All of the air left Gabe’s lungs with a whoosh.
Amidst the multiple what-the-fucks the guys were tossing at Ryker, he stared back at their handler with a barely controlled temper. “Why the hell didn’t you say something?”
“I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. I’m still not.”
“Bullshit!” Gabe’s roaring voice echoed off the metal walls. “You had a strong enough suspicion to put a goddamn tracker on him, yet you didn’t think to share that shit with us? What the fuck?”
Ryker stared at Gabe a second longer before skittering his gaze to the side. He closed his eyes and shook his head, cursing under his breath.
Running a hand over his jaw, he opened his eyes back up and looked at Gabe again. “Okay, look. Radcliff was in D.C. this morning. If you called his people right now, they’d tell you his schedule was booked solid well into the night.”
“But?”
“But we’ve had a guy watching him. Radcliff boarded a plane less than an hour after Walker called Price to set up the trade.”
Jenna held up a hand. “If your guy was watching the governor, they should’ve seen Price board with him. Right?”
“We believe Price was already on the plane when my guy got there.”
There was a stretch of silence while everyone processed, but Gabe’s nagging gut said Ryker was still holding back.
“What aren’t you telling us?”
Making his first smart move all day, Ryker didn’t bother to lie. “Five minutes after Radcliff showed up, a chopper landed with a group of mercenary-looking assholes. They talked with the governor, then Radcliff boarded the plane and the chopper took off.”
“Jesus Christ.” Ghost ran a hand over his jaw.
“Are you serious, right now?” Jenna stepped into the agent’s personal space. “I may not understand what the hell is going on, but I can smell a set-up a mile away.”
“This doesn’t concern you, Miss Shaw,” Ryker tried dismissing her.
Oh, shit.
“Doesn’t concern me?” Looking like she was ready to explode, Jenna’s pointed finger damn near touched the man’s nose. “Listen, asshole. I was drugged and taken against my will. The one guy would’ve raped me if the other guy hadn’t shown back up when he did, and that’s my best friend on that plane. So don’t you dare say this doesn’t concern me, you stuffy, suit-wearing prick!”
Several of the men hid their curling mouths with their hands. A few even had to cough to cover up the laughter bubbling up inside their chests. But Gabe wasn’t amused.
“She’s right.” Gabe’s narrowed gaze held Ryker’s. “This thing stinks to high Heaven, and we just about got our asses shot to hell and back. So for once, just tell us the fucking truth.”
Finally, with a deep exhale, Ryker gave him a reluctant nod. “The last bit of intel we received told us Price was talking about resigning as Radcliff’s chief of staff.”
“Resigning?” Hollywood grimaced in pain. “His boss is about to become President of the United States. Why the hell would he resign, now?”
“Who knows?” Ryker shrugged. “Maybe the pressure of always trying to clean up Radcliff’s shit was getting to him. All we’ve been able to piece together is Price supposedly told Radcliff he’d take care of this one last problem, and then he was out. According my people, Radcliff agreed to pay Price enough to keep living the lifestyle he was accustomed to in order to keep the guy from spilling his guts. Radcliff then decided at the last minute to come along to make sure Price kept his word.” Ryker glanced out to where Price’s body lay. “Pretty sure Radcliff had no intentions of letting him go.”
The longer Gabe listened to the agent talk, the more his anger built. The bastard was standing there talking about this as if it were just a normal day at the office. As if Ellena hadn’t just been abducted by one of the most powerful men in the world.
He wanted to hit something. Better yet,someone.
“You son of a bitch!”
Gabe’s muscles tensed to the point of shaking as he stormed toward Ryker. His hands filled with the front of the guy’s button-down shirt just before he slammed him up against the nearest wall. He brought himself nose-to-nose with the other man.
“You knew Radcliff would be here…that he’d hired fuckingmercenaries… and you didn’t tell me?”
“It was need to know, and--”
Gabe took a swing, punching Ryker square in the jaw. His other hand was the only thing keeping the bastard from completely falling to the floor.
