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“Let’s talk later.”
He ended the call and dismounted the ATV, scanning the area for anything that might look different from the other day when he’d found the cut rails. When he saw no additional signs of disturbance, he grabbed the hand torch and began the meticulous process of fixing the bars.
His mind turned over what he remembered from the fake engagement Stone had brought him in on a few weeks ago.
Lawrence had trashed the Sun House, where Stone and Georgia had been staying, all caught on a security camera. Then he had disappeared.
He thought Stone had said something about one of the owners and a former CIA guy casing out Rogue and Lawrence’s apartments and coming up empty. Were they working together? Rogue wasn’t Lawrence’s direct supervisor, but that didn’t mean they weren’t a team in sabotage. In fact, being in different departments would be smart. Better able to cover more territory and be in different places to create more chaos.
The torch spit, sputtered, then resumed its slow melding of the metal. It took the better part of an hour to fix the two bars.
He sat on the ATV and called Stone. Hartley might be the boss, but Stone was the one he trusted.
“What’s up?” Stone answered.
“Fixed another breach in the fence,” he started. Stone grunted. “There’s a problem… maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“There’s a record in the system of Lawrence Tate swiping onto the property this morning,” he said.
“What the fuck?” Stone replied. “That little fucker. Turn the place upside down—”
“My guys are arriving tonight and I’ve got a man watching the security system. I’m circling the property in case there’s a record of him swiping anywhere else.”
“He’s going to go for the testing facility. It’s where—”
“All the tech is,” Ryder finished. “Yeah, I’ve already thought of that. If this guy’s after sabotage, it’ll be that or the engagement in the Spanish Villa. My plan is constant moving surveillance until my team gets here tonight.”
“Shit,” Stone said.
“Is there any way to postpone the engagement?” he asked.
“Doubtful. Too many things are already in place,” Stone replied with a sigh. “Even Montgomery wants the engagement to go ahead, although I’m convinced it’s because he’s pussy whipped.”
Ryder frowned at the mention of the German businessman before he recalled he was also Hartley’s husband. He was austere and brusque. Definitely not somebody Ryder would characterize as pussy-whipped, but then if anybody could do it, it would be Hartley.
“You’ve talked to Montgomery?” he asked.
“Last night. He was pissed that Hartley wasn’t around, then pissed at me because I didn’t know where she’d gone,” Stone admitted. “Like I don’t have my own business to worry about, that I have to keep track of his soon-to-be ex?”
Ryder chuckled without humor.
“I’ve got work to do,” he said, climbing onto the ATV. “I’ll keep you posted.”
“Do that,” Stone agreed.
Ryder ended the call and revved up the ATV’s engine. Turning in a wide circle, he glanced at the repairs he’d made, cursing as the falling mist strengthened into actual rain.
He couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that he had been sloppy, that he had allowed his focus to slip. As his clothes started to soak through, he throttled the ATV into motion, picking up as much speed as he dared on the rutted and dipping ground.
Plowing back into the forest, he headed for the testing facility. He ran through his security check procedure, envisioning the steps he’d take before checking in with Fontana. Then he’d do the same at the villa.
His thoughts swirled with a mix of determination and concern. He couldn’t fuck up again. He needed to be smart and vigilant. He couldn’t afford to let his guard down, not when the safety of the estate was at stake.
He would find Lawrence and whoever else might work with him. He would put all thoughts of Nita and their night together out of his mind and get this fucking job done. Then he would go home to Blaze and some kind of normal life. Espionage at sex clubs and women on roller skates would, he believed, become a distant memory if he worked hard enough at forgetting them.
26
