Page 45

“Yep. Changed his name, moved to a new state. His forgeries were spot on, so he figured he should be safe, but he still lays low.”

“So that’s who is after these college boys. The dads must have called them in too,” Gideon said disgustedly.

“Well, the fathers need to put a leash on them and call them off the trail. They are just going to make this whole situation a lot worse than it has to be,” Ryker growled.

“I agree,” Kostya said. “I’m going to the other room to call Commander Clark. Ryker, come with me in case he wants to ask you any questions.”

Kostya stabbed in some numbers, then laid his secure satellite phone down on the desk. Rarely did Kostya let his emotions show, but his rage was showing now.

“Clark,” the Commander answered.

“It’s Barona. A big problem popped up.” He looked down at his wristwatch. “I have thirty-one hours and thirty-seven minutes to reach these kids and I just found out that those fucking fathers hired a wildcard organization called Kraken Elite. I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never dug.”

“Goddammit!” Simon bellowed.

“What?”

“Those lying motherfuckers. They lied directly to the President of the United States that they were going to let US operatives handle this, then they hire those butchers?! Un-fucking-believable.”

“You need to get them to turn off the tap. They are killing anybody who could be a lead in ways that will just send everybody to hide under the nearest rock.”

“That’s their methodology—put the fear of God into everybody, damn the consequences. Frank Sykes runs this op. He was run out of Delta years ago. He was bad then, but now he makes a demon look like an angel.”

Ryker blinked, the pictures of the two women in the garage seared on the back of his eyelids. Demon just about described him.

“Well, I don’t care if he’s the Anti-Christ and his men are his minions, I want them pulled back. Now.”

Simon was silent. Ryker exchanged a look with Kostya. Simon’s silence didn’t bode well.

“I’ll get POTUS to talk to these clowns and have them order Kraken Elite to stand down, but I don’t think it will work.”

Kostya sighed. “Then tell the clowns to pay Kraken their fee if they leave. That should do the trick. We need them off the gameboard.”

“Frank is a psycho, there is no saying how he’ll react. I’m just warning you now. You need to focus on getting those young men to safety.”

“And the Kraken scum?” Kostya asked.

“I don’t care about them. Your job is to bring those men home. Do what you need to do.”

Kostya looked over at Ryker and grinned.

“Understood.”

The phone went dead.

11

Ryker and Kostya went back to the other room and the first thing that Ryker noticed was that Leila was not sitting in the chair in the corner, she was actually standing in front of the window where Kostya had been standing before.

“I have some information,” she said abruptly.

“Let’s hear it,” Gideon said.

“When I was talking to Yara—that was the name of the tortured woman at the autobody shop—she told me what she had told those other bastards.”

Ryker felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise.

“What did she tell you?” Kostya asked.