“I know it’s late, but call me back when you get this message. It’s important.” Bradley hung up, wondering if he should call the assistant at Double Down. Bradley wanted to scream out his frustration, but didn’t, and not just because he was about to go through security to get into the FBI building. Steve hadn’t mentioned to Bradley anything about dinner plans. Why wasn’t he answering?
Bradley stowed his phone in a plastic bin to go through the scanner. He wanted Double Down’s help on this. He needed the team, and was fully prepared to hire them if that was necessary. He didn’t mind being a client, and would rather have the team with him as backup when he hunted the person behind this.
Job or not, he needed their skills.
“Thank you for coming, Mr. Harris.” The agent was young and pale-faced, like they kept him in the office all the time instead of allowing him out into the field.
Bradley nodded to the special agent, and followed the guy down their office hallway. He’d never figured he’d get to see the inside of Washington D.C.’s FBI office, and yet here he was.
Rachel, where are you?
“If it helps me find my sister,” he said, “I’m happy to go wherever.”
Though, truthfully, he’d rather be out on the streets looking for her. Was there even a trail to find? The FBI weren’t sharing if they had discovered anything that might indicate where she’d been taken. Or even what vehicle she’d been taken in.
When Steve called back, he’d get his boys to Rachel’s house to do their own sweep. Get a lead they could follow. God, we need to find her. He realized what he’d said. I need to find her. He couldn’t think of life in terms of him and Alexis—not when he didn’t know her any longer. They weren’t friends. Maybe estranged family members, in a weird way. But that was all.
The agent opened a door to a conference room and motioned for him to enter first. Not the same agent who had been rude to Alexis. This one was younger. A rookie, maybe. Bradley didn’t mind answering questions for junior personnel, considering that meant all the senior agents were trying to find his sister. Even the rude one.
Having a bad attitude didn’t mean the agent wasn’t excellent at his job. If only Bradley had the patience to let them work. How could he? SEALs weren’t the kind of men who sat around, waiting for a result. Orders were orders. And those orders meant action.
Green light: mission.
Now a senator was missing. Surely that meant all hands on deck, for the FBI and the Secret Service. So long as they didn’t mind an injured Navy SEAL tagging along, adding his skills to the mix, that was fine by him. Because there was no way he wasn’t going to be part of their investigation—and the operation where they rescued her.
The bare table and bland walls didn’t exactly inspire him. So when asked, Bradley had to say, “No. There’s no one I can think of who would want to do this.” He debated how much to tell the man. They were going to dig into Rachel’s life. Which, to an extent, meant digging into his. “We’re set to inherit money soon. It was a trust set up by our parents in the event of their deaths.”
Bradley swallowed, not wanting to let any emotion bleed into his voice. Emotions never helped, which was why he’d excelled at keeping things buttoned up. Unless it came to Rachel or Alexis, that was. The two women in his life—his sister and the woman he’d loved at one time—had always managed to get past his defenses. Which was probably why he’d pulled away from them lately. Being a SEAL had changed him, and left him with not a lot of time for a personal life. Sure, some of the guys had families, but Bradley had figured it was easier to keep his focus on point if he had no distractions at home.
There was time enough for that later.
Only problem was, later might be now.
“Anyone your sister was at odds with?”
Bradley shrugged. “She’s a senator, of course there are people who hate her.” It was the nature of the job, and something Rachel hadn’t been quiet about. “She had a guy a few years back who got too close, but the Secret Service took care of it as far as I know. You can ask Alexis, though. She worked for Rachel then.”
The agent frowned, then glanced down at his tablet. “Any boyfriend we should know about?”
He shrugged again, wanting to apologize for not knowing his sister better. He’d been wanting to reconnect with her during this visit. Would they get that chance? He didn’t want to think about Rachel being killed, but he had to admit it was a possibility.
Bradley said, “I think there was someone she was interested in, but it didn’t go anywhere. Again, you should probably ask Alexis. They’re best friends and always have been, regardless of how they feel about each other now or what happened.”
Even something as huge as Alexis being publicly disgraced, as well as destroyed on social media, couldn’t have killed the bond between them. After all, Alexis had been there at the house. And that wasn’t an indication to him that she had anything to do with it. More, it was proof that there were still feelings between them.
He’d always loved their connection, even as he bemoaned the fact their closeness had compounded what happened between him and Alexis. He didn’t want to unpack all of it, but none of them had dealt well with the surprise—or Rachel’s reaction.
Bradley scrubbed his hands down his face. Now wasn’t the time to rehash all that. Maybe when he could sit both women down, they could talk it through. Then they could all move on.
Bradley’s phone chimed. He opened his eyes and glanced at the screen. Not Steve calling back, it was an email. From an unknown sender.
Watch this if you want your sister back.
Lincoln’s mouth started its descent toward her lips. Alexis moved her head out of the way before he could. “Lincoln.” She pushed out of his arms. “Don’t do that. Please.”
He shook his head, making a disappointed noise. “Sorry if I can’t help myself when you’re basically teasing me into doing something about it.”
“Doing something about what?”
“The tension between us, obviously.” He looked at her like she was dense. “We both feel it. But no, you want to ignore it like you’ve ignored all my attempts to help you.” He stepped back. “Well, you know what? I’m done. That’s the last move I make to help you, Lex. I’m done.”
“Lincoln!” What did kissing have to do with helping her? Like she should accept his advances just because he had been her friend?
He didn’t turn back, or say anything else. The door slammed loud enough it rattled a photo hung on the wall.
Alexis set her hands on the counter and hung her head. What had he been thinking? She’d never given him the green light to kiss her before. They were friends, or so she’d thought. And she knew what disaster happened when friends took that turn. When it got romantic, and things were done that couldn’t be taken back even if she wanted to. Liar. Okay, so she didn’t want to take back anything she’d done with Bradley, even if it hadn’t been right.
Lincoln, though? She’d never thought about making what they had physical. She didn’t do that. Wasn’t even attracted to him, anyway. And he’d thought he was helping?
A pounding fist hammered on the door.
She sighed. He would ask for forgiveness, and she wouldn’t withhold it. That never helped. God, let me understand. The last thing she wanted was to lose one of the only friends she had left.
Alexis pulled open the door. “Its okay, Linc—”
Special Agent Walker stood there, gun drawn. He stepped into her space and continued in the apartment. “Alexis Calvert, you’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit kidnapping and anything else I can think of that will get Rachel Harris back safely to her family.”
“I’m her family.”
Strong hands pulled her arms behind her back as more agents poured in her front door.
“Go through everything.”
Her stomach dropped. “No—”
His gaze whipped back to her. “Something to hide? Something you might want to confess to?”
“I didn’t do anything!” And God at least knew that was the honest truth. Even if the world believed something different. God, and Rachel. What did it matter the way everyone else looked at her? She had at least that to hold onto.
Agent Walker sneered. “I find that hard to believe. But don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of all of this. We’ll figure out where you’ve stashed your friend.”
Her stomach soured.
“I figure you’re down on your luck. All that inheritance Rachel is about to get looks pretty good from a place like this.” He motioned around the room with one finger, then jabbed it in her direction. “So you decided to stage a kidnapping. Put yourself in the scene, so we think you’re just another victim. Wrong place, wrong time. Too bad you’re not smart enough to cover your tracks.”
I’m being framed. How could they think she’d do this to her oldest and best friend? Things had been strained recently. How could they not be? But there was no reason on earth she’d have betrayed Rachel like this.
“I didn’t—” She choked. “I wouldn’t!”
But he wasn’t going to believe her, was he? This man was determined to think what everyone else did. The worst possible things a person could think. About her. When all she’d been trying to do was the right thing. It had even crossed her mind that it was the thing Bradley would have done.
If he’d known.
Rachel had never told him the truth. Now it would come out, and the truth would sting far more sharply than any lie ever had.
Alexis choked back another sob. The last thing she’d wanted was to cause Bradley pain, and now there was no way to stop that from happening.
“Bring the computer.”
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“That’s right,” the agent said. “We know all about what you did.”
Except there was just one problem with that.
He didn’t know the half of it.
“Get her out of here. I can’t even stand to look at her right now.”
The agent who’d cuffed her hauled her out her door and walked her to the stairs while her neighbors looked on. Enjoying her misery.
She’d thought it wasn’t possible to be brought any lower than she already was. I was wrong. God was going to stretch her farther. To ask this of her, after He had already asked her to endure so much.
For Rachel, she would do it. Gladly.
She would suffer whatever was necessary if it meant she could get her friend back safely.
Even the threat of losing Bradley. Which was going to happen, when he discovered the FBI thought she was involved in Rachel’s kidnapping.
The agent stopped by an SUV and opened the back door.
She turned to him. “While Agent Walker is wasting time, going through my stuff, my friend is still out there. Everyone who should be looking for her is distracted, chasing nothing.”
“I figured you were a good actress, with that prim and proper thing going on.” The corner of his mouth curled up. “But I didn’t know you were this good; you actually sounded concerned for the Senator. Which is funny, considering you’re the one who just sent the ransom video to her brother.”