“To what do we owe the honor of your presence, Mr. Yoshida?” Carter said.

“That’s classified,” Yoshida said with a wink. Then he pushed an intercom button and told the driver that they were ready to go.

“Where are you taking us?” Nic said.

Ty Loria blinked several times and twitched his shoulders before speaking for the first time. “We were expecting Sgt. Ortiz or Deputy Chief Edgar.”

Nic leaned back in his seat and adjusted the uncomfortable-looking tactical gear that still clung to his large frame.

“Edgar is busy with the mayor’s office, and Taz hates the CIA,” he said. “So they sent us instead.”

“We requested a company rep,” Burke added. “Why would they send out their chief executive?”

Loria blinked and twitched before he replied, “It’s a volatile situation, and we felt it prudent—”

Nic interrupted, “You didn’t answer my question. Where in the hell are you taking us?”

Loria smiled and crossed his legs with an almost feline, yet feminine, grace. His eyes blinked in rapid succession again. Burke estimated Loria to be the kind of man who would normally be adored by women and respected by men. He had that classy, dimpled chin, country club look about him. But he also seemed to have some disorder which caused excessive blinking and small tics. He wondered how such impediments affected his command of respect from what he knew to be a family that possessed little tolerance or mercy.

“You wanted to know about the facility and what GoBox does,” Loria said. “I’m taking you straight to the belly of the beast.”

Chapter 30

Gabi Deshpande kept replaying her father’s martial arts teachings in her mind.

“The key is leverage and technique. Not size,” he would tell her every lesson until the concept was drilled into her memory. But in this case, she needed much more than leverage and technique. She needed a solid plan, allies, and a lot of luck.

The blonde mute woman was with her, and the blonde did look like she was in excellent shape. Still, she couldn’t haven’t been more than five foot four and 120 pounds soaking wet, and was dressed like a trust-fund princess. Unless Zumba had a martial arts component, the blonde would probably be more of a hindrance than an asset.

Gabi kept eyeing a nearby desk lamp. It had a thick metal base that would make the perfect tool for smashing in the back of a man’s skull. If she could only reach it and have two seconds worth of movement, she knew that they could be out the door and in the protective arms of the law before the giant and the woman he called Doc knew that there was a problem.

But she needed one of the others to provide a distraction.

The Asian businessman finally looked up from his prayers or whatever he was mumbling, but then he stared off in the opposite direction.

She cleared her throat. No reaction. She counted to thirty and cleared her throat again.