on. Grab a couple more slices of pizza and follow me. We'll leave these guys to worry about Carter while I kick your butt on the PlayStation." She stood, filling her napkin with another slice of pizza for her.
Not about to turn down the chance to escape with the only person who hadn't looked like they wanted him dead, he did just as she told him, grabbing food, and following her down a long flight of stairs into the basement. If he was going to be stuck here, he might as well make friends with the only one who seemed to welcome him.
He liked Faith a lot.
