Page 57 of Storm Warning

“Some woman named Riley.”

Confirmation that she was the target at least. “Very good, Joe. That didn’t hurt a bit, did it? Let’s try another question. Who sent you to kidnap Riley?”

“I don’t know.”

Andre tightened his grip.

“I swear I’m telling the truth.” Joe spoke between gritted teeth. “A man contacted me through one of those throwaway email addresses. He used a fake name, so I don’t know who he is. I don’t ask for too many details. It’s not safe.”

“It doesn’t bother you to target an innocent woman?” Andre asked.

“How would I know if she’s innocent? Told you. I don’t ask questions. Look, it’s just a job, man. It’s not personal.”

“Funny. It’s very personal to me.”

“You’re lucky, Joe,” Elias said.

“Yeah?”

“If you’d laid one finger on Riley, my friend would have killed you in the most painful way possible. Buddy, you dodgeda bullet. Literally.” Elias looked at Andre. “Call the boss for a garbage pick up.”

“An excellent idea.”

“Wait a minute.” Joe’s head turned one way, then the other even though he couldn’t see anything through the hood over his head. “You said you wouldn’t kill me.”

“We aren’t. We leave that to someone else.” He walked out of the kitchen to make the call. When he returned, Elias gave a brief nod. “Fifteen minutes.”

Joe remained silent until Maddox arrived with two operatives, one of whom carried a mike bag with medical supplies.

The paramedic slid the mike bag off his shoulder and pulled out a syringe, a vial of medicine, and an alcohol wipe. Less than a minute later, Joe was unconscious and would remain that way for twelve hours.

Maddox inclined his head toward Joe. “Who is he?”

“Joe Rutland, a lowlife who does anything he’s hired to do.”

“What do you want me to do with him?”

“Black site for now.” Andre looked at an unconscious Joe. “Once this situation is resolved, we’ll drop him off with the feds. They can decide who gets first crack at him.”

Maddox glanced at the men he’d brought with him. “Haul him out to the SUV and strap him in.”

He turned back to Riley and the others. “Did Rutland give you anything else?”

“Besides the creeps?” Riley shook her head.

“He won’t bother you again. Forget about him.”

“What about the others? You know they’ll keep coming until someone collects the reward for either kidnapping or killing me, depending on which job they agreed to take.”

“Zane is looking for the accounts. Now that we know about your friend Joe, he has a starting point. When Z finds theaccounts, he’ll drain the money. With no money, no interest in a woman named Riley.”

Andre wrapped his arm around Riley’s waist. “That’s not the only problem.”

“Explain.”

“We still don’t have a motive for anyone to come after Riley. Now that I know about her past, I can’t rule out the possibility that someone in The Company leaked Riley’s information and put out a hit on her. The question is, why would someone do that to one of their own if the hit was internally generated?”

Riley frowned. She was an analyst and an interrogator. Who would pay attention to someone like her? She considered the possibility for a beat, then another but couldn’t figure out why anyone would come after her. She was in the background on those ops, not out front where she’d be in the spotlight.