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“Fucking hell.” Levi didn’t care that female ears were close by. He was angry. “Now, what are we supposed to do? Finley is already having to struggle to get past some of the fears brought on by this asshole.”
Garrett sighed. “Hell, if I know.”
“Find him,” said Jac.
“What do you mean, find him? If he gave the slip to the alphabet agencies, I’m not sure we can find him,” said Cash.
“We can because it’s personal with us.” Jac stood. “There’s more at stake than a job.”
Cash paced. Levi followed suit. Sitting didn’t do anything to work off his tension. “Yes, it is. Unfortunately, I don’t think he did this alone.”
“Agreed,” said Garrett.
“Right. I agree, but we don’t know who the second is or if it is his cartel who wants him more than we do. It can’t be his closest men because we got them.”
“I guess we go hunting and find out.”
“No,” said Finley. “Absolutely not. He could have so easily killed me, and he doesn’t even know he didn’t. No, you aren’t going to put yourself at risk. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to any of you.”
Callie spoke up. “I know that’s what you fear, but if we don’t find him, we won’t ever be able to relax.”
Finley looked at Levi. “Please. It’s too dangerous.”
Levi reached for her hand, but she drew it away. “Fin, baby, I have to protect you and end all of this. You know that.”
She turned to Cash. “Fine, then stay here and protect me. Don’t leave my safety to others.”
Cash pulled Finley into his arms. “Finley, baby, you’re killing me here.”
“Don’t care. I need to know I don’t have to worry about you. Please. I can’t deal with it right now.”
Monroe walked into the room. “Nice of you to join us,” commented Mark dryly.
Monroe ignored him and focused on Levi and Cash, then Finley. “Are you upsetting that woman? No stress, remember?”
Levi said, “She wants me to stand down from the hunt for Caleb.”
“Of course you’re standing down. Both of you have to keep Finley and the house safe. Besides, you are very little use when your emotions make you loose cannons. We can run the op better if you stay home.”
“Hell, man, tell me how you really feel,” said Cash.
Monroe turned to Levi. “Levi, you know we’ve all been through it. We’ve all held back at some point because it isn’t in the mission’s best interest to be out of control. Stay with Finley and give her support. She’s the most important bit right now. Let us take care of the rest.”
Darcy leaned closer to the Colonel, and Ben leaned down to hear what she was said. He whispered back, and Darcy nodded. Sitting straight again, Ben looked around the table and made eye contact with Jac.
“Darcy says there is another person that Rodney seemed to confide in. She doesn’t know his name, but if Finley wants to help her again, she thinks she can describe him well enough for that sketching program they used earlier. They might get a pretty good likeness to help you identify him.”
“Sure, I’ll help you. But why can’t she speak for herself?”
Carter spoke gently which belied his size, speaking directly to Darcy. “How do you know Rodney and this other man were close or friends?”
Darcy spoke quietly from the protection of Ben’s arms. “Right before the kidnapping, I overheard Ace telling this man that he was the only one he could trust anymore.”
Mark asked. “Did you hear anything else?”
The friend said, ‘That man always landed on his feet no matter what was happening to anyone else around him, but not this time.’ and I think he might have been talking about Jac now that I know what they bonded over.”
“And what was that?” asked Jac.