Page 69 of Seal of Honor
She shook off her horror and translated without waiting for him to ask. “It’s paperwork pertaining to the house’s ownership and bank statements for both Rorro and Jacinto. Rorro, a.k.a. Rodrigo Salazar Vargas, is very well off. Jacinto, not so much, but there has been a flurry of activity on his card in both Bryson’s and Rorro’s neighborhoods.” She found a picture dated last night of Rorro leaving a disco and showed it to Gabe.
“Huh,” was all he said.
“There’s also a charge for a limo rental on one of Rorro’s cards the day Bryson was abducted,” she told him. “It’s not an unusual charge, but there’s a note here saying he never returned the car to the limo company.”
“I believe you wanted a good reason to approach Rorro’s house,” Mena said and nodded toward the file. “There you go. One very good reason.”
“Yeah, it is.” But Gabe didn’t sound happy about it. He looked at Mena and ground his molars for a moment of pure frustration before asking, “Can I use your phone to contact my team?”
That Cheshire Cat grin flashed again. “Oh, that was painful, wasn’t it? Asking me for a favor.”
“You have no idea,” Gabe said. “But, you’re right, Bryson doesn’t have much time, and I won’t waste it by nursing a grudge.”
“You are so noble. I find it both fascinating and exhausting.” He sat in the leather chair and waved toward the corded phone on his desk. “It’s all yours, but keep in mind they will not be able to trace the number.”
Audrey stayed where she was, looking through the file, but watched Gabe dial out of the corner of her eye. He stood with all his weight on his left foot again and looked so far beyond tired that he was free-falling into exhaustion-land.
Poor man. He’d had… what? Not counting his bought of unconsciousness, he’d had about four hours of sleep in the past forty-eight. She had squeezed in a little more than that and still felt dead on her feet, so she couldn’t imagine how he was still going.
Maybe she shouldn’t have pushed him so hard to have sex earlier. Even as much as they both wanted it, she should have let him sleep instead. The short afterglow nap obviously hadn’t been long enough to do him any good.
“Quinn,” he said into the phone, and Quinn’s exclamation of surprise was so loud she heard it from across the room.
Gabe made a gesture of impatience and raised his voice in a drill sergeant’s command: “Listen up. You need to destroy your phone as soon as we disconnect.”
Mena lifted his brows at that but said nothing, smile still in place.
“Then scramble the team and recon this address.” He gave the address in some sort of military code Audrey didn’t understand. “Our principle may be inside. I’ll be?—”
Gabe stiffened and turned toward the library doors a second before they were violently kicked open. Liam Miller stormed in with a gun in hand and a manic, crazed look in his dark brown eyes. He grinned and shut the doors soundly behind him, sealing off any chance of escape.
Several things happened at once, so fast Audrey’s mind raced to catch up.
Liam raised his weapon to Mena and said, “You can’t fire me.”
At the same time, Mena started to rise and reached inside his jacket for his gun.
Gabe stood directly between them, caught in the crossfire, and could only drop the phone and twist partially out of the way before Liam’s bullet ripped through his side and struck Mena. Mena’s head exploded from the impact, spraying blood and brains over the back wall, and his finger tightened reflexively on the trigger as he slumped sideways in the chair. The shot went wild, and pain burned across Audrey’s upper arm, but she ignored it.
“Gabe!” Shaking, terrified for him, she lurched over to where he had crumpled in front of the desk, but he was already army crawling under it, scrambling for the gun Mena had dropped.
“Hide!” he shouted. “Take cover!”
She couldn’t. There was no place to go, so she lunged toward the phone several feet away. If she could get it, she could tell Quinn where they were and?—
Liam plucked the phone out of her hands and dropped it into its cradle. “No calling for help.”
Dismissing her, he shoved her aside and kicked at Gabe’s bad foot before it disappeared under the desk. “We have a score to settle, Bristow. Stand up!”
To her utter horror, Gabe did just that. He rose from behind the desk, limping as his weight settled on his feet, and raised hands covered with blood in surrender.
“I’m unarmed, Liam.” He caught Audrey’s gaze and tilted his head ever so slightly to the right. She looked over and down and saw Mena’s gun had landed closer to her than him.
No. Oh, God, no. He couldn’t expect her… She met his gaze again and shook her head once. He just stared back, expression composed, gold eyes grim.
When violence is the only language your enemies know, you gotta learn to speak it, too.
He said to Liam, “There’s no honor in shooting an unarmed enemy. Is that really how you want this to end?”
