15. Slider
15
SLIDER
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I growled as I got out of the SUV and stormed over to the waiting vehicle. “It was you?”
Craig held up his hands in a plea for a stay of execution. “Let’s just focus on getting her back.”
“Why the fuck were you out there to begin with?”
“I’d like to know the same,” Thumper said, coming to stand beside me. “And what the hell happened to you guys?”
“Accident,” Rae reminded us. “They were the ones who snatched her from the kidnappers who stole her from you.”
“That’s one too many fucking kidnappers,” I muttered.
“Look, she was on her way with Spencer,” Craig said, nodding to Spencer, who stood behind us, “and she didn’t actually want to go to this live-action shoot. She was fucking tired and needed a break. So, she asked me for a favor.”
My blood boiled at the insinuation. “And that would be?”
“To kidnap her,” he said bluntly. “I was going to stage it so she could get away with Spencer for a week before her next movie.”
“And you didn’t think to contact us?”
He shrugged. “She didn’t tell me the live-action shoot was with OPS. If she had, I would have made some suggestions.”
I ran my hand over my head, frustrated as hell with this clusterfuck. “And now she’s been taken again. Where the hell were you the first time?”
“She gave me the wrong day. I heard about her disappearance and knew something bad had happened.”
“Obviously, douchebag,” IRIS snapped. “Did you think she got kidnapped by someone else and maybe it wasn’t that bad?”
“Maybe we could take things down a notch,” Alec muttered, rubbing his temples. “The point is, we need to figure out who the hell keeps trying to take Spencer and Audrey, and why the fuck they want them so badly.”
“Not me,” Spencer spoke up, walking forward. “I was only kidnapped twice.”
“We didn’t kidnap you,” I pointed out. “We were saving your ass.”
Rae stepped into the fray, whistling loudly before things got out of control. “Alright, boys, this is how it’s going down. We’re gonna get to a safe house and get as much information as we can. I need to run down some sources and then we’ll have something we can go on.”
“No offense, but we always work with Becky. She’s very good,” Craig said.
Rae’s eyes narrowed at the competitive remark. “I bet she is, but she’s not here, and if she were, I would still kick her ass. In more ways than one,” she grinned. “So, while I’m doing the real work, you two can take a shower and…do something about this—” she said, waving her hand up and down their bodies. “You look like you were run over by a truck.”
“We sort of were,” Alec muttered.
“And we’ll go in when we find her and retrieve her while you keep Spencer?—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Craig snapped. “If anyone’s going to retrieve her, it’s going to be me. She called me for help.”
“Yes, and you nearly got her killed in a car accident,” Rae pointed out.
“Better than her slipping out with a kidnapper from a bathroom,” Spencer laughed. But when we all turned and glared at him, he swallowed hard and took a step back. “Not that my opinion matters in any way. I just do as I’m told.”
Craig glared at me, his whole body tense. “You let her slip out of the fucking bathroom?”
“You let her jump onto the hood of the SUV from a moving vehicle,” Alec muttered.
“You what?” Thumper shouted.
“So, clearly, we’re all at fault here,” IRIS said, holding up his hands. “I mean, aside from Thumper and me. We were actually doing our jobs. But the rest is something we shouldn’t focus on at the moment.”
“Thanks for having my back,” I muttered.
He slapped me on the back with a grin. “Any time, man. So, like I was saying, we’ll do what Rae suggested and get the job done. Then we’ll take Spencer and Audrey back to OPS and?—”
“Not a fucking chance in hell!” Craig shouted. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”
He rushed me, trying to tackle me, when Rae stepped in and used her tiny body to maneuver into position and flip him over her shoulder and slam him into the ground with very little effort. When she was done, she stomped her boot on his chest and stared down at her nails.
“Now, if you gentlemen will all stop behaving like hormonal teenagers?—”
“Fucking hell, woman. I was just in a car accident,” Craig moaned.
“He was,” Alec nodded. “I was there.”
“Then he shouldn’t have tried to take control of the situation,” Rae snapped. “You boys may think you’re in charge, but from here on out, the only person calling the shots around here is me. Is that clear?” she asked, glaring at each of us.
I would have argued with her, but the look on her face brooked no arguments. And I really didn’t want to end up in a body bag. So, I nodded and stepped back, giving her the floor. When she was sure we all agreed, she removed her boot from Craig’s chest and held out her hand to him, hauling him to his feet.
He groaned, holding his back as he hobbled back to Alec. “Thanks for having my back out there.”
Alec scoffed. “I barely have my front.”
Thumper leaned over and whispered, “So, why are we fighting so hard to get her back when it’s clear that Craig wants the honors?”
“Because I fucked up. It’s my fault she was taken.”
“Well, technically, it was on all of us.”
“Yeah, but I was close protection. It falls on my shoulders.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I know. I just wanted to make you feel better.”
I quirked an eyebrow at him. “You’re kind of an asshole.”
That got a laugh out of him. “Yeah, but you already knew that. Come on. Let’s get moving. We have a lot of work to do.”
As Thumper walked away, IRIS came to stand beside me. “You just say the word and I’ll plant a bomb under their SUV.”
Darkness fell and we were no closer to catching the assholes who’d kidnapped Audrey. Craig and Alec were of little use since they were barely functioning. I couldn’t be too hard on them. After all, Craig was Audrey’s friend. He was only trying to help her.
And he wasn’t the one who lost her on a job.
That honor rested on my shoulders. As Rae scrolled through footage and Thumper called every contact OPS had to track down leads, IRIS and I grilled the director about every single person who might have a grudge against Spencer and Audrey. So far, we’d come up with nothing.
“There has to be something,” I snapped at Woody, her director. “Fan mail. A fucking phone call she received recently. A stalker. Fucking anything that would give us some hint about who would go after her.”
“Like I said, her assistant handled all that stuff, and she said there was nothing recently.”
“Then why don’t you put her on the fucking phone so I can talk directly to her.”
“I’m afraid she’s not around.”
“Then give me her number,” I growled.
“Why don’t you do the job you were hired to do?” he shouted. “You were supposed to take her on a live-action shoot. Not get her kidnapped.”
“She was kidnapped before we ever took her into our protection.”
“And yet, somehow, she went missing again.” The accusation in his tone had me clenching my phone to the point of cracking the case. I already knew we’d fucked up. I didn’t need the reminder. But this wasn’t about my mistakes at the moment. This was about finding out who wanted her to begin with.
“Give me her address so I can send someone over to comb through every inch of it.”
“And invade her privacy? I can’t give you that. I have no authority.”
“I can guarantee that she won’t care when she comes back alive,” I bit out.
“That’s not my choice to make.”
“Listen here, asshole?—”
The phone was torn out of my hands, and Rae quickly ended the call, raising her brow at me. “You’re not gonna get anywhere with him. This isn’t about getting her back. He cares about getting sued. Everything for him is about his bottom line.”
I fucking knew that, but what else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t sit around here with my thumbs up my ass while she was out there with God knows who did all kinds of shit to her. She was in the same fucking accident as Craig and Alec. We had no idea what kind of condition she was in or if she was even still alive.
“You need to relax. We’ll get her back. I know you feel responsible here, but this is not solely on your shoulders.”
“She was in my care,” I bit out. “Have you ever lost someone?”
Her lips tightened in a thin line. “I almost lost Duke.”
“He knew what he was doing. Hell, he did that on purpose.”
“That doesn’t make it any easier. Look, I’m getting close to finding a location. Just give me a little more time and we’ll have something. In the meantime, go eat a sandwich or something. You’re getting hangry.”
“A sandwich isn’t going to help.”
“No, but it’ll get you out of my hair. Seriously, I can’t concentrate with you in my face every five minutes.”
“Fine,” I grumbled, heading into the kitchen to find a cup of coffee. At least I could get some caffeine in me and be prepared for whenever we hit the road.
Thumper nodded to me as I walked in. He had the same idea as me, filling his own mug. “Want one?”
“Hit me.”
“It’s definitely not a shot, but it should help,” he said, sliding it over to me. As he yawned, he rubbed his thigh—the leg that had the prosthetic.
“Is it bothering you?”
“Just spasms. It’s been a while since I took it off.”
“Shouldn’t you do that now while you have the chance?” I asked, knowing what would happen if he didn’t. He liked to think he kept that shit to himself, but we all knew how fast he would go down if he waited too long to take care of his stump.
“What are you, my mother?” He sat down, wincing as he did.
“No, but I’ll call her if I have to.” I took a sip of coffee and grimaced. “Fucking hell, who made this shit?”
“That would be Rae.”
“I thought she knew how to make coffee.”
He snorted in amusement. “She makes the worst coffee out of any of us.”
“Finally, we found something she’s not good at,” I chuckled.
“Well, it was bound to happen. No woman can be perfect.”
“Don’t let Bree hear you say that.”
“Why? Do you think she’d leave me?” he grinned.
“No, but she might sic Rae on you.” I took another sip and nearly spit it out. “I’m not sure that’s worth finishing.”
“Probably not. Any idea where IRIS is?”
I smirked as I remembered his offer. “You know IRIS.”
He rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh. “Fuck. You know, I can only explain his devices so many times to Cash.”
“Cash isn’t here,” I reminded him, darkening the mood slightly.
“Yeah.” A frown twisted his lips as he stared at his mug. “I forgot for a second. It’s weird, isn’t it?”
“Having Lock as a boss? Fucking awkward as hell,” I said, trying to lighten the mood again.
“Do you think he’s coming back?”
The shit of it all was that none of us really knew. We would all do anything for him, but Eva had become family to all of us, and it was hard as hell to see her struggling to get by. She was one hell of a woman to put up with his shit, but this was too far.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “That depends on Knight.”
“And Michael.” He leaned forward, lowering his voice in case Craig or Alec walked into the room. “I keep thinking…there has to be more to the story.”
“You mean, more than Michael turning for the sake of whatever he’s getting from The Syndicate?”
He nodded. “He’s not in it for the money.”
“You can’t be sure. Anyone can be turned for money.”
He shook his head. “Not him. And the way he fought for Isabelle…I can’t believe he would ever leave her on that island with Zavala unless there was something really big at stake.”
“Something bigger than her—than any of us,” I said, following his line of thinking.
“Something worth sacrificing his own kid for.”
“That would be one hell of a secret.”
There was something else on his mind, though. The way his eyes flicked to the door, watching for Craig and Alec, I knew there was something he wanted to say that he didn’t want anyone to hear.
“What are you thinking?”
His eyes came back to meet mine, and the darkness I saw in them sent a chill down my spine. “Cash wasn’t around when Kavanaugh’s dad was shot.”
I swallowed hard at the implication. “You can’t be serious,” I hissed.
“I don’t want to believe it, but that shot—it’s who he is. And now he’s off with Shadow—his father—going after whoever this is. How can we be certain that whatever’s going on, Michael didn’t get to Cash?”
“Because Cash can’t be turned.”
“How sure are you about that?”
I was about to tell him that I was one hundred percent sure, but a sliver of doubt crept into my mind. If the right circumstances were presented, it was possible anyone could be turned. Even me.
“Yeah, now you’re thinking the way I am. The one thing he cares about is protecting everyone he loves.”
“And Eva and the kids are his first priority,” I surmised.
“It wouldn’t take much for him to flip his entire life on its head to do whatever it took to keep them safe. And don’t doubt for a second that he would say or do anything to make them think the worst of him—to push them away—if it meant nothing touched them.”
He was right. After Rafe…after he shot Rafe, he was lost. No, he was fucking out of his mind with grief. How many times had he locked himself in his office and stayed in there for days? None of us knew what was going on. Hell, we all knew he was plotting in there. We just never suspected this.
My gaze snapped up to meet Thumper’s. “If he did take that shot?—”
Thumper nodded, his brows furrowed in thought. “Did he take the shot at Kavanaugh?”
“I can’t believe it,” I said, baffled at the idea.
“That was one hell of a shot,” Thumper said warily. “Do you know many people that could make a shot like that?”
I knew one person. It just never crossed my mind that it could be him.
“They had it out before Cash stormed out of here. It’s possible.”
“But to shoot?—”
“It’s not possible,” Rae snapped from behind us.
I spun to face Rae at the same time Thumper shoved his chair back and got to his feet. “Rae?—”
“I don’t want to hear it. All your theories are bullshit. Cash would never do something like that.”
Thumper tried this time. “Rae, you saw him?—”
“And I know him better than any of you. He would never take that shot at Kavanaugh, and he would never take out Kavanaugh’s father. Not under any circumstances.”
It was clear Rae wasn’t going to listen to anything we had to say. Besides, we weren’t here to discuss what might be happening with Cash. We had a job to do.
“I found her. You know, in case you guys want to get back to the actual job we’re working.”
She turned on her heel and walked away. My jaw clenched hard as I turned to Thumper. “That was…”
He nodded. “Best to keep this between us.”
I nodded in agreement. Until we had more than a theory to go on, there was no way we could let this get around OPS. Not only would it divide the company, but it would hurt Eva.
The back door swung open and IRIS walked in with a grin on his face. “You guys are not gonna believe what I came up with.”