In Bed With Her Shithead Boss (By Ellie Wynters) novel Chapter 166

Agent Rogers stood in Roman and Blair's foyer, his presence unwanted despite the casual delivery disguise.

"How did you know?" Roman asked, his voice taut with suspicion.

"When foreign royalty gets kidnapped on US soil, the Bureau takes notice," Rogers replied, stepping further into the house. "Especially when a certain family with a history of... shall we say, unconventional problem-solving... gets involved."

"That doesn't explain how." Roman narrowed his eyes on the FBI agent. He was going to get answers.

"There was a witness last night to the kidnapping. Unlike you lot, they came to the FBI. Which luckily I was the responding agent."

Blair crossed her arms. "We were handling it."

"It's good to see you, Blair, and I can see that," Rogers gestured toward the improvised command center. "Nice setup. Very Die Hard meets Ocean's Eleven." His gaze lingered on the equipment. "But I'm afraid this has become a federal matter of sorts."

Luca stepped forward, his expression dangerously calm. "With all due respect, Agent Rogers, we don't have time for jurisdictional pissing match. Every minute we waste is a minute Keira remains in danger."

"I'm not here to take over," Rogers clarified, surprising everyone. "I'm here to help. Off the books for now."

Sutton's eyebrows shot up. "Off the books? Since when does the FBI work that way?"

"They don't," Rogers admitted. "Which is why I came through the door as a florist rather than with a warrant and a SWAT team. The Bureau knows about the kidnapping, but I convinced them to give me twenty-four hours before we make it official. Now I'm putting my ass on the line. We need to get them out alive or I'm fired."

"Why would you do that?" Roman asked, still wary.

Rogers's expression softened slightly. "Because I know what happens when too many cooks enter the kitchen. The Wystovian security team wants to handle this their way. You want to handle it yours. Meanwhile, local PD will be scrambling to assert authority once they catch wind of it even though it should be an FBI case. And in the middle of all that cock waving..."

"Keira and the prince become collateral damage," Blair finished, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Exactly." Rogers nodded. "So I'm offering a compromise. You share what you know with me, I share my expertise with you, and we work together to bring them home safely before my superiors force me to make this official."

Mitchell from the Wystovian team stepped forward. "This is a diplomatic matter—"

"Save it," Rogers cut him off. "Right now, I don't see diplomats or royals. I see two missing persons in immediate danger. So, are we going to stand around arguing protocol, or are we going to find them?"

A tense silence fell over the room as everyone considered the offer. Finally, Sutton returned to her laptop, pulling up the enhanced image.

Before anyone could say anything though, Rogers took things into his own hands, removing the outer uniform of the flower delivery service and handing it to one of Roman's men. "Get dressed in this and get in the van out front and drive it away. If the house is being watched, a delivery person wouldn't stay for long."

The man looked at Roman, who nodded for him to do what the agent wanted.

The man was quick and out the door within moments after putting on the uniform, baseball cap and sunglasses.

"We've identified this as a gantry crane visible through the window where their holding them," Sutton explained, gesturing for Rogers to look. "Eastern harbor area."

Rogers leaned in, studying the image. "That narrows it down, but there are still dozens of abandoned warehouses in that zone." He pulled out his phone, tapping quickly. "Let me make a call. I can get satellite thermal imaging in the harbor area by tomorrow morning."

"We can't wait that long," Blair said.

Rogers looked at her and said, "Blair, I know you're worried, but we can't burst in there half-cocked and not know what we're dealing with. It's not like I have a SWAT team backing me up here. I know it's cutting it fine with my deadline. We need to get a fix on the situation before we go in there. They are not going to hurt them just yet. There's no profit in that; we just have to let the kidnappers know that you are arranging the money and it will take time and request a proof of life."

"They already sent us one."

"Then request another," Rogers said.

Luca nodded slowly, recognizing the wisdom in the agent's strategy despite his burning impatience.

"He's right," Luca said reluctantly. "We need to stall them while narrowing down the search area. If they see people searching the dock area, it could get them killed."

Blair grabbed her phone. "What do I say to buy time?"

"What's the ransom amount for Keira?" Rogers knew the Wystovian team wouldn't share that information.

"10 million for Keira." Roman was the one to answer.

Rogers whistled. "Tell them you're working on securing the funds but need proof they're still unharmed before proceeding," Rogers instructed. "Banking hours, liquidating stocks, transfer limits, they are all reasonable delays they'll expect from someone trying to gather ten million dollars."

She forwarded it to the kidnappers with a simple message: "Now show us they're alive."

"While we wait, we need eyes on those four warehouses," Rogers said, turning to Mitchell. "Can your team handle surveillance without being detected?"

Mitchell nodded. "We have men ready to move."

"And I have drones," Luca added. "Small ones that look like birds, virtually silent. We can deploy them immediately." Luca didn't just own Cyber10, drone technology was part of another business.

Rogers looked impressed. "The Bureau could use that technology."

"The Bureau can't afford me," Luca replied coolly.

Sutton touched Luca's arm. "Deploy them now. Start with the warehouse furthest from active areas."

Blair's phone buzzed again. This time the message contained two photos: one of Keira sitting against a wall, holding today's newspaper, and one of Prince Alexei, looking pale with a visible head injury.

"Oh God," Blair gasped, hand flying to her mouth. "Prince Alexei's hurt."

Mitchell didn't react, telling them he already knew.

"But they're alive," Rogers pointed out, "And the newspaper is today's. Good sign."

Roman studied the new images over Blair's shoulder. "Sutton, can you get anything from these?"

Sutton took the phone straight away, connecting it to her laptop. "Sending them through facial recognition software first to confirm they're not manipulated." After a moment, she nodded. "They're genuine. Now let's see what else these photos can tell us."

The room fell silent as she worked, the only sound her fingers on the keyboard and the occasional murmur between Mitchell and his team as they coordinated their surveillance units.

Sutton was leaning closer to her screen. "Nothing. I can see boxes but nothing on them."

Rogers looked around everyone in the room. "Okay, we go with what we've got. We have just bought ourselves 24 hours."