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“Slept great. While I’m not remembering anything past our last days in therapy, Jordan’s been filling me in on some stuff.”
Before they’d called Cali, Jordan had dropped another bomb on him.
No one knew about them. They’d decided early on to keep their relationship quiet while they figured out exactly what they had. Apparently, they’d done a damn good job of it, because their friends had no idea they’d become lovers, much less that he’d moved in with her. Even Beth had no idea.
That revelation was still fucking with his head.
“Regardless of some of the things she’s told me, I still don’t remember a damned thing. I have an idea, and I wanted to run it past you before I suggest it to Devin.”
Cali looked intrigued and rolled one hand in a give it to me motion.
So he did. “Dr. Hancock already knows all of us. She walked us through the aftermath of something that changed all of our lives one way or another. What do you think about asking her to either help me recover the memories or give me some tips and tricks I can try on my own?”
Cali hummed as she thought it over. “If we just ask for some techniques, we don’t necessarily have to tell her they’re for you. We don’t even have to tell her this has anything to do with you. In a perfect world, that’s probably what we want.” Her expression sobered. “But given the fact we have active bad guys potentially chasing both you and for sure after Jordan, it might be better to find out what she thinks about working with you in person.” She paused. “I don’t know. I think both approaches have merit. I’m really impressed you thought of her.”
Benny looked at Jordan for her input. She shrugged making it clear it was his call.
He turned his attention back to the screen but didn’t immediately say anything. Instead, he thought about what he suspected had happened.
He knew a hell of a lot about the human body and had a better-than-average understanding of how the human brain worked, so knew that trauma could do strange and terrible things. Whatever had happened during those eight months had apparently been heinous enough that his mind had shut it away.
But it hadn’t stopped there.
It had taken Jordan, too. Their home. Their life together. The cat currently curled up on his lap. Whatever happiness he’d found with a woman he could look at now and recognize only as someone familiar.
His brain hadn’t just locked away the horror. It had taken some of the best parts of his life with it. That certainty made his choice easy. He wanted that life back.
“I agree that we’ve got some pressure on us right now. Since you’re still active duty, would it be smarter for you or Devin to reach out to her?”
“I’ll do it,” Cali said. “I see her around sometimes. She shacked up with that OSI agent we used to see every once in a while.”
“Yeah, Grant Eaton,” Jordan said. “He’s solid. I served with him on a presidential detail back in the day. He’s got to be getting ready to rotate out, though, since he’s been on station for a few years now.”
“Doesn’t really matter whether he’s solid or not,” Cali said. “Because of HIPAA Hancock can't say a damn thing about Benny or any of us. If my read on her was right, she never has. Not even to her bedmate.”
Benny nodded. “I’ll leave it up to you to decide what to tell her. The sooner I can meet with her, the better.”
Cali gave him a little salute and signed off.
Benny blew out a long breath, then looked at Jordan. “Did I do the right thing?”
She regarded him somberly. “I believe you did. Now we need to let Dev know.”
“Why do we have to clear everything through Dev?” Benny was pretty sure he already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear hers.
Jordan shrugged. “I don’t know that we have to clear everything through him. He just kind of holds everything together. He’s damn close to unflappable, and coming from me, that says something. He’s also got the resources for us to do almost anything we need to do, and for the most part, he’s not an asshole.”
A smile tugged at Benny’s mouth. “For the most part?”
“Nobody’s perfect.” She took another drink of coffee. “I might have had more questions or qualms about taking orders from him if we hadn’t taken on so many pro bono cases when we first started up. When Dev says this is about giving back, he actually means it. It’s not just some weird attempt at absolution for what happened to us or the people who died on that flight.” Her expression sobered. “He’s honestly trying to do something good with his money and his influence. When things go sideways, he’s the guy who keeps all the pieces moving in the right direction, even if he and Cali fight like cats and dogs sometimes.”
Benny considered that. It tracked with the Devin he remembered. The man had always been ten steps ahead of everyone else, always watching, calculating, figuring out where people and resources needed to be before anyone else realized they needed them. Apparently, some things hadn’t changed. “So we’re not asking permission, we’re keeping him in the loop.”
“Exactly.”
He one hundred percent trusted Jordan’s read on the situation. As a cop, whether it had been in the Air Force or with LVMPD, it was her job to get a quick and accurate read on people. If she thought Devin was legit in his pursuit of doing something good, then Benny believed it too.
Jordan fired off a quick email to Dev using their secure comm channels, including an ask for him to run background on Dr. Kendra Hancock, just to allay any concerns.
