Book 1 of the H&K Series : Path of Knowledge

Chapter 22

Hank stripped down to his T-shirt and pants. He placed the HK45 on the bed next to him as he lay down. His shirt and shoes sat in the chair next to the bed. Hank had moved Sarasin's laptop to the desk across from the bed but kept the files and folders to look through. Hank was glancing through the records of the members of the unit when he opened up Jerome's file. Twenty-four years old. No parents. Born in Dallas, Texas. Raised as a ward of the state. Blood type, A positive. His training mirrored his own. Something about the file didn't look right.

"Still like what you see?" Sarasin said as she stepped out of the bathroom nude, drying her hair with a towel. Sarasin's body showed her age, but she still looked lovely and toned as Hank glanced up briefly at her.

"Very nice," Hank told Sarasin as he turned back to the file. "How well do you know Jerome?"

"Why are you asking about Jerome?" Sarasin asked.

"His file isn't right. It reminds me of my own," Hank said. "Exactly like mine when I think about it. Okay, spill it. What's up with this Jerome character? Or is there something else up with him?"

"Hank, you have always been too suspicious," Sarasin said as she came to the side of the bed and leaned over to kiss him.

"Are you sleeping with him?" Hank asked. "Is that why you're protecting him?"

"It's not like that, Hank," Sarasin said as she tried to climb on top of Hank.

Hank slid out from under Sarasin and stood up. Hank turned to look at Sarasin as she rolled onto her left side, propping her head up with her left arm. Her breasts glistened as she smiled at him. Sarasin began to caress her body as Hank stood watching her hand ease up to her breasts. Sarasin smiled at Hank as she fondled her breasts.

"Does this give you any ideas?" Sarasin asked.

"Yes, it does," Hank replied. "It gives me the idea you are doing everything you can to distract me and keep me from asking questions about Jerome."

"Dammit, Hank, can't you leave anything alone?" Sarasin fumed.

"Wright is trying to kill us, and we have a mole in the unit, maybe more than one. Simmons and Holcomb show up alive after twenty-four years with a one-year-old baby—"

Hank stopped talking. He stared at Sarasin. His suspicious look returned.

"Thomas Jerome? You changed his name."

"What do you mean?" Sarasin asked as she sat up and pulled the comforter around her.

"Our baby didn't die, did he?" Hank asked, demanding to know. "You changed his name, but his birth year couldn't be changed. I knew something wasn't right when you were telling me about him. You said he died several months after being born or was it the next day? Then you said he looks like me, not looked like me. His file could be a copy of mine but slightly different. And he looks so damn familiar, but I had never met him before that day at the bridge when I met the whole unit."

"Dammit, Hank. You never change. Why can't you stop analyzing everything someone says or does?" Sarasin demanded. "Fine! Okay! Thomas Jerome is my son, er, our son, Adam."

"Does anyone else know?" Hank asked.

"No one?"

"Not even your superiors?" Hank pushed.

"No one. I had to keep him safe. I had an old friend who was killed in a car accident a few weeks after Adam was born. She had a son just a little older than Adam that was also killed in the accident. I saw my chance and jumped at the unfortunate loss to keep Adam alive and safe. I arranged for Adam to become Thomas Jerome and took legal guardianship of my friend's son. Everyone believed that I was a grieving mother who lost her child and replaced him with her friend's son. When Adam was old enough, he asked about his father. I told him everything about you, your name, and even showed him your file. I could never switch off the agent like some people can do. When he turned eighteen, he joined the army. He decided to do everything you did. I think he did all those things to make you proud when he got to meet you. I pulled some heavy strings to make sure he did what he wanted and received similar training as you had. After two years, I brought him into the unit under the assumption that I had been grooming him all his life as an asset and not only as my adopted son. And he's good, damn good, almost as good as you and just as reckless when it comes to protecting his teammates."