“Don’t be.” The formidable man clenched his jaw. “Sophie and I both want the son of a bitch behind all of this stopped.”
“Problem is”—a very pissed-off Derek spoke up—“we don’t know who it is.”
Grabbing a remote, Ryker pointed it at the large screen mounted on the wall behind him. It lit up with a collage of pictures, either of the scenes of the various attacks or the men who’d caused them.
“Actually”—Ryker looked around the table—“I think we do.”
He pressed another button, bringing a picture of an explosive device front and center.
“The man Grant killed tonight had this on him. He never got the chance to arm it, which allowed the Feds the opportunity to inspect the entire device.”
“Jesus, man.” Sean glanced across the table to Grant. “Damn glad you caught the bastardbeforehe armed it.”
Grant’s only response was a noticeable twitch in his clenched jaw.
“As most of you know, my team works closely with the FBI. Because of that, I was able to get intel on this in real time, rather than having to wait for the official report.”
“And?” Trace asked from beside her.
Ryker clicked the remote again and two images came up, side-by-side. The one on the left was a magnified photo of a piece of metal with half of a fingerprint on it. The picture on the left was of a Middle Eastern man she’d never seen before.
“The lab found a partial print on one of the bomb’s inner elements. We ran it through every database we have and finally got a match to this man.” Ryker changed the screen so only the man’s picture was visible.
“Who is he?”
“Name’s Sadiq Khaled. He’s a small-time terrorist wanna-be with known associations to several extremists groups. So far, we haven’t found any obvious connections between Khaled and your team.” To Derek, Ryker said, “My people are sending you everything we have on him. Hopefully, between the two of us, we can figure out why this guy has such a hard-on for R.I.S.C.”
“So what are we supposed to do until then?” Sean asked with a challenging tone.
Ryker blew out a breath. “We place you each in separate safehouses.”
“Fuck that,” Derek growled. “I’m not hiding from this motherfucker.”
Grant spoke up for the first time since coming into the room. “D’s right.” He sneered at the man in charge. “Jake’s in a coma because of this guy. Emma and Trace were damn near killed tonight, along with Derek and Charlie.” The muscular man swallowed hard. “And my family.”
“I’m not telling you to hide like a bunch of cowards.” Ryker’s voice rose. “I’m saying besmart. Your team is one of the best I’ve ever worked with. Possibly the best. And yet, these guys were able to get to you. Hell, one of them waltzed right into your office with a goddamn bomb.”
“He’s right.” Trace spoke up again.
All eyes turned to him. Most filled with seething anger.
Unaffected, Trace put up a hand and said, “Just hear me out. I know I’m not part of your team, but I’ve known Jake longer than anyone in this room. And one thing I learned while serving with him was to approach every mission through objective eyes.”
“Your point?” Grant sneered.
“My point is the best way to find Khaled and bring him down is to figure outwhyhe’s targeted your team. We’ve all done this long enough to know that shit doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve got to give Ryker and Derektimeto locate Khaled before we can put a plan together to take the fucker out.”
“Winters is right. I have teams securing a place for each of you and your families to stay until it’s go-time.”
“Mac still hasn’t been discharged. I know your agency owns that hospital, but you of all people know shit can still go down there.”
Emma wondered what the story behind that was, but now wasn’t the time to ask.
“I do.” A blanket of emotion fell over Ryker’s face. “Which is why I’ve already ordered guards to stand outside both Mac’s and Jake’s rooms. I also have an agent assigned to Olivia so she can stay with Jake, and a fourth agent is on his way to where Olivia’s brother and sister-in-law are keeping Lilly. The rest of the team and your families will be escorted to your designated safehouses by agents I’ve personally hand-picked.”
Wow.The power this man held was impressive.
“What about Emma?” Trace demanded. “Tonight proves she’s as much a target as the rest of them.”