“You’re not leaving my sight. I’ll get something soon, don’t worry.” I gestured to the second chair, the one left empty during the interrogation. “Why don’t you sit?”
“Yousit.” She stared me down, making it clear she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
I probably caved faster than Chase would’ve. With a sigh, I dropped into the chair and glanced up at the ceiling. “How’s the property looking?”
“Still locked down,” Reed replied as Audrey leaned against the bookshelf, arms folded tight across her chest.
“What do you make of the text?” Ryder asked her.
“‘Hell’ was Mitch’s signature. His brand.” She shrugged, a motion that probably took more effort than she let on.
“Doesn’t mean it’s actually from him,” Ryder said while checking his phone. “We’ve got incoming from the secretary.”
My body tensed, bracing for the worst though I was desperate for something else.
“We’re all here, sir.” Ryder placed him on speaker. “Audrey, Mitch’s ex-wife, is on the line, too.”
“I also learned she’s your sister,” Chandler responded in a low voice. “What I’m curious about is, why I never knew she was family before now?”
“I, uh, only found out she existed at Christmas,” Ryder faltered. There was a note of vulnerability in his voice I wasn’t used to hearing. “I’m guessing Gray shared that with you before this call, but if you’re bringing that up because you’re about to tell me to stand down given our relationship, then—”
“Let’s table that conversation for later,” Chandler said, cutting him off. “First, walk me through what happened.”
Ryder opened his eyes, exhaling. “How much do you already know?”
“Gray briefed me that Audrey’s home was broken into Friday. Today, Trevor Sloane’s place was attacked. Fortunately, you were all there. You held the fort and the attackers retreated.”
My gaze drifted to the bloodstained chair next to me as Ryder shared, “We took one alive. He claims he’s military. He could be lying to keep us from killing him. We’ll upload his photo for ID, along with pictures of the bodies we dropped. But the guy told us who allegedly sent the team and why.”
“Unless he’s lying about that, too,” Reed mumbled beneath the hand parked across his mouth.
“He said it was Mitch Langston; then we got a text from someone claiming to be Mitch as well,” Ryder went on, his voice wavering.
“That’s not possible.” Static crackled over the line, followed by a long, strained breath from the secretary.
“Yeah, dead people don’t text,” I growled out in a low hiss.
“No, that’s not it.” Another pause from Chandler, followed by another deep breath.
My legs were weak, but I forced myself to stand, and Audrey immediately came over to me for an assist. “I’m fine,” I mouthed, though my balance said otherwise. She didn’t seem to buy it and stayed at my side, hovering like she could catch all two hundred and five pounds of me.
“What aren’t you telling us?” Ryder asked as his gaze met mine, and I felt it coming. We both did. The storm. The tsunami on the horizon.
“He can’t be alive,” Chandler remarked in a steady tone. “No way he’s behind this. I know that because I was part of the team that helped fake his death last year. But on his way to the safe house, he was killed.” He gave us a what-the-hell moment of silence before continuing, “For real that time.”
Chapter Seventeen
Alejandro
Audrey’s legs appeared to give out, but I caught her in time, easing her into my chair, dropping down with her to one knee. My hand remained locked with hers, and I had no plans to let go.
Ryder held up the phone after giving me a quick nod of thanks. “Explain,” he demanded to Secretary Chandler, who was still on speaker.
“We can’t talk about this now,” Chandler replied, his voice tight. “But I saw the footage. Mitch is dead. The men guarding him lost their lives, too. DNA was a match. I don’t know who the hell is out there pretending to be him.Butif I’m wrong and Mitch is truly alive, then he’s stayed off-grid for a year for a reason.”
Audrey was trembling and pale. Fading. I tightened my grip on her hand, and she held mine back with equal force.
“We know what they’re after,” Ryder said, breaking through the quiet. “A key. Mitch said he’d text Audrey with a location within three days and she’d need to bring the key. We think it’s split into two parts. Reed discovered a code inscribed in Mitch’s wedding band, and we believe the second half is in Audrey’s. Only we didn’t have a chance to recover hers. Her house was hit when the lodge was, and we believe they have their hands on the second half of the key.”
