Obsession: Loving An Alpha Male (31 page)

Josh, finally tired of running, turned off the machine. Sweat drenched his body, but still riled up, he grabbed his towel and headed for the elevator in the basement of his building. The moment he came home he needed to do something, and punching the wall wasn’t what he had in mind. So he made his way down to the gym in his building to take out the frustration, anger, and what he didn’t want to admit out loud; fear.

He was afraid he wouldn’t make it in time to save her. He was more afraid, however, what would happen if he didn’t. Shaking that thought from his mind, he pressed the button to his floor. It was that moment a thought came to him then was gone. There was something that was crucial to finding Kenya, and for the life of him he couldn’t grab it.

“Fuck!” he said exhaustedly.

Misty was right, he was losing control. If he had his wits about him, no doubt he wouldn’t be behind the eight ball. He needed to call his brothers. Shane and Malcolm both currently worked for military intelligence. Most of his cases he used Intel from his brothers in order to locate someone he was searching for or was pointed in the right direction. He knew he could use all the help he could get, and most of all, he needed them to make sure he didn’t lose it completely. Shane and Malcolm usually knew how to handle Josh when he was out of control. Shane was the one to calm him as best he could, and Malcolm was the one to knock him up side his head to bring him back to reality.

Josh opened his door and found he didn’t have to make the call after all.

“Finally, we thought we had to come down there and get you,” Malcolm replied.

He was sitting on his couch, and as Josh walked further into his apartment, he saw his brother, Shane, was sitting at his table along with Misty and Junior.

Shane got up and walked to his brother.

“How you doing, bro?”

Shane hugged him tight, ignoring his sweat soaked shirt.

Josh nodded but didn’t reply. He was trying to figure out how they got here and so fast. Malcolm was the next to hug him.

“Why don’t you take a shower and come fill us in on what’s going on, yeah?”

Josh nodded again and walked into his bedroom. He took a quick shower, knowing that Malcolm would probably be waiting in his bedroom to talk to him. Malcolm was the oldest, and he took his job as older brother serious. He was six–five, two–eighty and a mean son of a bitch when it came to his family. He was all muscle with the same bronze complexion, eye color and hair color as Josh.

When Josh walked out of the bathroom in his towel, his brother was sitting on his bed.

“You are completely out of control, you know that, right?”

Josh took a deep breath and went to his dresser to get a pair of underwear and a t–shirt.

“I gave the son of a bitch an ultimatum, he didn’t take it.”

Malcolm frowned. “I’m not talking about that bastard; I’m talking about that bruise on your face.”

Josh grunted but didn’t reply.

“Is this woman worth it, Josh?” Malcolm asked.

“What do you think?” was all Josh could say.

“Hey, Josh, look at me, little brother,” Malcolm demanded, and Josh reluctantly obeyed.

Malcolm stood and walked to his brother. Shane walked in the room at that moment, and both brothers stood in front of Josh.

Malcolm said again looking deep in Josh’s eyes, “Is she worth it?”

Without hesitation Josh answered, “Yes.”

Josh kept eye contact with both of his brothers. Shane was around the same height as Malcolm and just as large in body mass. All three of the brothers looked alike and used to get teased that they could have passed as triplets.

“Then you better get your shit together and quick. You can’t afford to not be focused.” Malcolm said to him.

“I know,” Josh replied.

“You need your team, Josh,” Malcolm added.

“Damn it, I know, Malc.”

“Yeah, you know, then what the fuck, Josh? You getting into it with Jacks.”

Josh rolled his eyes as Shane added, “Bro, your team depends on you to keep your shit. The people that have your back the most need to know without a doubt that you have your shit together, and you don’t.”

“Yeah, and I also depend on my team doing what they’re told instead of questioning me every second about shit they know nothing about,” Josh snapped back.

Shane said, “Oh, so you want them to follow you blindly?”

“Yeah, pretty much. I mean, they normally do when we are in the field. I don’t think this is any different.”

Malcolm placed his hand on Josh’s shoulder. “This is different because of your past.”

Josh moved away from his brothers and went in his closet. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a short sleeve t–shirt. When he emerged, he leaned against the wall and looked at his brothers. He took a deep breath before speaking.

“Look, I get what you’re saying. I’m not stupid or blind or whatever you think I am. This isn’t like Emily, and I’m not going to repeat shit from my past. Kenya, she’s different… I’m different when I’m with her. I just…I can’t lose her, man… If I do…” Josh shook his head and looked down at his bare feet. He ran his hands through his drying hair. “I just can’t lose her.”

Josh remained silent, closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall. Shane and Malcolm looked at each other and then at their brother. They both had to admit this was the first time Josh had ever been this way about a woman, or anyone else that wasn’t family. They’d seen him lose it after a mission because of bad intel or because someone made bad decisions that put his team in harm’s way, but they had never seen him this way over someone that wasn’t their immediate family.

Malcolm said, “Alright then, Josh. Let’s get out there and see what we can come up with. We have lost precious time, but maybe we’ll get lucky.”

Going over the case again with his brothers there didn’t reveal anything they’d missed.

Misty added for good measure, “If Jack Bauer here didn’t shoot the prisoner, maybe we could have gotten somewhere with him. I mean really Einstein, did he tell you anything useful?”

“Fuck,” Josh said in reply. His brothers were right, he was hindering this investigation, letting his emotions run wild. “Yeah, he did actually. When I tipped him over and lit the blow torch, he started rambling in Spanish. He said something about the Russians and some gun running shipment that was lost, but they’ve just found it. He kept repeating that the Russians are running the show and not them.”

“The Russians, now that changes things tremendously. They are into some heavy shit from drugs, guns to women trafficking,” Malcolm told them. “Did he say anything about which Russian mob they’re working for?”

Josh shook his head. “No, I got interrupted before I could ask.”

Misty rolled her eyes and gave him the finger.

Junior started researching the Russian angle, updating and feeding his system with anything Malcolm or Shane told him to look for.

Josh, sitting on the couch next to his brother, closed his eyes. He’d been up for almost a day, and he knew he was running on empty.

“Hey, Josh…”

Josh opened his eyes confused slightly as he found Kenya sitting at the table in front of him. She was wearing just one of his t–shirts with her laptop open on the table.

Kenya looked over at him when he didn’t reply and said, “Hey, I need some help.”

“Okay,” Josh replied hesitantly.

“So Nickels and I are about to hit this compound, but we’re arguing about when to go in. He wants to go in at dawn, but I want to hit them as soon as the sun goes down. What do you think?”

Josh looked at her confusion etched on his face.

“Baby, what are you talking about?” He asked her.

She sighed and walked to him holding the laptop. When she sat next to him, she placed her laptop on his lap.

“Remember I told you about the game Nickels and I play? Well, we are trying to infiltrate this compound to get a suspect we’re looking for, and we need to know when the right time to go in is.”

Josh looked at the screen and was shocked at how real everything looked. Even though it was a virtual reality game, it looked like live footage Junior would have supplied his team to study a structure for any areas of weakness. Josh was impressed at how real this game looked. He studied every angle as Kenya showed him how to change the view of what he was looking at.

“So what do you think?” She asked him.

Josh shook his head. “Well, Sweets, with just a glance, you want to hit the building here.” He pointed to the side of the building. “This looks like the weakest point of the building. There seems to be a rotation of the guards, and this seems to be the place most vulnerable. You want to try and enter here and do it around three or four in the morning, just before the sun rises.”

He looked at Kenya, and she smiled at him. “Yeah, so what you’re saying is if this was your operation, you would enter there or…” she moved the laptop and replaced the machine with her center. “…would you enter here?”

She grinded her hips against him, and he gripped her hips.

“Well, that would depend,” Josh answered, smiling.

“Yeah on what?” Kenya asked, continuing to grind herself against him.

“On how bad you want it.”

She reached into his shorts and pulled him out. She grinned, raised up and slowly sank down on him.

Josh closed his eyes and moaned at the sweet feeling of his favorite place on earth.

“Shit Sweets…” Josh suddenly opened his eyes and found all eyes were on him.

“You all right, bro?” Malcolm asked.

Josh looked over at him. “Yeah, why?”

Malcolm smirked and shook his head. “That must have been some dream you were having.”

Josh sat up further shook his head and said, “You have no idea.”

Josh looked around the room, and his eyes landed on Junior. Something that has been eating at him for a while finally clicked.

He stood and said, “Junior, do you still have that game icon Kenya showed you?”

Junior shook his head. “No not on this computer.”

Josh moved quickly to his office to retrieve Kenya’s computer. When he came back, he opened it next to Junior, put in her codes and turned it to him.

“Log onto that game she showed you. When it comes up, figure out a way to send a message to that friend of hers, Nickels.”

Junior nodded and did as he was told.

“Who’s Nickels?” Misty asked.

“He’s a college friend, a genius with codes and hacking. He was the one that created her identity and helped her hide from her ex for all these years. She told me before that Nickels always had her back and looked out for her. If she was ever in any danger and he knew about it, he would tell her. I want to know what he knows if he knows anything or can figure out something we’re missing.”

“Seriously, you think he can help?” Shane asked Josh.

Josh nodded. “Yeah, I do. According to Kenya, he’s a child prodigy, and he’s smart as shit. Plus, he’s been keeping an eye on Kenya and anyone affiliated with her. He may have something that we could use.”

Malcolm was about to ask a question when they heard a phone ring. Everyone looked around and finally their eyes landed on Misty.

Misty sat up straight. “Why are you guys looking at me? My phone is right here.” She grabbed her phone from the table and held it up.

“Well, the sound is coming from where you are. If it’s not your phone, then whose is it?” Shane asked.

Misty’s eyes grew. “Oh shit. I almost forgot. I have Kenya’s phone. It’s been ringing off and on for hours.”

Frowning, Josh asked, “Well shit, did you answer it?”

“Of course, you idiot… but every time I do, no one says anything.”

The ringing stopped then started again. Josh moved to the table.

“Answer it, Misty.”

Misty pulled the phone from her bag and answered the call.

She placed it on speaker and said, “Hello?”

“Can I speak to agent Joshua Cooper?” they heard a male voice ask.

“This is him. Who am I speaking to?”

“Fuck, it’s about damn time. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve called? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours. You’re not in any government databases… how is that possible?”

Josh ignored his question and said, “Yeah, well, you have me now. Now would you mind telling me who you are?” Josh replied.

“Oh shit sorry, it’s Nickels. Has Kenya mentioned me?”

“Yes she has. I take it you know Kenya is missing?”

“Yes, I tried to call her and warn her, but she never picked up. She hasn’t called me back either, and she always calls back. Well to be quite honest with you, I think it wasn’t a fluke I haven’t gotten her.”

Josh’s eyebrows rose and he looked at Shane.

“Yeah and why is that?”

There was a slight pause before Nickels replied, “Um, can you turn on your television? There’s something I want to show you.”

Josh looked over at his brother sitting on the couch and nodded to the remote. Malcolm reached for the remote sitting on the table and turned on the television mounted on the wall in front of him. The TV sprang to life, and in just a few minutes a man’s face appeared on the screen. He looked to be in his early twenties with black hair that he wore back in what seemed like a ponytail, and intelligent brown eyes.

“Oh my,” Josh heard Misty whisper.

“Sorry, I figured a face to face would be better considering what I have to tell you.”

Josh moved to one of his dining room chairs and turned it to face his television.

“Alright Nickels, you have my undivided attention. Why do you think it wasn’t a fluke Kenya missed your call?”

“Because I think somehow the CIA is involved in all of this. I’ve worked for them in the past on various cases, and about a week ago they wanted me to hack into a specific database of some crazy madman, and I came across a huge virus. So naturally I worked on the virus until I was able to shut it down. Do you know how difficult that can be? It took me days upon days to do this, and quite honestly, I really don’t think I’ve completely mastered it. As a matter of fact...”

“Nickels, please get to the point of your story sooner rather than later,” Josh interrupted.

“Oh, right, sorry. Anyway, by the time I figured out the virus, I realized some of the Kenya alarms I set were going off. Since I’ve changed her identity, I’ve kept track of any inquires of the names Kenya Frost and Summer Dean. I saw your searches on her first as Summer then later I saw the Noah Baxter search. Very cleaver I might add.” Nickels looked at Junior and nodded his head.

Junior shrugged. “It took a long time to crack that though. You are masterful I will say that… it was genius when you sent me…”

“Look, you two you can compare brain sizes later, I need you to focus,” Josh admonished.

Nickels jumped slightly at Josh’s tone but recovered and added, “Sorry… so anyone who I found searching for both those names I would purposefully misdirect them and make sure that Summer Dean has no connection to Kenya Frost. Kenya is just someone who disappeared and hasn’t surfaced in five years. Since I was working on the virus, I didn’t get a chance to see who was searching for her. It wasn’t until a week later that I discovered someone else was looking for her, and a whole new identity was created with Summer’s current address but Kenya’s information. I knew for a fact I hadn’t created that identity, so I did some more research, and what I discovered I knew she was set up, and I knew she was in danger. That’s when I called her, but she didn’t answer.”

“What do you mean set up? And how do you figure the CIA is involved?” Shane asked.

“Well, let me back track and give you some history. The CIA found out there was a Mexican Cartel who call themselves ‘El Muerte Larga’ or the long death. They have been working their way up big time here in the US. They’ve been smuggling all types of shit through the states into Canada for months. The Cartel has been servicing other factions in the U.S. such as the Italians, Russians, Albanians; you name it, they’ve worked with them. Their services are expensive, but they always deliver. They are known for it.

The Cartel reached out to the Baxter family, mainly because they are one of the top shipping companies in the world. They ship tens of thousands of items every week. The Cartel’s main guy, Manuel, who is the nephew of Eduardo Munez the head of the Cartel, figured they would use this company to expand their business. They paid handsomely for security and discreteness. What they got was a royal fuck up. The Baxters lost a shipment of guns that were for the Russians.”

Josh looked at his brother, Malcolm, then asked, “Okay, so Baxter Shipping lost the shipment. What does this have to do with Kenya?”

Josh actually knew the answer, but he wanted to hear Nickels say it plainly.

“Okay so here is why this Cartel is so ruthless. When they have a mess up like what Noah Baxter did, there is hell to pay. And when I say pay, I mean pay. The crazy part of all this is the Baxters found the shipment and brought it to the harbor safe and sound. But the Cartel is about teaching lessons. They made the Baxters pay for the amount that they would have lost if the shipment wasn’t found. That was five million dollars.”

“Holy Shit,” Junior said softly.

Nickels nodded. “Yeah, holy shit is right. Of course, the Baxters didn’t have the money, so they sent half, and they have to send the rest by tomorrow. If they don’t have the money in their bank account by a 9 pm tomorrow, they plan on executing a family member or loved one of the Baxters.”

Nickels remained quiet for a moment to allow the information to sink in.

Then he said, “Now you asked how this has anything to do with Kenya, and why do I think it’s a set up? Well, during this whole time, the CIA has been monitoring the Cartel and knew what the Baxters were doing for them. They went to the family, looking for a little cooperation in exchange for a get out of jail free card for the father and son. All they had to do was get the Cartel to admit to some things on tape.”

Nickels shook his head and began typing.

He said, without looking from his keyboard in front of him, “I’m sending you what I have on the Cartel, where their safe houses are in the US and in Mexico.”

Josh’s brothers and Misty walked over to Junior and stood behind him as he brought up the email.

Josh though didn’t move.

He said, “So did the CIA get anything useful?”

“Small things here and there, this is when I come in. I helped with trying to get the Cartel on something, anything. They were getting their money laundered expertly and were investing in companies with the help of Kenya’s father’s company. So the CIA figured if they caught the Cartel getting their hands dirty, they could take them down. They hoped to get the sale of the shipment or the pickup of the shipment on tape, but all they collected were some Russians that knew nothing.”