Gant looked up.“Yeah?”
“Marlow was gone when the kidnapper called, remember?”Gant nodded.
“Then who told him how the money was to be paid?”
“I did,” Gant said, then glanced at Wyandott, who had already expressed some displeasure in the way Gant had handled things thus far.“I knew it wouldn’t be easy to accumulate that much money in small bills.Thought he needed as much time as possible.”
But that wasn’t what Ryder needed to know.“No…exactly what did you tell him?”
“I don’t follow you,” Gant said.“What are you getting at?”
Ryder’s nerves were on edge.The more he thought about Lash, the more certain he became.“I want to know what you told him to bring.”
“I said something to the effect that we needed three million dollars in small, unmarked bills by noon today.”
“Did you tell him what denominations?”
“I told him no hundred dollars bills.Everything had to be smaller than one hundred dollar bills.”
Oh, my God.What if Roman was right on target about Lash Marlow’s involvement all along?“Then did you or any of your men ever play that tape for Marlow?”
“What tape?”Gant asked.
“The one you made when the ransom call came in.”Gant shrugged.“I don’t know.I know I didn’t.”He looked at Wyandott.“Did you or any of your men?”All answers were negative.
The flesh crawled on the back of Ryder’s neck.“Then can any of you explain to me why Marlow just quoted the kidnapper’s exact terminology of the request he made for ransom?”
Roman pivoted, already following the line of his brother’s thoughts.“I wasn’t in here.What did Marlow say?”
Ryder stared around the room, daring the men to disagree.“You all heard him.He said, ‘Three million dollars in unmarked bills.None of them larger in denomination than a fifty, none of them smaller than a five.”’
“Son of a bitch.”Gant’s epitaph was echoed in more than one man’s thoughts.“If memory serves, that’s just about word for word.”
Wyandott looked surprised, then began issuing new orders as Ryder turned and started running.Roman caught him at the door.
“You can’t do what you’re thinking.”
Ryder yanked himself free.His words came out a cold, even tone.“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”
Roman tightened his hold.“That’s where you’re wrong.I know exactly what you’re thinking, and I don’t blame you one bit.But you’ve got to think of Casey.If Marlow is involved and he’s alerted before the drop even goes down, what’s going to happen to her?Better yet, how the hell would we know where to find her?”
Ryder hit the wall with the flat of his palm and then wiped a hand across his face.Every time he took a step he wanted to run, but to where?What had they done with his wife?
“My God,” he said.“What the hell do you expect me to do?Wait until someone brings her back to me in a body bag?”
Roman got up in his face, and this time, he was the one on the defensive.“No, I expect you to let me do my job.”
Ryder doubled his fists and refused to give an inch, even to his brother.Helpless in the face of so much logic, the urge to lash out was overwhelming.
Roman sighed.He didn’t understand this kind of commitment between a man and a woman, but he’d seen enough of it to know it went beyond any blood ties.And as he gazed into his brother’s face, he had a flashback of a little boy with mud in his hair and fire in his eyes.He remembered that same little boy had not only whipped the boy who’d beaten him up to take away his baseball, but he’d gotten the ball back, too.Even then, Ryder Justice had been a force with which to reckon.
“So, what’s it going to be?”Roman asked.
Even though the urge to argue was overwhelming, Ryder relented, slumping against the wall.“Then do it.Just know that every step you take I’m going to be on your heels.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way, brother, but that will come later.Right now, there’s one little thing I need to do before the day gets any older, and I don’t want help in getting it done.”
It felt wrong, and it hurt like hell to watch Roman going out the door without him, but Ryder stood his ground.Roman was right.He’d asked for his help.The least he could do was give him the leeway to do it.
