Page 70 of Caged
"I wish you could go with me." He gave her a weak smile. She was so easy to talk to and she knew just what to say and how to say it. He couldn't put things to words the way she could.
"I can if your counselor is okay with it. If that's what you really want. I'm sure my dad won't mind."
Danny's eyes widened. "Seriously?"
"If you are really ready to open up. Because if I go, I'm not holding back. I'm going to lay it all out there and tell you and your counselor all the junk you need to talk about. Your counselor might not push you, but I know exactly what you're going through and how you feel, and I will push. I was like you. I didn't want to talk. I didn't want to open up and tell. It took forever for me to work through things. Don't put it off or draw it out. I get wanting someone there with you. Xander went with me a lot at first. I could talk easier with him there. Man, that bothered my dad, but Xander just made it easier. He understood. He could relate."
"Xander was abused?" Danny glanced over at the big, tattooed man and shook his head. He would have never guessed that. He was so intimidating now. It was impossible to think of him as a victim.
"Not my story to tell, but I'm saying I get that sometimes it's easier if you have someone with you. Think about it and let me know. I'm happy to be there if it helps you open up a bit. At least get the ball rolling so you can start digging through all the stuff weighing you down." She smiled and stood. "I'm going to grab another drink. Want anything?"
"No, thanks." He watched her walk off, wondering if he'd ever be as strong as she was. Was healing possible? Could he move past this and put the pain and memories behind him and focus on the future the way Faith was? God, he hoped so.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Marshall stared at one of the videos that Trenton had sent from California. It was exactly what he hoped it would be. The Lamp Light pedophile video had the exact same logo as the few historical documentaries he'd seen. A small lamp sat on a dresser, illuminating the area around it. A book sat beneath it. Even the font matched on both. The same people had created it. The only differences were in the documentaries, there was information on the company at the end of the video, along with contact information, copyright, and sources. The pedophile video had none of that. The opening started with the lamp, then eased back into a full child's bedroom. From there, a story would play out of a father visiting his child in bed at night. It was disgusting, but it was the link they needed to tie the Colorado Springs ranch to the pedophilia.
He looked over all the links and information Trenton had sent and smiled. This had to be enough for them to act. He glanced over his shoulder where Jeremy was talking to D and Xander. "This is what we needed, right? We can go in now?"
D glanced at Jeremy, some sort of silent communication going on between them before he looked at Marshall. "It's close, but I want to do some more digging. We need more information on the location and area. We need to figure out if the place is alarmed. If there are cameras around the area. It's going to be a few days, maybe a week."
"But there are kids there." Marshall's stomach twisted as he thought about the horrific video he'd just seen.
"I'm aware, and we'll get in as fast as we can, but I'm not putting the team at risk for any reason. We're not familiar with the location, we don't have a dumpsite. We need to check out the police in the area, figure out where their substations are located. We do this right, or we don't do it at all." D's voice was firm.
"Damn it." Marshall turned away.
"I'm aware of how much this means to you. We all want to get this bastard, but I'm not risking anyone's life or freedom doing it," D stressed.
"There's something else you need to be aware of," Xander said.
Frustrated, Marshall turned around. "What?"
Xander glanced at Jeremy, then back at Marshall. "You know D's been checking on Danny's counselor to see if he might make a good addition to the team, right?"
Marshall tensed. Were they about to tell him they'd found something wrong with Gary? Had he been sending Danny into the lion's den, making things worse?
"Yeah." He narrowed his eyes, not in the mood for this.
"Since he asked Faith to go in with him, we asked her to get her opinion of him. We told her to talk about a few things and base his reaction to them," D explained.
"Like?"
"How she was rescued. We wanted her to talk about the men who broke in the house, castrated her rapist, and everything that went on with that. She's not giving names or any information that can lead anyone to know it was us, but she'll be able to tell by Gary's reaction how he feels about what was done. We wanted you to be aware of this, because not only does it get Gary's reaction, but Danny's as well. If you're going to be dating him, we need to know where he stands on all of this. There's a chance in the future he could find out about the team, and we needed to know if he's strong enough to know who we are and what we do." Jeremy leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees.
"What? Why didn't you tell me before this?" His heart raced at the idea of Danny finding out what he really did for a living. How would he react? Would it change things between them? Could Danny forgive him for hiding it all this time?
"We're telling you now so you can be prepared if Danny brings it up in conversation. We're not ready to let him know we're the ones behind STK yet, but you need to be prepared if he talks about Faith's rescue so you aren't caught off guard." Xander glanced at D. "We've had to deal with this in California a couple of times. It's hard to have a relationship with these kinds of secrets between you. If you and Danny are serious, there will come a time you'll want him to know and have to bring it to a vote in front of the team. His reaction to Faith's rescue will tell us a lot about how he'd react if he found out everything."
"I should have been in on this." He'd been excited that Faith was going to see Gary with Danny. Anything that might help Danny was a positive thing, but had he known it was a spy mission, he might have refused to let it happen. It made sense to do it for the reasons they were stating, but in a way, it was manipulating Danny, and he hated that.
"You didn't plan on keeping STK from him forever, did you?" D asked.
"No, but I hadn't really thought about it. I thought there was time."
"There is. We're not going to tell him tonight, but if things are serious, which they appear they could be, we needed to be prepared. The final choice on if he knows or not is yours. You're the one who would bring it up for a team vote, but if that time comes, now you'll have at least some idea how Danny would react."
"And Gary? If you invite him to join, what does that mean for Danny? Can he still see Gary?" Marshall ran his fingers through his hair, stressed at the whole situation.
