Page 24

Ryden hit the ground hard and sucked in a sharp breath at the pain in his jaw when it scraped against the gravel.

With a groan, he rolled onto his side, looking up to see Chip standing several feet away on the grass.

When Ryden’s ears stopped ringing, he heard Chip bark.

It was only then that he spotted the half-charred body on the ground.

“No, no, no.” He scrambled to his feet and ran over, his heart in his throat. With a shaky hand, he turned the body over, relief flooding through him. Wait…

“Martin?” What the hell was he doing here? Turning, he met Chip’s gaze. “Where’s daddy?”

Chip took off, and Ryden found Joker on his back in the grass, with Jack close by, groaning as they slowly stirred.

“What the fuck?” Joker grumbled, sitting up.

Ryden motioned behind them. “It’s Martin.”

“What?” Joker let Ryden help him to his feet, and together, they helped Jack up. They looked like they had been through hell, but from what Ryden could see, there were no major injuries.

“We need to get out of here,” Jack said.

They hurried back to the surveillance van and got in. A few minutes later, they were on the road, sirens filling the air. Several police cars with flashing lights flew by, followed by a couple of fire trucks.

“What a clusterfuck,” Joker moaned, hissing when he touched his brow and the bloody scrape. “What the hell happened?”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t know, but I was in the security office. Even if I hadn’t caught someone approaching the building on camera, Chip would have alerted you.”

“The device was at the back entrance,” Joker said. He moved his gaze to Ryden. “But you found Martin out front.”

“Chip found Martin. But I think Martin was dead before the explosion. There was also no sign of any detonator in his hand or anywhere around him. I didn’t have time to check the area, but like I said, I think Martin was long dead before the explosion.

” And because they’d snuck in through the back, they wouldn’t have known he was there.

“This is fucked,” Jack growled. “So, either someone dumped the body before we got there or while we were in there.”

“Do you think whoever dumped Martin knew we were there?” Ryden asked.

Joker sighed. “It’s hard to tell what the hell their plan was other than dumping Martin’s body and blowing up the building. But they couldn’t have known we were there.” He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen.

“Who’re you callin’?” Ryden asked, though he had a pretty good idea.

“King. He needs to know what happened and that we’re okay before he sees or hears about this from someone else.

Hey, King. Yeah, uh, things went a little sideways.

Before you say anything, it wasn’t us. Someone tried to blow up Gibson Global with us in it.

I don’t know if we were the targets. Ryden found Martin dead on the property near the building.

Wherever they dumped him, he got caught in the explosion.

Ryden thinks Martin had been dead long before the explosion. Yeah, I think so too.”

This was messed up. Things were getting complicated. While Joker spoke with King, Ryden removed the first aid kit from the wall bracket and cleaned the scrape on his jaw. It wasn’t bad, but it stung like hell. It could have been so much worse. If Chip hadn’t been with them…

No sense in dwelling over what could have happened. When Ryden was done, he removed some extra disinfectant wipes and got to work on Joker’s brow. He got an arched eyebrow from Joker, but thankfully, he didn’t get ornery about it. The guy was about as predictable as a tornado.

“Okay. Thanks. Yes, we’ll do that.” Joker hung up and sighed. “King doesn’t want us to go to our homes tonight. He’s worried about us being followed.”

It wasn’t a big concern for Ryden because he lived alone and only had himself to protect, but Joker and Jack had family waiting for them at home. Ryden wouldn’t want them anywhere near this, which gave him an idea.

“Y’all can crash at mine. I have a spare bedroom and a comfy couch.”

“Yay, a sleepover,” Joker squealed.

“Asshole,” Ryden laughed, punching his friend in the arm. “You wanna nice bed to sleep on, or you wanna sleep on your sorry excuse for a couch in your office?”

“Hey, that couch is plush,” Joker argued.

Jack snorted. “It’s like a hundred years old. You brought it with you from your old apartment when we first moved into that office building. Chip peed on it so many times when he was a puppy.”

Ryden wrinkled his nose. “Are you telling me I’ve been sitting on puppy pee for years?”

“Fuck off,” Joker laughed. “That happened years ago, and I had the thing professionally cleaned. Fine, we’ll crash at yours.”

The guys called their men on the way to Ryden’s and arranged for Fitz, Gio, and their pups to stay at Colton’s until they knew more about what was happening.

Jack drove them the long way around while Ryden and Joker kept an eye on the roads to ensure they weren’t being followed.

Ryden didn’t think they were, but it was better to be cautious, which was why Jack parked the van down the block.

They walked the rest of the way, vigilant of their surroundings.

Once they got inside, Joker and Chip told them to stay by the door as they thoroughly checked the apartment. They weren’t taking any chances.

As soon as Chip had given the all-clear, Ryden relaxed.

“I’ll grab some clean clothes for y’all and throw yours in the wash.

” He would have to invest in more T-shirts and pajamas at this rate.

The guys each took a bathroom and hit the showers.

Ryden didn’t have to tell them to make themselves at home.

They’d been over plenty of times for poker or Sunday Night Football .

Ryden tossed some clothes onto his bed for Jack and hung the other set on the doorknob of the guest bathroom for Joker.

While the guys showered, Ryden started a load of laundry and tried to wrap his head around what had happened tonight.

How the hell had a simple recon mission gone so wrong?

The guys joined him in the kitchen, and Ryden sat at the counter while Joker raided his fridge.

He removed several items to make himself a sandwich. Ryden arched an eyebrow at him.

“What? Almost getting blown up makes me hungry,” Joker replied, arranging all the ingredients on the counter.

Ryden snorted. “Fuckin’ Snake Eater.”

“Want me to make you a sandwich?” Joker asked, holding a slice of bread up. “I don’t have any crayons to put in it. Sorry.”

“Dick,” Ryden laughed. “Okay, am I the only one thinkin’ that maybe Martin fucked up one too many times, and his buddies decided to cut him loose before he fucked up anymore?”

“You’re not the only one,” Jack said. “The fact that they killed him and left him to get caught in the explosion tells me they’re pinning Gibson’s murder on Martin. All it’ll take is for one person at Gibson Global to recognize Martin, and case closed.”

Ryden hummed. “You think Martin killed Gibson?”

Joker took a big bite of his sandwich and nodded.

“It makes sense, right? Even if Gibson refused to sell to them, I don’t see them being reckless enough to blow up the guy.

I’m not saying they wouldn’t have taken Gibson out, but they would have been more subtle.

I agree. Martin fucked up one too many times and got himself dead. ”

Ryden turned to Jack. “You think you’ll be able to find out more about these guys?”

“I’ve enlisted some help,” Jack replied.

“Does that help favor fish-shaped snacks?” Ryden asked, chuckling when Jack shrugged.

“He’s the only one better at this than me.”

If there was any information out there on these guys, Leo would find it. Ryden yawned. “Okay, I’m going to bed. I’m sure King wants us in nice and early tomorrow.” His friends agreed. Tomorrow, they’d make a plan.

Whatever these guys were up to, it was bad, and Ryden doubted they were going to make a play for Jacksonville, which meant the bastards were going to regroup, and who knew what the hell they were trying to move out of Florida? These guys had to be stopped before anyone else got hurt.