Page 117 of Critical Doubt

"Maybe he set you all up."

"Or someone set Leo up. He could have been involved in smuggling guns, and they wanted to take him out of the game. While he never had weapons on him, he could have been an intermediary, a money collector."

"For someone like Colonel Vance. Vance might have set up the entire team just to get rid of Leo."

"Why would he get rid of someone who was helping him?"

"What if Leo was blackmailing him?" she suggested. "What if he wanted a bigger cut? Vance might have found him to be a threat. But it doesn't matter. We need to find both men and then figure it out."

"You were right, Savannah. The bells were trying to tell me something. I should have listened to them long before this. They were trying to remind me of what I knew, but it was buried in my subconscious."

"Well, you know now. I need the address, Ryker. If you won't give it to me, I'll just get Parisa to track it down."

"I could be on the wrong track, Savannah."

"I'm sure you're at least fifteen or twenty minutes ahead of me. If you get there, and there's nothing to see, then I'll call everyone off. You know it's the right play. If Leo is in charge, he's clearly very dangerous, and he won't have any loyalty to you. I know that's probably hard to hear, but you have to hear it."

"You don't pull any punches, Savannah."

"We said we'd be honest with each other."

"There's another reason I don't want you there. I don't want you to get hurt. And it's not that I don't think you can't take care of yourself. You've become very important to me."

Her heart squeezed with love at his words. "I feel the same way. But we're better together. You know we are."

Silence followed her words, and then he said, "Twenty-three Morning Glory Way."

"Thank you. Will you wait for me to get there?"

"I can't make that promise. I know you've seen me debilitated by the bells, but my head is clear now. You want me to trust you, and in return you need to trust me."

"I do, Ryker. I'll text you when I'm close. And you better answer."

"If I can, I will."

That answer didn't make her feel good at all. But she needed to get to the farm and fast.

Contrary to what she'd told Ryker, she didn't call Parisa right away. She had no interest in saving any of the guys, not after multiple attempts on her life and the hell they'd put Abby through. But she did want to save Ryker, and coming in quiet would be the best way to do that.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The farm was locatedin a heavily wooded area, with the nearest neighbor a mile away. As Ryker drove down a lonely two-lane road, he remembered hearing Leo talk about the place, the trails that ran around the property and along the creek that led into town. When he was almost there, he pulled off the road, driving into the trees, and hiding his truck in the woods. He would go the rest of the way on foot.

He texted Savannah the location of his truck and said he was going to take a closer look at the property. He didn't wait for a reply as he grabbed his gun and got out. He found the creek and followed it toward the farm.

He knew that Leo's grandfather had died eighteen months ago, and that Leo had inherited the property but hadn't been that excited about it because it needed a lot of work. He'd said that his granddad hadn't done any improvements or had horses there in over a decade, so he'd probably have to fix the place up before he could sell it. Leo would have rather had cash. But now Ryker suspected that the farm had come in very handy. In fact, it was probably where Leo had been hiding out since he'd faked his death and somehow been able to slip out of Afghanistan and get back to the States without anyone knowing. He must have had help for that, too.

When he drew near to the two-story home and the adjacent horse barn, he paused, sliding back into the shadow of the trees. There was a black Jeep in the driveway and the back door to the barn was partially ajar. He couldn't see the front of the barn from his location, but there certainly had to be another entrance from the driveway.

His brain quickly computed the facts. Since the Spear truck had been left empty, he was guessing they'd loaded the weapons into a smaller van and brought it here. It had to be in the barn. There were two ways into that structure—front and back.

There was no sign of movement in the house. The shades were drawn in front of almost every window, except a bedroom at the back.

His phone buzzed. Savannah had arrived and parked next to his truck. He told her to follow the creek, and she'd find him in the trees before she got to the house.

He wasn't sure he'd made the right call in telling her where he was, but he did trust her, and she was very good at her job. They'd also been in this together from the beginning, and they needed to finish it together. He just hoped he could keep her safe. Because at the end of the day, he didn't care about anything more than he cared about her.

He saw her coming down the shadowy trail a moment later. He moved back toward a natural rock barrier and motioned her over. They squatted down behind the rocks.

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