Page 66 of Wed
Becca gave his waist a squeeze. "Take the plate of sandwiches with you. I'll grab the other." She left his side to go to the fridge.
"I'm going to put Tera in the bedroom. She's half-asleep already." Archer picked her up in his arms.
Bryon poured himself a cup of coffee, then picked up the plate of brownies and followed Becca into the living room. He set the food on the coffee table, then took a seat in his favorite chair. He opened his arms and pulled Becca onto his lap, kissing her neck as she curled up with him.
He stared around the room at the men who were like brothers to him. They'd been through hell together. They would die to protect one another. He'd asked the impossible from them and they'd come through. The team had grown over the years, but each man now played an important part in what they did. He owed them so much for making his dream come true. He wasn't sure how to let them know how much they meant to him.
Becca touched his cheek as if she'd somehow known what he was thinking about. "You don't have to share."
He nodded. "Yeah, I do. They deserve to know everything." He brushed a kiss over her mouth as everyone settled in. He took a deep breath, and began, letting the memories he kept hidden come forward. "Some of you know bits and pieces, but I'll go back to the beginning for those who are newer to our team. Years ago, I had a sister. Sara and I were close despite the fact there were ten years between us. I was twenty-two when she was kidnapped. She'd been out with a friend, shopping at the mall. The other girl's mother was with them. The three had just gotten lunch in the food court and decided to head to one more store before going home. Sara took clothes to the fitting room to try on and no one ever saw her alive again."
"She was twelve?" Geo's eyes widened.
"Actually, she was eleven. Her birthday was a month after she went missing." Bryon took a sip of his coffee, then set it down and pulled Faith closer to him. "My parents were devastated. Mom pretty much shut down while Dad dealt with the police and the media. Back then, missing children were a bigger deal than they seem to be now. Kids didn't go missing as often and it wasn't accepted as normal the way it seems to be now. We had hundreds of volunteers searching the area for her for weeks. My grandparents were very rich and while my parents didn't live the high life the way my grandparents did, they had money as well. We thought we might get a ransom call or something, but that never happened. I'd been in my last year of college, close to getting my business degree, but when Sara went missing, I dropped out. My entire focus was on finding out what happened to her."
"Did you find her?" Geo asked.
"Let him tell the whole story." Carter smiled at the kid. "There's a lot more to tell."
Bryon nodded. "I refused to give up looking, even after the police did. My friend's father was the police chief and he tried to keep the case active, but after so long, he couldn't justify the cost and time of keeping his detectives on it. He was aware I was still looking and was nice enough to give me all the information the police had at the time. To my surprise, there was a person of interest they had. A man who was seen lurking around the dressing rooms that day and also had priors of abusing young girls. Remember, we didn't have computers or internet back then. They were just starting to come out at the time. We were just learning what dial-up was. It wasn't as easy to track people or information back then."
"Dial-up?" Geo asked.
"It was how we first got online. You had to use your house phone to connect. I'll explain it to you later," Xander told him.
"Anyway, I took the information and started watching this man. Gilbert Sullivan was his name. He was a creep. He would sit at the park or the mall and just watch little girls. More than once I witnessed him masturbating in the park as he watched. He was disgusting, but I didn't do anything because I wanted to know if he'd been the one to take Sara. I watched him for almost a year. During this time, my mother got sick. Doctors said it was her heart, but I'm convinced she was heartbroken. She died not long after her first heart attack. That was when Dad started to drink. My grandfather came to handle things and make sure Dad had transferred everything to me. He tried to get Dad help, but it did no good. Dad was determined to numb his pain with the bottle. He ended up suffocating in his own vomit one night. I found his body on the living room couch the next day."
Becca caressed her hand over his chest. She knew the whole story. He'd confided in her shortly after they'd met. Once he knew she was his future, he'd told her everything. She also knew how hard it was for him to talk about it. He hated remembering, yet he could never forget.
"I sold the house and most of their things and bought the home I'm currently living in. I didn't want the memories that filled Mom and Dad's home. My grandparents lived in San Diego and came and helped with funeral arrangements and all of that, then they left. I went right back to stalking Gilbert Sullivan, convinced he was the one responsible for me losing my entire family. I was filled with anger back then. I wanted answers and was frustrated I couldn't get any." He took another drink of coffee as he debated what he would share and what he'd keep to himself. "After my parents' death, I became even more obsessed with getting answers and finding justice for Sara. She'd been gone years, but I still searched, even though I knew in my heart she was dead, I wanted to bring her home. Give her a burial. Just as I was starting to wonder if I was wrong about Gilbert Sullivan, and thinking he might just be a creepy guy, I was in his backyard, watching him through the window one night and saw him with a young girl. She couldn't have been more than six years old. I lost it. I broke into the house beat him, tied him up, and without hesitation, cut off his cock. Back then, I didn't have a clue what I was doing. It was messy and sloppy. He died from blood loss. The little girl was locked in his bedroom. I debated on what to do, but I knew I'd be charged with his murder if I stayed, so I left her there, went to a pay phone and called it in, telling the police the little girl was locked in his bedroom, then I left for San Diego. I told my grandfather everything, and he covered for me, telling the police when they called that I'd been there all week. It was easy back then. They didn't have GPS on cars or cameras everywhere. While I think the police knew I did it, they couldn't prove anything. The girl had been kidnapped from a town about an hour away and was returned to her parents and evidence was found inside Sullivan's home proving he'd kidnapped Sara and six other little girls over the last twenty years. They ended up finding several bodies buried in his backyard." Bryon shifted Becca in his arms, still feeling the anger all these years later.
"Was Sara there?" Geo asked.
Bryon shook his head. "No, she wasn't. But he had the locket my father had given her and a long lock of her hair he'd kept as a trophy. They never found three of the bodies, but everyone knew he'd probably killed them."
"So that's how you started hunting?" Geo asked.
"In a way. While I was in San Diego with my grandparents, I was out at a bar, drinking my anger away when I met Carter. He was doing the same thing. His daughter had been taken and never found. He and I bonded over drinks. Our stories were so similar that I think we leaned on each other for support. I knew what he was going through. He understood my anger. I've always had one regret. I didn't make Gilbert Sullivan suffer for what he'd done. I mean, he suffered when I castrated him, while he was bleeding out, but it didn't seem enough. I wanted him to suffer like I was. I wanted him to wake up every day feeling the pain I did. As Carter and I kept talking and became better friends, we decided with our talents, we could hunt these perverts and stop them. We decided that to make them suffer, we'd keep them alive. Take their weapon from them and make them face life without it. Being castrated and having your balls removed changes the hormone balance in the body. There are a lot of side effects. While medically, they've now found ways to help replace the hormones, it still makes the body weaker, and most of all, which was our reason for doing it, it takes away their ability to rape anyone again. Without your cock, you can't rape, at least not in the way these people did. You can research the side effects of castration, but we decided to keep them alive so they would live their lives waking up and remembering what they'd done. They'd suffer every day without their cocks. Without their weapon. Carter had computer skills that weren't common back then. His work had introduced him to computers long before the public had the capability to learn them. At first, we'd hunt by watching, spying, and doing the legwork ourselves, but as the internet grew, it became easier for us. He'd hunt, and I'd attack. Then we decided to bring in others. I won't go into Xander's story, but we found him and Dyson to join us. Kacey as well. When Beau joined us and created the medication to temporarily paralyze them, it became even easier. The team grew to what it is today." He hugged Becca to him, burying his face in her hair and inhaling to calm his nerves and anger at all he'd been through.
"And there's another team in Denver, right?" Geo asked.
"Our friend started one there." Carter nodded. "I'm sure you'll go visit them. Xander and Matt go several times a year."
"What's going to happen to Tera?" Geo asked.
Beau leaned forward. "I know she doesn't know me well but Parson and I were talking that we'd be happy to invite her to live with us. She knows Eric already, and our other kids are excited to have more brothers and sisters. If she wants, she can stay with us."
Bryon was shocked. "Are you two sure?"
Beau nodded. "We both love being parents and we understand what Tera and Eric have been through. We'll get them set up for counseling with Katie and go from there. She'll be able to see Geo, and talk to Lenora and Andy on the phone. If it's okay with her, we'd welcome her as part of our family."
Becca smiled. "That's perfect. Thank you, Beau, and thank Parson as well."
"There's nothing to thank us for. We just did what felt right. With us, we know she'll be safe and get the help she'll need." Beau shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.
"Am I going to have to get counseling too?" Geo moaned.
"Yep, and don't argue. Everyone in this room goes to see Katie. She's the team counselor. If you're part of our family, you meet with Katie," Matt told Geo. "Xander and I can go with you the first few times if you want, but in time, you'll meet with her alone."
