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"I'm on paid leave. I'll call him tomorrow after Khloe'sdeparture."
Trevor stepped up close on his other side. "I really think you should take the callnow."
Ryder turned to take a better look at Khloe's bodyguard. "How did you get in here? You're not amember."
"I called Jaxson and told him it was anemergency."
"What's the emergency? There's no fucking way my boss calledyou."
"No, he didn't." Trevor hesitated before adding softly, "But he did callAxe."
Now that, Ryder believed. Webster knew Axe's history. He'd authorized contractor's access for Axel to the intel they'd needed to investigate not only the stalker case, but more importantly, the few leads he'd gotten over the years on Mia'sdisappearance.
Before Ryder could ask another question, McLean reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the encrypted phone Ryder had given him to communicate during the stalker investigation. He shoved the phone at Ryder. "Webster is waiting for yourcall."
"Now? It's ten o'clock at night. He canwait..."
"For Christ's sake. I didn't go to all this trouble to come down here and watch my boss give you a blowjob. Fucking make thecall."
Khloe had wrapped her arms around his waist and was hugging him with all her might. He made out what sounded like a distressed sob as her body started to vibrate againsthis.
Ryder pushed the phone out of the way to pull on her shoulders. "Hey, that's enough crying down there. I'm sure everything is fine. Come on uphere."
He could barely make out her mumbled, "No,"
"Khloe.Now."
The second she was on her feet Ryder scooped her up into his arms and headed to a nearby open couch. As he passed Davidson, he grumbled. "Since when do you allow phones in Black Light,anyway?"
Jaxson pinned him with a serious glare. "Since it seems there is a matter of national security on theline."
Ryder sank into the leather, pulling Khloe into his lap before reaching out to snatch the phone that McLean was holding out to him. He didn't mind her burrowing into the crook of his neck to avoid making eye contact with her friend and bodyguard. Her scent helped calm his own racingheart.
Something big had to be going down to get this kind of attention from BrandonWebster.
He knew the number by heart. It was a requirement of his job to memorize certain phone numbers in case he had to destroy a phone that had been compromised. He often had to move to a new burner cell when things gotintense.
Brandon Webster answered on the first ring. "You sonofabitch. Do you have any idea how much time I've wasted tracking youdown?"
"Nice to hear your voice too, sir." Ryder forced a calmness into his tone that he didn'tfeel.
"Don't you dare hang up on me until I'm finished briefing you. Chip Marshall has turned into a major pain in my ass. Almost as big of a pain as you're turning out tobe."
"Excuse me? I don't know why the hell we're even talking about Marshall. He's a civilian. I did my job. What the fuck does he have to do withanything?"
"You haven't done any research on him, have you?" The way his boss asked the question made Ryder feel like a dumbass for not having thought to do sohimself.
"I've been a bit busy. Why don't you fill me in on themillionaire?"
"Chip Marshall is no millionaire. He is a fucking billionaire. He made his first millions in oil, but his biggest income these days comes frommanufacturing."
"This is all very riveting,but..."
"Weapons manufacturing. Cutting-edge, experimental, secretive weapons to be moreprecise."
That shut Ryderup.
"Where do you think all of the shipments of the SVK semi-automatics suddenly appeared from when you needed them in ahurry?"
