Claiming Felicity (Ace Security #4)(45)

The guys all laughed, and Ryder ground his teeth together. His friends were going to ruin his relationship before it could even start. Just as he was about to stand up and haul Felicity out of there, regardless of the fact they hadn’t talked about her situation yet, he felt a slight pressure on his thigh. He looked down and saw Felicity’s hand resting there.

He glanced up at her face and saw she was smiling.

Relieved, he covered her hand with his own.

“Not that I’m not enjoying your amusement at my expense . . . but can we please get the topic of Felicity’s asshole stalker out of the way before we continue talking about my love life?”

The men around them sobered at the reminder of why they were there.

Ro leaned his elbows on the table. “Joseph Waters. Thirty years old. Grew up in Chicago. Got his business degree from Northwestern. Six feet tall. Never been married, although he’s dated a lot, and more than one girlfriend has disappeared.”

Ball took up the narrative. “We haven’t been able to track down his parents yet. We think they must have different last names.”

Felicity spoke up then. “His dad is some sort of bigwig in Chicago. I don’t know his name, but my old roommate told me that he had a lot of power.”

“Joseph has been a person of interest in two disappearances, but both times he was cleared by someone in the Chicago PD, and the cases still haven’t been solved,” Black noted.

“He’s on the payroll of a company called Tyson Enterprise in Chicago, but I haven’t been able to find exactly what it is that he does there,” Arrow added.

Right then, Ryder’s phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and looked down. He held it up and said, “Rex.” Then he clicked it on and placed it in the middle of the table.

“Hey, Rex. This is Ace. The rest of the guys are here. And Felicity too.”

“Hello, Felicity,” a melodious and deep voice from the phone said. “I’m sorry to make your acquaintance this way, but it’s good to meet you.”

“Same,” she replied.

“Did you find out anything more about Joseph Waters?” Ace asked.

“Joseph Waters,” Rex began in a tone that was decisively colder than a moment ago, “is the son of Garrick Watson. The man claims to be a Mob boss, but he’s really just a big fucking bully.”

“Why haven’t we heard of him?” Ro asked.

“Because he mostly keeps to himself in Chicago. Hasn’t tried to branch out, and sticks to intimidation of the local businesses and running guns and drugs. He’s worked with a couple of local biker gangs, but thus far hasn’t dipped his toes into anything that would put him on my list.”

There was silence around the table, and Felicity leaned into Ryder and said quietly, “I don’t understand. What list?”

Rex answered her question. “We’ll never get all the illegal drugs or guns off the street. Intimidation isn’t good, but it’s not as bad as human trafficking. Or kidnapping. Or stalking. Or pimping. Women and children are what my mercenaries are concerned about, Felicity. Taking down the assholes who seek to abuse and exploit the fairer sex. If men want to shoot each other over some stupid dispute over territory, that’s their issue. But I cannot overlook violence against children. And using a woman for their own pleasure without her consent is weak and disgusting.”

Ryder could see the confusion in Felicity’s eyes. He tried to clarify. “Mountain Mercenaries only takes jobs involving women and kids, love.”

“But, men are abused too. Look at your own father.”

Ryder pressed his lips together and fought to figure out how to respond to her in a way she’d understand. Black came to his rescue.

“It’s not that we don’t care about men being hurt and abused, Felicity. For example, if we get sent in for a hostage recovery and there happens to be men there as well as women and kids, we’ll liberate them too. But, Rex has made it clear what his operation concentrates on. He’s gotten a reputation, and many times he’s the first person who is contacted when a situation arises. The government, the wealthy, the politically motivated, they all contact Rex when we’re needed. But there are plenty of other mercenary groups that aren’t as picky and will hire themselves out no matter what the job, but not us.”

“As I said,” Rex continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “I keep my eye on Garrick Watson, but he hasn’t given me any reason to care one way or another what he does in his corner of Chicago.”

“Until now,” Ryder said succinctly.

“Until now,” Rex agreed. “The man has no use for women. He runs his operation with his brothers. None of them are married. He doesn’t sell women, isn’t involved in trafficking, and even though he’s a mean son of a bitch, and ruthless, he doesn’t use children or families as leverage when extorting money from local businesses. When he was twenty, he was married for a short time. His wife had a son, but unfortunately, died in childbirth.”

“Joseph,” Ryder said.

“Yes. Joseph Waters. He was given his mother’s maiden name as an added layer of protection. Garrick knows that many of his enemies wouldn’t hesitate to use the boy against him. Joseph was raised in the family. Was taught the ways of their local empire, but somewhere along the line, he went off the rails. Garrick is not happy with his son. More than once he’s had to bail him out of trouble, both figuratively and literally. Rumor on the streets is he’s ready to wash his hands of his son, once and for all. He’s brought too much negative attention to Garrick’s operation and doesn’t seem to grasp the basic tenet of the entire operation.”