Page 71 of Without Fail

The cell they tossed him into was cold and he couldn’t stop shaking even in his suit jacket.

When the doors clanged open, Syn and his brother Brick stepped through the door. The desk sergeant gave the two powerful men a brief nod and then closed the door.

Syn hurried to the cell and gripped Ryker’s hands through the bars.

“Did you find out any more information?” He squeezed Syn’s hands, trying to get a bit of warmth into his icy fingers.

“Not a lot of it.” Syn paused and rubbed at his forehead. “But I do know that Marshal is involved.”

“How?”

“He called in the arrest warrant. Or rather, his team did.”

“Team?” Ryker echoed, feeling like he was thinking through mud.

“Marshal is part of an undercover covert operation to take down a child pornography ring.”

“Let me get this straight. They think that my dad is involved in child pornography?” Ryker yanked his hands away. “Don’t you think I would know?” he spat.

“Your dad is suspected of working for the man who runs the ring and is in charge of keeping the man’s books.”

“For who? Who is he supposedly working for?”

“Kenneth Cramer.”

That gave Ryker pause and he rubbed at his mouth with a trembling hand.

“I’ve met that guy. He comes to my dad’s office every other month.”

And ever since Cramer had shown up years ago, the man had given him the fucking creeps. Ryker was very careful to make sure he was never caught alone with the fucker. He could totally see Cramer being a sexual predator, but his father? No way.

He shook his head. “My dad is not involved in any of that.”

“Listen. There’s more we don’t know,” Syn said, and Brick laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“We need to leave if we’re going to catch the judge before his next session,” Brick said, giving Ryker a sympathetic look.

“Find Marshal. I have a feeling he has answers. He took the proof my dad has that proves his innocence,” Ryker hissed hurriedly.

“I’ll keep trying,” Syn whispered as he reached for and squeezed his hands again before turning away.

Ryker stayed standing with his hands gripped around the bars.

He feared falling if he let go.

Ryker stumbled to the bench and sank down on the cold metal. He rubbed at his face and then held his head in his hands until he heard the door to the room clang open.

His father along with another man were led into his cell, their cuffs were removed, and the door was locked.

Holding his father’s gaze across the cell, he saw something flicker in the tired depths of the man’s gaze.

“What did you do?” Ryker said between his teeth.

Robert sniffed and gave him a hard stare. “I didn’t do anything. You were the one who got played. You let a traitor into our midst and he stole the one piece of evidence that could prove us innocent,” Robert snapped and walked over to the other metal bench to take a seat.

The other man glanced between them and then moved over to take a seat on his bench.

“Marshal is not a traitor.”

---