Jason was about to say no when Zara returned to set a cup of coffee beside his keyboard. His eyes landed on her and he had an idea. Probably a bad one, and it definitely wouldn't work, but he was more than willing to try it if it meant they could save all of this.
"Yeah, I think I have the perfect reason to delay. The star witness is about to be gone for a little while. I'll tell my boss to use that as the excuse, but it means we're on the fucking clock."
"He threatened my girlfriend," Knock said. "That started the clock. Right now, this asshole had better hope he's good enough to deal with the wrath of fucking god, because I'm pulling out all the stops. No one messes with Jericho."
"Then call me when you get something," Jason told him, ending the call.
"Bad?" Zara asked.
"Real bad," Jason admitted. "Baby, I've just been outplayed, and I don't know what to do."
"Catch the bad guys, Jason." She turned him back to his computer. "You worry about that. I'll call our friends and let them know that a little help will be appreciated."
She leaned in to kiss the side of his neck this time, but he caught her arm. "Hey?"
Zara lifted her eyes to meet his. "I'm not mad," she promised.
"Nothing is going to stop me from marrying you," he swore. "Even if it's not Vegas, we will make this happen, because I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of being just the boyfriend. I want to give you the wedding of your dreams, Zara, so you just let me know what you want, but keep in mind that he put a hit on everyone going to Vegas."
She reached over his shoulder and pointed at the screen. "Knock, Jericho, gamer girls. He's implying a lot, but not once does he call out the FBI or you. Whoever this guy is, he's not as good as you. I want to get married at that little gazebo we picked out, and I want to do it next weekend, surrounded by your family."
"Zara," he tried.
"Consider this my wedding present," she told him. "Now get to work, Jason. I'll keep the coffee coming."
"I love you," he breathed, reaching for his keyboard again.
He just hoped he could make this happen. And while he typed in commands, he realized what his gut had been trying to say when they left Deviant. That had been too easy. Catching Arturo Ganza had almost been handed to him, and he'd been too impressed with himself to even see it.
No, the real Soul_Reaper was a lot smarter than that. The question was if Jason could be even smarter.
Chapter 30
Monday morning, Jason received a notification that his Section Chief and the Deputy Assistant Director wanted to see him in the office. Immediately, he packed up what information he had and went in. The trip wasn't short, but he would get there before the end of the business day. Bradley promised to meet him there.
Crysis thought the trip was great, though. Spending a day in the truck was the dog's idea of a good time. He alternated between watching where they were going, curling up in the passenger seat, and begging Jason to put down the side window so he could sniff the fresh air. At home, Zara promised that she and the rest would keep going. It seemed his fianc茅e had learned a few things from Amy at Deviant Games. Zara had named herself the organizer of his cyber squad, and was actually doing a good job of it.
When Jason finally reached the FBI's headquarters, he parked in the spot beside Bradley's SUV. That meant he was the last one here. After getting Crysis out of the truck, he headed inside. The security at the door nodded at him, recognizing his face, which was just one more sign that this had been going on for far too long.
Bradley sat in the waiting area for the Deputy Assistant Director's office. Agent Dalton was nowhere to be seen, but a flick of Bradley's finger made it clear he was in talking to Alex. Jason claimed the chair beside his partner and leaned in.
"This is going to be bad, isn't it?"
"No idea," Bradley admitted. "What do you have?"
"First, why was that fucking site still up?" Jason asked. "It should've been pulled down when the arrests started happening. Second, it's not good."