Page 41 of A Soldier's Temptation
No way was he allowing her to bring anything to those guys, alone or otherwise. But he needed time to come up with a plan, which is why he suggested calling Chase first. Maybe he’d be able to help.
“Can I get you anything?”
“I’m okay.”
“Bullshit. You’re still pale as a ghost and shaking. Let me get you some water. Although whiskey would probably be better.”
“Water would be good.”
After sliding her off of his lap, he got up. “Mr. Darcy, stay with Ari. I’ll be right back.”
The dog wagged his tail and rearranged himself closer to her after she got settled. Dialing Chase’s number as he got a glass of water for her, he tried to tamp down his anger. After he got done with Chase, his next call would be to Elwood. They were supposed to come over later, but he wanted to make sure she had plenty of protection now.
“Hey, Riot.”
“Chase, we have a situation.”
“What happened? Is Ari safe?”
“For now. Whoever is behind all of this kidnapped her friend, Shira. They want Ari to bring them a micro SD card they said Chen gave to her.”
“Fuck me running. Does the FBI know?”
“Not so far, but it’s only a matter of time since they have surveillance on her phone.”
“How long ago did she get the phone call?”
“About an hour or so. I was walking Mr. Darcy. They called her on Shira’s phone. Not sure how closely the FBI is paying attention.”
“Pretty shitty if you ask me. They should have been in her apartment as soon as she hung up the phone.”
“Agreed. Something weird is going on there. We’ve worked with the FBI before and I’ve never seen anything like this. Colin has mentioned a few times that he’s getting all kinds of pushback from higher up the food chain.”
“Okay. So what’s the plan?”
“I was hoping you’d help me come up with one. There is no way I’m letting Ari walk in there…”
“It’s not up to you,” Ari said from behind him.
Turning, he met her eyes. Her color was back in her cheeks.
“It’s too dangerous,” John replied and clicked the speaker button on his phone and then handed her the glass of water.
“Hi, Ari. I’m really sorry to hear about your friend.”
“Thanks, Chase. I just need to get her back no matter what John says. They said not to involve him or the FBI and that I needed to bring it by myself. If that’s how I get Shira back, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“You know it’s a trap, right? Hell, they might just kill you on sight.”
“Yes, it’s a trap. That’s why I told you, so we can come up with a plan to get Shira back without getting either of us killed.”
“You’ve got a smart woman there,” Chase said. “It won’t be easy. About the only thing I can think of is to put a bug on you so we can track you.”
“That’s what I was thinking too,” John said. “What if they have jammers?”
“We’d be dead in the water.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Ari said.
