I nod, clenching my jaw. Not the answer I wanted.
“Only the owner and staff are allowed back inside, but if you left anything, you can talk to that guy over there.”
He points to a server standing by the back door.
“Thanks.” My pulse is jackhammering with every second I can’t find Seth. I look around again and my eye catches on a camera mounted on the back of the building. I’m already jogging back to the van. “Ruby, can we pull footage from the adjacent buildings?”
“Already working on it,” she says, her voice clipped. “But it’s gonna require a call to OTD.”
I exhale sharply. The FBI’s Operational Technology Division can tap into remote surveillance, but it requires authorization neither Ruby nor I have. The moment we make that call, the Bureau will pull the trigger on a Critical Response Team, and our entire operation will go up in smoke. Ramirez won’t just hear about the FBI swarming the restaurant—he’ll know exactly who they’re after.
It doesn’t matter.
Nothing matters more than finding Seth and getting him home to his family.
I pull open the van door, but Ruby holds a finger up, phone pressed to her ear. My gut clenches, and I pray with everything in me that it’s Seth.
“Yes, ma’am, he’s here,” she says, her expression unreadable.
I step inside, shutting the door behind me as she sets the phone on the desk and mouths,Katherine.
My stomach tightens. “We have a problem.”
“I’ll say we do,” Katherine’s voice snaps through the speaker. “Would you like to explain why the hotel manager of the Merius just called to report a snoring man matching my forensic accountant’s description passed out in their lobby with a note instructing them to ‘Call the FBI’?”
Chapter 30
Ben
Dallas, Texas
Saturday night
It’s been an hour and a half, and I haven’t stopped pacing since Ruby and I got back to the office. My head is pounding, my shirt is stiff with dried sweat, though I’ve unbuttoned the collar and rolled up the sleeves, and I know my pulse won’t slow down until Seth Jackson walks through the door.
Katherine assured us Seth was fine—confused, but a team was bringing him back here to be debriefed. Then it’s our turn. The weight of the night is circling my brain like vultures. Every decision, every risk, every close call that has me second-guessing myself.
Tonight’s operation was supposed to be airtight. Every angle covered, the risks calculated, but the events of this evening proved how quickly things can all fall apart.
Ruby’s phone vibrates on the desk for the third time in five minutes. She picks it up, frowns, and flips it over, silencing it.
“Who is it?” I ask.
“No idea.” She shrugs. “I don’t recognize the number.”
“I know I’m the new guy on the team, but is letting me get kidnapped part of the initiation? Do I at least get a T-shirt?”
My attention jerks to the doorway where Seth is standing, coffee inhand, looking as calm as someone who regularly gets kidnapped on a Saturday night.
He sips his coffee. “One minute I’m a trusted member of this organization, and the next the Dallas PD is giving me a field sobriety test and running my name throughourmost wanted list.”
Ruby rolls her eyes, but I can see she’s relieved to see Seth unharmed.
I rise to meet him, and my throat is tight with the apology he deserves. Tonight was a disaster, but it could’ve gone absolutely sideways in ways I’ve been trying not to imagine. “Man, I—”
“It’s my fault.” Seth holds up a hand, shaking his head and looking sheepish. “I thought I grabbed the cold and flu medicine but accidentally took my wife’s anti-nausea medicine instead. Knocked me out cold.”
“What’s it called?” Ruby reaches across the desk for a pen. “I’ve got a neighbor who won’t stop leaving notes on my door about my recycling habits, and I feel like a well-timed nap might make her rethink her life choices.”
