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“People have been tortured here at the autobody shop. Three dead, over-the-top torture. The one woman who is alive is scared to death of us. She was shouting ‘American’ like I was the devil. According to Leila, the woman is saying that Americans did this to her. What in the hell is she talking about? Do you have any idea?”

He watched as Leila spoke soothingly to the woman and Nolan worked to apply pressure to the bleeding wound in her side.

“Kostya and Landon caught up to the SUV that fled the scene,” Gideon said. “The two vehicles returned gunfire. The driver was killed and the SUV hit a literal brick wall.”

“How many others in the SUV?” Ryker asked.

“One other. Kostya found out he belongs to some rogue outfit, Kraken Elite, before he bled out. That explains why she’s afraid of Americans. Ryker, you, Nolan, and Leila need to get the hell out of Dodge.”

“Yeah, I heard a siren. As soon as we’re clear, you’ll call in that they need to get to this woman immediately, right?” Ryker pressed Gideon.

“You know it.”

“Good.” He turned to Nolan and Leila. “We’ve got to leave. The Turkish authorities are coming.”

Leila was brushing back the woman’s hair and whispering something into her ear. Then she looked up at Ryker.

“I’m not leaving her,” she said fiercely.

“Yes, yes you are. You’re never going to be able to explain your presence here; you’ve got to come with us.”

Leila’s eyes flashed fire. “I don’t give a shit, I’m not leaving her.”

“Leila,” Nolan spoke softly. “She’s going to live. You ending up in a Turkish prison is not going to do her any favors. You helping us find those boys, and the men who did this to her, will help.”

Ryker expected to see tears in her eyes when she looked back at him, but there was nothing but fierce vengeance. “Fine, I’ll go. But you better be taking me with you on every part of this op.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Ryker was furious. He’d been mad ever since Gideon had mentioned Kraken Elite, and it had only gotten worse as he had driven back to the hotel.

Now he was pacing up and down the suite where Leila and every single member of the Omega Sky team who was on this mission was watching him.

“What’s so bad about this group?” Landon asked.

“I’ll tell you what’s so bad. They recruited my brother’s best friend, Lee, when he left the Marines after eight years. The only saving grace is that he had grown up in foster care and he was single.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Jase asked impatiently.

“They bill themselves as this elite outfit that can find anybody who has been kidnapped. And mostly they do. This is how Lee explained it—there’s blurring the lines, coloring outside of the lines, and blowing up the lines, and that’s what Kraken does. They don’t even care in what shape the kidnappee comes back in. Just so long as they have a pulse and they get their money.”

“So why did it matter that Lee didn’t have any family?” Jase asked again.

“The first mission that Lee needed to go out on was a kidnapping in Venezuela. The bounty was over twenty million if the wife was brought back alive, so the CEO was on the job. The man paying for his wife was the money launderer for the cartel and he had cash to spare, but the cartel figured any money he had was theirs.

“He and his team went down to Caracas. The leader of the Cartel had a hacienda just outside of the city, it was well known. As a matter of fact, the leader has a wife and six kids, as well as his parents living there.

“The Kraken CEO, Frank Sykes, sends in a drone at night that picks up heat signatures. The place is crowded, and the drone spots a lot of guards on the perimeter. They wait two days—to case the place—and that’s when they see a limousine leave the compound so they follow it. It goes to a private school and drops off two teenage girls, as well as four guards. Lee said the Kraken guy almost wet himself he was so happy.

“The next day, same process, only this time Lee and another guy have to kill off the guards with headshots, while another one makes sure the driver is taken care of. Two more, one of them Frank Sykes, swoop in and take the girls and throw them in the back of one of their trucks, and they all take off.

“So Lee figures it’s going to be an easy trade. He watches the phone call made for the wife in exchange for the daughters. It’s made on Skype, but Lee knew how those kinds of IPs could be routed all over the world, so there was no way it could be traced. Frank showed the two crying girls to their father and demanded a trade—the wife and thirty million in cocaine, and the cartel leader will get his two precious girls back, unharmed.

“Well, according to Lee, this cartel guy realizes the blow had to be for them, and not for the guy’s wife, so he balks at paying it. Frank just smiles and grabs one of the girls by the arm, puts her in front of him, and shoots her in the head. He lets go of her and she drops to the floor. Lee said it was silent for a good thirty seconds until the sister started screaming.

“‘You have until tomorrow night to get me what I ask for, otherwise your other daughter will be killed too.’” Then the guy shuts off the call.

“When they got back to America, one of the men put in his notice to quit. Frank laughed and denied his notice. The guy didn’t come into work the next three days. When he did, he said he was ready to work. When Lee asked him what changed his mind, he said it was the home invasion that killed his parents. He also got a text that said Sally and Rex were next. They were his wife and son. Once you’re in, you’re in.”

“But Lee left, right?” Linc asked.