Redeem My Heart (25 page)

Ryland had picked up on the lone jogger a ways back, noticing that the male was dressed in black sweats, including a watch cap and standard issue black leather gloves. Granted, it was the start of winter, but there was something wrong with the picture this man presented. He ran past and continued on his way. Ryland internally smirked, knowing that this Tango was trying to get a fix on his own whereabouts.

“Moza always was a showoff.” The voice came from behind an open newspaper. Ryland took a seat on the other side of the bench, pulling the bottom of his trench coat over his slack covered legs. The hat he’d snagged covered his now grey hair, but it was no match for the natural white that decorated Gene Cyril’s head. “I’m surprised that you would want the three of us at one location. You have balls, Ryland. You always have had them.”

“I took necessary chances to get the jobs assigned to me done. Effectively.” Ryland wasn’t one to give excuses for his exemplary work. It was why he’d excelled and the others had washed out. “You’d made a clean getaway, Cy. Why give that up?”

Ryland was testing the waters. Gene Cyril would never have traded a life where he’d blended into society unless he was forced to or persuaded to under considerable duress. What did he remember? E.D.A. would have wiped out any and all memories that would have prevented Cy from following orders.

“You’re just figuring things out, aren’t you, son?” Cy’s condescending tone set Ryland on edge and in the days when they were pitted against each other to get the prime contracts, he would have not hesitated to put a bullet through this man’s skull at the drop of a hat. It was fortunate that he’d somewhat amended his emotional well-being to think about Fallon in times like these. That didn’t mean his trigger finger wasn’t twitching. He doubted that would ever go away. “What do you remember of the Kasdi Merbah assassination? It was about then I thought I was losing my mind. I never liked Algeria or any of those horrible dust-blown camps in the desert. I wasn’t sleeping and the times that I could were interrupted by nightmares so real that it took five minutes to remember where I was. It wasn’t until the contract that I’d taken in Eastern Europe that I figured out what had been done to me—a head injury can do…or in this case undo…many things.”

“You knew back then that E.D.A. existed?” Ryland was starting to get used to these various emotions that had been rather overwhelming these past few months. He tightened his hold on the cane he was using as a prop, using it to regain his poise. He needed to view this as any other assignment, and within moments he was breathing steady. “Did you also know that Moza and myself were part of the same program?”

“Considering they sent you in to clean up my mess…yes, I suspected,” Cy answered pragmatically. Ryland nodded and accepted his fate. He’d always been a man who appreciated the stakes of an assignment and there had been times when he wasn’t given all the information. It was those moments that could make or break the contract given. This man—his colleague—had chosen not to disclose vital information that could have unquestionably changed the game in this life they led. “It was the perfect opportunity for me to disappear without ceremony or further obligation. We were loners. We did our jobs and went looking for the next one. I’m a hell of a lot older than you, Ryland. My body was ruined and my mind wasn’t far behind after that incident.”

Ryland had always prided himself on being a man of his word. He had always looked after himself, but there was a code of honor he’d always followed. It wasn’t that he was altruistic. Far from it. But a man was nothing without his word. The others had always been out for themselves, so this shouldn’t have surprised Ryland in the least. It didn’t change where they were now, but it did beg to question…

“How did they find you?”

“I’d waited years before contacting family until I thought it would be safe enough and the opposition had grown careless. I continued to keep in touch with them through means that I meant to cover my tracks.” Cy turned the page of his newspaper, keeping up pretenses for anyone who might be watching the area. “It apparently wasn’t enough. I received this call on a burner cell that no one had the number for with the exception of my niece. They used a phrase.”

“And?” Ryland probed, acquiring any and all pertinent information for when the time came he was on the receiving end of that exchange. It would happen soon. He thought back to the timeline of events and realized his call to Grahn had set things in motion. Upon E.D.A. breaching the Hamptons’ property, Ryland had immediately left behind that particular burner phone. No doubt there were missed calls on the device. “I take it you had enough of your memories intact to know how to react?”

“Yes.”

Ryland forced himself to relax and tap his finger against the wooden cane. He was as patient as Cy, if not more so. Ryland was starting to feel like his old self. The jogger dressed in black was making his way back around, ear buds in place. He stepped off the path and bent down to tie his shoe. Moza had finally joined them.

“You always were fucking crazy, Ryland.” Moza shifted his stance, retightening the other shoelace. “You want to get all of us killed in one fell swoop? Cy and I have this covered.”

Ryland nodded as another piece of the puzzle filled in the board. Cy had reached out to Moza, but Ryland hadn’t been accessible. The two men had carried out the assignments given so not as to show their hand to whoever was now running things within E.D.A. It had to be a small group, which worked in their favor. It was now time to get down to business.

“You two don’t have the connections I do,” Ryland stated confidently, already knowing their next move. “If you did…then you would have already terminated those responsible.”

“You always did think you were better than either of us.” Moza stood and looked at his watch to make it appear he was ready to proceed with his run. He sniffed and ran his glove underneath his nose. “All you’re going to do is fuck this whole thing up.”

“What I’m going to do is give you the opportunity to reclaim your free will.” Ryland could sense that he now had both of their attention. “This is what I expect in exchange.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“I
told you to remain low key.”

Fallon was beyond livid and getting reprimanded by Crest wasn’t helping her mood one bit. She’d done enough chiding to herself that she didn’t need his help. She slid the carafe into the coffee maker a little harder than necessary, jarring the reservoir lid loose. What had Ryland been thinking?

“You knew,” Fallon accused Crest, ignoring the look that Townes was giving her. She wasn’t going to cool her heels just because the newbie thought she was crossing lines. She set her mug down on the counter with a thud. Even the delicious smell of the beans that usually got her through the morning had little effect. “You knew about Quaid and Utley…that one of them could be responsible for this mess.”

“What I know is that all of the facts aren’t adding up quite right.” Crest took a sip of his coffee and then casually glanced at the phone in his hand. Fallon resisted the urge to take it from him. “Our main priority is keeping you alive long enough to clear the decks. You started a chain reaction and I’m doing my best to keep you from being caught in the resulting blast. I can’t do that if you keep hiding things from my team or me. You can imagine Townes’ surprise when Ryland pops out of your apartment this morning after he’d cleared it not thirty minutes prior while you were getting your mail and speaking with the security guard on duty.”

“If you’re suggesting I delayed long enough for Ryland to somehow manage to make his way into my apartment, you’re sorely mistaken.” Fallon shot an annoyed look Townes’ way, but he was preoccupied with the files she still had displayed on the coffee table. “Crest, he’s accepted that E.D.A. is the reason—”

“That he’s a preprogrammed cold-blooded killer?” Jax asked as he and Connor came through the door.

“That he did things under the influence of someone else’s control,” Fallon finished in spite of being interrupted. Jax’s blond hair looked as if he hadn’t had it cut in a while and she had a feeling he wouldn’t get to it anytime soon. Pointing at the door they had just come through, Fallon pressed, “Ryland is now out
there
with a personal vendetta and we need to stop him before he presents himself to E.D.A. on a silver platter.”

“That could work in our favor,” Connor said with a shrug of his shoulder. He looked behind Fallon to where the coffee maker was located and then slapped Jax on the back before making himself at home. He poured two cups and then went about making a fresh pot. “It would force E.D.A.’s hand and possibly get them to make a mistake we can exploit.”

“I’m not seeing a problem with that,” Jax offered up, removing his black leather jacket and tossing it over the stool in front of him. “We now have eyes on Quaid and Utley, so we wait to see who makes a move and then act accordingly. Bang! We all go home happy. Schultzy has several highly talented people in place for when the time comes and has already started internal investigations on both men to leverage their immediate response.”

“Taryn is monitoring every call and text that either agent places, as well as retracing their steps to see if she can get a thread for us to set fire to,” Ethan announced, walking in the door. Fallon wasn’t sure she ever had this many people inside of her apartment at once and didn’t appreciate the sense that her home was now a Grand Central Station coffee kiosk. All of these men were now looking at her as if she were their out of control little sister who didn’t understand what was good for her. “Kevin is heading to the hospital to see if he can garner any additional information regarding Grahn’s involvement. The hospital is being very careful not to log anything in on their system, which means Taryn is shut out on that particular path.”

“It would help us a lot if Grahn actually pulls through,” Fallon said, slightly relieved that something might actually go their way. “I’m not saying anything we don’t already know, but Ryland contacted him while we were at my family’s estate. That triggered not only the attack on the property, but Grahn’s accident as well. He might very well know who’s taken the reins of E.D.A. and the accident was their way to ensure his silence.”

“You need to go into the office today,” Crest stated, taking the files that Townes had shuffled together. “Townes will escort you as far as the front door. He’ll be in the local area, eat lunch in the cafeteria, and I want you to call him before you leave for the day.”

“You know that I already took a personal day,” Fallon argued, thinking off all the things she could be doing other than sitting at her desk twiddling her thumbs. She could be out there looking for Ryland. She’d figured out his motives before and she could do so again if given the time. “Going in now would only cause Quaid or Utley to be suspicious.”

“Tell Special Agent Quaid that you were able to take care of your personal errands yesterday,” Crest instructed, not budging from his stance on this. “Go about business as usual. Catch up on your email from the past week. Your presence at the office might distract him or Utley enough that it sets things in motion. Jax and Connor will now be Quaid and Utley’s personal shadows. Kevin will remain at the hospital until word comes through that Grahn has either succumbed to his injuries or has made a miraculous recovery. Ethan, I want you to make contact with our resources to see if either Moza or Cyril has made any public appearances since their last sightings. Taryn is exactly where we need her to be, and Townes will remain inside the building with you.”

“He can’t,” Fallon stressed, shaking her head at the ill-advised suggestion. “Crest, you know better than anyone that he’d have to have security credentials. I’ve already put my career on the line with—”

“Townes has a top level security clearance. It won’t pose a problem as we’ve already faxed the visitor’s request and verification.” Crest set the files on top of Jax’s jacket while he picked up his own long dress coat. He slid it over his suit and then adjusted the collar as if he hadn’t just announced something to note. “We should have answers regarding the in-depth background checks on Quaid and Utley by the time you leave the office. When that happens, we’ll need to act fast. As Jax said, Schultzy is waiting for my call. I don’t think I need to request for you to contact me should Ryland make another appearance. Show up for lunch or something mundane like that.”