Page 128 of Storm Warning

No point in playing good cop with Cowan. For one thing, Andre didn’t have it in him tonight. Couldn’t prove it yet, but he knew Cowan was the reason Obsidian Storm had a bead on Riley.

And for Andre to fall in love with the former CIA agent? What a coup for Cowan. Because Andre was in Riley’s life, Cowan dug into his background, then gave Obsidian Storm the names and occupations of the Ranger team who took out Rico Mendoza.

He still didn’t understand how Cowan got access to enough information about Riley to know she was with Fortress and so was Echo unit. Made him want to puke to think someone in their company sold them out. Zane would catch him or her before long. The communications guru wouldn’t rest until he’d checked out every possibility. The traitor would pay.

“I need more time.” Cowan glowered at all of them, Andre in particular.

Andre glanced at Seth, who gave a slight nod. He’d caught the wording as well. Cowan had sent out a distress signal, which meant they needed to leave fast. Most security team’s response times were quick. The question was whether he had sent thedistress signal to Fortress or someone else. They had to assume he signaled someone other than Fortress, and Maddox wouldn’t be happy if they shot up the neighborhood. “You don’t have it. Fifteen seconds, and we’re leaving.”

Cowan growled at the operatives, his gaze lingering on Riley as he jerked on the clothes.

Noticing where his attention lay, Seth signaled Riley to go into the hallway to wait with Violet.

Andre breathed easier. At least he hadn’t been the bad guy in this situation. Riley could take care of herself, but he realized at that moment Cowan was obsessed with her.

He snorted. Probably irked him that Riley refused to be one of his flavors of the night. That just showed she had good taste in choosing Andre.

When Riley was out of the room, Cowan shifted his angry glares to Andre. Yep, those looks sure hurt his feelings. Not.

At the fifteen-second mark, Andre yanked the hem of Cowan’s sweatshirt down and jerked him to his feet. “Let’s go.”

“Wait. I don’t have shoes on.”

To keep him from running. Most people didn’t like running outside barefoot. “Not my problem.”

Cowan appealed to Seth to be reasonable.

Echo’s leader ignored him as he opened the bedroom door. He and Andre stopped halfway down the hall.

Violet moved out of the shadows behind Cowan as Elias blindfolded the agent. The medic swabbed Cowan’s neck with an alcohol wipe, then gave him the shot that knocked him out seconds later.

“How long will this jerk be out?” Seth grimaced as he and Andre held the man up between them. The extra weight didn’t do his injured arm and shoulder any favors.

“About two hours. I can’t be positive since I didn’t know his weight when I calculated the dosage.”

Elias looked at Seth. “Let’s get out of here before we have company.”

“Agreed.” Seth glanced at Iona. “Take point. Riley, Violet, you two and Elias provide protection and a distraction if we need it.”

The operatives carried Cowan through the condo to the back door. “Good thing we brought the mini bolt cutters.” Andre adjusted his hold on Cowan’s arm. “I’d hate to haul Cowan over the top of the fence using a firefighter’s carry.”

Iona opened the door wide enough to scan the area. “We’re clear for now.” With her weapon held against her thigh, she led the way from the condo and through the yard. She and Riley held the two sides of the broken chain-link fence open for Seth and Andre.

They hurried to the SUV and placed the agent on the floor of the vehicle with Elias and Andre watching him.

Seth drove out of the area and headed back to the hotel. “This is going to be close. People will stir soon. We can’t afford to be seen hauling an unconscious man to our suite. Something like that will stick in their minds.”

Over the comm system, Elias said, “I’ve got it. Drive us to the hotel. I’ll get us to the suite.”

“Copy that. Zane?”

“Here.”

“Did you pick up any chatter around the condo?”

“Nothing. I hacked into two neighbors’ security feeds. Five minutes after you left the condo, a security team of five arrived. They searched the place, then made several phone calls. One call must have been to a computer hacker because he or she guided them along the exact path you took to the SUV, but you were already out of the area.”

“Did you get their images?” Andre asked. Who was this team and what connection did they have to Cowan?