And apparently, they were being asked to work in conjunction with the CIA.
“Falcon’s right.” Apollo spoke up. “Our specialty is hostage location and rescue. Why are they calling us in on this now, when there hasn’t even been a single riot yet, let alone a hostage situation?”
“Because the powers that be want us to take a preemptive approach to this thing,” Owens explained. “And frankly, given the evidence and chatter the CIA has picked up so far, I can’t say I disagree. Now, I know we’ve been over all the intel once already, but I’d like to go through it again. Just so we can—”
Garrett’s phone began to ring, cutting through whatever else Owens was about to say.
“Shit. Sorry, Boss.” He glanced down and saw a number he didn’t recognize. Tapping the screen, he sent the call straight to voicemail, then turned the sound off completely. “Thought I had it on silent.”
“As I was saying, I’d like to go back over the intel to look for anything we might have—”
“Sir?” Ashely, their front reception manager, beeped in through the office’s intercom system.
Owens visibly tampered down his frustration. “Yes?”
“Sorry to interrupt, but there’s a call on line two for—”
“Take a message and tell them I’ll call them back.”
“Actually, Sir, it’s for Mr. Morgan.”
Garrett’s ears perked up. “Me?”
“Yes. It’s a woman and she sounds upset. She says it’s an emergency.”
“Did she give you a name?”
“Alex. Alex Webb.”
Shit.
“I’ll take it in my office.” Standing, he shot Owens a glance and said, “Alex is Avery’s sister. They were supposed to have dinner together, and—”
“Go.” Owens nodded. “And let me know.”
Heart pounding, Garrett tried not to overreact. Given the way Alex acted the first time she was here, it was quite possible her idea of an emergency was nothing more than a blown fuse or a flat tire.
But something in his gut told him this was more than that.
Not bothering to shut his door, he raced to his phone, picked up the receiver, and tapped the line.
“Alex?”
“Garrett? Oh, thank God. I tried c-calling your cell…your number was in her ph-phone, but you didn’t answer, and—”
“Alex!” Garrett said the woman’s name sharply. “I’m having a hard time understanding you, so I need you to take a breath and tell me what’s wrong.”
She sniffed, and goddamn it, that wasn’t a good sign. The woman was crying. Like breath-hitching, couldn’t hardly speak crying.
“She’s gone.”
Her whispered words came out so low, he almost thought he’d imagined them. “What do you mean, she’s gone? Gone where?”
“I don’t know.” She started to cry again but cleared her throat and kept on. “We were supposed to meet for dinner almost two hours ago.”
Made sense. Avery had told him she was going to make plans with her sister since he had to cancel theirs.
“When she was late, I didn’t think much of it. But after an hour went by with no call or text, I got onto that one app that lets you track your friends or family…you know the one I’m talking about? We signed up for it together like a year ago so we’d always be able to find each other in case of an emer…gen…cy.” She started to cry again.