Page 94 of Storm Warning

She stared at the blank screen, speechless. What was that? She’d never heard of her boss reacting that way to anything, even the most stressful situations imaginable. He always acted as though he had ice in his veins. What was so bad about this situation that Brent Maddox lost his temper?

Andre squeezed her shoulder. “First, we talk to the rest of our teammates about what’s been happening. Perhaps they’ll have an idea to help us unravel this mess.”

Elias frowned. “Do you think Seth knows anything about this?”

“Seems like he knows people in every branch of the government and the military.”

“Wait a minute.” Iona stared down at her hands for a moment. “Didn’t one of the black ops team leaders marry a woman with a CIA background?”

Riley’s eyes widened. “You’re right. Adam Walker. I’d forgotten about him.” She glanced at Andre. “Do you remember his wife’s name?”

“Oh, yeah. Veronica Miles. Her skills in the field remind me of yours.”

Oh, man. Her cheeks burned. Andre had a way with words. “Can we trust her?”

“She’s an operative, Riley.” Elias folded his arms across his chest. “Fortress runs its employees through the gauntlet before training them and sending them into the field.”

What was he getting at? “That doesn’t help me decide whether she can be trusted.”

“One of the Fortress operatives went missing on an undercover assignment,” Andre said. “Veronica heard about it while she was in the field and risked her own life to get the information to Fortress so they could organize a rescue.”

Elias picked up the story. “Later, while she was on an undercover mission, the enemy captured Veronica, and Adam returned the favor by rescuing her.”

Now she remembered hearing about the couple. “They went through a lot before they met and fell in love.”

“And she accepted Maddox’s invitation to join Adam’s black ops team.”

“Would Zane give us Veronica’s contact information? She may have information that could help me solve this puzzle and get justice for Angie and her family.”

Iona grabbed her phone and made a call.

Seconds later, Zane said, “Murphy.”

“It’s Iona. You’re on speaker with Elias, Riley, and Andre.”

“What do you need?”

“Contact information for Veronica Miles Walker.”

After a few seconds of silence, he said, “Oh, yeah. That might get us somewhere. Should have thought of her myself. Hold.” Soon, he was back. “I just sent you a text with Veronica’s phone number. I called Veronica first and received permission to share the information. She and Adam and their team are in a hot zone so the window of opportunity is small. If you want to talk to her, she has about ten minutes. After that, she’ll be out of touch for a while.”

“Copy that. Thanks, Zane.”

“Yep. Later.”

Riley snatched up her phone and tapped in the number.

One ring. Two. A woman answered. “You must be Riley Sloan.”

“Yes, ma’am. You’re on speaker with my team, Iona, Elias, and Andre.”

“Understood. Skip the ‘ma’am’ please. Makes me feel old. How can I help?”

“In the past few days, three men kidnapped me, and I escaped, then two more men attempted to kidnap me and failed. If we’re correct in our assumptions, someone tried to shoot me earlier this afternoon.”

“Sorry to hear that, but what does your trouble have to do with me?”

“I used to work for The Company. I recently found out that the woman who helped me survive being homeless also workedfor the CIA. Maddox called in favors and got nowhere except he found out this has something to do with a mission that Angie and I worked. Veronica, I didn’t know Angie was with the CIA, and I never saw her during this mission.”