Page 101 of Critical Doubt

"Because things are changing fast, and you don't seem to be in the loop."

"Ryker?" Savannah interrupted. "I know you and Todd have a lot to talk about, but we need to take Todd in. We need to notify Spear. We need to get agents out to the intercept site."

He knew she was right, but he wanted to finish this himself, not have a bunch of feds do it for him. Before he could reply, a black SUV turned down the alley. "You texted Parisa," he said, irritated by that fact.

"As soon as I got to the alley," she admitted.

He wished she hadn't done that. He wanted more time to talk to Todd alone. They still didn't have enough details. But the agents were already getting out of the car.

"You gotta help me," Todd said, as the agents handcuffed him and led him to the SUV. "You said you would, Ryker. You owe me. I'm not going to give out any more information until someone makes me a deal."

The door slammed on Todd's words, and he was more than happy about that, because anger was raging within him, not just with Todd, but with all of his team. And he had a little left over for Savannah. But that was going to have to stew for a while as Parisa came back to speak to them.

"What did Todd tell you?" Parisa asked, shooting them both a quizzical look.

"The plan is to hijack a weapons shipment from Spear and hold it for ransom," Savannah replied. "It's supposed to happen today, but we didn't get the details on when or where that's going to happen. Apparently, Hank Morgan will be driving the vehicle from Spear to wherever it's going."

As Savannah filled Parisa in on the rest of what Todd said, Ryker's stomach continued to churn. They had Todd in custody, but that wouldn't stop Hank and Mason from carrying out their plan. It was actually a clever idea, and it was difficult to deny that he didn't understand their desire for money. While he didn't have the same needs, he knew that all of the guys had been struggling since they'd left the service. Hell, Mason had lost a leg.

And taking care of the families of the fallen, there was something honorable about that, but not the way they were going about it. He also didn't know if he bought the fact that all the money was going to this family fund. There was no way they were giving it all away. Even Todd had admitted that Hank wanted to start a chain of gyms. Where was the nobility in that? No, there was greed involved here, too.

What else?

Paul's words rang through his head once more:I fell for the lie.

Were Mason and Hank working some other plan that Paul and Todd knew nothing about?

After Paul had been shot, Hank and Mason might have decided Todd was a liability. They might not trust that Todd would continue to be loyal if he heard what had happened to Paul, what had almost happened to him and Savannah. They might have changed the plan since last night's events.

He paced around the alley, feeling the sounds beginning to build in his head. He couldn't let them in. He couldn't afford an attack now. He had to keep it together.

"Ryker."

Savannah's sharp voice cut through the fog building in his head.

"What?" he snapped back.

"Are you all right?"

"I told you to stop asking me that."

"I'll take that as a no," she said, annoyance in her gaze now. "Here's what's happening. Parisa is calling Spear right now." She tipped her head toward Parisa, who had stepped away to make her call. "We'll stop any shipments from leaving the facility today."

"Good."

"Then Parisa will head back to the office with Todd, where he'll be interrogated. You and I are going across the street to check out the motel and see if the guys left anything behind."

Her calm, logical words drove away the creeping wave of incoming bells. She had a plan, and he needed to take action, to keep moving forward. "Fine," he said shortly.

"Savannah," Parisa said, rejoining them. "I spoke to the CEO of Spear, Randy Jepsen. He says one of their trucks left the building thirty-eight minutes ago. According to the GPS tracker, it's exactly where it should be, heading toward the Baltimore shipyard. Highway patrol and agents are heading that way now. With any luck, we'll have the truck and its contents in our custody within the hour. Spear is putting the building on lockdown. No other vehicles will be leaving their facilities today."

"Great," Savannah said. "We'll meet you at the office as soon as we check out the motel."

"Great."

As Parisa got into the SUV, they walked down the alley.

"So, on a scale of one to ten," Savannah began. "With ten being so angry you're seeing fiery-red dragons in your head, how mad are you at me?"

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