“American?”
“Born and raised.” The other man nodded. “Which I thought was weird, until I remembered what Kam said about Akimi mentioning someone within our government being involved. When you think about it like that, having American hit men makes a perfect kind of twisted sense.”
“You get a look at the driver of the boat?” Logan asked.
Van’s head slid back and forth. “Kind of, but not really.” To Lucky, he asked next, “What about the guy’s known associates. Anything pop there?”
“None that I found. I mean, his record includes about a dozen bad actors the guy was known to consort with.” The brilliant man tapped the screen again. “Here. Take a look and see if any of them could be your driver.”
Van took the tablet from his teammate’s hand and began scrolling through the mugshots on the screen. He looked through the line of photos fairly quickly, skimming each one without a hint of recognition.
He was about to give up and accept that none of them were his guy when his hand froze over the screen, and every muscle in his body locked down tight.
“What the hell?”
“What?” Logan came to his side, looking at the screen from over his shoulder. “Is that him? Is that the guy who was driving the boat?”
Van stared at the familiar face as a rush of unprecedented fury began to boil within his gut. The face he was staring at wasn’t the man from the boat. His name…
Felix James.
“That’s one of the guys Webb had with him at the Marina,” he told the others.
“Are you sure?” Archer asked as he glanced down at the electronic pic.
“As sure as I’ve ever been about anything in my life.” When the other man, along with Logan and Chase, appeared to be less than convinced, Van barely controlled his broiling temper. “I’m telling you, less than an hour ago,thatasshole pointed his fucking gun at my head.”
“Hold up,” Chase jumped back in. “I thought you said the guys who were with Webb were in suits, and?—”
“They were.” Van cut him off, raking a frustrated hand through his head. He hadn’t so much as questioned who they were. “I didn’t even think to question who they were. I just assumed they were government employees assigned to Webb’s detail, and let them take Kam away without doing a damn thing to stop them.”
I’m sorry, Kam. So fucking sorry.
He had to work to control his breathing.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Logan continued denying what they were all beginning to see as the truth. “Webb wouldn’t work with a guy like that. Not him. No way.”
Though he hated it, Van didn’t have time to be gentle. So he met his friend’s troubled gaze and said, “Face it, brother. Webb’s dirty. You can deny it all you want, but you’re only wasting your time.”
“No.” Logan shook his head again. “Webb said that?—”
“He fucking lied! Don’t you get it, Logan? I mean, look at the damn evidence! The man has a known killer on his payroll, for fuck’s sake. I get that the guy was friends with your dad and that he helped out your mom after the funeral and all that. But the fact is, that man”—hepointed to the image on the screen—“is working with Webb, and it sure as hell isn’t as an agent assigned to protective detail.”
As he said those words, the totality of the situation fully began to sink in. And that’s when Van really started to panic because…
“We have to find her.” Theyhadto. “We have to hurry the hell up and figure out where he’s taking Kam.”
His teammates grew quiet as they looked back at him with empathetic stares.
“It’s okay, Van,” Chase began. “We’ll figure out where Webb took your girl, and we’ll bring her back safe and sound.”
“How?” He was suddenly finding it hard to breathe. “How are we going to?—”
“The marina has security cams, right?” Lucky asked.
Van felt his head bob in a wooden nod as he worked to remain calm and not totally lose his shit. “They’re all over down there.”
“All over is good. I’ll be right back.”
