Page 32 of Locked Down

Davis drew himselfupto his full height and snarled indignantly,"I have nothing to hide."

"Bullshit,"Ryker shot back. "You are a member of a secret society. You have been doing backroom business deals for years in your home state, and Marilee is your girlfriend as far as the world knows. The FBI will turn up your occasional dalliance with high-priced call girls.

Davis blanched at the mention of prostitutes. His mouth flattened into a straight line.

"Senator,"Ryker continued,"everyone has something to hide. You more than most. The Society will handle this. It's better for everyone."

"Fine,"Davis said with a sneer."But I want to be kept informed. I also want to know how this man got this far. I thought your securityissupposed to be top-notch. He could have killed me. You better have a damn good explanation, or I will fire your ass."With that, the other man stormed out of the room.

Ryker ground his teeth. As much as he hated Davis, the man had a point. How had the intruder gotten this far? Ryker wanted answersandhe wanted them immediately. Heads were going to roll over this.For Archer's sake,he had to make sure thathiswasn't one of them.

FIFTEEN

"What do you mean someone tried to kill my uncle?"Vic challenged.

"That's all I know,"Joyce sniffed."You would know more if you had bothered to show up to work on time."

Vic'sface ached from how hard she was clenching her jaw."Being five minutes earlier wouldn't have changed anything. He'sbeen lockedin his office since seven a.m."

Tracy had sent her a text first thing this morning. She'd come in a bit early to work on whatever the super-secret project was and heard whispers about an attempt on her uncle's life. Of course, nowshefelt intense guilt about not going to her uncle's yesterday and tried to rush inbutshe'd had to take public transportation, and, of course, there was a traffic issue. She'd gotten off blocks before her stop and practically ran to be here on time. She sure didn't need her uncle's guard dog giving her a hard time.

"If you want to know more, you'll have to ask your uncle,"Joyce statedin a firm voice.

"Fine,"Vic turned towards the closed door.

"But you can't go in now.He'sin there with Floyd and does not want to be disturbed."

Vic fought the urge to smackthesmirk right offJoyce'sface. Hitting people was not her norm but honestly, she'd hit her limit with Joyce's pettiness.She stalked back to her desk and sat down.

"Dragon lady looks smug. What did she say to you?"Tracy asked as she leaned over the top of the cubicle andtook a sip ofher iced coffee.

"Just what you said. Someone made another attempt on my uncle's life, only she added that if I had been hereearlierI might have gotten more details about it all from him."

"Don't believe her.Hearrived and went straight intohisoffice with Floyd. Neither hasbeen seensince.Though, he did yell at Joyce when she opened the office door. You missed it. It was priceless. She opened it, not knowing he was in there, and we could hear his bellow from here."She dropped her voice to mimic Vic's uncle,"Get the hell out! I'll call you if I need you."

Vic didn't mind the sense of comeuppance that came with knowing Joyce had gotten taken down a peg.

"She came out in a hurry, looking mortified. She glanced around to see if anyone noticed.It was only me and Peter,"Tracy gestured over her shoulder toward one of the guyswho wasworking on the project with her,"but she knewthatwe'd heard it.Ikind offelt bad for her to tell the truth."

Vic blew out a breath, now feeling a tad of remorse."Yeah, I get that. My uncle isn't the nicest of souls sometimes."

"True,"Tracy agreed.

"How do you know someone tried to…"She didn't want to say the word kill, so she said,"harm my uncle?"

"Melvin. I rode the elevator up with him. He told me it happened overnight, although he was light on details.Apparently,your man took care of everything."

"My man?"Vic asked.

"Ryker."

Heat flew into Vic's cheeks."He's not my man,"sheblurted.

Not with the speed he left her place yesterday. It had beentotallymortifyingandshe was experiencing second-degree guilt and regret about the whole…She let out another sigh. She wasn't all that different from Joyce. They'd both been handed their asses by a man in the last twenty-four hours. Men sucked.

"Where is he, by the way,"Tracy asked."You'd think he wouldn't let your uncle out of his sight after what happened."

"Iwouldn't know,"Vic commented. She stood."I'm going downstairs to get a real cup of tea from the shop in the lobby. Do you want anything?"

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