“He’s going to kill us when he finds out what we did. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I do, but if this brings him home, I doubt he will care.”
“All right, so the plan is to keep him talking so that we can get the SWAT team in and get the hostages out. I’ll stay in the van and will only show my face if he needs to see that Lucas showed up.”
“Yeah,” Tucker said nodding, it sounded like an easy plan, but nothing was ever easy. “I’m sorry that this could expose you and your family.”
“Stop,” Tyler said to him. “I’m not worried about that, we have it covered, trust me. We’ve been preparing for events like this since the day we signed on as Seeker agents. We never hid what we were doing, but we also didn’t advertise it either. All I care about is getting those people out alive.”
“All right, let’s do this.” Tucker got out of the standard issue FBI vehicle, pulling out his badge and walking up to the cops that were standing around looking at the warehouse. “Who the fuck is in charge here?”
“That would be me,” said an older balding gentleman. “I’m Captain Seabrook, who the hell are you?”
Tucker would have rolled his eyes but kept his mask intact. If the FBI flak jacket wasn’t a dead giveaway, the damn badge hanging around his neck should have told Seabrook who he was. “Assistant Director Tucker Hamilton-Stevens,” he said lifting his badge. “My team and I are taking over the scene.”
“What the fuck?” one of the guys that was standing beside Seabrook yelled, but Tucker ignored him keeping his eyes on the captain. “Under whose authority?"
“Mine,” Tucker snapped still looking at the captain.
“Look . . .” the guy started, but his captain stopped him.
“Stand down, Mitchell,” he said to his subordinate. “All right, what do you want to know?”
“Have you been able to ascertain how many hostages he has in there with him?”
“So far five, we have a SWAT sniper positioned ready to take a shot, but he’s kept a human shield in front of him every time he goes to the window.”
“What else?”
“We’ve tried negotiating with him, but he keeps yelling for shadow, who or what that is we don’t know, and he refuses to give us a hint,” Mitchell said to him with a lot more respect than the first time he spoke.
“Okay, I need you guys to move back and let my people take over. Keep your SWAT team positioned where they are and let me get a radio.” He ordered not adding that he knew something about what Gianni was asking for.
Captain Seabrook nodded and ordered his men back as he handed Tucker his radio. Jaxson, Stephen, Brenden, Mayson, and a few of the New York FBI took up the positions the cops had vacated. Tucker walked over to the tinted SUV and opened the door handing Tyler the radio.
“You’re on.”
“You wanted me here, so here I am,” Tyler said into the radio. He looked at Tucker as they waited for Gianni to respond. They were hoping their plan worked, although Tyler and Lucas looked alike, they sounded different.
“You took your sweet time, amico.”
Tyler grunted. “Why don’t you let the hostages go?”
Gianni barked out a laugh. “Did you think things would be so easy? You should know me by now, always such a bleeding heart, that’s what I miss about you, amico.”
“I do, so why don’t you tell me why you’re doing all of this?”
“Betrayal, little Lucas,” Gianni said. “You betrayed me when I trusted you the most out of all the men who worked for me for many years. But you, I trusted you freely.”
“I was there to do my job, Alfonso. I needed you to trust me.”
“Si, and you did a very good job of it. You should have become an actor instead of an agent. You have the world fooled and possibly yourself. Maybe I wasn’t so wrong about you, or maybe I wasn’t your type.”
Tucker’s brows creased together at Gianni’s last statement. He knew that Lucas wouldn’t lie to him about being attracted to another man, but the familiarity in the way Gianni spoke about his husband irritated him.
“Let them go, Alfonso,” Tyler said.
“What do I get in return, amico?”
