Healing Rain (20 page)
Seth feigns hurt as he throws his hand over his heart, then grabs Raina’s hand, “Can I borrow your wife for this song?”
Kas lets go, bursting into laughter at Raina’s glare, knowing she is going to kill him later, after all, he has seen the poor boy try to dance. Michael takes pity on her and decides his reputation can’t be damaged too much by being seen with Seth’s flailing moves since he doesn’t live there. He grabs Raina, taking over with her as Seth attempts to dance next to them.
Everyone at their tables is clapping as they return, and Seth bows, knowing they are only ribbing him in good nature.
The karaoke begins again, and Kas nudges Raina, “You should go up there.”
Mandy, Austin’s date overhears, “You sing?”
Raina starts to shake her head no, but Kas jumps in, “The girl can sing.”
Raina shoots him a combined look of panic and disbelief at all of his outrageous encouragements tonight as Mandy, Sara, Susanna, and Maya grab at her, telling her to get her butt on stage. She adamantly shakes her head, her cheeks flushing at their insistence.
“We’ll go with you,” Sara chimes in as she grabs her hand, but Raina doesn’t budge.
Susanna grabs her other hand, and Maya and Mandy grab her arms as Kas gives the final push, sending her to her feet. They pull her towards the stage. Raina steps onto the platform, the lights momentarily blinding her as she is pushed towards the microphone. Her heart is beating wildly, feeling like it’s going to pump straight out of her chest as she stares out into the crowd of people. In a panic, she turns to go, but the girls are in front of her, and Sara has already called out a song to the deejay. The music starts to play, and Raina freezes. Susanna nudges her and points to the screen, telling her to sing the words rolling across. Raina remains quiet, motionless, and someone in the back lets out a loud yell, “Sing, or get off the stage.”
Raina is more than happy to oblige the unseen man and leave the stage, but her friends will hear nothing of it as they sing and push her to join in. Kas stands, making his way slowly to the raised platform, all the while keeping his gaze steady and locked on hers. He gently nods his head, encouraging her to go ahead. She again vehemently shakes her head no, her hands shaky as she holds the microphone. Kas mouths at her, telling her to look at him, his eyes willing her to forget everyone else, to just concentrate on him, and she softly nods. Sara yells for the deejay to start the song again, and Kas smiles, shaking his head at the choice, a song of independence, perfect for his independent, tenacious wife.
Raina’s voice is quiet at first, beginning the song timidly. Her eyes lock on Kas’, and he smiles, encouraging her to let go. Her voice rises as she slowly lets herself get lost in the song. The other girls stop singing as Raina’s sultry voice picks up, soothingly singing the slower part of the song before her voice booms just at the right second when the song’s tempo quickly picks up speed. With every second, she gains more attention from the rowdy crowd. People stop talking, and heads turn towards her as she belts out the chorus.
Kas fills with pride as Raina’s confidence grows, her voice sounding amazing, professional up there on that small stage. The whole team stares at her in bewilderment. Seth’s jaw drops slightly as they listen. People start to join in with her, and Raina grabs the mike, her fingers moving with the pitches as her voice belts out the song incredibly. Once the music stops, there are loud whistles and catcalls throughout the room as Kas grabs Raina’s waist, lowering her off of the stage, into his arms.
“You were beyond amazing, Rain,” his praises her, his eyes overflowing with love and pride. His body reacts violently when she blushes and looks up at him shyly. “I’ve got one very hot, very talented wife,” he whispers in her ear, giving her a heated kiss before making himself pull away from her in the public setting. He grabs her hand as they make their way back to the table.
All of their friends cheer as she takes her seat, and her cheeks flush a deep scarlet. Erik pulls her off her seat into a hug, “How dare you keep something like that from me!”
Michael shakes his head, leaning towards Kas, “That girl of yours should be all wrapped up in bright yellow caution tape, tied into a pretty, little Christmas bow.”
Kas lets out a hearty laugh, “I couldn’t agree more.”
Monday morning is welcomed with a cold, hard rain. Kas is awakened by the furious pelts of rain hitting the tin roof, and he rolls over, pulling his sleeping wife tightly into his arms. He glances at the clock, deciding he will spend the last few minutes before the alarm goes off enjoying the feel of Raina in his embrace. He brushes her auburn waves off her neck as she softly moans and tucks her head underneath his chin. Kissing the top of her head, he wraps his arm around her waist, wishing he could spend the whole day in bed with her.
He cuts the alarm off before it blares, kissing Raina’s neck, just below her ear. She softly moans again, and Kas whispers in her ear that it’s time to get up. He playfully pops her on her delectable derriere, “Time to get in the shower, darlin’.”
“Do I have to?” she grumbles, her eyes still closed as she scoots closer to him.
“Yes, you do, now move that cute butt.”
Raina takes his advice and wiggles her bottom provocatively against him, biting her lip to suppress her smile at the rock hard state she caused. She throws back the covers and starts to slip out of the bed, but Kas wraps his arms around her waist again, pulling her on top of him. “Oh, no you don’t,” he breathes, his voice gruff and husky with desire.
Raina giggles as he flips her onto her back. Brushing his thumb against her cheek before making love to her, they ring in the rainy morning with her breathlessly calling out his name.
Raina
sits
in
the chair, her legs curled up as she translates more transcripts. The rain tapping against the large glass window in Kas’ office makes her sleepy. Standing up to stretch, she jumps as her phone vibrates in her side pocket. Kas walks over to her when he sees her expression as she reads the alert sent to her cell.
“What’s wrong?”
“I set my phone to notify me on the progress of finding Prizrak. We’ve narrowed it down to three Evan Parkers,” she proclaims, excitement and dread hitting her at once.
Kas pulls her into a quick hug before following her upstairs to find Erik.
They print off the information on all three Evans as Kas calls his team and Derrick, asking them to meet in twenty minutes.
Everyone goes over the information, deciding how to proceed. One of the possibilities lives in New York, and the other two live right there in Washington D.C. The information is slim, only linking the whereabouts to the general vicinity of some of the sub-groups suspected hang-out’s in Prizrak’s trafficking ring. The sophisticated system Raina instituted has monitored pings set up in the pre-programmed areas when anything associated with the desired name popped up. It was difficult to establish, having to carefully follow all the laws, being sure not to violate any privacy act, but it looks like it may have finally paid off.
Kas and Derrick decide to focus on all three, paying particular attention to the one who has the most connections, as vague as they may be. Kas calls Michael, giving him the address of the Parker who lives in New York, knowing his New Jersey team has worked closely with the agents in The Big Apple on a couple of the raids. He calls Chase, asking if he can update Prizrak’s profile, hoping something in there will help to narrow their focus on the elusive Ghost.
Finals are a couple of weeks away, and Kas is paying close attention to Raina, making sure she isn’t pushing herself too hard again, leaving her exhausted. These are her last finals before receiving her doctorate, and Kas can almost feel the mixture of excitement, stress, and relief radiating off of her. He picks up her text book while she is in the shower, and his brain spins just flipping through the pages. He shakes his head, smiling, as he flips through her books on Arabic, her soon-to-be sixth fluent language. He is exhausted just watching her, between college, the FBI, her extra language studies, and martial arts, he’s ready to bury his head and hibernate.
Relieved she is close to leaving one of her most taxing responsibilities behind, he relaxes a little, knowing that will remove a lot of the tension she acts like she doesn’t have. Kas hears the shower water shut off, and he fixes her a cup of iced hazelnut coffee, knowing she will be rushing out the door to get to the computer lab at the university.
Raina dries her hair, not hearing the soft buzz of her cell phone as it vibrates from a missed call. Grabbing her books, she tosses them in her bag and smiles gratefully when Kas hands her the much needed caffeine as she walks into the living room.
“I’ll see you at 1:00,” he tells her, kissing her forehead when she leans in for a hug.
“Love you,” she calls over her shoulder as she heads out the door.
The cold spell has continued, and Raina wraps her jacket around her, wishing the pleasant weather of spring would return. She jumps into her heated car, sending Kas a quick text, thanking him for starting it, and heat warms her lower belly as she promises to warm parts of him later that night. Her cell vibrates as she is about to throw it in her purse. She sees she missed a call from the same unknown caller a few minutes ago as she answers the phone. Silence greets her, and she hangs up, not thinking much about it as she pulls out of the drive, her mind on everything she has to do at the computer lab.
Raina
parks
in
the parking deck, grabbing her laptop as she steps out of her car. She jumps when her cell phone buzzes in her hand. Knowing she won’t get service in the elevator, she ignores it. Kas is on the phone as she enters his office. He’s not looking happy about whatever he’s being told by whoever’s on the other end. He motions her to sit down as he finishes the call.
“Change of plans, darlin’,” Kas tells her, stress edging his words.
Raina sees the tension in the tight lines around his dark brown eyes, “What’s wrong?”
“I have to go out of town for a few days,” he begins, witnessing the disappointment on her lovely face. “I’ll be back on Friday.”
Raina waits a few seconds, waiting for him to expand, but he doesn’t offer any further explanation. “Where are you going?”
“Boston.”
Starting to get a little irritated with his lack of forthcoming information, she stands up, stepping in front of him, trying to get his distracted attention. “And you would be going to Boston because…?”
Kas puts down the files he grabbed and pulls her into his arms. He isn’t about to tell her the details of why he’s going, not wanting to fill her head with the gruesome reason, so he skirts around it. “We have a lead on traffickers linked to Prizrak.”
He feels Raina tense, knowing she worries about him, especially when he’s away, “Sweetheart, I’ll be back soon, no worries, okay?”
She gives him a long kiss. “Stay safe.”
“Always, baby.” Kas grabs his jacket, giving her one last kiss before heading towards the door. “You owe me a rain check on what you promised me in your text message this morning,” he winks before turning serious, “I want you out of here by 6:00 each night, Rain. I mean it, I don’t want you staying here late, then staying up past midnight studying.”
Raina rolls her eyes at his bossiness, biting her lip at the stern look he gives her in response.
“Please, Raina. I don’t want to have to be worrying about you driving exhausted while I’m gone.”
She mocks a salute, “Yes, sir,” she teases.
Kas represses a smile, making sure to give her one last warning look before winking at her on his way out, “I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
“EAT!” he calls over his shoulder, not able to bite back his grin this time as he steps into the elevator.
The
house
is
too quiet without Kas there, and Raina turns on the music, needing some form of company as she picks at her Greek salad while she studies the newest information on neural networks. Her cell phone vibrates, and she grabs it, her heart fluttering when she thinks it’s Kas. The flutter is replaced by a quickening in her pulse as she is once again met with chilling silence.
She glances at the screen showing it’s the unknown caller again. Her heart almost stops when today’s date hits her. Snapping the phone closed, she tries to ignore the chill seeping through her veins as she reactivates the state of the art alarm system Kas had installed after she moved in with him.
Wishing Kas was home, she pushes the rampant thoughts out of her head. She can’t be sure it’s Mr. Sutton, although she would bet her small fortune it is. She’s tempted to call Chase, but quickly decides against that, knowing he will tell Kas, and she doesn’t want him to worry when he’s miles away. She wants to make sure it’s him first, then she’ll tell Kas about the calls. The furious look in Mr. Sutton’s eyes flashes through her mind involuntarily as she remembers his heated words, calling her a slut and blaming her for his son going to prison a year ago today.
Her cell phone buzzes, shaking on the table again, and she picks it up with slightly trembling fingers, relief flooding through her when she sees it’s Kas. She takes a second to regain her composure before answering.
“Thank you for appeasing me, darlin’,” Kas’ soothing voice calms her.
Raina knows he’s referring to her being at home, realizing he would’ve seen the text message they get every time the security system is armed and disarmed. “I arrived at exactly 6:22, and just re-set it, so I guess you don’t have to ground me,” she jabs, happy to be able to banter with him, giving her mind a reprieve from the earlier calls.
Kas’ laugh fills her ears, making her heart ache for him. “I’d like to see how well that would go over if I tried,” he teases, continuing the playful banter. “I miss you.”
“I miss you, too,” she whispers.
“Is everything alright?”
She hears the worry in his tone and berates herself, knowing his freakishly astute ability to read and hear emotions. “My head’s buried in dendrites, axons, and autonomous robots,” she quickly offers, feeling a little guilty at the partial truth.
“You lost me at ‘dendrites’, darlin’,” Kas laughs. “Get to bed at a decent hour. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she answers, being sure to keep her voice upbeat this time.
Three hours later, Raina slips into bed, fulfilling her promise to Kas, but doubting she will get much sleep.
The coffee burns his tongue, and Kas grimaces as he places the steaming cup on top of the squad car of the officer who called him at 5:15 a.m. “Where’s the girl?”
The officer throws his thumb over his shoulder, keeping his eyes straight ahead, “Over there. Sorry about the timing, but Sergeant Jackson told me to call you as soon as I told him. He was notified about you arriving to work on the case of the dead girls.”
“No, problem, I’m glad you called,” Kas assures the young officer, noticing the stark paleness of his face and his avoidance to turn towards the grisly crime scene again.
“Will you call Agent Stephens for me while I take a look?” he requests, giving the rookie a break from having to show him the scene and having to witness the mutilated body again.
The officer nods, thankful to do anything other than return to the broken, bloody girl.
Kas is glad he hasn’t eaten breakfast yet as he kneels down next to the poor victim. The stench is overwhelming as he carefully inspects every wound. His anger flares as he sees the contusions around her wrists from where she was tied. Seeing the bruises covering her body and her throat slit so viciously that her head is almost severed from the rest of her, putrid disgust swirls through him as the evidence indicates that the trafficker likely made an example out of the dead young lady who appears to have been around twenty. He sees her raw knuckles, proof she was a fighter, and he closes his eyes. The sad realization that her resistance is probably what landed her body next to the filthy dumpster, callously discarded like yesterday’s trash, gnaws at him.
Kas calls Dexter, informing him they now have a fourth victim. He painstakingly gathers all the evidence, looking for a connection between her and the others that will lead him back to Prizrak’s ring.
With Wednesdays being her free day from the university, Raina puts in a full day’s work at the FBI. She slides her cell phone to Erik when she arrives, asking him to trace the unknown calls, shrugging her shoulders casually at his curious gaze. “It’s probably nothing,” she states, not knowing which one of them she is trying to convince more.
The trace takes only a few moments. “It leads to a burn phone.”
Raina blanches, her suspicions all but confirmed. “Thanks,” she mumbles before slipping the phone back into her purse and turning towards the waiting equipment.
“No way, Raina. You can’t throw something like this at me and not spill the details.”
She hesitates before she mumbles, “Yesterday was the anniversary of Chris being sent to prison.”
Thinking back on what Kas had told them, his concern heightens, “You think his father is harassing you again? Have you told Kas about this yet?”
Raina shakes her head.
“He’s going to go ballistic when he finds out,” Erik states flatly, knowing how protective he is of her.
Raina sighs, not looking forward to her next call.
Procrastination has quickly become Raina’s best friend as she busies herself with the recovered equipment in front of her. Erik has been gone most of the day setting up transmitters for Lawson’s team for an upcoming raid, leaving his office all to her. After finishing the recovery process on a battered PC, she glances at her watch and grimaces, not only has she not called Kas, but she has worked straight through lunch.
After checking on a few more programs, she decides to call it a day, her stomach rumbling for some overdue sustenance. The evening air is brisk as she rushes to her car, laughing at herself when she checks the backseat before sliding in. Rain drops sprinkle on her windshield as she pulls into their driveway, and she chastises herself for the prickles creeping up her neck as she hurries inside. The shrill ring of her cell nearly causes her to jump out of her skin. Chill bumps ripple down her spine when she sees the screen displaying ‘unknown caller’. Letting the phone ring until it finally stops, she quickly dials Kas, needing to hear his voice right now.
“Hey, beautiful.”
She closes her eyes when she hears his arousing, masculine tone and manages a reticent reply.
“Are you sure everything’s alright, Rain?”
Knowing she can’t keep it from him any longer, she tells him about the calls, holding her breath as she waits for his explosion.
“I’m leaving right now,” he responds, his voice low and tight.