Chapter 58

“It’s all right, guys,” Ven said. She hooked a thumb back at Jarrett. He imagined she was probably rolling her eyes, too, re-establishing a rapport with her co-workers. “I knocked Kojak here around a few times to get some sense into that thick skull of his.”

Few seemed ready to believe her, though one or two men on the periphery began to drift away. Ven stared down the rest of them, while Jarrett did his best to seem as contrite as possible without being too obvious about the way he kept scanning around for any sign of Yager or Eli. It eventually worked, if eventually meant feeling like an eternity.

Ven approached the nearest desk, and the wiry, older man behind it. “Where would Agent Yager have taken his guy to wire him up?”

The cop gestured toward the opposite end of the room. “Room next to the stairwell.”

“Thanks.”

He was more glad than ever Ven had stopped him. He would have ended up on the floor with guns at his head and bony knees in his back long before he ever found Eli.