Brady glared down at his older brother. “Is that an order, Chief? Isn’t this what Sol trained us to do? Be good cops? Good soldiers? Help people? You didn’t see the things I did. How they treated those men—”
Solomon swore, tightening his calloused fingers on Brady’s arm. “I didn’t hold my breath and say a prayer every time you took another tour in Afghanistan just so I could watch you die as soon as you got back. You don’t want to be a cop anymore? Fine. And you did your time as a Marine. But this? This spy game you’re playing with Tanaka? It’s too fucking dangerous.”
“I agree.”
At Ken’s quiet words, Brady, who taken a breath to continue fighting his brother, let it out in a rush. “What?”
“This is over now.” Ken stared at Solomon until he looked away and let Brady go. “I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done, Chief. If you wouldn’t mind, Brady and I need to talk about this alone.”
Solomon sent Brady an enigmatic glance then nodded, his long strides taking him to the front door of the loft, where he paused. “I’m sorry about this, Tanaka. But what you did for them? Your foster family? That was… You did good.”
Ken lowered his chin in a sharp nod. “I appreciate it. I know how important family is to the Finns.”
“There’ll be a car here for a few days. If you need anything else...” Solomon hesitated, looking uncomfortable for a moment before he turned and headed for the stairs, leaving the door open.
Brady had a knot in his stomach. “What just happened, Ken? I get Solomon being cautious, but we aren’t really letting this go, are we? I mean, sure, take a beat and make a new plan, but we can’t let them get away with what they’ve done.”
No one had the right to choose who lived and died. To play God. The never-ending war had taught him that. All those lives, all those families destroyed—for what? So these men could have the freedom to sit in their towers and get rid of anyone that wasn’t convenient? “We can’t let them win.”
“I won’t.” Ken wouldn’t look at him. His fingers were curled into fists. “But there are a few things I need to take care of first.”
He walked out the door Solomon had just disappeared through, heading, Brady knew instinctively, to the place that used to be his one true sanctuary.
Brady followed, but before he even made it to the hall, he heard the sound of shattering glass and metal. He paused in the office doorway, watching silently as Ken took what looked like a metal pipe to all his monitors. He kicked over his towers beat them with a force and ferocity that was disturbing, and smashed everything to pieces.
Finally, he couldn’t watch anymore. “Ken, stop. Talk to me.”
“I’m fine,” Ken muttered through gritted teeth, kicking the wreckage on the floor around and picking up all his broken hard drives. “I didn’t find anything. There was no way they could have bypassed my security.”
“So it’s one of your contacts? Then why are you doing this?”
“I’m just being thorough.”
He went over to the small kitchenette and opened his microwave, trying to fit them all inside.
Brady came up behind him and wrapped his arms around Ken’s biceps, tightening when he started to struggle. “Stop. Please, babe. Look at me. Talk to me.”
“You don’t have to stick around for the cleanup if it upsets you. The job is over. In fact, if it’s okay with you I’d rather be alone.” His voice was so cold. So unaffected, despite his recent bout of destruction.
“You want me to go back to the loft? I can help with—”
“I want you to go.”
Stunned, Brady loosened his arms enough to whirl Ken around so he could look in his eyes. He looked like he meant it. How was he doing that? “You’re kicking me out?”
Ken’s smile was a brittle version of the one Brady loved. “Don’t look at it that way, Finn. We did the job. We reunited a mother and son. We kicked some ass and had some fantastic sex. That’s time well spent, in my book.”
“Fuck you, that was more than sex,” Brady said, anger and doubt deepening his voice. “You know it was.”
Ken sighed, pain racing across his expression before it hardened again. “What I know is that you and I never made any sense. You love your big, crazy family and I love my independence and kink—which you aren’t really into. For the most part I’d rather be by myself with my thoughts or on my computer. You’d rather run errands and fix a roof for your cousin’s boyfriend so you don’t have to live alone.”
Brady flinched and Ken shook his head. “I’m sorry, Brady. I don’t mean it like that, but if you’re honest, you’ve thought the same things. That’s why you kept turning me down in the first place. If we hadn’t been living together and working on such an intensely personal case, nothing would have changed.”