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Her heart hammered in her chest. “What’s happened?”
“Ravi Chaudhary just let a man in a hoodie into your computer lab at work.”
Chapter Ten
“I’mgoingwithyou.”
Ryder knew that stubborn tilt to Nathalie’s chin, the determined look in her eyes. Color had leached from her face at the news about Ravi, but she’d recovered quickly.
“It’s not safe.” He suited up. Bullet-proof vest beneath his dress shirt. Two-way radio clipped to his belt. The gray suit jacket he’d taken off when they got home went back on. No tie. Earpiece. Glock with a full magazine and a spare, and a rail-mounted tactical light. His backup gun rested snugly in his ankle holster.
Overkill? Maybe. But that sixth sense of his was whispering in his ear that the break-in at Williams was only the beginning of whatever strategy their adversary had devised after Dìleas beefed up security around Nathalie and her workplace.
He wasn’t taking any chances.
She stood at the threshold of the guest bedroom, watching him. “It’s my company. My employee. I’m coming. And before you tell me it’s against protocol, I don’t care.”
He brushed past her, and she followed him down the stairs.
“You can add that to your damn report,” she said.
At the bottom step, he pivoted and glared up at her. “What’s the point of having protection if you won’t follow any of my bloody recommendations?”
She was going to be the death of him. Stubborn woman.
Her brown eyes gazed at him with a level of trust that only ratcheted up his tension. “I know you’ll keep me safe.”
Ryder blew out a harsh breath. Arguing with Nathalie was a waste of time. Her friend and colleague was on camera opening the door to the lab—her company, her technology violated.
He texted Nathan.Change of plans. Have Danny meet us at Williams.
A dull pounding took up residence in his temple. “Grab a jacket and let’s go.” He ushered her downstairs to the garage and opened the back hatch of the Suburban, retrieving a dark gray bullet-proof vest.
“You’ll wear this.” He helped her into the vest, secured it over her blouse, then zipped up her navy lightweight nylon jacket. After boosting her into the Suburban, he eased into the driver’s seat.
The glare he shot her as he waited for the garage door to lift only made her chin notch higher. “You will follow my directions explicitly once we arrive or by God, I’ll throw you into the back of this vehicle, take you to the safe house and handcuff you to a chair.”
“Kinky.” Her attempt to make light of the situation couldn’t mask the tension in her voice, the worry clouding her eyes.
He focused on driving so he didn’t strangle her.
Nathalie fiddled with the gold hoop in her ear and stared out the window, her shoulders hunched. “Ravi had to be under duress. I need to know if he’s okay.”
Ryder sighed. “Nathan agrees. He’s pretty sure the hooded man had a gun on Chaudhary. He called the police and is meeting us there.”
The former SEAL had told him the video from the security cameras showed the gunman exiting the computer lab, but not Chaudhary.
He didn’t tell Nathalie that part. If her software engineer was dead, she’d be shattered.
His hands squeezed the steering wheel tight enough to make his knuckles whiten. “You need to do exactly what I tell you when we get there.”
“As you’ve said. Repeatedly,” she mumbled, then added softly, “I will.”
Strobes of emergency lights from two police cars, a fire truck, and a white and red Fairfax County ambulance lit up the front of the office building and car park in pulsating waves of red and blue. The rear bay doors of the ambulance were propped open, light spilling from the interior.
Nathalie’s hand flew up to cover her mouth.
Ryder pulled into a space next to Nathan’s black Ford F-150 pickup. Danny’s Mustang was parked on the other side.