Page 49 of Locked Down

“I don’t care what you want to do, Ryker. You want me to do this, so youhave totell me why my uncle is such a bad guy.”

Thiswas the conversation Ryker had been trying to avoid since the beginning. His stomach rolled. She was not ready to hear what her uncle had been up to. It would destroy something in her, maybe the thing that allowed her to see the good in people. He did not want to be responsible for causing her to lose her faith in people.

He didn’t want her to hate him, but he also couldn’tnot do what Archer asked. He’d thought about making something up. He could tell her somethingthat wasbad but not as awful as what her uncle had really done, but somehow, he knew that she’d know he was lying, and then she wouldn’t trust him anymore because he lied to her.Son of ab…!

“Your uncle works with a variety of people, many of whom are not very nice. In particular, he works with several dictators. He doesn’t seem to care about their politics or what they do to their people. He uses them to make money. He sells them whatever they want and takes a healthy kickback. We know he’sactuallymade a few arms deals. He’s also helped provide weapons to some of the tribal leaders in Africa. He’s supplying guns to these warlords who then put the weapons in the hands of children. And he made a lot of money doing it.

“He’s also been known to broker deals between the cartels and some of these tribal leaders. It’s how he gets his money, Vic, he’sa deal maker.Ifsome head of stateneedssomethingthat’shard to track down or tricky to buy?He can get it for them at an exorbitant cost. Lately, though, he hasn’t been making money. We’re not sure what he’s living on because heis livingway above his means. And that’s another thing I need you to help me get into…his financials.”

Ryker stopped speaking. All the color had left Vic’s faceandshe blinked rapidly.

“I can’t... But that...Holy shit.”Vic rested her head on the counter“Areyou sure?”she asked, her voice trembling.

“I’m so sorry, Vic, butyes,I’m sure.”The truth hurt and itwas killingVic.He wanted to take her in his arms, rub her back,tellher everything would beokay. But he wouldn’t lie to her. It wouldn’t beokay,because if Ryker had his way, Austin Davis would be dead. The man was scumandthe way he treated Vic just solidified that in Ryker’s mind.

“But how can you be sure?I mean,how do you know for absolute certainty that he did it and not like someone in his office or someone used his name…or…I don’t know.”

“Because I work for Archer Gray, and Archer knows everything. I think Archer even helped to make some of those arrangements.”He jammed his hands in his pockets. Nausea flooded his stomach.Thiswas so much harder than he’d thought it would beandhe’d been expecting it to bebad.

“I just can’t believe it.”Vic straightened and then, like a balloon losing air, slumped against the fridge.“And now you want me to break in and look at his financialstoo? I mean, Jesus, Ryker, anything else you want me to do while I’m there? Do you want me to kill somebody while I’m at it?”

Ryker dropped his head and foughtthe urgeto go over and wrap his arms around Vic. If he did that, his resistance wouldover.He’dspend the rest of the night in bed, making Vic forget everything but him. He wanted that so badly it was a physical pain in his gut. But he couldn’t do it. Giving in to his desire would make his job much harder. The closer he got to Vic, the more difficult it was to stay objective.If he lost objectivity, he’d get sloppyandifthat happened, people could die.He also owed Archer. Archer Gray had pulled him out of a hole he’d dug for himself and given him purpose when he didn’t think that was possible. Archer had saved his life, and Ryker always paid his debts.”

It was time to kill any feeling Vic might have for him. He wasprettysure she still wanted him, but he needed to nip this attraction in the bud. Nothing could interfere with this mission.“I don’t want you to kill anyone. That’s my job.”She had to know the truth. It would stop her from looking at him with those eyes. The only way out for him was to squash the look in her eyes that begged for reassurance, pleaded for him to hold her, and lie to her that monsters didn’t exist. They did, and he was one of them.

Vic’s cheeks paled. She stared at him.“I can’t fucking believe this is happening.”Vic rubbed her temples. Suddenly, she stopped and met his gaze.“You said heusedto make money from selling… things. What does that mean? What’s he doing now?”

“It means we know how heusedto get his money, butin the last eightmonthshe hasn’t made any new deals.At least, not that we can find. His lifestyle is still lavishandhe’s spending ita lotfaster than he’s making it. A senator’s salary isn’t enough to afford his luxuries. So, where the hell is the money coming from? And considering his past lucrative deals, we need to know what he’s up to.Thisis why it’s so important. We need to know what your uncle has planned because whatever it is, it’s got Archer Gray scaredandnothing scares him.”

“If Archer fucking Gray is so fabulous and so connectedwhycan’t he find out what my uncle is doing?”

“He’s trying, Vic, and that’s why he’s scared. He hasn’t found anything, which meanssomeone knowshe’s looking. Someone out there has the power to hide everythingforyour uncle.Davis is a smart manandhe’swell connected, but he doesn’t have that kind of juice.Not even close.So, someone else is doing it for him and we need to know who, and we need to know whatthey’recovering up.We’ve been all through his regularfinancials,upside down and backwards. They don’t showjack. But there’s money coming in. Vic. A lot of it. We need to know why andwhat’s he going touse it for?”

“How am I supposed to find out anything? You want me to break into his laptop, too?”

“No. I want you to help me search his home office. If there’s going to be anything anywhere, it’s going to be there. Because if you notice, he never leaves me alone in that room. You and Armstrong are the only two allowed alone in that room.

“Does that mean Floyd is in on it too?”

Ryker hesitated forsecond.“He’s in on it.”Noneed to go into how he knew that. It wasn’t because Davis let him in the office on his own. It was because he knew about the false attempt on Davis’s life.“We’re digging deeper on him. With any luck, we’ll find something that either tells us what’s going on or it’ll be something that we can use to blackmail him. Either way, we’ll get answers, but it’s taking toomuch time.”

“You talk about blackmail like it’s buying a jug of milk at the store. Is this what you do all the time? Blackmail people? Do you kidnap peopletoo? How about murders?”

“I think I’ve told you enough today, Vic.”Rykerwasn’t gettinginto any more details. Just relaying theinfoto Vic was too painful for him.He was destroying the little respect she had for him. He wasn’t going to stand there and tell her more. She was already showing her disdain for him. Mission accomplished. She didn’t look at him with lust in her eyes anymore. It looked a lot more like hatred.

Vic put her hands on her hips and snarled.“Seriously, what the hell do you think I’m going to be able to do?”

“I think once we get into Tracy’s laptop, we know what’s going on.Then, tomorrow night, when he’s at Congressman Harris’s barbecue, you and I can search his office. I’ll have Tony and Vince take him andmake sureLazlo is out of the building as well.”

“I think you’re wrong,”Vic stated firmly.

Ryker’s stomach dropped to his knees. He didn’t think he had it in him to fight with her again about the type of man her uncle was.If that’s where she was going with her ‘I think you’re wrong’ statementthenhe was going tohave to shut her down, big time.He was going to have to get seriously harsh. He clamped his jaw shut and crossed his arms over his chest.

Vic continued,“I don’t think he’d keep anything like that in his office. My uncle is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them. Even in a safe, he wouldn’t trust it. If he kept something at the house, he’d hide it in his bedroom. That’s the only room he feels totally in command of. He always complains there are too many people in and out of his office. His bedroom is his sanctuary, or at least that’s what he claims.”She paused for a moment and cocked her head.“But there is another place.”

Ryker immediately bit back an oath. Why hadn’t he thought of the bedroom? He knew that’s where the papers on Buffalo Ridge were. It should have dawned on him as the logical spot for anything else. Wait, what had she just said?“What do you mean another place?”

“My uncle disappears sometimes. He hasn’t done it since you started, but you’ve only been here a week.Occasionally, he disappears,justgoes offradar.Lazlo is the only one who goes with him. Lazlo knows where he goes. And it’s not to some mistress, although I’m sure he has a few of thoseaccordingto Daisy. Come to think of it,”she frowned,“I’m sure Marilee knows about his mistresses too. It never struck me as a love match between them, more of a political alignment.”She shook her head.“Anyway, he meets the mistresses at night when he claims to have a headache and leaves some political function early.”

---