Page 58 of Recruited By the Billionaire

Frankie stood up. Robert and everybody else were floored. And when that commissioner made a run for Robert, Frankie made a run for him and grabbed him just as he swung on Robert. He missed, but Frankie was too small to tackle that big man. He easily got away from her and he and Robert began fighting.

“Security!” Laine was screaming as she ran toward the exit, ran right pass Andres, and opened the front door to let Robert’s beefed-up security details in.

They ran into the living room as Jerry and RJ and Frankie too were trying to pull the two men apart. Security pulled them apart easily.

“Get out!” Robert yelled at the commissioner. “Get the fuck out of my house! You think I wanted that shit to happen? You think I wanted that? Get the fuck out of my house!”

Every vein in Robert’s neck was showing as Frankie stood in front of him as if she was his true bodyguard. And as Jerry stood there beside her, he viewed her as just that. Robert’s bodyguard. Because before Security took over, it was him and Frankie doing all they could to keep the two titans apart. RJ was so devastated he was useless. But like Frankie, Jerry couldn’t understand why RJ, a man who never seemed to care about anything, would be so distraught. It wasn’t like him.

Commissioner Sperling pulled away from security, straightened his coat and tie, and then pointed at Robert again. “Over my dead body will you remain an owner in my league!” he said with venom in his voice. “Over my dead body!” And then he walked on out of Robert’s house as if he hadn’t just got his ass whipped. Because Robert, Frankie was pleased to know, gave that man a beat down he wouldn’t soon forget.

But she could also feel Robert’s heartbeat pounding. He was going to have a heart attack if he wasn’t careful. “Come sit down,” she said to him, and he did make his way to the sofa with her and they sat down together. He placed his arms around Frankie and Everly, who was also seated on the sofa. Jerry sat on the edge of the chair.

Robert started shaking his head. “Why my stadium? Why did they choose my stadium?” he kept asking.

But to Frankie it was the wrong question. It was as if he was trying to wrap his brain around why did terrorists terrorize when the real question wasn’t why, but how. How in the world could it have happened with all the security and cameras all over that stadium?

But no one had a chance to answer any questions because Andres announced that agents had arrived.

“Agents?” Robert asked angrily. “At a time like this?” He thought sports agents for his high-dollar players had arrived, which only proved just how stressed he truly was. Everybody else knew exactly what Andres meant.

But it wasn’t until the Federal agents walked in, all wearing blue windbreakers with the three letter acronyms for their respective departments emblazoned on the front and back, did Robert realize his error. There were three agents. One from the FBI. One from the CIA. And one from ATF. All were special agents in charge of their respective departments. All had their eyes on the around-the-clock breaking news on the television screen when they first walked in too.

Because the terrorist act happened on domestic soil, the FBI agent took charge. “We wish to offer our sincere condolences for what happened today at Admiral stadium, sir.”

“Thank you,” Robert said in a tone so lackluster that Frankie glanced at him. Robert pulled her closer against him. She seemed to be the only person who understood the depths of his despair. Because it was deep. It happened on his watch. It happened in his stadium. They were his team’s fans! He felt responsible for every death.

“What do you know so far?” Robert asked the agent.

“Perhaps we can speak with you in private, sir,” the agent responded.

But Robert looked around the room. His security went back outside when they escorted the commissioner out. They would have been the only people he would not have allowed to listen in. “Everybody in here is associated with the Admiral organization,” he said to the agents. “You can speak in front of everybody here.”

It was obvious to Frankie that the agents would rather not have that many listening ears, but they were on Robert’s turf. Robert was the real special agent in charge.

“Have a seat, gentlemen,” Jerry said and motioned toward the sofa across from the one Robert, Frankie, and Everly were seated on. RJ remained near the window, and his face was as anguished as Robert’s. And his eyes were glued on those agents as they sat down.

“No one has claimed responsibility,” the FBI agent said. “The FBI and the ATF has their tactical teams working our sources here in the states.”

“And we’re working our sources overseas,” said the CIA agent. “It’s all-hands-on-deck,” he added.

“But what is clear,” said the FBI agent, “is that it had to be an inside job.”

Robert frowned. “What do you mean?”

“It had to be,” said the ATF agent. “We’re finding explosives from one end of that stadium to the other end. Many didn’t explode, thank God. But two did.”

“It wasn’t suicide bombers?” asked Robert. “I assumed it was suicide bombers who somehow managed to get in with the rest of the crowd.”

“We can’t say definitively that it wasn’t suicide bombers,” said the ATF agent. “We’re still investigating and reviewing all the tapes. But how did they get those explosives into the stadium? These weren’t backpack explosives. These explosives had to have come in by the truckload. And they exploded, not remotely, but on timers. Which meant they were slated to erupt as soon as the game began. It had to be an inside job.”

Robert was floored. “Do you have any suspects?” he asked, and RJ stared unblinkingly at the agents.

“That’s what we need to know from you, sir. We observed the footage at the stadium every day this week leading up to opening day. The only footage that seems to be missing is from midnight last night until four this morning.”

“But how can that be?” asked a distraught RJ out of the blue and everybody looked at him. “I told them it was off. I ghosted them.” He had just told on himself but he didn’t care. All of those people were dead!

The agents jumped to their feet when they heard RJ’s admission. Robert, stunned like everybody else, stood up too.

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