Dangerous Ground 2: Old Poison by Josh Lanyon Read Free Book Online Page B

strictly necessary. His smile was white in his tanned face, his gaze friendly if rueful.
    “It's great to see you, David,” Will said. He meant it. He was grateful that Bradley wasn't being difficult about the awkward way things had ended between them. It wouldn't have been unreasonable if he'd held maybe a bit of a grudge.
    Will had broken their budding relationship off at the stem after Taylor had been shot. As much as he liked Bradley—and Will liked him very much—he had been guilt stricken at the knowledge that one reason Taylor had been shot had almost certainly been because he was distracted and upset over Will's relationship with the other man.
    The idea of ever doing anything to upset Taylor again had been unthinkable in those first few days when his life had been hanging by a thread. Then later Will had been preoccupied with hunting down the men (boys, as it turned out) who had shot his partner—and keeping up the spirits of that same partner while he was stuck in the hospital.
    So he'd called Bradley and apologetically told him he just wasn't at a place in his life where he could focus on a relationship, blaming the pressures of work and a sidelined partner. Bradley had been understanding, accepting Will's decision with maturity and dignity. It had been excruciating, because Will really had thought he and Bradley might have something together.

    Dangerous Ground: Old Poison
    37

    But by then Taylor was recovering, and Will's attention and focus were on getting his partner back.
    He had wanted Taylor back with a ferocity that surprised even Will. To this day the depth and power of his feelings for Taylor took him aback.
    But seeing Bradley again, he couldn't help thinking what an easy natural match they would have been. He and Bradley were a lot alike.
    “How've you been?” Bradley asked as they took chairs on either side of his well-organized desk.
    “Very good,” Will said. “You?”
    He was disconcerted at the way Bradley was smiling at him. There seemed to be such a wealth of liking and understanding there.
    “Good. Great. Busy time for us right now.” There was a twinkle in Bradley's eyes as he added, “I never did get around to camping on Catalina.”
    Will's face felt warm. He and Bradley had planned a camping trip at Black Jack campground on Santa Catalina Island. Unlike Taylor, Bradley loved camping as much as Will, and they'd had nearly as good a time planning their trip to the pines and eucalyptus trees of Mt.
    Orizaba as they would have had making that trip.
    If they had made that trip, Will was pretty sure their relationship would have reached a turning point, moved into deeper waters. But it was not to be. And Will had no real regrets.
    Bradley continued to smile at him in the old open way. “Why don't we grab some lunch and talk the case over?” he suggested.
    Bradley drove them to an off-base steak house for lunch. They ordered prime rib sandwiches and got down to brass tacks.
    Naval Station San Diego provided shore support and berthing facilities to the operating forces of the US Pacific Fleet. Over fifty ships called NAVSTA home, with more than fifty tenant commands at the NAVSTA. The base population exceeded thirty-five thousand military personnel and in excess of seven thousand civilians. Needless to say, security was an issue for a naval station that had grown to be one of the largest surface-force support installations in the world.

    38
    Josh Lanyon

    Will pounded ketchup out of the bottle onto his fries and said, “Okay, so to cut through the bullshit, we think we're looking at illegal Mexican nationals using forged documents to gain access to the Thirty-second Street Naval Station?”
    Bradley agreed. “Originally we thought illegal aliens were using fraudulent passports to get other documents like drivers' licenses, ID cards, car registrations, and the like in order to unlawfully gain employment in San Diego's concrete construction industry.”
    “But the passports aren't