Page 52 of Without Fail

“We’ll be there shortly,” Jaxon growled.

“I’m not trapped inside. I don’t know how many there are.”

The silence was thick before Jaxon spoke. “I’ll be there,” his boss said again and hung up.

He’d fucked up.

He had left the Langstons vulnerable.

He’d left Ryker alone.

He’d almost lost Ryker in the car crash and now he may lose him again.

Their last words hung between them.

He hadn’t meant them and he had his reasons for saying them to Bishop.

But Ryker didn’t know his reasons.

The sudden hell Marshal found himself in was of his own doing.

Walking through the hallway with a gun in his hand was a new one for him, but Ryker thought it better to have the weapon out than tucked away.

No way did he want to have to draw down on someone…like in the movie John Wick.

The intruder he had previously knocked out was no longer at the bottom of the stairs.

A small white object lay resting on the seventh stair from the bottom. It was the same place he’d kicked the fucker in the head. He reached down, picked it up, and discovered it was an earpiece.

He popped that into his ear.

“Anyone have eyes on the kid?”

Kid? Who were they looking for? Aspen? Silence came through the earpiece and Ryker continued down the stairs.

“Someone took out four of our men,” another voice came through the earpiece.

“Get ourmenout of here,” another voice ordered. The guy sounded like he might be the one in charge.

“They’re dead,” the other responded.

“Get the bodies the fuck out of here then,” the same voice snarled. “You guys have fucked up from the minute you failed to jam the cell phones.”

“Sorry, boss, they were jammed, but the device went down again. I’m working on it now.”

“Useless!” the man snarled. “And find me Langston’s kid.”

So,hewas the kid.

Fat chance of finding me, fuckers.Ryker thought. He knew this place inside and out.

In fact, when he heard approaching footsteps, he slid into another hidden access panel and eased the wood closed.

His family would know to hide in them, so it made sense to hunt inside these secret hallways rather than exposed out there.

Had they already captured his father? And where was his mother?

Ryker had heard the cops arriving several minutes ago, but none of the attackers seemed concerned. That meant whoever was here had power or money.

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