Chapter 2
Jeremy walked out of the hardware store in town to find he had two flat tires. What the fuck were the chances of that happening? He cursed, knowing he had only the one spare in the back, and knew he would need a fucking tow. Great. His first week on leave from the job had given him nothing but time on his hands to sit and wonder what the fuck he wanted to do with his life. He was a goddamn trained killer, an agent for the government. In his ten years working numerous undercover operations, he’d pretended to be everything from a clerk who fronted a store for gun sales to a hired hit man working to eradicate the transmission of terrorist ideas onto the modern world.
He placed his hands on his hips and looked at the fucking tires. He pulled out his cell phone.
An hour later, he was sitting in the customer area of the local mechanic’s shop waiting for the damn tires to be replaced. Finally, he handed over his credit card as the not-so-friendly cashier gave him some replies in a grunt and then handed over the card again.
As he pulled his car out of the gas station, he looked around the town. They were only about twenty-five minutes outside of Manhattan. He could get any open positions in another town, another city. As he thought about it, like he had been for the last several months, he came back to the same thing. He couldn’t leave his brothers. It had been hell being away from them, and when they were all around, he felt at ease and at peace, but with Cooper and Don spending another week in Treasure Town, New Jersey, this was his week to straighten his shit out.
His cell phone rang, and he hit the speaker to answer it.
“Where ya at? You left early this morning,” Cody said, sounding concerned.
“Fucking walked out of the hardware store to find two flat tires.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep, then spent the last hour and a half sitting in the shop waiting for them to replace them.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t take out the Mercedes.”
“To go to the hardware store? No way. I should be back in about twenty minutes. What do you need?”
“It’s not me who needs something. I just got back from taking a run. Don and Cooper need us to call them back. They have work in about an hour.”
“Sounds like something is going on.”
“Sure does. Cooper sounded serious.”
“Shit. Was Don with him? Are they both okay?” he asked, but he knew they were. They had a special bond all these years, and despite being out of the loop for three years, his natural connection with them was getting stronger again. He would know if something was wrong.
“They’re good. They swore they were.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon.”
The entire time he’d been home, Jeremy wondered what was up with his brothers. As he climbed the front porch to their large colonial, he saw some dirty boot marks, not remembering seeing them earlier when he left, but then he remembered he’d exited the house through the side door. When he got into the house, his stomach growled, and he realized he’d missed lunch and breakfast was a blur.
“Hey, what’s up?” Cody asked as Jeremy entered the kitchen.
Jeremy walked over to the sink and washed his hands.
“Crazy fucking morning. Did the guys call back yet?”
“No. Any minute, though.” Just then, the phone rang, and Cody answered it, putting it on speaker.
They exchanged pleasantries, and then Cooper cleared his throat.
“Don and I have been offered a really great job here in Treasure Town with the fire training center.” Cooper went on about the job, the experience they’d had the last few weeks, and about wanting and needing a change in their lives. Jeremy felt his gut clench. One look at Cody and he knew his brother was feeling the same thing. They were drifting apart. All of them.
“That’s a big decision to make in a matter of days, Cooper. Have you and Don thought this through?” But he knew in his heart they had thought it through. The twins always seemed to be able to make a decision on their own or together. Although mostly inseparable, they succeeded in all they did.
“There’s more, guys. We’re happy here. There are a lot of friends and a community that truly bonds together like nothing we’ve ever experienced before. We were hoping that the two of you would take the trip to come out here and see for yourself while you’re both on leave from work. Maybe consider looking at what Treasure Town may have to offer you both.”
Cody looked at Jeremy and shook his head.
“I don’t know if I’m ready for that, to make a move like a career change or a different position than what I’ve been doing. I’ll always wonder, you know, and if I hear of a situation, I’ll think, what if I was involved?” Cody admitted.
“I feel the same way. I haven’t decided what direction to go in yet. We don’t want to lose you guys. We’ve always talked about living life together and handling things as a family.” Jeremy felt his heart ache. He was causing this, all because he’d been removed from his position.
“There’s more.” Don said.
“Don, I thought we were going to wait,” Cooper said to his brother. Jeremy and Cody could hear the whole conversation. They were on speaker.
“Shit. Hold on a minute. My cell is ringing. It’s the chief,” Don said, and they could hear the one-sided conversation. “Okay, fifteen minutes.”
“We need to go, guys,” Don said. “We’ll call tomorrow and talk about this more. Think about coming out here for the upcoming weekend. We’d like to show you a few places we’re looking at and think you’ll both like.”
“Yes, and with your professional experiences, there’s certain to be something here for you as employment, whether in town or a short commute away. Call you tomorrow,” Cooper said, and then they disconnected the call.
Jeremy gripped the table and exhaled. He slowly looked across the table at Cody.
“It is a great little town. We all loved it when we were there.”
“I know we did, but if we decide to go check it out and consider giving up our old lives, do you think we’ll be happy or wind up regretting it?”
“Jeremy, I don’t know. Part of me is scared, but then when I think about my job and what I do, I know it’s something I can do in any city or town. I stop terrorists from succeeding in causing deaths and damage. Treasure Town isn’t that far from one of the larger headquarters for the anti-terrorist task force, but I don’t know if I’m ready.”
Jeremy exhaled and ran his hand along his jaw.
“I don’t know if I’m ready either, but I was just getting used to having the three of you around me again. I missed three years of this, and I can’t help but feel I’m to blame for causing us to lose that time. If I hadn’t gone undercover—”
“No, Jeremy. That’s not fair, and it’s not the case at all. We’ve all chosen our careers. Hell, the dads even went through shit, too, when they met Mom.”
“Shit, we’re not even involved with a woman. What’s supposed to come of that dream?”
Cody chuckled as he leaned back in the chair.
“I don’t know. Maybe if we take Cooper and Don up on the offer to head out for the weekend to visit, we could get a date with that nurse we all met,” Cody teased.
Jeremy chuckled.
“Catalina. Damn, she was gorgeous. I think we have too much shit to work out with ourselves before we could even think of asking a woman out. Hell, I didn’t even know what I was doing for the rest of the night, never mind the next several years.”
Cody stood up and walked to the refrigerator.
“Sounds like we need some beers.”
He pulled two out as Jeremy chuckled, then sat back down at the table. Cody passed him a can of beer, and they both popped their cans open.
“To whatever tomorrow brings,” Cody saluted.
“To whatever tomorrow brings,” Jeremy repeated, and they clinked their cans of beer together and took a sip.
Hopefully it brings something positive.
* * * *
He listened as they spoke about their brothers and leaving for Treasure Town. He had been there just a few days ago watching the two other brothers. He knew their schedule, and he knew how he could take them out to get to Agent Jeremy Jones. His boss didn’t want that quite yet. Instead, he wanted to play with Jeremy and get him to the point where his boss could use hurting the man’s family as leverage when he confronted Jeremy and demanded information. Then he could point out how he could have just killed them and Jeremy if he wanted to.
It was Clover’s job to keep watch, to do shit right under the agent’s nose and, eventually, take what meant most to him away from him little by little. The dumbass was so out-of-sorts—and so was his brother Cody—that they didn’t even seem suspicious of the car tires going flat. Nor did they sense the intrusion in their home as Clover bugged the place. He was good at what he did. Being patient and slowly torturing his victims was a specialty and a talent that would surely come in handy with one badass agent like Jeremy Jones.
He wrote down the information he needed, including the name of some woman they wanted to screw. It was all good stuff he would tell his boss about. He was going to love it when his boss revealed himself to Jeremy. Wouldn’t that be a shocker? Everyone else thought he was dead or had long gone into hiding.