Rescuing Jenna - Anna Blakely Page 0,71
son just suddenly appeared out of nowhere to claim his rightful place at the fucking throne?”
“Something like that. He’s been working hard the past few years to rebuild what his father lost. Bastard’s well on his way, too.”
“Which is probably why he decided to take his father’s name,” Kole surmised.
The trained sniper was sitting at the table with Matt, and both men—every man in the room, actually—looked nearly as pissed as Adrian felt.
Actually, pissed didn’t even begin to describe how he was feeling.
This was a major fuckup on the American government’s dime. One that had already cost Ben his life. One that may very well cost Jenna hers.
No. Do not go there!
Adrian’s subconscious was right. He needed to keep that shit locked down. If he didn’t—if he allowed himself even a second to think about what could be happening to her—he’d lose his fucking mind.
“How long has the government known about this?” he demanded.
“Matais Sanchez has been under our radar for about eighteen months,” Ryker explained. “At first it was just chatter. A new Colombian organization claiming its leader had the knowledge and power to rival that of El Chapo and Escobar.”
“Jesus.” Adrian shifted the weight off of his injured leg.
“The discovery that Sanchez was really Ortiz happened about six weeks ago.” Ryker’s intense gaze fell on his. “A CIA operative was already in place. It took a bit, but she managed to get close to Matais. According to her report, Matais likes to talk when he drinks. And when he has sex. He spouted off a few things that made her suspicious, and she was able to obtain DNA and pass it along to her handler. The report confirms Matais is a familial match to Cesar.”
Jesus.
“Wait.” Excitement shot through him. “If you have an agent on the inside, then that means you know where Ortiz is located.”
Ryker shook his head. “We had a location. Up until a few days ago.”
His excitement dissipated in a flash. “What happened?”
“The agent inside vanished. We were actually talking about bringing you in on the investigation,” Ryker told him. “But then that shit went down with Dawson’s wife and—”
Anger flooded Adrian’s veins. “Are you shitting me? You could’ve at least told me about it.”
“You quit, remember?” The other man took a step toward him. “There was no justification to read you in on an active case.”
“Yet here you are.” Adrian threw his hands out to the side. “I mean, you’re telling us all now, right? So why the fuck couldn’t you have given me a heads up when you first found out about all this shit?”
“Seems he’s pretty good at keeping important shit a secret.” Gabe’s gaze narrowed as he stared Ryker down. “Especially from those of us who put our asses on the line for him.”
“Oh, spare me the high-horse routine,” Ryker defended himself. “What we do relies on discretion and secrets. You all know this. Hell, the only reason I’m telling you about Matais now is because he brought you into all this shit when he sent you his father’s ring.”
“Really?” Adrian got so close to the other man, their noses damn near touched. “So the fact that an innocent woman’s life is at stake has nothing to do with it?”
“Of course, it does. And we’re going to get Jenna back, but we have to go through the right channels. We can’t just barge into his last known location without any sort of plan or backup. That’s why I—”
“Fuck you, Jason.” Adrian refused to listen to any more excuses. “And fuck your government agency bullshit.”
Ryker opened his mouth to continue the argument, but Nate chose that moment to interject.
“I hate to break up this little love fest”—Nate interjected—“but…is it just me, or have we seen this episode once before?”
With his hand raised as if he were a kid in a classroom, he looked around the room for a response.
No one answered, but Kole did a piss poor job of covering up his smirk. One of the other guys—Adrian wasn’t sure who—chuckled under his breath.
Nate wasn’t wrong. The scene was a hell of a lot like the one that played out between Gabe and Ryker a few months back.
Still, this wasn’t the time or place for jokes, and Adrian felt the need to convey that message loud and clear.
Spinning his rage-filled gaze toward the other man he said, “You think this is funny, Carter?”
“No, actually.” Nate stared back at him with no sign of amusement. “I don’t think it’s funny at all. But