“I don’t understand...” Olivia began.
“Not now.” He didn’t mean to sound terse, but this wasn’t the time for a detailed conversation. “Go through the kitchen.”
“The kitchen?” Olivia’s voice rose in agitation. “They won’t let us in.”
He ignored her, since he wasn’t planning to ask permission, and pushed the swinging door open with one hand. With the other, he gently nudged her through.
“Hey!” The kitchen help gaped at them. “Customers aren’t allowed back here.”
“Don’t worry, we’re just moving through.” Ryker raked his gaze over the area, searching for the back door that he knew all restaurants had for employee use. When he saw the dark green door, he urged Olivia toward it.
He half expected someone to physically attempt to stop them, but they didn’t. Instead, the staff stayed where they were, as if momentarily frozen in time, watching them. Thirty seconds later, they were outside near a large Dumpster, with an open field behind it.
The lack of coverage made him nervous.
“Where’s Marc?” He glanced toward Duncan. “We need an escape strategy.”
“I know.” Duncan still had his phone to his ear. “He’s coming up now.”
“I see him.” A silver SUV came around the corner, with a dark-haired man behind the wheel. Ryker had met the entire Callahan family several times, but it wasn’t always easy to tell them apart. Marc was the oldest and most serious of the bunch. Although he was a different man when he was around his wife, Kari, and his two young children.
“Wait. I need a car seat for Aaron.” Olivia dug in her heels in protest when he urged her toward the SUV.
“Marc has kids, too,” Duncan assured her. “See? There’s a car seat in the back.”
That was all Olivia needed. She rushed forward, opening the back passenger door. She reached for her son, but Ryker was already setting the boy in the car seat and securing the buckle.
“Get in. We’ll have to squish together,” he told her.
She didn’t argue, and he hugged the door frame as much as possible to give her enough room to put on her seat belt.
The moment they were all inside the vehicle, Marc took off. Ryker kept his gaze on the parking lot, as did Duncan.
The black SUV was parked next to the one they’d driven here. Two men dressed in black were disappearing inside the restaurant. He hadn’t recognized them, not that he’d expected to. Apparently the Blake-Moore Group had more than enough mercenaries working for them. A never-ending stream of disposable resources, which made him feel sick at heart. Why were these men so anxious to put their lives on the line like this? Didn’t they realize how much danger they were placing themselves in? He simply didn’t understand it.
“How did they find you?” Marc’s question drew him from his dark thoughts.
“I have no idea.” He glanced at Olivia who was doing her best to soothe her son. The boy had seemed confused by their abrupt departure, but thankfully wasn’t crying.
“What if they’ve picked up on the fact that we’re using the Callahans to back us up?” Duncan turned in his seat to look at Ryker. “First Mike, then Miles and now Marc.”
Ryker blew out a breath. “Could be. We all helped Hawk six months ago, including several of the Callahans. It’s not a stretch for them to assume we’d use them again.”
“I wasn’t followed,” Marc protested.
“I know you weren’t. They showed up minutes before you did.” Which was an interesting fact now that he thought about it. “Could they have somehow tapped into your phone?”
Marc let out a snort. “I can’t see how they could trace an FBI phone.”
“But you use it as your personal device, too.” Duncan’s tone was mild. “Could be they have your family under surveillance.”
“Maybe. I’ll call and have one of my colleagues sit on my place, just in case.” Clearly Marc didn’t want to believe his phone had been traced, but what other explanation was there? Especially considering the mercenaries had beaten him to the restaurant. They had to have had prior knowledge that the place was a meeting point. “But there’s been no sign of that. And I only called the office in Madison to help coordinate things.”
“Now what?” Olivia’s voice held a noticeable tremor.
Ryker reached for her hand. “We’ll continue protecting you and Aaron. Just trust us, okay?”
She nodded, and didn’t say anything more. But she continued clutching his hand as if it was a lifeline.
“I want to go back to Madison,” Marc said. “To the FBI office there.”
Olivia tensed, but he nodded his agreement. “Whatever you think is best.”
“You know, I’d think they’d have sent more than two men if they knew we’d reached out to the Callahans.”
Duncan’s observation made him nod. “Yeah, you would think so. Although these guys tend to believe they’re better than anyone else.”
“Yet we keep proving them wrong,” Duncan added thoughtfully. “I wonder if they’re running out of men?”
“I sure hope so.” That would be the best news ever, in his opinion. What good was the Blake-Moore Group if they only had a handful of men working for them?
Except they wouldn’t need any more, would they? Once they had the money Tim and Colin had skimmed from them, the two owners could easily disappear for good.
“Do you think both Harper Moore and Kevin Blake know about the embezzled money? Or just one of them?” Marc asked.
It was a good question. “I don’t know. Why? Do you think we can play one owner off the other?” It made sense in a way, to have the entire five million going to one person instead of being split down the middle.
“Maybe.” Marc’s expression was thoughtful. “Although I can’t believe they weren’t aware of the gun-selling scheme, which makes me believe they’re both in this up to their beady little eyeballs.”
“Yeah.” And it
