36. Taken #2
“Okay.”Logan held up a hand.“Stupid question.”Mercer stared at Sloan.“You knew?”Sloan nodded.“She found out during the raid.”Mercer’s face changed.“During the warehouse raid?”
“Yes.”Chris rubbed both hands over his face.“She took two tests.”He looked toward the bathroom.“Both positive.”Logan stared at him.“Jesus.”Chris laughed bitterly.“Yeah.”Mercer was still processing it.“How far along?”
“We don’t know.”Chris swallowed.“Maybe five weeks.”
“And Diego knows?”Chris looked at him.“No.”Everyone went quiet again.“He cannot find out.”Mercer nodded immediately.“Agreed.”Chris’s expression became fierce.“Nobody says anything over unsecured communications. Nothing about pregnancy. Nothing about a baby.”
“Understood.”
“Diego thinks he took Camila because she’s leverage against me.”Mercer’s jaw tightened.
“He doesn’t know he took—”Chris couldn’t finish.His baby.He looked away.For the first time since waking up, the rage cracked.Fear came through.Raw.“She was sick tonight.”
Sloan’s expression softened.Chris stared at the blood on his hands.
“She was throwing up.”His voice dropped.
“I found her in the bathroom.”Nobody interrupted him.
“The tests were sitting beside the sink.”He laughed weakly.
“I couldn’t fucking speak.”Logan looked away.Chris swallowed.
“She asked me if I didn’t want—”His eyes closed.
“I told her not to finish the sentence.”Mercer watched him.Chris’s voice broke.
“I’ve known I’m going to be a father for less than two hours.
”He looked at them.“And now I don’t know where either of them are.
”Silence.Even Mercer didn’t have an answer for that.Chris turned away.His shoulders rose and fell.Then he wiped the blood from his face.When he turned back—something had changed.The panic remained.The fear remained.But it was contained now.Weaponized.
“Show me everything.”Mercer studied him. “What?”
“Traffic cameras. Known Vargas properties. Diego’s businesses. Costa’s contacts. Vehicles. Phones. Everything.”
“Medical first.”
“No.”
“Walker.”
“No.”
“You may have a concussion.”
“Then I’ll solve this with a concussion.”
“You’re not going into the field like this.”Chris stared.“You think you’re leaving me behind?”
“Yes.”Chris actually laughed.Mercer didn’t.“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“You are compromised.”
“My girlfriend has been kidnapped.”
“Exactly.”
“My pregnant girlfriend.”
“Exactly.”Chris stepped closer.“And that’s your argument for keeping me here?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re out of your fucking mind.”
Mercer held his ground.
“You’re emotional. You’re injured. And Diego knows you.”
“I know Diego.”
“That doesn’t make this better.”
“It makes me useful.”
“It makes you predictable.”Chris went quiet.Mercer continued.“Diego wants you angry.”
“I am.”
“He wants you reckless.”Chris didn’t answer.“He wants you coming.”That one landed.Chris stared.Of course.Camila wasn’t only leverage.She was bait.Diego wanted Chris.
Maybe more than he wanted her.Chris’s breathing slowed.“Then we use that.”Mercer’s eyes narrowed.“What?”
“He wants me?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“No.”
“Mercer.”
“No.”Chris stepped toward the operations table.“If Diego took her because he wants me, eventually he contacts us.”
“Probably.”
“He won’t hurt her immediately.”
“We cannot assume that.”
“He needs her.”
“For leverage.”
“Yes.”Chris’s jaw tightened.“So until he gets what he wants, she’s valuable alive.”Nobody said the other possibility.Chris wouldn’t allow himself to think it.He looked toward Sloan.
“Phones.”
“We’re monitoring everything.”
“My personal?”
“Yes.”
“Roman’s old number?”Sloan paused.Chris pointed.“Turn it back on.”Mercer understood.“He may call Roman.”
“No.”Chris looked at him.“He’ll call Walker.”He picked up his real phone.Stared at it.“Diego doesn’t want the criminal anymore.”Chris’s eyes hardened.“He wants the FBI agent who destroyed his organization.”Logan moved beside him.“And when he calls?”
Chris looked at the map.“We keep him talking.”
“Trace him.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”Chris finally looked at Mercer.“Then I’m going.”Mercer shook his head.“No.”
Chris didn’t blink.“I’m not asking.”
“You don’t get to make that decision.”
“Watch me.”
“Walker.”Chris slammed both palms onto the table.“She is carrying my child.”Silence.His voice dropped.“You can suspend me afterward.”Mercer stared.“Fire me.”Nothing.“Take my badge.”Chris pulled it from his waistband and threw it onto the table.
It hit hard.“Do whatever the fuck you want when this is over.”He pointed toward the map.
“But I am not sitting in this building while Diego Serrano has Camila.”His eyes burned.
“And I am sure as hell not sitting here while he has my baby.”Sloan picked up Chris’s badge.She looked at it.Then at Mercer.
“Let him work.”Mercer stared at her.“Sloan.”
“He knows Diego better than anyone in this building.”Logan nodded.
“He knows Costa.”Mercer looked between them.
“You two realize you’re supposed to help me control him.
”Logan shrugged.“We’ve met him.”Under any other circumstances Chris might have laughed.Not tonight.Mercer rubbed his face.Then looked at Chris. “You follow my orders.”
Chris said nothing.“Every one.”Silence.“You do not freelance.”Chris’s jaw tightened.“Walker.”
“Fine.”
“You stay with the team.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t chase Diego alone.”Chris hesitated.Mercer’s eyes narrowed.“Chris.”
“Fine.”
“And if medical says you’re physically incapable—”
“I’m capable.”
“You haven’t been evaluated.”
“Then evaluate me while I’m looking at cameras.”Mercer stared at him.Finally:“Fine.”
Chris reached for his badge.Sloan handed it back.His fingers closed around it.Special Agent Chris Walker.For months that badge had been the secret that could destroy everything between him and Camila.Now it might be the thing that brought her home.
An agent hurried into the room.“Mercer.”Everyone turned.“We’ve got something.”
Chris was beside him immediately.“What?”
“Traffic camera six miles east caught a dark SUV leaving the secondary road approximately four minutes after the breach.”
“Plate?”
“Obscured.”
“Occupants?”
“Can’t see.”
“Direction?”
“East.”Chris moved to the monitor.The image appeared.Blurry.Dark SUV.Chris stared.
“Back it up.”The analyst did.“Again.”Replay.Chris leaned closer.Something.There.“Stop.”
The image froze.Chris pointed toward the rear quarter panel.“Damage.”The analyst enlarged it.A scrape.Chris knew that scrape.His blood went cold.“I’ve seen that vehicle.”
Mercer looked at him.“Where?”
“Mateo’s secondary garage.”
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“Whose?”Chris thought.Then remembered.Diego tossing keys across the workbench.
A driver catching them.Chris hearing Mateo complain about one of the SUVs being sideswiped.His eyes sharpened.“Diego’s.”The room changed instantly.Mercer started issuing orders.“Get every camera east. Highway, toll, private businesses. I want that vehicle.”
Agents moved.Chris stared at the frozen image.Somewhere inside that SUV—Camila.
His child.He touched the screen.Barely.“Hold on.”Then his hand dropped.His face hardened.“I’m coming.”And this time, Chris Walker wasn’t infiltrating Diego’s world.He was going to tear it apart until he got his family back.