“About damn time.”
It was the only greeting Adrian gave the man who’d just entered Gabe’s large hotel suite.
“Walker.” Jason Ryker’s lips pressed into a thin, arrogant. line. With a hint of amusement, his dark gaze lowered to Adrian’s obvious limp. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you get shot thelasttime I saw you?”
Flipping the Homeland Security Agent the bird, Adrian passed by him to rejoin the others.
Looking past him, Gabe asked Ryker, “What do we know?”
Adrian appreciated the man’s desire to get right to it.
Dressed in his usual dark suit and white button-up, Ryker held out a thick manilla folder for the Bravo leader. “It’s all in here.”
“You expect us to read through that shit?” Adrian scowled. “We don’t have that kind of time, Jason.Jennadoesn’t have that kind of time.”
Between the two days he’d lost while being in a fucking coma and spending all day today trying to figure shit out, it had now been damn nearthreedays since anyone had seen her.
Earlier, when he and Gabe were still back at Jenna’s hotel room, Adrian had taken the fastest shower of his life—not an easy task while trying to keep his left leg dry.
Gabe had used that time to call the others and have them head to Bravo’s hotel right then. He’d also informed Ryker of the fucked-up situation.
Once everyone was gathered in Gabe’s suite, Adrian had filled Bravo Team in on everything he knew about Cesar Ortiz. They’d received no incoming calls or texts on the phone he’d been given, but it was charged and ready for when they did.
Since then, Nate had been working like crazy to find something—anything—that would give them a clue as to who from the old cartel would’ve had a reason to come after Adrian.
He’d first spent time hacking into the security feed at Jenna’s hotel. As expected, the person who’d entered her room with the box had done a damn good job at keeping their face hidden from the hotel’s cameras. In addition to that, Nate also had a separate program searching further into Amanté Perez’s background.
Rather than dick with a bunch of back-and-forth phone calls, Ryker had chosen to hop on one of Homeland’s private jets to come deal with whatever this mess was in person.
Something Adrian appreciated more than he’d ever admit.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” The Homeland agent gave him a long, assessing glance, and immediately Adrian realized Ryker could see too damn much. “I didn’t believe you when you called, Dawson. I mean, this istheAdrian Walker we’re talking about, after all. But you were right.” Ryker slid an amused glance in Gabe’s direction. “He’s got it bad, doesn’t he?”
Ryker and Gabe had been talking about him and Jenna? What was this, junior fucking high?
Forget it. I take my appreciation back, dickhead.
“What I’ve got”—Adrian limped closer to the other man—“is an innocent woman who’s being held captive by someone connected to Cesar Ortiz.”
“Don’t forget a dead police chief and an asshole who likes putting date rape drugs into women’s drinks,” Zade chimed in.
“Amanté Perez.” Ryker nodded. “Everything we know about him is in the folder, as well.”
“How ’bout you give us the cliff notes version, yeah?” Adrian crossed his arms and waited. “Do you know who’s behind all this or not?”
“The short of it? Yes.” The man’s dark eyes zeroed in on his. “Matais Ortiz.”
The name was like a kick to Adrian’s churning gut. “I take it the guy’s is related to—”
“The late Cesar Ortiz,” Ryker confirmed. “Matais is Cesar’s son.”
What. The. Fuck.
Adrian blinked before shaking his head. “Ortiz didn’t have any children.”
The man didn’t haveanyfamily. Or so Adrian had been told.
“That’s what we originally thought, but…” Ryker sighed. “We were wrong. Ortiz had both a wife and a son.”