Chapter Twenty-Two

The car ride to the alliance was silent, I could just tell by the way Brandon was acting that he wasn't happy. But I didn't actually understand why, having a new member on our team will be great. We get to train him into an incredible agent, that's what me and Riley enjoyed with Brandon. Riley would be the more harsh one out of us, while I would be much more caring and compassionate. I take a look over at him, he might look annoyed but I could tell by his expression that he was upset more than anything. I sigh looking out the window but then turn to him again. "Are you really going to allow us to just sit in silence for hours?" I aak breaking the ever-long silence, it was his turn to sigh but does nod. "Morgan is trying to replace me I just know it" he sighs which does make me give him a weird look, that was far from the truth "before you try and say otherwise, I can just tell" he says looking as though he was about to cry on the spot, where did he even get this idea from? "Morgan couldn't replace you even if he tried, you are an incredible agent. You've been able to get us information that no one else could, you're the reason that we found out about Richard being Lukas's dad" I say which was hundred percent true, the cases we've solved in the past would have been impossible without Brandon. "Yeah and look where that got us, I just killed Lukas's mum!" He exclaims the tears now falling down his face, I knew that fact was bothering him more than he was letting on. "You didn't have any other choice Brandon, it's either you did that or she would have stabbed me, you saved me" I say reaching over and taking his hand, he shakes his head as I wipe his tears away "it gets easier, it's just something that comes with the job" I smile as the alliance comes into view, he shakes his tears away nodding his head as we stop at the gate. The gate opened immediately as we stop, well that never happens. As we drive in, the security guard sends us a little sympathetic smile, I guess he's find out about what happened. I send one back as Brandon drives us to our building, once we stop he doesn't go to move yet. "Lukas is in there, what am I gonna say?" He asks looking over at me worriedly, honestly, I didn't have a clue either how we were gonna approach this situation. "He knows about what's happened, we just have to be honest and say the facts, again this isn't your fault Brandon" I smile before climbing out the car into the fresh air, we'd been at Toby's pack the entire day due Luisa and then the bomb. It was twilight, this was the only peaceful and quiet moment I've had all day, it felt good. I take a deep breath in before making my way towards the building, Brandon walks close behind me as we walk into the main door. I didn't know what we were gonna be welcomed with when we walk into the main hall, Lukas will one hundred percent have the right to be upset and angry, I mean his mother has just died. But we need to make sure the situation doesn't get out of hand, I wish Morgan was here to help navigate through that but I guess that's my job. I scan my keycard at the main door, which makes the familiar beeping noise sound. I take hold of the handle before looking back at Brandon, he nods his head putting his game face on as I open the door. In the room, was Lukas who was sat at the table just staring off into space and a new dude, who I'm guessing is Julian. Once Lukas feels our presence he looks up, he immediately jumps out of his seat and rushes over. While at the same time, Brandon moves to stand behind me. "Are you guys okay, I know you don't look hurt but you could be hiding it?" He asks super worried, another reaction I was not expecting, this seems to be happening a lot lately. "We're fine Lukas, what we should be asking is if you're okay?" I aak knowing that would be the more logical thing, when he was rushing over I was expecting punches. "Yes I mean I'm sad as she's mother, but she was never a good mother and was always distracted, it was Peter that raised me to be the man I am today. That crazy bitch goes and stabs him and thinks I'm gonna be crying over her, my main focus is Peter getting through surgery and not her" he corrects me which does make my jaw drop, being honest I could tell she didn't really wanna talk about Lukas when we were there, it was more Ricard than anything. "Have you heard anything about Peter?" I ask hoping he was out of surgery and we'd all live happily ever after, but he just shakes his head saying he was still in surgery. "But I know Peter, it's gonna take a lot more than that to keep him down" he says with a little smile, he than turns to Brandon who was stood behind me. "Brandon, was the one that was forced to shoot her, it's really cutting him up" I was moving slightly so Brandon could be seen, who looks away at the floor to not make eye contact with Lukas. "Man listen to me, you did what you had to do, don't cut yourself up about it" Lukas says which was what I was telling Brandon in the car, Brandon sends him a little smile but looks away again. "Hi, I don't wanna cut in to the happy moment we have going on here but I feel like a spare part" the new dude Julian says walking over, oh right he was still standing there "I'm Julian Prickson, you must be Brandon the tech guy, I have heard so much about you and your work" he smiles over to Brandon who was still standing behind me, I turn raising my eyebrow with a smile. "And you must be Taylor Westlake, the senior field agent, I have seen and heard so many great things about your work, I'm so stoked to be on the same team as you!" He says excitedly but takes a deep breath in to calm himself down, I was more focused on that he called me the senior field agent, I didn't know I was that! "Well it's lovely to meet you Julian, welcome to the team" I smile as writing on the board catches my attention, Morgan said we need that get that down "enough with all the hellos and welcomes, it's time to get to work, Richard said we're gonna be seeing more from him so we need to find him, hopefully before he can hurt anymore people" I say taking my coat off while picking up a whiteboard pen, Brandon runs behind me while picking his laptop up. "It's getting late, shouldn't we get some rest and do this all in the morning?" Julian asks from behind me, I forgot he won't be caught up to speed on how we run this. "The longer this takes us the more time Richard has to hurt more people, we get this done no matter how late it is. You're gonna form a strong relationship with coffee working on this team" I say turning around for a second before going back to the whiteboard, we need to finish going through all of his victims which is taking awhile, he has a lot victims "now, I need you to grab that stack of papers and start reading off names, Brandon will look them up and I will put the relevant information on the board" I say pointing to the huge stacks of papers beside him, it was nearly taller than him. "When will we sleep?" He asks still not picking up the papers, maybe throwing this pen at his head won't be a good first day for him. "When we're halfway through those papers" I smile but knew that was gonna take hours, he nods his head nervously while picking up the first one of the stack. By next week, him and coffee will be in a loving relationship.