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Ryker opened his mouth to respond. “You just shut up,” Gideon pointed at Ryker. “He’s right.”

“Goddamned right, I’m right. I heard you yacking up your guts into the plant. Like Ely isn’t going to notice that stench. Good thinking, genius. That is not the move of a SEAL, that’s the move of a JV football player.”

Ryker deflated right in front of Jase.

“Look, it’s not that bad. We have a job to do, and I can hold up my end. All I have to do is yell at you two and look pretty.”

“You also have to continue to prove to Ely that you’re worthwhile, so he doesn’t decide to kill you.”

Ryker shrugged. “There is that.”

Gideon slammed off the lights. “You two hit the floor. I’m tying you up, then I’m going to go clean the puke out of the plant. I’ll keep first watch. I want to check that the download finishes on the tablet.”

Jase wanted to disagree, but what Gideon said made sense. He turned around and crossed his wrists behind his back…again.

* * *

Jase was awake when their door was flung open and the steroid freaks came in, looking pissed. They were followed by Ely.

Jase stopped his first inclination to be a smart-ass. He needed to remember that he was a laborer from India. He looked over his shoulder at Ryker and waited for him to be the smartass. No such luck. He was having trouble lifting his head.

“Our boss is sick,” Jase said in a troubled tone. “He cannot be sick, otherwise he cannot make calls to the other bosses in the camp.” Jase looked over at Gideon for back-up.

“Why aren’t you tied up, right?” Ely demanded to know. He pointed at Gideon and tipped his chin to one of the behemoths.

“What?” Gideon asked.

Rob went over to Gideon and grabbed at the ties on his wrists and ankles. They were both connected to one another, but in the front of his body, not the back of his body.

“They look good to me.”

“He’s not tied like the other two. His hands are in the front, you imbecile. Who tied them?”

“Spider. Then we all went back to the city to see if we could find the lost package.”

Ely stepped up to Rob. “Who asked you to do that?” he asked softly. “We have more than enough staff working on that project.”

Rob looked scared. For that matter, so did Bull.

“Sorry Mr. Roberts. We were just following orders,” Rob said in a squeaky voice.

“But not my orders. My orders were that you were to stay outside on guard. Weren’t they? Where is Spider?” he asked softly.

“He left. He was mad because you’d hit him and—”

Ely’s fist snapped out and back. It was an expertly deployed Krav Maga hit to the crotch. Rob toppled over like a tree. He let out a high-pitched squeal that would have dogs barking for miles.

Ely stuck his toe into Gideon’s gut and pushed him onto his back as he pulled out his phone.

“Amanda?”

There was a pause as he listened to the Popsicle.

“Take a breath.”

He waited again.

“What do you mean you can’t find the C-4? Your job was to kill the plant and put the C-4 on a truck heading for the city.”