Seal of Honor(76)
“But,” Gabe prompted, because he heard it in the dot-dot-dot Giancarelli put at the end of that sentence.
“But nothing. I’ve heard only one other voice and it’s…high pitched. Like a woman’s or a boy’s. Probably more boy than woman because it has that squeaky adolescent sound to it, know what I mean? I’ve never been able to make out enough of what he says to translate.”
Gabe bet that squeaky adolescent voice in the background was Rorro. “When exactly is the ransom exchange supposed to go down?”
“I’ve managed to push it back until Tuesday. I’m going to try and talk them down another couple mil and get them to postpone again next time they call, but I don’t know how successful I’ll be.”
“Have they given specific instructions for the exchange yet?”
“Well,” Giancarelli said on a drawn out sigh, “it’s not a dead drop. As inexperienced as I think they are, the HTs were smart about that, at least. They want the money transferred to an offshore account.”
Where they probably had someone waiting to launder it till it shined, Gabe thought. Not a big stretch of the imagination if Rorro kept his racketeer father’s connections.
“Once they confirm the transfer,” Giancarelli continued, “they claim they’ll send Bryson in a taxi back to his apartment.”
“Yeah?” Gabe finished writing the information down, ripped out the sheet, passed it to Quinn, and made a motion that he circulate it throughout the room. “That’s putting a helluva lot of faith in the bad guys.”
“Yep. And I told Perry that, but he’s convinced we’re dealing with professionals. I don’t know how much you know about international hostage negotiation—”
“Not a lot,” Gabe admitted. “I was a SEAL. I usually came in after negotiations failed.”
“All right. Quick and dirty lesson,” Giancarelli said. “If you have to get taken, you want it done by professionals, because you’re more likely to come out alive at the other end. It’s nothing more than a business transaction to them. Professionals don’t want to kill anyone. In fact, they go out of their way not to kill. It’ll hurt their reputation if they become known for not upholding their end of the bargain.
“The EPC,” Giancarelli continued, “has a reputation for returning hostages unharmed, and Frank Perry thinks we’re dealing with the EPC.”
“But not you.”
“Let’s just say I’m not convinced and leave it at that. I have no proof I’ve been talking to someone other than Angel Rivera. It’s just my gut reaction.”
“So because of the EPC’s rep, Perry wants to trust that the HTs will return Bryson alive after they get their money.” Gabe shook his head. That wasn’t a good idea on so many different levels. “I can see why you’d have a problem with that, Giancarelli.”
“And unfortunately, my hands are tied. It makes me sick that two little boys are about to become fatherless and it’ll be the FBI’s fault, my fault, but I still can’t do a damn thing to stop it.” He hesitated. “Marcus says I can trust you, and I trust Marcus. If you promise you can stop it, I’ll believe you and do whatever I can to help.”
Gabe looked up and met Audrey’s eyes, saw the hope and fear there, and squeezed her hand. “I can and will stop it,” he told them both softly. “I promise.”
Chapter Twenty
If a man sound of mind, if not of body, wants to walk out of a hospital, they should damn well allow him to without all this hassle. Gabe scowled at the powerhouse of nurse blocking the door of his room, speaking in rapid-fire Spanish. He didn’t need Audrey to translate. The woman’s posture and tone said it all. You. Are. Not. Leaving.
Ha. He’d like to see her stop him.
The nurse and his doctor were not happy. Hell, Jesse and Audrey were not happy either, but, dammit, he was going to be in on the raid. Period. He’d spent too many hours these past two days planning this raid, and had gone through too much shit this past week in the name of saving Bryson Van Amee’s life. Bitter or sweet, he would see this snafu through to the end.
Finally, the nurse backed away. Despite the language barrier, he understood Audrey had talked her down. Had to admire the woman. She had a knack for people. For talking and listening and truly caring about what they had to say. Left to his own devises, he would have steamrolled over the nurse, but man, this made things so much easier.
Audrey stood with her back to him and stared at the now empty doorway. She wrapped her arms around her middle, hugging herself as if chilled, and Gabe ached to hold her, even took two steps toward her before he caught himself. If he held her in his arms right now, there was no guarantee he’d let go, and he had a job to do. She had distracted him enough already. To the point that he’d almost gotten himself KIA’d not once, not twice, but three goddamn times.