Rescuing Jenna - Anna Blakely Page 0,67

“Ortiz was wearing this ring the day I killed him.”

The man’s brown eyes grew wide. The move indicating that the bit of information Adrian had just shared had gotten his attention.

“You took out Cesar Ortiz?”

He nodded again. “It was my first assignment with the Agency.”

“The CIA?” Gabe’s spinning wheels were damn near visible. “Wait, you’re talking about your sister’s case, aren’t you?”

Adrian was impressed the guy remembered.

Back when Gabe and his team first discovered Adrian had been working deep cover for the CIA and Homeland, he’d shared with them the story of how they’d enticed him with the promise to take down the organization they believed was responsible for his sister’s disappearance.

“With intel the Agency and Homeland provided, along with Ben Campillo’s help, I was able to track down the organization responsible for her abduction and death.”

“And you went straight for the top.”

Old memories—painful memories—had his teeth grinding together. “I found out Cesar Ortiz bought my sister Bree for himself. I found him and tortured him until he confessed to everything. Including killing her and where he’d dumped her body. Then I killed him. Slowly.”

“Jesus.” Gabe ran a hand over his salt and pepper scruff. “When you first told us how you got roped into becoming a government assassin, you didn’t mention Ortiz had been your target.”

The bastard’s reputation preceded him. Even in death.

“I didn’t mention his name, because I couldn’t.” Adrian huffed out a breath. “Hell I just broke about a billion laws by telling you now, but…” He swallowed hard. “If this ring means what I think it does…”

The two men shared a look, both understanding what had been left unspoken. That ring meant Jenna was in serious trouble.

“Who was left?” Gabe asked after waiting a beat.

“What do you mean?”

“Once you took down Ortiz. Who managed to walk away?”

“No one.” Adrian shook his head. “Ortiz was the heart and soul of the organization. Once he was gone, the whole thing fell apart. People started turning on each other like crazy.”

“There has to be someone.” Gabe stood and began pacing the room.

“I’m telling you, there’s not!” Adrian’s voice boomed. “Everyone involved in the cartel is either dead or behind bars.”

“How can you be so sure?”

His gaze narrowed. “I don’t know. Maybe because I’m good at my fucking job.”

Pushing himself off the mattress, Adrian rose awkwardly to his feet. He could feel the pull of his stitches but ignored the pain and limped his way over to where his crutches still lay.

Balancing on one leg, he bent over and grabbed one to help ease some of the pressure as he turned and faced Gabe again.

A muscle in the man’s strong jaw twitched as he stared Adrian down. “Obviously someone connected to Ortiz is holding a goddamn grudge against you, Adrian. And Jenna’s the one paying the fucking price. So if you could get your arrogant head out of your ass and work with me on this, we might be able to figure out who that someone is before they fucking kill her!”

The truthful words stole his breath as terror for the woman he loved stabbed at his heart.

Gabe was right. Not about his being arrogant. This had nothing to do with that.

Adrian had been pushing back because he couldn’t face the fucking truth. He’d said the words out loud, but he still hadn’t wanted to accept the fact that Jenna’s life was in danger because of him.

It didn’t matter who took her. Not really. Because when it was all said and done, he was the one to set this whole thing in motion. The minute he tortured and killed Cesar Ortiz for payback for what the man had done to his sister.

And now Jenna was being forced to pay for his sins.

Oh, god, baby. I’m so sorry. So. Fucking. Sorry!

“We need to call Ryker.” Gabe pulled his cell from his pocket to call R.I.S.C.’s Homeland handler. “If this does have something to do with the job you did for him and the CIA, and it seems pretty fucking clear that it does, then he needs to know. Plus, if there’s new cartel activity stirring, his people might know where to start looking.”

While they waited for the call to be answered, Gabe looked back at him and asked, “You gonna be able to handle this? If not, I need to know, now.”

Could he handle knowing that he was responsible for all this? That Jenna, his Jenna, could possibly die because of him?

No.

Was he going to admit that to Gabriel Dawson or