Page 110 of Unlocked

"On it," Ryker said.

"I also want all four of you to go through the security footage from this morning. Everything. Not just what Flynn already pulled. I want to know how Daniela got that weapon into the building. I want to know who she spoke to in the last forty-eight hours and who came and went from this building that we haven't fully accounted for. The board will want answers, and I intend to have them."

"And if the board won't hear it?" Cash asked.

Archer picked up his pen and turned it slowly in his fingers. " I'll make sure they hear it."

He looked at his watch. It was not yet noon. Tonight was nine hours away, and tomorrow was twenty-four, and a great deal could happen in twenty-four hours if you used them correctly.

"That's all for now," he said. "Keep me updated on everything."

The men all stood, but no one moved.

"What?" Archer demanded, his patience thinning. He had too much to do.

"We're not doing it." The words sounded harsh. Cash had given voice to the thought, but the others nodded in agreement. "Not one of us will take you out. It's not right."

Archer felt something swell in his chest. The loyalty of these men, possibly more than he deserved, had been the thing that had at times kept him going. They would never know how much it meant to him.

"I get that it's a hard thing, but⁠—"

"There are no buts," Ryker said, glaring at his boss. "With all the resources you have"—he turned and gestured toward his teammates—"that we have, there are things that can be done, and we will do them. This is not the end of Archer Gray."

"Oh, this is definitely the end of Archer Gray," Archer said, "but I get your point. We'll discuss it this afternoon. I have things to do first."

The team filed out. Ryker was last. He stopped at the door and looked back at Archer with the particular expression he reserved for moments when he had something to say and was deciding whether to say it.

"Say it," Archer said.

"Tatum still isn't answering," Ryker said. "We can't locate her in the building. She's not on any of the internal cameras since early this morning."

Archer kept his face still. "She left before the lockdown."

"The tracker shows her phone at the law firm."

"Then she's at the law firm." He met Ryker's eyes. "Put someone outside the building. Now. Don't let her leave without someone with her."

Ryker nodded and left.

Archer sat alone.

He sat for a moment and let himself feel what he'd been keeping below the surface since he'd stood in the ambulance bay and looked at Daniela's face. The icy-hot anger at himself. The frigid fear for Tatum that had sat in his chest since the phone rang. The horror that the situation had moved faster than he'd anticipated and left him with fewer options than he needed.

Then he picked up his phone.

Not his regular phone. A new one. Just in case. And he dialed a number he knew by heart.

It rang once.

"It's me," Archer said. "I need you to meet me. Tonight, before nine. Somewhere private." He paused and listened. "Yes, it's that serious." Another pause. "Because everything is about to change, and I need someone in place who isn't connected to any of this." He listened again, then said, "Thank you. I'll send the location."

He ended the call and set the phone down.

Then he looked out the window at the city and began, quietly and precisely, to prepare for the end of Archer Gray.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Tatum didn't move. She didn’t dare breathe.