Page 42 of A Soldier's Temptation
John wrapped his arm around her and pulled her against his side. Mr. Darcy followed her and took his usual position at her feet.
“Are there any other options, Chase?”
“I don’t think so. You said the FBI is monitoring her phone?”
“Yes, they are. At least that’s what Colin told me,” Ari said.
“And he still hasn’t shown up at the apartment?” Chase asked.
“Nope. Weird right?”
“Very. Okay, let me talk to Rock and Alex. See if they have any more information on our friends. Hopefully, they’re so desperate that they aren’t planning properly and won’t think about jammers. Especially if they told her not to bring anyone else in.”
“Yeah. That’s a possibility. I think they’re freaking out now that the trial is next week. The last thing they want is confirmed evidence that can lead back to the upper levels of the Chinese MSS.”
“It that what we think is going on?” Chase asked.
“When Colin first brought me in he let that little piece slip. So yeah.”
Chase whistled. “That is big. Which makes it even weirder that the FBI isn’t banging down your door to get to her right now.”
“I’m right here. Please stop talking about me like I’m not,” Ari said.
“Sorry, Baby.” John had slipped into mission mode without even thinking. Troubleshooting was one of his strengths. “Too many missions, it just happens when I have a problem to work out.”
“I understand but I don’t have to like it.”
“We’ll try to be more cognizant of that, Ari. I’m sorry too. My wife, Faith, complains about the same thing,” Chase added.
“I can’t stand here doing nothing, I’m going to go and search my apartment for the memory card.”
“Please wait for me,” John said gently.
“Okay, you two go do what you need to. I’ll call back after I talk to the rest of the team and see if they have any other ideas.” Chase disconnected before either of them could say goodbye.
John turned so he was face-to-face with Ari and tilted her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “You know even if we find that card you can’t give it to Shira’s kidnappers, right?”
Expecting her to argue with him, he was surprised when she nodded in agreement.
“I know. But I’m hoping if I can find it, I can create a duplicate with fake information. They’ll check the card so it can’t be empty.”
If possible his admiration jumped up a few thousand feet. She was beautiful and smart and had him wrapped around her little finger. It wouldn’t be easy to try to keep her safe, that was obvious. She would fight him on not going to the drop off point, but he couldn’t let her go. They’d find another way to get Shira back. What that was, he hadn’t figured out yet.
“Finding it isn’t going to be easy, especially in the huge mess they left after their search.”
“I know. But we have to try. Now we know it exists, the FBI will definitely want it for their case.”
“And what are you going to tell Colin when he shows up? It’s only a matter of time until one of the idiots monitoring your calls realizes something is wrong.” John still couldn’t believe no one had shown up.
Laughing, Ari shook her head. “I’m glad he hasn’t come over. I don’t want to lie to him, but I will if it’s the only way to save Shira.”
Again that iron wall of stubbornness reared its head. When she dug her feet in, the only way to move her was to pick her up. He was worried she’d try to outmaneuver him to save her friend.
“Let me just text my team and then we’ll head over.”
“Okay.”
Her frustration was becoming more visible by the moment but racing over there wasn’t going to help them find a little memory card any easier, the damn thing was about the size of a dime. Quickly sending a text off to Elwood with the latest intel and the location of her apartment, he tucked his phone back into his pocket.
